Chapter 9
Crawa learns her first spell with explosive results
Crawa learns her first spell with explosive results
“’Pull tha weeds, Garaf.’ ‘Mind tha tomatoes, Garaf.’ ‘Stop makin’ a racket, Garaf.’ ‘Fertilize tha garden, Garaf.’†The Duskwight boy grumbled to himself as he dragged his feet to the garden shed. Between the lalafell and the old man, Garaf had found himself inundated with chores as soon as it had been determined that he was capable of them. Out of all his tasks, he found gardening to be the most boring of all, but he didn’t exactly have the option of refusing.
He swung open the door of the gardening shed, poking his nose into the dusty interior. He’d spent hours in the warehouse but he’d barely ever even noticed the small shell behind the house. “Iffin’ they ain’t gonna tell me what’s where how’m I gonna find it?†he muttered, digging through bags and boxes in an attempt to find the fertilizer he had been told to spread on the garden. Everything was dusty, and in the dim light everything looked the same, too. Eventually, his hands found a smallish bag nestled near the wall, and upon placing his hands within it found that it was full of a powdery substance. ‘This’ll do.’
He carried the bag outside and proceeded to sprinkle it, rather more carelessly than he should have, over half the garden. It was early yet in the season, and few of the plants had emerged above the soil. The powder, dark in the sunlight, blended in with the soil until it was nearly invisible. Garaf tossed the bag on the ground by the shed and dusted his hands off. ‘Yep! That’ll do.’ he thought triumphantly, before finding something more fun to do with the rest of his afternoon.
*
“Garaf! Garaf, where are you? You really must see this!†Crawa poked her head around the corner of the building where Garaf sat, whittling away at a piece of fallen wood.
“Oro?â€Â
The girl seemed just about to burst at the seams with excitement. She waved a small maple wand in her hand as she spoke. “Garaf, I finally did it! Grampa says I’m really good at it, too!â€Â
Garaf grumbled and got to his feet. “Whazzat?â€Â
Crawa ran off into the open space near the garden and away from all the buildings. “Come over here and I’ll show you!†As Garaf wandered over, she picked up a fallen tree branch and stuck it into the ground like a fence post. She backed up several paces, motioning to Garaf to do the same. “I learned my first element, Garaf! Watch, watch!â€Â
Garaf leaned back against a wall and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Well lets see it then.â€Â
Crawa let the smile fall from her face, a look of concentration so intense coming over her that it was almost comical. She held her wand in both hands, screwing her eyes shut for several seconds before thrusting the instrument forward. “FIRE!†she yelled, her voice echoing off the walls of the buildings around them. The branch that she had so carefully placed in the ground began to smolder slightly, but that was all. Crawa groaned in frustration. “Stupid!â€Â
Garaf held a hand to his ear sarcastically. “Yep. I can hear them beastmen hordes fleein’ in fear already.â€Â
“You be quiet. I did it before and I’ll do it again. Now watch.†Crawa once again grasped her wand and closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths to calm down. “Destruction of nature, gather in flame… FIRE!†she yelled, jabbing the wand forward at her target.
She opened her eyes, letting out a whoop of joy as the branch burst into colourful flames. “See? SEE? I did it! I did it! I-…†She fell silent as the flames crept from the branch onto the garden soil. Suddenly Esslar’s precious garden of teas had turned into a minefield of erupting flame and smoke as the ground itself seemed to smolder and pop. In moments billows of aromatic, white smoke were wafting over a ruinated battlefield of a plant-bed.
“THAT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!!!†Crawa shrieked in horror. “Help! Esslar! Grampa! HELP!â€Â
The two elders were already on their way of course, drawn by the sound of the explosion. Guthlac muttered a few words, and a thin wash of water welled from the ground to quell the remaining flames. “Crawa, sweetheart, what happened here?†he said as the last wisps of smoke began to dissipate into the air.
The girl was on the verge of tears, and she stared balefully at the ruined garden for several seconds before responding. “I just wanted to show Garaf Fire and it wasn’t working and then it did work and it went on the whole garden and I didn’t know it would happenI’mSORRY!!!†she cried all in one breath before bursting into loud sobs.
Meanwhile, Esslar, clearly shaken by the loss of his crop, tottered over to inspect the damage, leaning down to sniff at the scorched ground. Picking up some charred soil he rubbed it between his fingers and gingerly touched it to his tongue. He looked up at the others quizzically. “Sirrah, this would seem to be black powder. It is no wonder Miss Crawa’s spell went beyond her control.â€Â
The old man raised his eyebrows in surprise, before leveling a stern glare at Garaf. The boy had adopted a posture somewhere between diving to the ground and beating a hasty escape as soon as the explosion started and he’d yet to relax from it. “Black powder? Did you spread that on the garden, boy?â€Â
Garaf straighted out and pointed apprehensively to the discarded back by the shed. “Well tha fertilizer was a black powder…â€Â
A cursory examination of the bag by Esslar confirmed its former contents. “I recall this parcel,†the lalafell explained, “Sirrah Gilhend brought it back from one his ventures to Ul’dah. It contained a fine grain of gunpowder used in musketry and also in alchemy. I recall I had requested it for an experiment at the time but fear I had long forgotten both the experiment and the parcel.â€Â
Guthlac, with full measure of stern discipline in his voice, turned back to Garaf. “And you thought to spread this over the fields, boy? Do you know how dangerous that could have been? Someone could have been injured!â€Â
“Hey! Wasn’t ‘zactly my choice. Ya’ll jess said spread some stinky stuff over the ground, ya didn’t ‘zactly say what I should look fer or where ta’ find it. How’s I’m supposed ta know tha’ stuff’d go kerfloosh?â€Â
“You ask, boy. For that is the beginning of wisdom.â€Â
Esslar cut into the conversation before it could escalate further. “Luckily, most of what was burned was not… truly vital. I will dearly miss the ivory snow drop, and the longleaf, … and the dragonsbud… but these plots were for my pleasure only, and not our foodstuffs. Come, Garaf. I will show you where the fertilizer is so that this may not happen a second time.†Esslar lead Garaf back to the shed and did his best to ignore the boy’s grumbling and how he walked as thought there were a dark storm cloud over his head.
Crawa watched them go and huddled close to her grandfather. “Grampa?†she inquired hesitantly.
His beard waggled as he responded. “Yes?â€Â
Crawa chewed on her lip. “I think I’d like to learn Water next.â€Â