Chapter 9

Thanks to Christoph, Desmond purchased a simple set of clothes at a slight discount at Erna's Esquire Garments. It consisted of a long sleeve black jacket with black pants matching Hella's dark-cloaked attire which she chose to keep wearing, not finding any of the women's dresses pleasing.

"This is actually comfortable. Better than the robes."

"You look dashing, love. But we need to give them a little special touch."

And by special touch, she meant enchanting. Since Desmond showed such spectacular talent in spellcasting, she was interested to find out if he could surprise her once again.

The only enchanting table in Markarth was in Understone Keep, a large Dewmer made citadel that the Jarl used as his castle. People were free to come and go as they pleased as long as they didn't cause a disturbance.

Exiting the shop, they traveled through the city streets until they came to the keep. Following directions from a guard, they entered the large structure and followed the path to the left until they got close enough to hear a cranky voice echoing in the hallway.

"I told you countless times, handle that with care! What are you going to do if it breaks, hm?"

"I'm sorry Uncle! I promise this won't happen again!"

"It better not!"

Desmond and Hella entered a large open room, with a small stream running underneath a wide stone bridge connecting a set of large stone doors. Right in front of where they stood was an old high elf wizard berating a younger elf and slapping him across the head with a book. Around them were countless Dwemer artifacts and scrap metal.

The old wizard sighed then took a seat on a nearby chair, scribbling notes in his book.

Ignoring the wizard and his Nephew, Hella guided Desmond to the enchanting table. Calcemo glanced at the two briefly before returning to his book. As long as they didn't bother him or touch the artifacts, he didn't care what they were doing.

"This is an arcane infuser or enchanting table," she explained, "These symbols represent the five schools of Magicka - destruction, illusion, restoration, alteration, and conjuration. The crystal ball with the green mist acts as the medium between the soul gem and the item you wish to infuse."

"Interesting. What's that skull?" Desmond pointed to the horned skull at the front, right underneath the crystal ball.

"Absolutely nothing. It's merely a troll skull with goat horns glued on it. In Skyrim, people seem to think it's a must for enchanting, but all you really need is to carve these 5 runes on any table and a crystal ball to act as a medium. There also might be a difference in what wood you used for the table."

Desmond placed his hands on the enchanting table, feeling the power of the runes thrum with energy and resonating within him. Enchanting itself didn't require magicka but creating the table certainly did, and in some cases, capturing souls.

"Now all we need is a soul gem," Hella noted. "Once we have that, I'll have to teach you the soul trap spell." She then clapped her hands with glee. "Capturing souls is going to be so much fun!"

"All out of soul gems. don't ask," Calcelmo stated from his seated position, still scribbling notes.

"Tsk."

Desmond cupped his chin, "Does it have to be a soul gem? Can't we use something else?"

Hella's eyes widened with a craze then grabbed both of his shoulders. "Yes! Yes, we can! That's what makes it so much fun! Soul gems are just easier to use as their internal properties already attract souls, allowing anyone to use them. But! That doesn't mean you can't trap a soul in any random object. Even a rock!"

Hella seemed to be well-versed in the art of enchanting. Desmond imagined all the poor souls she trapped over the years as test subjects. He was glad he wasn't one of them.

"Gems are separated into petty, lesser, common, greater, grand, and black. Each type of soul gem has a magical imprint with petty gems having the most basic, and grand, the most complex. By copying these runic patterns into other objects, they can be a substitute for a soul gem."

"What about black gems?"

"Black soul gems are my favorite!".

Due to the room being quite large, her voice echoed throughout the chamber, causing some of the guards to look on with suspicion. Calcelmo raised his head, staring intently at Hella before returning to his book. His nephew/apprentice standing by the alchemy table also gave a nervous glance.

"Oops," she whispered. "Um, where was I? Oh yea. Souls are categorized as white souls and black souls. Black souls are always grand level and can only be gained from sentient creatures such as humans and elves. They can't be captured in regular soul gems but they can in a black soul gem where its properties are slightly altered to accept black souls. This kind of altering changes the color of the gem to pitch black, hence the name."

Desmond spent the next hour getting taught the imprints of the petty, lesser, and common gems.

He copied the patterns exactly as Hella instructed, onto a few small rocks. The rocks themselves started to glow, even slightly taking on a shine as the runes started to take form.

Calcelmo himself eventually sat up and walked over behind Desmond, looking on with fascination.

"Amazing. These runes bare the same likeness as those found in a centurion dynamo. So dynamos aren't enchanted but simply act as a soul container that charges the centurion. I would have never thought of that."

The old man breathed down Desmonds neck, watching the young Breton work.

When he was done, the rocks flashed white with their runic carving for a brief moment before returning to normal.

"And there you have it. Substitute soul gems." Hella stated.

"Pardon me. May I have those for research? I will compensate you."

Desmond turned his head, seeing Calcelmos face dangerously close to his.

"Uh…sure," Desmond shrugged.

"Great!"

The old wizard walked over to a pile of books and took out a spellbook blowing the dust away with his mouth.

"This is a copy of the stone skin spellbook. It grants decent protection against blades and the like."

Desmond accepted the spellbook and gave Calcelmo the rocks who he then scurried away to his worktable.

"That was a pleasant boon," Hella said. "And you got those runic imprints right down to the last detail."

It didn't feel that difficult for Desmond. It was simply copying patterns, but it did take time. He wondered if the greater, grand and black soul gem were as difficult.

What Hella didn't tell Desmond was that it took her months to even transcribe a petty gems imprint.

As for Calcelmo, he was too distracted to even notice.

"It's getting late, love. Why don't we retire for the night, hehe."

Just as Desmond hastily agreed, Calcelmo turned around.

"Wait just a moment, please." The old wizard scampered over, fishing out a key from his pocket.

"This is a copy of the key to Nchuand-Zel, a Dwemer ruin just beyond those large stone doors.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I think you two are more than what meets the eye. Considering this, I hope you'll lend me your aid in slaying the giant frostbite spider, Nmhe, located deep in the ruins, for me. Do this, and I'll pay you quite handsomely."