As if by Magic

[SplendaWeReGoingDown]

Warren Galahad was currently in the back room of his shop in the (very early) morning doing a patch-up job on a blacksmith. The man in question had woken him up due to the severe burns he received when the fire of the forge he was lighting got out of his control. The flames hit him while he had his back turned resulting in several burns arching across his back.


Warren had immediately applied a cream to help cool the skin, preferring not to use water as water tended to cause troublesome blisters and infections later on. "Alright, Mr. Smith," Warren addressed the man by his trade, "that's the most I can do for now." Standing up, Warren went over to his cupboard and retrieved a salve that he handed to the man. The salve held some magical ingredients the young sorcerer had put together to help close the wound faster. Mr. Smith nodded his thanks as Warren went on, "Apply this on the wounds twice a day, avoid wearing any dirty linens or shirts if you can at all, clean the wounds with only clean water and sleep on your stomach." Warren pursed his lips and hesitated before he spoke again, knowing this wouldn't be good. "And, you're going to need to stay away from the forge until the wounds begin to scab." Mr. Smith turned around wincing as he pulled on his wounds.


"But I 'ave my business t'run!" He objected, and Warren sighed.


"I understand, but you should stay away from anything that will make you sweat too much. You don't want those burns to get infected, especially when it's so close to your heart," he spoke to the man. "Stick to fixes, and grinding as opposed to the forge," he lectured. The man sighed, before nodding.


"I understand," he spoke dejectedly before smiling at Warren. "How much do I owe ya?" He asked to which Warren simply shook his head.


"We'll worry about that later, come to me in a week's time," he instructed. After all, a blacksmith that can't forge won't have much money to give. Mr. Smith thanked him gratefully and Warren sent him off with a wave.


With that, Warren decided to open up shop early and work on mixing some of the herbs he had collected from his last venture into the forest. Mr. Smith had awoken him in the early morn due to the urgency of the situation and instead of going back to sleep, he decided to work on some of his salves and medicines.

 

[ColdHarem]

((Sorry for the delay, I had writers block xD ))


Daniel was spending his morning getting lectured. Apparently the neighbouring kingdom had been pillaging villages on the fringes of the kingdom again, and as always, it served its purpose; it drove Daniel's father up the wall. Since no one of importance was going to be around the castle for an hour, the military tacticians due later, Daniel was instead receiving the brunt of his father's anger.


"I try and protect my kingdom from the dangers of magic, and he dares take that as cause to attack?" His father muttered loudly as he paced back and forth before his throne. Daniel was sat at the long table before it, the early hour meaning he was barely conscious enough to listen, his feet rested up on the table. "We used to be allies. And of course, you know exactly who it is that's brought about this mutiny."


"That evil, cretinous-"


"That evil, cretinous wizard," King Thanos seethed, speaking over Daniel. Daniel had no idea why his father had chosen such a groan-inducing way of referring to the biggest pain in the kingdom's backside, but he certainly seemed fond of using the term.


"Can't you just devise some kind of peace treaty?" Daniel asked, though he already knew the answer.


"He's impossible to reason with," The king said, to which Daniel had to resist the urge to raise an eyebrow, always feeling especially sarcastic in the mornings. At least he was able to hold his tongue from making a comment about just how easy his own king and father was to reason with. "No, we'll have to take a more offensive course of action."


"You've been over this, father," Daniel reminded him. "You said we didn't have the resources to engage in a full out war."


"No, we need to be smarter than that, work on a smaller scale," said his father, lowering himself into his throne. Both were silent for a moment, before King Thanos looked at Daniel. "The wizard is the problem."


"You forgot evil and cretinous."


"If we could deal with the wizard, we'd solve the whole issue," King Thanos said, more slowly this time, as if he were waiting for Daniel to catch up with his thought process.


"Are you going to tell me your ingenious plan here or not?" Daniel asked, after a full minute of quiet had passed.


Standing, his father walked towards him, coming to rest a hand upon his shoulder. "You're to go and visit the kingdom in the guise of extending the offer of a peace treaty, to discuss terms and such. Whilst you're there, I want you to find a way to dispose of the wizard. Obviously you're not to make it look like a murder... take someone who knows poisons with you. Make sure it looks like he died of natural causes."


"You want me to be an assassin?" Daniel said incredulously. "Father, I don't think-"


"No, clearly you don't. If we want to prevent this kingdom from falling into all out war, sacrifices are going to have to be made," his father said frostily, tightening his grip on Daniel's shoulder before releasing him entirely. "If you want to be king, Daniel, you're going to have to learn that sometimes you are faced with unfair decisions."


"Yes father," Daniel said quietly, knowing that arguing would be pointless. On the plus side, it gave him an excuse to go and visit Warren. If his father wanted him to bring someone who knew how to kill someone 'naturally', no person would be better for it. Whether or not he'd agree to it, however, was an entirely different question. Leaving the castle behind, glad to be free of it and the tension that always closed in after an attack, Daniel rode along on horseback down to Warren's shop, hoping he'd be up at the early hour. Dismounting and tying the horse up, Daniel knocked on the door, shuffling between his two feet as he waited for a response.


((I hope this is an acceptable start, and everything is okay plot-wise - if I need to alter anything just say :3))

 

[SplendaWeReGoingDown]

((No worries! It's fantastic!))


Warren bit back on a yawn as he grinded the herbs in front of him. He hadn't gotten much sleep then night before because on top of Mr. Smith waking him in the morning, he had had a bit of a... late night visitor that required him to go to the forests late at night.


It happened more often than he would care to admit, magical creatures, typically benevolent ones, were drawn to him by his magic. They usually came seeking help, as his magic could allow him to do things that certain magical species could not. Earlier in the day, he had been in the forests collecting ingredients when he saw a figure behind a tree. Or, more accurately put, he literally saw a tree.


The dryad had approached him warily, seeking help for a dying friend who concocted a disease in the very bark that made up her tree and asked if he could help. Warren had promised to do what he could and snuck out of the town late at night to check the situation for himself, before heading back for a few scant hours of rest before Mr. Smith had awoken him with his emergency.


The ingredients he was working with at the moment were for the dryad. She had contracted anthracnose from a fungus and her leaves were becoming splotchy and discolored and cankers were warping her branches, seeing it for himself, though, Warren knew just what to use to kill the fungus. He was currently grinding with a mortar and pestle in the center of a sigil made out of dried leaves from the dryad herself as he boiled water in order to create an infusion for the spell he would need for this when a knock at his door startled him.


Warren swore as he banged his knee on the work station and hastily, yet as carefully as he could managed, destroyed the sigil and stored the leaves for later use. "Just a minute!" He yelled out to the front. The ingredients he had gathered for the spell were poured into one of his glass vials and he stored it haphazardly into one of the cupboards as he snapped his fingers to stop the flame that was burning under the pot. He grabbed the pot and regretted immediately as it the heat enveloped his palm, causing some of the boiling water to slosh over onto the table as he swore again and quickly made his way to the front of his shop.


Warren opened the door, a bit of a disheveled mess but passable nonetheless. He blinked, stunned as he took in just who it was that was before him.


"Your Highness!" he exclaimed, surprised. "I apologize, please come in," he gestured quickly into the shop. There were a thousand people that Warren would have expected at his front door, but Prince Daniel was certainly not one of them. "I - uh - excuse the mess," he added hastily. "To - uh- what do I owe the honor?" He asked, chancing a glance to his backroom to make sure that he had indeed, closed the door so the prince wouldn't see any of what he had been working on.