“It may not be what I expected, exactly, but it sounds like a fine profession. I’d be pleased to learn it from you,” Dakkon said.
“Very well. I haven’t had a new student in quite some time now. When would you like to get started?”
“I’m eager, ready, and willing,” Dakkon said. “Would starting immediately be too hasty?”
“Hah! I like to see some spirit in a young man.” Chillwane smiled. “There’s no time like the present, as they say. To be honest, despite your words, I still wasn’t sure you were interested. It wouldn’t be the first time someone said they’d come by the following day, never to show up. Say, I’ll knock off half of the apprenticeship fee I normally require and will only charge you 15 silver.”
“I’m broke,” Dakkon said. There didn’t seem to be any point in denying it.
“Well, come back when you’ve got the money, then,” Chillwane sighed. “I’ll give you the same deal since I’ve offered it already.”
“I really need the training. Can I pay you back through the commissions offered to thermomancers… after completing the training?” Dakkon asked.
“Thermomancer work doesn’t exactly pay all that well in this climate.” Chillwane rubbed his forehead with his fingers. “It could be months before you make that much if you account for living expenses.”
This was opposite of the news which Dakkon wanted to hear, even if the state of Master Chillwane’s house forewarned of such. Still, he was there and ready to learn. “Would you accept something else in barter?” Dakkon suggested.
“Well, what did you have in mind?” Chillwane shrugged.
Dakkon produced the Chain Mesh Underlay from his bag and handed it to his potential trainer. “Would you train me in exchange for this?”
“Deal,” Chillwane said happily, swiping the underlay from Dakkon’s hands.
“Tch. I should have found out how much that was worth first,” Dakkon silently rebuked himself.
“Well then, let’s get to it, shall we!” Chillwane said merrily, as he beckoned Dakkon into an even smaller room in the back of his humble home.
Every wall of the back room looked as though it had been layered with cooked clay. Some areas were cracked, but there was no circulation of air. The area was stagnant. In the center of the room sat two stools. One looked to be made for sitting upon, while the other looked to be made for stepping on to retrieve something just out arm’s reach. Chillwane sat on the properly sized stool and motioned for Dakkon to sit on the miniature one. Dakkon squatted on it and looked up at his trainer.
“Thermomancy is,” Chillwane began, “essentially the art of willing temperature to conform to your whim.”
Dakkon nodded.
“Changing the temperature of a thing or environment through sheer concentration is much easier to speak of than it is to do, but when it comes right down to it… that’s exactly what must be done,” Chillwane instructed. “Performing thermomancy is not something one can be taught by listening alone, it is something that must be felt. Something that must be craved with every fiber of one’s being. Only then will the secret to the art be unlocked.”
Dakkon was unsure of how learning a new class would go, but supposed going through a trial was much more flavorful and interesting than simply paying some money and walking out a changed man. “I’m ready to begin,” Dakkon said when he suspected Chillwane was waiting for his affirmation.
“Then we’ll get started. But first, do you have a canteen?” asked Chillwane.
“I do,” Dakkon admitted.
“Drink what you can and then hand it to me,” Chillwane commanded.
Dakkon drank from one of his two canteens and handed it to the master thermomancer.
The room grew warm. Very warm. Sweat began to drizzle from Dakkon’s forehead and the pits of his arms moistened.
“You are very warm,” Chillwane stated as a matter of fact. “Wouldn’t it be nice if you could cool down?”
Dakkon, perplexed, nodded. With no stirring of the air, the sweat grew hot on his skin and he sweltered.
“To cool down you must will yourself to be cool. Think of a cool setting,” Chillwane suggested.
Dakkon was too warm to think properly. He tried to think of cold environments but nothing came to mind. His mind was shutting down from the heat.
“Follow my voice. I will guide you,” Chillwane commanded. “You are in a field of snow. There are flurries of frozen water dancing around you. You see children at play who aim to build a tower of ice and snow, but must stop because the freezing cold stings their fingers.”
Dakkon was barely able to follow the words of the trainer, but with the mention of a freezing sting the differentiation between intense heat and extreme cold began to blur in his mind.
“You’re strolling upon the surface of a frozen lake. The ice shatters and you plunge into the biting chill beneath. The cold is so intense it feels like the grasp of icy hands. You must get out of the water to warm yourself,” Chillwane continued his guidance.
Dakkon actually began to feel… chilly. As though a switch had been flipped, the room didn’t feel so oppressively hot anymore. Once an icy breath escaped from between Dakkon’s lips, Chillwane exclaimed, “Yes! That’s it! You are beginning to learn.”
Dakkon’s body began to cool itself, but his mind was still dull. He latched onto Chillwane’s words.
“You are out of the water. You have managed to stop shivering from the cold of the lake. You look around and see that the snow has stopped falling on your head. You turn to your left, you step forward and you are walking…” Chillwane continued, “on the surface of the sun.”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Dakkon howled and passed out.
\\\\\\
As Dakkon came to, Chillwane was splashing water over him.
“Aw, geez,” Chillwane said, “you were doing so well during the exercise. I thought you’d have the sense to disregard that bit about the sun and all.” The thermomancer seemed to speak far less formally as he handed Dakkon his canteen. “You scared me half to death with that hollering of yours.”
Dakkon glowered at Chillwane. The master’s cruel prank had made Dakkon feel as though he were fully submerged in boiling water, if only for an instant.
“Ah, come now. You’re all right,” said Chillwane. “Best of all, you’ve completed your first step down the road of thermomancy. Congratulations.”
Dakkon, rising to his feet, continued to stare down the old thermomancer.
“Oh, fine, fine. Here. On account of your generous offer of that underlay to have me teach you, and as an apology for my poor sense of humor, allow me to split the difference with you.” Chillwane reached into his coin purse and pulled out a shining gold coin. “Here.”
Dakkon’s eyes lit up as he took the coin.
“Now get out there and practice your art in the world. Everything else is in your hands.” Chillwane said while ushering Dakkon out the door.
As he walked out into the open air of the outdoors, with the breeze on his face and a gold coin in his pocket, Dakkon forgave the old man. “He really isn’t such a bad guy,” Dakkon thought.
“BUYING ‘Chain Mesh Underlay!’ five gold!” a player wandering through a crowd of merchants shouted.
“I’ll pay seven gold for one!” another player upped the ante.
“Step off, you damned poacher!” the first player challenged. “Seven gold! Not a copper more!”
Dakkon thought he could hear a hearty chuckle coming from the closed door behind him.
C
HAPTER 7:
G
REENER
P