Chapter 4

It had taken ten minutes and multiple promises not to tell their parents and to let them stay, but they had finally persuaded the young gnomes to release Maisie and calm down, deciding he could help both himself and them Xander made a suggestion.

"If the three of you are going to spend your time here, why don't we make a deal?"

Maisie looked at him questioningly, he winked at her before continuing.

"You see me and my lovely assistant here need to get this whole area in order, and you three seem to need something to do, so if you three can help with tidying and cleaning, then I'll teach you to make things like this." 

Opening his hand in front of him to reveal the stored construction drone, Xander flipped his hand, the drone fell towards the floor while unfolding and expanding, landing on eight mechanical limbs it stood almost as tall as the young gnomes, the sound of whirling gears could be heard before it started scuttling around the room, using the small grips on each limb it was able climb the walls, all four of the gnomes were watching it intently so Xander snapped his fingers causing them to jump and the drone to leap to his side. Glancing at each other the three young gnomes huddled together and started discussing his offer, listening carefully Xander could only pick up a few words, the girl, who seemed to be the leader of the group mentioned "the rest" while the two boys who were mainly just listening both nodded enthusiastically when she suggested they might get food, and surprisingly when she asked for agreement the shorter of the two boys blurted out something Xander had been hoping for.

"I wanna learn Runes"

The girl gave him a look of incredulity.

"Really Cog? I get t'at 'is gizmo's mad but it don't make 'im no miracle maker"

Xander decided to take that as his que.

"Well miracles might be beyond me, but my assistant here would be happy to teach you Runecraft in fact I was planning to learn from her myself. As for your other points that I happened to overhear, I am happy to supply food in exchange for your help, and I extend this offer to any of "the rest" you mentioned."

Gesturing over to Maisie he couldn't help but smile as her face flicked between annoyance and surprise, with a stiffled laugh completing the effect.

After a moment she sighed and gave a nod.

"Sure I can teach you, whether I'll do it well, I've no clue."

Xander smiled and waited for the young gnomes response.

After glancing at her companions the girl stepped forward, spat on her hand and held it out, using her other arm she pointed at herself, then the boys.

"I'm Cam, t'ats Crank, t'ats Cog, and you got a deal."

Xander spat on his fortunately gloved hand and went to shake on it, but as he reached forward Cam pulled her hand back and with a sharp tone added. 

"T'at's assuming you'll keep 'em safe."

She brought her hand back down. Xander grabbed her small hand and shoke.

"You have my word, while I walk these lands no harm will come to them."

He gave an overly dramatic bow and grinned.

"Now then before we can do anything else, we need to get things tidy."

With a clap of his hand the drone set off around the room gathering up anything large enough to be useful and stacking it in one corner.

"Until the materials arrive lets focus on the easy things. Cam, you three just need to get the floors and surfaces clear, if you follow C.R.I.S you should find it easy."

The drone raised one limb and waved, the trio dashed out of the room returning quickly now armed with brooms before getting to work, laughing as they did. 

Xander gestured for Maisie to follow and walked to the opposite end of the room before facing her and giving a guilty grin.

"Your note said we needed more hands."

After giving him a withering look Maisie smiled.

"It did say that, wasn't expecting kids hands though, but at least they get to learn."

She smiled wistfully before continuing.

"The materials should be here in a few hours. So what are we doing while they tidy up?"

Xander cleared the debris from the area before pulling the throne out if its pouch and placing it on the ground, stepping back as it activated.

"There's still some parts I'll need and if we don't want to spend years, if we're lucky, collecting them, we'll need to dismantle this."

Xander pressed his hand into a small depression on the back of the throne, there was a loud click and all across the throne locks released, he beckoned Maisie over to his side as he lifted of the back panel and placed it out of the way before crouching down and begining his work. Looking in to the workings of the throne, Maisie pointed at the two orbs in the center, one glowing a warm green the other crackling with cold blue lightning.

"Let me guess those are what we want?"

Xander looked up from the cables he was detaching.

"Yes, but they're not the main thing."

He tapped a black metallic box with wires linking it to every part of the throne.

"But every piece we can keep intact is helpful, you have two options, take off the panels so I can get it done faster, or you can go round the front and we meet at the core."

Maisie walked round to the front of the throne before calling round as she got to work.

"If I beat you to the core you're making me one of these."

Xander chuckled, if she was smart she'd be trying to workout his tech, as long as the core and the linked reactors were fine she could do what she wanted. As he dismantled his throne Xander allowed his mind to wander, the laughter from the trio faded as they and the drone moved on to clearing the corridor and other rooms causing a sad smile to cross his face, if he could connect the core up to the neural pad he would be able to use it to at least check which pieces of tech he had detected if not their relative locations, even while locked down he needed to know what crises were in his future.

As Xander finally started removing cables from the actual core about 3 hours later there was the sound of approaching footsteps as Crank practically marched into the room stopping in front of Xander and gave a childish attempt at a salute. Deciding to play along Xander stood up and gave a clipped nod.

"Report."

Grinning from ear to ear Crank responded in a overly serious voice.

"Sir, there is a guest at the gates, what are your orders?"

"Gather your companions and escort the visitor to me, be sure to carry any cargo they have."

Crank marched out of the room as Maisie placed a piece of the throne down beside her, and stood up, looking at the door she clicked her tongue.

"If you play along he'll keep doing it."

"Then he'll make a good Guard Captain one day. Once the delivery's finished we should get them lunch, know anywhere suitable?"

Once the five crates of materials had been brought in to the main room Maisie had led them to a restaurant only a brief walk from the what Xander was beginning to think of as his laboratory, the front of the restaurant was in almost as bad of a state as the lab, giving Maisie a questioning look he walked through the door doing his best to avoid knocking more of the peeling paint than was necessary. Although run down the interior made Xander smile, it was obvious that this was a converted home, the walls of the entry hall were covered in faded floral wallpaper that was peeling away from the walls in various places, the floor covered in thin worn carpet, the five doors leading out of the hall were unpainted wood, the metal handles worn with use, Maisie pushed past him and approached a small table with a large book and a ornate gold bell that she rang, a moment later the door at the end of the corridor swung open and the oldest woman Xander had ever seen appeared from one of the doors, using an ornate cane, an engraved silver handle visible from between her bony fingers, she slowly made her way over to them, a tired smile on her face she addressed Maisie.

"A table for five dearie?"

Opening the book she pulled a pencil from somewhere and started looking for the right page.

"That'd be great thanks Mrs. Walton."

Mrs. Walton scribbled something in the book, closed it and gestured for them to follow her as she slowly moved towards a door on the left.

As they slowly made their way through the building Xander took the time to examine the restaurant, it was strangely similar to the home his grandparents had owned when he'd been very young, finely decorated plates were displayed between oil paintings depicting quaint villages and idyllic views of the countryside, the room they were led to was in a much better state, thick high quality carpet, and the wallpaper bright and new, as his thoughts began to wander he was drawn back to the present as Maisie clapped him on the back.

"Xan? You can sit down you know."

As Xander embarrassedly took a seat at the fine wooden dining table before looking for a menu.

Chuckling Maisie shock her head.

"No menus here Xan, Eda picks the meal, I know the place is a bit odd but trust me the food is great."

Xander gave her a confused look, but she was looking beside him at Cam intently.

"I get why you jumped us but, one thing's been bugging me, you know?"

Cam looked over.

"W'at's t'at?"

"what were you doing chasing each other around?"

"Crank found some weird junk, I said we'd sell it, but Cog tried to grab it, and it broke."

Xander heard a whisper from Cog on his other side.

"But it was working."

 The sound of the door opening drew his attention, looking around he saw Mrs. Walton enter with a large tray, covered in dishes plates and bowls, balanced on her cane. Maisie smiled at her.

"Thank you Eda." 

 Xander watched intently as Mrs. Eda Walton approached the table before she shakely lifted the tray, her cane staying perfectly upright, standing Xander took the tray from her and placed it on the table, as he did the she took a seat and began helping herself to the food, for the first time Xander focused on the meal, on the tray in fine porcelain crockery was a large roast chicken with all the trimmings, Xander dropped back in his seat annoyed that he hadn't expected it after the design of the restaurant, most of the group had already followed their hosts example and started helping themselves to food, Cam though was looking at Xander with a questioning look, not wanting to explain, he shook his head and dug in.