hexes and after the demonstration, you
will consider it a bargain,” Varduk spoke up from the back of the assembly,
where he had been waiting to chime in once the discussion inevitably turned
from show-and-tell to buy-and-sell.
* * * * * * * *
The Fehr Estate had extensive gardens with lush green grass.
Fruit trees and flower beds were scattered about in whimsical arrays, with
trellis-covered walkways wending their way throughout.
The assemblage of foreign allies was congregated at one end
of the vast central lawn, clustered on the breech side of the cannon. They had
already taken a brief walk to inspect the mortared stone wall that had been
built some three hundred paces distant. A trio of foreign-born sorcerers had
been hired to inspect the cannon, the wall, and all the accoutrements that went
along with the demonstration and to verify that there was no magic at work.
It had amused Jinzan to watch old men leaning against the
wall with their shoulders and rapping soundly at it with walking canes. You
are the ones here to buy. You need convince none but yourselves. Perhaps as
youths you might have truly tested the wall with such efforts, but you could
not have toppled a wall of loose bricks.
When everyone was settled into their seats in a great
semicircle, with no line of sight to the target obscured, Jinzan went through
the process of loading and readying the cannon. He was grateful to the goblin
tinkers who had improved on the Acardian design when they made it. The
pull-chain mechanism that sparked the powder was something he never would have
thought of, and it made for a more predictable demonstration than lighting the
cannon with a brand would.
“Honored guests, the moment you have all journeyed here to
see. I give you the Fehr Cannon,” Jinzan announced grandly, flourishing with
his left hand as the right gripped the pull chain, facing his audience and not
the target. With a quick motion, he tugged the chain.
Kthooom!
There were screams of surprise as the shock wave of sound
tore through the spectators. Jinzan had given them no warning of the sound it
would make: a deep, sonorous cracking that shattered the very air.
Battle-hardened veterans had heard the blasts of arcane magic that some
sorcerers used in battle, but those were a kitten’s whisper when held against
the sound of a cannon’s report from three paces away.
Those steel-nerved enough to have kept their vision
downfield on the target saw nothing of the projectile that flew from it, only
its impact a heartbeat after the report. A great cloud of dust obscured the
wall immediately, but as the wind slowly parted the stony curtain of debris,
the wall could be seen to be in a sorry state. An arm’s length thick, twice the
height of a man and four times as wide, a massive chunk was missing, turned to
rubble and dust, with the larger chunks presumably having fallen on the far
side.
As the assemblage gaped at the stricken wall, Jinzan was
already at work cleaning the bore. He did all the work manually so that none
could accuse him of altering the cannon’s performance through the use of magic
even for something so simple as cleaning the gun. He also wished them to see how
quickly it could fire a second shot. Once he had cleared the bore and reloaded
it with powder, wadding, and one of the remaining two shots, he nudged the
cannon’s aim over just a fraction.
Taking up the chain once again, he deigned to issue a
warning: “You may wish to guard your ears. It gets no quieter than the last.”
And with that, Jinzan pulled the chain again, wincing as he thought of the
damage that was being done to his gardens.
Kthooom!
Jinzan knew enough of the showman’s trade to understand that
you do not demonstrate something against a challenging target. Build something
impressive enough, but leave enough room for the result to be spectacular. The
wall had stopped neither of the shots, and no doubt the cannonballs were now
lying in some devastated flower
will consider it a bargain,” Varduk spoke up from the back of the assembly,
where he had been waiting to chime in once the discussion inevitably turned
from show-and-tell to buy-and-sell.
* * * * * * * *
The Fehr Estate had extensive gardens with lush green grass.
Fruit trees and flower beds were scattered about in whimsical arrays, with
trellis-covered walkways wending their way throughout.
The assemblage of foreign allies was congregated at one end
of the vast central lawn, clustered on the breech side of the cannon. They had
already taken a brief walk to inspect the mortared stone wall that had been
built some three hundred paces distant. A trio of foreign-born sorcerers had
been hired to inspect the cannon, the wall, and all the accoutrements that went
along with the demonstration and to verify that there was no magic at work.
It had amused Jinzan to watch old men leaning against the
wall with their shoulders and rapping soundly at it with walking canes. You
are the ones here to buy. You need convince none but yourselves. Perhaps as
youths you might have truly tested the wall with such efforts, but you could
not have toppled a wall of loose bricks.
When everyone was settled into their seats in a great
semicircle, with no line of sight to the target obscured, Jinzan went through
the process of loading and readying the cannon. He was grateful to the goblin
tinkers who had improved on the Acardian design when they made it. The
pull-chain mechanism that sparked the powder was something he never would have
thought of, and it made for a more predictable demonstration than lighting the
cannon with a brand would.
“Honored guests, the moment you have all journeyed here to
see. I give you the Fehr Cannon,” Jinzan announced grandly, flourishing with
his left hand as the right gripped the pull chain, facing his audience and not
the target. With a quick motion, he tugged the chain.
Kthooom!
There were screams of surprise as the shock wave of sound
tore through the spectators. Jinzan had given them no warning of the sound it
would make: a deep, sonorous cracking that shattered the very air.
Battle-hardened veterans had heard the blasts of arcane magic that some
sorcerers used in battle, but those were a kitten’s whisper when held against
the sound of a cannon’s report from three paces away.
Those steel-nerved enough to have kept their vision
downfield on the target saw nothing of the projectile that flew from it, only
its impact a heartbeat after the report. A great cloud of dust obscured the
wall immediately, but as the wind slowly parted the stony curtain of debris,
the wall could be seen to be in a sorry state. An arm’s length thick, twice the
height of a man and four times as wide, a massive chunk was missing, turned to
rubble and dust, with the larger chunks presumably having fallen on the far
side.
As the assemblage gaped at the stricken wall, Jinzan was
already at work cleaning the bore. He did all the work manually so that none
could accuse him of altering the cannon’s performance through the use of magic
even for something so simple as cleaning the gun. He also wished them to see how
quickly it could fire a second shot. Once he had cleared the bore and reloaded
it with powder, wadding, and one of the remaining two shots, he nudged the
cannon’s aim over just a fraction.
Taking up the chain once again, he deigned to issue a
warning: “You may wish to guard your ears. It gets no quieter than the last.”
And with that, Jinzan pulled the chain again, wincing as he thought of the
damage that was being done to his gardens.
Kthooom!
Jinzan knew enough of the showman’s trade to understand that
you do not demonstrate something against a challenging target. Build something
impressive enough, but leave enough room for the result to be spectacular. The
wall had stopped neither of the shots, and no doubt the cannonballs were now
lying in some devastated flower
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