The Court of Miracles
3rd of Ymiden, 720
3rd of Ymiden, 720
“See. Isn’t this fun?”
“This is not fun! This is the exact opposite of fun!”
Tio looked around in confusion, trying to identify what part of this Morgana wasn’t enjoying. Was it the soot covering both of them head to toe? The thick acrid smoke that clung to the air? The fact that roughly an eighth of the mage’s study was on fire? No, that couldn’t be it. Those were hilarious.
Evidently Morgana did not agree if the glares she was shooting him was any indication. Or at least he thought they were glares; it was getting difficult to see through all this smoke. “It’s not so bad. Think of this as a lesson. Explosions are the great leveler after all.”
“The great leveler?” Morgana coughed. “What do you mean.”
Tio flashed her a smirk. “Have you ever heard the saying preparation is key?”
“Of course.”
“Well we live in a world where people can shoot bolts of lightning from their fingers; where fire-breathing beasts could be lurking around any corner; and where every day some fresh new madman figures out a way to bring his house to life or something equally as absurd. Do you think people could possibly be prepared for every such threat?”
“I… suppose not?”
“Exactly. Our world is so dangerous not just because of the magnitude of the threats we face, but because of the sheer variety of them. We can’t be ready for everything.” A maniac grin crept across Tio’s face. “Unless of course we have the power of explosions at our fingertips. Is a mage shooting lightning at you? Blow him up. Is the door in front of you locked? Blow it up. Is a giant sea monster made of spaghetti trying to eat your soul? Blow it up. It doesn’t matter how many arcs you’ve dedicated to mastering the art of the sword, or if you have the power to turn into a tiger. All it takes is a handful of easily obtained substances, a torch and someone who knows how to put them all together to make a big enough boom, and they all mean nothing.”
Morgana froze, her face screwing up in thought as she tried to think of a refute to Tio’s point. When none came however a look of horrified realisation dawned across her face. “I feel like this explains so much about you.”
“What can I say? You don’t get to become as successful as I am without a little bit of wisdom.”
“Your wisdom is terrifying.”
“The best kind of wisdom usually is.” Tio retorted, picking up a vial of white powder from the cabinet next to them. “Now come on, let’s try it again.”
With a heavy sigh and a waft of her hand to clear some more of the smoke away, Morgana stepped back to his side at the workbench. Tio placed the bowl next to another bowl of white powder. “Okay Morgana, let’s start from the beginning. What chemicals are we working with today?”
Morgana pointed to one of the white powders. “Saltpeter. Found in mines, and often added to soap.” Her finger trailed over to the other. “And sugar. Stolen from a bakery. When cooked together over a light flame they form a sticky golden-brown paste. That paste can be set alight to produce a lot of smoke.”
Tio shot her a proud smile. “Good work. Now what do we need to do in order to make it into an effective smoke bomb?”
"We need to create a container; something that will keep it all together while it's being transported, but that will burn easily. We also need to add a fuse. Paper and string would be good options. They are cheap, flammable, and easy to soak in oil to make a fuse from."
"Excellent. You've got the theory down. Now let's try making it again."
Morgana reached for the two powders and poured them into a saucepan, then gently mixed them together with a ladle. Then she held it over a lit candle, and slowly began to stir. Wisps of smoke began to rise from the pan, but with measured strokes Morgana began to mix the two powders together. As it started to form a brown paste Morgana slowly added tiny pinches of saltpeter and sugar, trying to reach a perfect balance between the two substances.
Her previous attempts had been too imbalanced. Too much sugar led to a fire, whereas too much saltpeter resulted in instant smoke. Yet this time she stayed patient and kept a close eye on the pan, only adjusting the mix by tiny amounts and mixing ever so slowly. It was an excruciatingly slow process, but gradually the powders glooped together to form the paste. As it cooled Morgana pulled some long sheets of thick brown paper from out under the desk and tipped dollops of paste into them, spreading them out evenly like a baker evening out a cake.
Once the paste was evenly spread Morgana wrapped the parcels up into neat bundles and tied them up with string. She twisted one end of each parcel around to make them into knots, then took a bottle of oil and poured some onto them.
"There. That should do it." She huffed. Before her lay thirteen basic smoke bombs. They were undeniably rough and simply looking, more like bags full of stew than bombs, but what did appearances matter? They'd be on fire soon anyway.
Tio took one of the smoke bombs away from the others and placed it on the floor. Then he took the candle and brought it down on the fuse. It caught fire in a flash and began to eat away at the paper, bringing the flames closer to the paste wrapped within. After about a minute of burning the flames met the paste, and a pleased smirk crossed Morgana's face as cloying black smoke began to rise up and fill the room.
"Amazing! Very well done kiddo!" Tio bellowed joyfully, pulling Morgana into an over-enthusiastic hug despite her squawks of protest. "We'll make a demolitions expert out of you yet!"
"Please don't." Morgana griped. Yet she couldn't completely wipe the pleased little smile off her face. "What's your plan for these anyway?"
"All in good time kiddo." Tio replied, a mischievous flashing in his eyes. "All in good time."
