I really wasn’t too excited about the idea of getting my ears punctured. True, lots of people did it, and I certainly understood that earrings could be magical and examining a couple of yellow diamonds did interest me, but…”

  He saw my reluctance and said, “Perhaps if I explained my idea, that would help persuade you.”

  “You can give it a try.” I offered, letting him know I was not that excited about the idea so far.

  “First, because of your master’s bracer of non-detection, it would be very difficult for mages to get a read on the magic you are wearing or carrying. It is part of the magical protection it provides. There are ways around it, but it is nearly infallible. And knowing Corwyn, he would have made his with tricks in mind and made sure it was secure.

  “That said, using a couple of magical gems, which you are clearly accomplished with and have begun to surround yourself with, will be the distraction. You don’t have any gems of true power, and having a pair set into studs giving you a 7pt or 14pt magical protection won’t scare off any truly motivated adversary. Gems don’t get really interesting until at least a 28pt, and even then, those are fairly weak compared with other enchantment options.”

  He rubbed his hands together. “But that is the trick. The true magic, the powerful enchantments, will be on the studs. The socketed gem is just the wrapping paper, the distraction for our sleight of hand. The archmage has a pretty large collection of magical gems, and he has a fondness for colorful diamonds. I am sure I could locate a pair of 7pt or 14pt yellow diamonds for this. Your parents are wealthy, and so they could easily afford either type. Your mother wields magic, and protecting you in this way would appeal to her. Given her background, an elven gift from her will further disguise the enchantment.”

  “What did you have in mind, Isaac?”

  “Two spells. Both defensive. One unexpected and one unknown.”

  He smiled at me even wider.

  “You are really enjoying this,” I said. “Could you please just tell me so I can either agree with stabbing some metal into my head or not?”

  “Oh, don’t be that way. It is a tiny piece of wire. You would have taken far more damage from the undead in the sewers when you rescued those twenty school children.” He remarked.

  “There were four of them, and I was with an entire team that-”

  Isaac laughed out loud. “I’m just having a little sport with you. I so rarely get the chance to just have a little fun with magic. It's always life and death or serious and stodgy mages making demands.”

  I just stared at him.

  He waved in a placating way. “Ok, back to business. My intention is to enchant each earring with a once-per-day enchantment. The first will be a limited group teleport. It will bring you and up to six of your companions back to a prepared location like the city fountain or maybe even into your shoppe.”

  I asked, “Is it possible for you to teleport into the shoppe with all its protections?”

  “I cannot, certainly. But the question is, can you?” He asked in return.

  Bella? Can that work?

  She had been unusually quiet during the meeting with the Majordomo. Yes, Gwydion. As long as you are the one using the ability, I will sense it and open the defenses for you and those to whom you extend the spell effects. And that was all she said. She had no commentary about my recent ordeal.

  “Yes, it’ll work,” I stated out loud.

  “Excellent. Is there a place in particular that you would like to arrive? We would need to prepare it, and that could take some time.”

  Bella said, Inform him that you have a summoning circle in the lower level.

  “We could use the summoning circle in the lower level.” I offered.

  “You have a fully functional summoning circle here? What Attunement?” He asked in a surprised tone of voice.

  Seventh Attunement. Bella informed me.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “Seventh,” I replied.

  “Indeed? Well, that makes life easier. We will use it. I think that maybe I need a tour of your shoppe.” He paused. “You don’t already have teleport spells, do you?” He asked.

  “No,” I said, surprised he would ask me about something that powerful. “I was an apprentice not that many hours ago.”

  “Yes, well, that excuse given all your other tricks and surprises won’t carry much weight with those who know you. But I just wanted to check.”

  “Before I give you a walking tour, what is the second protection?” I asked.

  “Ahhhh.” He said. “For the second protection, I will give you a spell that the archmage invented and that few have ever encountered, I am sure. It is called Spell Chaos, and it creates a thirty-second sphere of countermagic around you. It is not foolproof, but it is quite powerful. You will have that ability once per day. Unlike your useful but weaker teleport spell, Spell Chaos is a seventh spellbook spell. It uses a couple of different guild disciplines, and while I do possess it, I am not clear how the archmage managed to create it.”

  That was a powerful spell ability. And having it as a base enchantment, so I can use it more than once, versus a SUS ring, made it even more valuable.

  “How will Twilight affect the enchantment?” I asked.

  He scratched his head. “Well, as far as its use, not at all. In fact, the spell will counteract the dilution and dampening effect of Twilight. All that pent-up magic might just come back to you in a rush. Or not at all. However,” He began.

  “However, it will only last thirty seconds.” I completed his thought.

  “Right. So there is a very high probability that the earring will not recharge at sunrise or sunset unless I do something terribly clever.”

  And by the look in his eyes, I knew that he had a plan. His smile was so infectious that it made me grin. “What plan?” I asked.

  “Well, recharging objects happens according to a wide range of options. You know the basics of this as an enchanter. It is far easier to use external forces to recharge a magical enchantment or keep it charged, such as sunrise. It can be taxing and challenging to make recharging occur by other means. Some have mastered a recharge at sunset or even with one of the three primary moons.”

  “But you have another option?”

  “Two, actually. The archmage has shown me how to tap into time itself to recharge objects. It is not easy, but instead of sunrise, it could recharge in twenty-four hours, or less.”

  “Or less?” I asked.

  “Not going to happen here, but yes. There is a huge upfront cost, but it can be less than twenty-four hours. But aligning it to time is hard enough without bending the rules of reality.”

  “Especially when it is attached to my head,” I added.

  He laughed again. “Yes, especially that.”

  “And what is the other option?”

  “It uses blood magic.” He said carefully.

  “Blood elemental magic?” I asked.

  “Sort of.” He replied.

  “I am beginning to not like this again,” I said.

  “Blood magic is, in essence, blood elemental magic without dipping into the elemental plane of life.”

  “That sounds a little like necromancy.”

  “There is more than a passing resemblance, yes. But it is not necromancy.” He assured me.

  “Could you please explain that?” I asked, seriously.

  “Not fully, no. We do not have the time, and you do not have the foundational knowledge. But it would be powered by your own life force. In essence, when the earring is pinned into your ear-”

  “Pinned?” I asked nervously.

  “Seriously? That is what you are focusing on here?” He asked.

  I took a deep breath. “Sorry. Go ahead.”

  He shook his head. “After the earring is gently and painlessly set into your ear, it will draw one point of damage. That damage, coming from the magical nature of your blood, primes the spell for initial use. Once it is used, it will draw a health point from you every couple of hours. Or, through an act of will, you can fill it. Once full, it will function again. It allows you to use the feature more than once per day, but at a cost in health points.”

  “How much health will be needed?”

  “Yes, that is part of the sacrifice. It will take two health points for each spellbook level. So it will cost you fourteen points of health to pull the power back again. That could be thirty seconds after you use it the first time, or nearly forty-eight hours if it is on a regular cycle of one point every three hours. A Rule of Three charm would help stabilize the powerful spell effect.”

  It reminded me a little of the conversion ring that Simon gave me with his Lesser Channel Energy skill. I mentioned that I had a couple of SUS rings that did that.

  “Yes, it is similar in theory to what you describe. Necromancers also have that ability. Do you consider your friend Simon to be teetering on the edge of necromancy?”

  “No, of course not,” I said.

  “Then neither will you, nor me, for that matter.”

  “Are you recommending this option for both earring enchantments?” I asked.

  “I am. I hesitate to do so, but with at least twenty-one days of Twilight, and maybe more, I would be putting a lot of effort into what would in essence be a SUS ability for the next several weeks.”

  “What about aligning it with time?” I asked.

  “I don’t have the skill to do that for the seventh level spell, and may or may not have what I need for the fifth level Limited Group Teleport. I will have to ponder that since the only examples I have made using that technique were at a third level of power. Using the blood magic option is open to any spell level. It just takes more time for the more powerful spells to recharge.”

  The benefits outweighed my discomfort. I said, “I agree. I apologize for my hesitancy, and I am deeply grateful for your assistance.”

  “That’s better. Now, let’s get your diamonds squared away before the tour. You fixed your staff, so I know you have strengthened your attack and defense capabilities there. Let’s power you up with some magic in case you need it.”

  I set the diamonds down on the table before me and removed the two bracers.

  I hesitated. “I am sure my master would have sealed these. What would happen if I tried to add sockets to the bracers?” I asked.

  “You would waste the casting points.” He said. “Sorry, I forget how inexperienced you are sometimes. You carry yourself so well. A grandmaster’s trick in enchantment to get around this is to cast a second Seal Enchantment spell. The two will negate one another, and this will leave it open for enchanting. You will not need to cast an Enchant Item spell for the sockets; they have their own magic in that regard.” He explained.

  The second part I already knew, but I did not know just how easy it would be to unmake or meddle with another mage’s enchantment. True, other mages would not have that ability, but it granted far more power to enchanters than I ever realized. The knowledge he shared with me had to be highly secret among enchanters.

  I cast the Seal Enchantment spell, and I felt the bracer open up to me. I followed it up with my Add Five Sockets spell and then sealed it again.

  Isaac watched me and nodded his head, satisfied. “Repeat that with the other, and you can insert your storage diamonds.”

  I did so.