{"id":4859,"date":"2017-01-09T00:01:17","date_gmt":"2017-01-09T05:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tellest.com\/?p=4859"},"modified":"2017-01-19T07:11:03","modified_gmt":"2017-01-19T12:11:03","slug":"golem-maker-city-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/golem-maker-city-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"The Golem Maker of the City, Part One"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Golem-Maker of the City<\/strong>
\nBy Aaron Canton<\/strong>
\n\u2014Part One\u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Renzeya, can I go out to play?\u201d Laika beamed up at Renzeya with her brightest smile. \u201cI finished my lunch, washed the dishes, and cleaned up my room. And a few of my friends and I were gonna practice sparring in the town square! So… can I?\u201d<\/p>\n

Cedric Renzeya, veteran of the Viscosan guard and current head of Viscosa\u2019s Adventurers Guild, looked over his desk at her with an amused expression. They were in his office, a large room in the rear of the guild with racks of weapons, shelves of books, and several maps lining the walls. \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he drawled, leaning back a little in his chair. \u201cIs that really the only<\/em> reason you want to go out?\u201d<\/p>\n

Laika blushed a little\u2014Renzeya was too good at reading her, she thought. \u201cWell… there\u2019s also a bakery with a special on honey rolls today, and I was thinking maybe I could stop in?\u201d She clasped her hands together and looked right into his eyes as she smiled. \u201cPlease? Just to get one piece?\u201d<\/p>\n

Renzeya let the moment extend for a moment longer before flashing a smile of his own and gesturing at the door. \u201cOf course. Have fun with your friends, Laika\u2014but remember: one<\/em> piece. If you\u2019re going to be a great hero someday\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to eat right, I know. Thanks, Mr. Renzeya!\u201d Laika was already scampering out the door and down the short hallway to the main lobby of the guild. \u201cI\u2019ll be back for dinner!\u201d<\/p>\n

She rushed through the lobby, greeting the various adventurers who said hello to her. Though she\u2019d grown a couple inches since she\u2019d been brought to the guild and now wore shiny, sparkling dresses instead of the faded brown ones she\u2019d arrived in, she otherwise didn\u2019t look too different from when she\u2019d first arrived. She had the same long blond hair tied into braids, the same bright blue eyes, the same charming smile that had helped make her lots of friends. And so, even though some of the patrons had been gone for months on various adventures, almost everyone recognized and waved at her. \u201cHey, Laika!\u201d called one of the regulars, a middle-aged mercenary named Lily Naphkator, known for her skill with a rapier. \u201cGonna go show your friends what I\u2019ve been teaching you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course!\u201d chirped Laika, flashing a quick grin at Miss Naphkator before vaulting onto the stairs. \u201cThomas said he was a better sparrer than me, and I gotta prove him wrong!\u201d<\/p>\n

No sooner had she run into her room than two of her golems, Rosie and Lim-Lim, turned from their posts by her bed and trotted to her side, prompting another smile to appear on her face. Laika was a natural at making golems, and while she didn\u2019t have<\/em> to make dozens of them every day anymore\u2014the warrior called Grannick had taken her away from the village where she\u2019d been cooped up in a shed and forced to build as many as the mayor could sell to neighboring villages\u2014she still liked experimenting with her talents and learning how to build better golems out of new materials. Both Rosie and Lim-Lim were basic humanoids about as tall as Laika herself and didn\u2019t look much different from any other golem she had made. \u00a0Rosie still smelled as sweet as when Laika had first crafted her out of bits of rosewood, and the limestone that comprised Lim-Lim was so easy to work with that Laika found it simple to give him fun add-ons like cat ears and tails, so they were definitely her favorites. \u201cCome on!\u201d she called to her golems as they helped gather up sticks and wooden bucklers for sparring and coins for the honey rolls. \u201cWe gotta go!\u201d<\/p>\n

The golems saluted\u2014Lim-Lim bonking himself in the head in the process, which Laika made a note to look into later\u2014and then chased after her as she rushed back out of her room.<\/p>\n

Laika hurried down the stairs and out the front door of the guild, passing the two iron golems she\u2019d built as sentinels, which obediently banged their staves down whenever she or Mr. Renzeya entered or left the building. Once outside and on the sunny streets of Viscosa, she quickly straightened her green dress\u2014a present from a guild member whom she\u2019d loaned a housekeeping golem for a few weeks\u2014so the flecks of emerald in its fabric sparkled in the sun. Then she was racing to the nearby town square where she knew Thomas, Matthias, and Lyra would be waiting. \u201cHey!\u201d she called as she approached the square, her golems easily keeping pace with her and drawing interested glances from passersby. \u201cHey, Thomas, ready to play? Thomas\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

She reached the square but skidded to a halt when she saw it was almost empty. While the cobblestones were usually swarming with other kids running around and playing games at this time of day, now the only people in the square proper were a half-dozen kids\u2014maybe two or three years older than Laika herself\u2014standing in the center. They all wore green habits, which Laika recognized as the uniform of the Vestigo Mage Guild, and a blocky blond boy waved his wand around while the others watched.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaika!\u201d called a voice. The girl turned to see her friends and several other kids standing against the wall of a nearby building facing the square. She approached them as Thomas, the one who had called to her, gestured at the young mages. \u201cCan you believe this? They won\u2019t let anyone else play!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy not?\u201d asked Laika. Her golems formed up behind her as she looked out into the square. \u201cThey\u2019re barely using any of it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas shrugged. He had brown hair, hazel eyes, and an athletic build that made him look kind of cute in Laika\u2019s opinion\u2014though she would never admit that out loud. \u201cThey just said nobody else can use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they\u2019re mages,\u201d added Matthias, a short boy with scraggly black hair. \u201cIf we do anything, they could turn us into frogs!\u201d<\/p>\n

Laika frowned, thinking back to something another Adventurers Guild regular had told her once. \u201cMr. Cenard says that\u2019s really hard,\u201d she said at last. \u201cAnd he\u2019s a real mage, and he can do all kinds of cool stuff, so he\u2019d know. I bet they can\u2019t do any of that.\u201d She looked at the kids. \u201cI\u2019m gonna go talk to them!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBe careful!\u201d murmured Lyra. She was a lithe girl who always had her little lute with her and had appointed herself the de facto bard of the group. \u201cI mean, I know you\u2019re a super-powerful golem-maker and all, but… but those kids are scary!\u201d<\/p>\n

Laika just grinned and waved for her golems to follow her, then jogged up to the mages while the other kids watched. \u201cExcuse me!\u201d she called as she approached. \u201cUm, my friends and I want to\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeat it!\u201d The blond mage snapped, not looking away from the others. \u201cWe\u2019re using this square to practice magic. Go play somewhere else!\u201d<\/p>\n

A scowl crossed Laika\u2019s face. \u201cIt\u2019s not yours!\u201d she insisted. \u201cEveryone should be able to use it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you deaf?\u201d the kid snapped. \u201cI\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBrandon, wait,\u201d said another mage. \u201cShe\u2019s got magic too. Look.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brandon finally looked up at Laika, and then his gaze moved to the golems behind her. Laika grinned and waved at the golems, who quickly ran through a series of poses she found impressed people. \u201cRight,\u201d she said. \u201cI do <\/em>also have magic! And me and my friends\u2014and the other kids\u2014want to play too. So\u2014\u201d A sneer ran across Brandon\u2019s face, and she trailed off. \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re apprentices in the Vestigo Guild,\u201d Brandon snapped. \u201cYou know, the most important mages guild in Raleigh? The one responsible for guarding the king and the nobles from any dark wizards that might try to hurt him? We\u2019re learning important<\/em> magic, and we have to practice. That\u2019s a lot more important than letting a novice like you play with stupid constructs like those.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laika flushed red. \u201cRosie and Lim-Lim aren\u2019t stupid!\u201d she yelled. \u201cThey\u2019re\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou named<\/em> them? Wow.\u201d Brandon twirled his wand for a moment, and then a wicked gleam came to his eyes. \u201cHere, let me teach you some real magic.\u201d With a snap of his wrist, two bolts of green light flashed out of his wand, and both of Laika\u2019s golem\u2019s shuddered and collapsed back into little pieces of wood and stone, their animating magic gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat? No!\u201d Laika\u2019s mouth dropped as she stared at the ruins of her golems. \u201cYou can\u2019t\u2014you\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy not? You gonna tell on us?\u201d taunted Brandon. \u201cOur instructors keep the city safe. I don\u2019t think your family\u2019ll want to mess with them\u2014or us.\u201d \u00a0He shoved Laika hard enough to make her stumble into the rubble that had been her golems. \u201cNow get out of here, kid!\u201d<\/p>\n

The other mages laughed, and Laika was tempted for a moment to turn back and punch them in the nose. \u00a0Instead she lowered her head and slowly retreated away from the wood and stone that had been her favorite toys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Golem-Maker of the City By Aaron Canton \u2014Part One\u2014 \u201cMr. Renzeya, can I go out to play?\u201d Laika beamed up at Renzeya with her brightest smile. \u201cI finished my lunch, washed the dishes, and cleaned up my room. And a few of my friends and I were gonna practice sparring in the town square! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[145,146],"tags":[273,525,1470,1454],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Short-Story-Panel.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1UVey-1gn","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4859"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4859"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4860,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4859\/revisions\/4860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tellest.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}