The Orb of Wrath (The Merchant's Destiny Book 1)

by Nic Weissman

  “Maroq,” began Samar.

  “Oh yes, I know, I know. Once you have decided on a particular model for particular merchandise you prefer to not review other options. But I thought that the gentleman may want to consider these possibilities. These backpacks are a tad expensive but definitely worth it. They're all the rage. They are selling fast.”

  “Keep me out of it. Everything that Samar chooses seems fine with me,” clarified Erion.

  “Oh, of course, of course. I just thought that maybe you wanted to see these new things, well...”

  “Give me ten small flasks as well,” interrupted the elf.

  “Coming right up. While I go look for them, you can take a look at these ropes of silk. They are just as strong but much lighter and take up less space, you see. Also I have this oil lantern with a cap. You can turn it on and keep it that way, but anytime you can put down the cap, and its dark again. Ideal to surprise your enemies if you're in a cave or something like that. With torches people will see you coming a mile away, and I wouldn't want anything to happen to my favorite customers. Anyway, I leave everything here for you to take a look. I'll get the flasks. I'll be right back. And don't go anywhere!” Maroq said as he turned to go out the door of the back room.

  Samar and Erion were checking the goods that the talkative salesman had brought, and decided that they were of reasonable quality. They also took a look at some other options but ultimately decided not to change anything. Maroq returned shortly and put the flasks with the rest of the gear.

  “Here you go. I think that's everything. Samar, dear, let me ask. How are your funds? In the special section I have several things that will surely interest you. In addition...”

  Samar always interrupted Maroq when he wanted to say something. Otherwise it was almost impossible for her to talk.

  “I wish, Maroq. I'd love to have a look. But I fear that we can't spend a lot,” said the elf as she stood up. “I'll get one of the horses to carry all this. Erion, I will bring it through one of the back streets to avoid crossing the shopping district with him; I don't want to have problems with the militia. I have to make a detour, so it will take a while,” she added

  “No problem. Take all the time you need. Anyway, if you want we can send all this to the mansion. You'll have it there tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest...”

  “No, thanks. We'll take it. What do I owe you for this?” asked the elf.

  “Well, you bought many things. Let me see. Well, you're my favorite client, so I think we can make an effort. But please do not tell anyone about these prices I'm giving you. I only do this with you. Anyway, I think you can take everything for 270 gold coins,” Maroq concluded.

  “I think it's actually 124 gold coins and 4 silver ones,” Samar said precisely.

  “Oh, don’t say that, for Oris’ sake! What have I done to you? Anyone would say you want us to close. If I sell it for that price I'm losing everything. I have to feed my four children; and the two that are on the way...”

  Maroq continued recounting the many problems and catastrophes that would be triggered if he sold the goods at the price the elf offered. At the same time, the seller knew that Samar had made a precise calculation of the value of each object and knew their market price. It was obvious that she had bought many of these things right there in the past and knew their reasonable price. Maroq still continued to make his speech for a while, until they began to bargain. Samar ended up paying 137 gold coins so she didn't waste any more time on that discussion.

  “Wait here with the goods. I'll get my horse to load all this,” Samar said to Erion.

  The elf paid Maroq and left. Erion watched her go into the street without understanding very well what was coming. In the half hour it took her to return, Maroq tried to sell new trousers, shirts, boots, armor, daggers, swords, horses, even a farm near the town with pigs and chickens included. Erion had met with vendors of all types, and had very well cataloged the ones that went in the same category as Maroq, but he really didn't ever finding a seller that talkative. Erion made a mental note. Perhaps the man could be useful someday.

  When he finally saw Samar by the door, his head was turning because the seller made him dizzy. He wondered whether the elf would have left him there on purpose, instead of sending for the horse. In any case, she was already there.

  Within minutes they loaded Samar's horse with all the goods. They said goodbye to Maroq, who was still trying to teach them the benefits of some of his goods, and left.

  “What a character!” Erion commented.

  “True. But he's harmless and really has everything. Also, if you know what things are worth you can buy for a reasonable price,” reasoned Samar.

  “What was that special section?” asked the young man.

  “Magical objects. But it takes a lot of gold to buy any goods of that kind,” explained the elf. “Perhaps when the mission is over, if things are going well, we can go back and take a look.”

  They returned to the square where they could pick up Erion's horse and, after distributing the load, left to go to Thost's mansion.

  *******

  Thost helped Dreshpho set the table, despite her protests.

  “You focus on the roast,” the knight told her with a serious gesture.

  Table for six in the main dining room adjoining the kitchen. Thost soon had everything in place. Dreshpho felt a little strange. Since childhood she had served that house and was used to being another servant in a myriad of them. She was always devoted to the kitchen, while others cleaned, organized, set the table, picked things up, took care of the farm and a long list of all kinds of tasks. Now it was only her and although it was very strange to see her master doing tasks that once only a maid or a footman, she really appreciated the help. It was too big of a house for her to be able to do it all. They all collaborated in one way or another.

  Dreshpho put a snack on the table so that the former Count could entertain himself: a small bowl of olives. Thost loved them. Shortly after, the cook explained that the food was ready and asked the knight what she should do. With a gesture Thost told her to wait, as he left the porch to scan the horizon from the top of the hill. Two riders rode over there on Ekunon's road. At that moment he could not guess who they were. He decided to wait for them inside the house.

  A while later Samar and Erion come through the door looking a little tired. They sat at the table.

  “Have you seen the guys behind you? Do you know anything about them?” Thost asked.

  “No, we have not seen them,” said Samar.

  “Well, it's clearly past noon, so let's eat. Dreshpho, you can serve the meal. Thank you,” said the knight.

  “I hope that everything went well,” Erion said.

  “Surely yes,” Thost said.

  The cook's roast was really delicious. Everyone ate with joy as Samar and Erion detailed all that had happened during the morning. Thost approved Samar's decisions regarding purchases, despite having spent almost the entire advance that Phoroz had provided. Erion also agreed.

  When they finished eating they sat in the main hall. Thost took a long pipe in which he put some tobacco leaves. He asked Erion if he smoked. The young man explained that he had done it once, but not regularly.

  “I'll smoke with you when we finish the mission, if we're successful,” he said.

  “Done,” Thost said.

  Somewhat later, they heard Mithir and Ithelas' horses. The young men entered the house after leaving the mounts in the stables.

  “How did it go?” Erion asked curiously.

  “We'll tell you later. We're hungry, we haven't eaten anything,” explained Mithir.

  “I can eat an ox,” Ithelas added.

  They decided to sit with young men as they ate. Both explained all the morning's events one by one, until the final resolution, where they got the Bestiary.

  “That has been painstaking research,” Samar said. I'm sure it was worth it.

  After they finished eating, the
y all sat in the living room, where Ithelas read them in detail the chapter about vampires. They all found the information very interesting and were discussing various options and strategies. One of the conclusions they reached was that they should try to be prepared for anything. Because an old vampire could have multiple servants, they might have to face different kinds of enemies. Thost then briefly explained the preparations he had made and, after talking a while longer, they all left the house and went down the hill to the training ground.

  Following Thost's plan, they began distance shooting training. Samar reached several targets without apparent effort and then concentrated in guiding the others. She made some minor corrections to Thost, who also shot with a bow, and then Erion, who practiced with two types of crossbow, the hand crossbow and the normal size one. Ithelas fired several shots with a sling to the nearest targets. Mithir did the same with a blowgun first, and then throwing small daggers. Thost and Erion also practiced several times with spears.

  The skills of the team were varied. Nobody obviously compared to Samar. But Erion was perhaps the second best shooter of the group. Thost was not bad at all, especially with the spear. Mithir and Ithelas felt like a fish out of water in these practices, although in the short and medium distances they had achieved some targets.

  They continued to practice for nearly an hour until Thost said they should move to the next exercise. They all picked up their favorite weapon and started beating their doll, in a sequence predetermined by Thost: hit the left side of the neck, heart, right hip, left waist and neck to the right. Samar used a long sword, Mithir a dagger, Erion a short sword, Ithelas a mace and Thost a bastard sword. After they tried some other weapons, but the one that varied the most was Thost: ax, short sword, two-handed sword, mace, war hammer. He seemed to be versed in the use of all close range weapons.

  Then Thost matched them to fight each other: Erion with Ithelas and Samar with Mithir. He gave some instructions of what to do to make sure they wouldn't hurt each other, and then let them fight for a few minutes. Thost frequently interrupted them and indicated what they should change: weapon position, body position, feet, how to make a hole in the rival's guard, how to take a defensive stance, what benefits and what weaknesses each weapon provided.

  Erion learned that afternoon more about using weapons than he had in his entire life. The world of Oris was a dangerous place and it was important to have some defensive skills. But the weapons had never been a primary concern for him. He had tried to develop other important skills for his "work". Mithir also learned some tricks, but after that afternoon he was even more convinced that he must learn more and better spells to be able to defend himself. He understood that, somehow, he was more vulnerable than he had thought.

  Thost said then that they should continue with the equipment exercises. He put all the members of the group: Ithelas and himself forward, with the sword and mace; Mithir behind them, right in the middle, and Samar and Erion with bow and crossbow, also behind next to Mithir. The goal was to sequentially approach the two dummies placed at a hundred steps, causing the maximum damage. The marks on the ground, every twenty steps, indicated the place where they would take the next shot.

  They started with the group of five, walking together toward the two "enemies" at once. As they came to one of the land marks, Ithelas and Thost crouched, Samar and Erion fired their weapons, and Mithir cast a spell of magic missiles. Then they began walking again. In the next fifteen or twenty steps, they line of gunners would reload their weapons and prepare the next shot, as they walked in formation with the group. Erion struggled to keep up, because recharging the crossbow was a little more laborious. Samar, however, managed to load and fire her bow twice at the same time. The front line came up and hit the enemies with their weapons in a couple of occasions. Finally, Erion and Samar took up their swords and surrounded the enemy by the flanks.

  They repeated the exercise three or four times. Every time they managed to move a little faster, hit the target with more shots, move as a more compact group and, ultimately, improved their teamwork. Thost proposed to raise the difficulty. This time, the line of gunners would stay still a hundred steps from the enemy, while the front line advanced. The difficulty was twofold. On the one hand, the distance was greater and was therefore more difficult to reach the target. On the other hand, it was more complicated to coordinate with Thost and Ithelas. As they came to one of the marks, they stood and crouched. That was the moment in which Erion and the elf should make their shots above their peers. After repeating the exercise several times, they improved their effectiveness.

  Thost felt satisfied and led the group to the last area of the training ground: the defensive circle. There they practiced different combinations of Ithelas' defensive spells and Mithir's offensive ones, while the others fired their arrows. Thost sought a protective position, sometimes at the edge of the circle of twenty steps and other times closer to the group, according to the range of the defensive spell Ithelas was using. They tried out different options of attack and defense to alternate with those positions.

  During the day everyone could train their skills. And, more importantly, they could understand those of the others. This allowed them to explore options of how to combine them. This made them much stronger as a group but, after what they had read in the afternoon about vampires, everyone wondered if it would be enough to survive their mission.

  They returned to the house and began to prepare the equipment. As Phoroz had explained, the portal would open to an area rather close to the valley where the vampire's castle stood. After discussing it for a while, they decided to only take a mule, which they loaded with everything they believed might need. In addition, they each carried their equipment on their back.

  Meanwhile, dinner was ready. They sat down to eat while they discussed the thorniest issues. Interestingly they agreed pretty quickly on what they thought would be the most difficult issue: Ithelas would be responsible for transporting the box when they had it in their possession. It was the person that everyone trusted, even Erion. It took a little longer to decide what rule they would follow in case of dispute and the fact if they did not have much time for debate would occur. Erion reluctantly accepted that they would follow Thost's criteria. The young man valued his individual freedom above all else, and he was beginning to understand that forming a part of a larger group or family meant that it was inevitable to make some concessions in this regard.

  After finishing dinner, and saying goodbye to Dreshpho, they picked up their weapons and left the house. As they agreed, they would open the portal in a nearby forest, half a league from the Mansion on the Hill. You never know who may appear across the portal, and they wouldn't want to accidentally place an enemy at their home. They finally reached the forest. Under the light of a full moon, Mithir took the scroll that their client had given them and called the portal which opened before them. It was a large oval, about three steps high, with a silver edge that emitted short flashes and looked completely blackened inside.

  Everyone wondered what awaited them on the other side. Thost crossed first. Ithelas followed him, pulling the mule, and then Mithir and Samar. Erion cast a look back wondering if it was the last time he would see that forest. Then he disappeared into the portal.

  SECOND PART

  ASSAULT to the vampire's crypt

  PROLOGUE

  Azuharr, the black dragon, knew that Tazar, the silver dragon, was nearby and also that he was becoming more powerful every day. Soon he would be more powerful than him. He also understood that Tazar had not forgotten what happened that afternoon nearly a thousand years ago, nor the location of the cave where an immense treasure was guarded. Azuharr had to find him. Time was running out.

  He sensed that he had hidden in one of the human kingdoms. He was convinced that he would be helping, in some way, the prosperity and stability of the kingdom. So he devised a plan. If he could significantly destabilize a kingdom and Tazar was in it, he would have to show himself to
help the humans. Then he could surprise him and kill him before it was too late.

  He only had to decide in which kingdom to begin.

  CHAPTER 1: BEYOND THE PORTAL

  Erion felt a strange tingle that ran throughout his body and then a kind of brief but violent shaking that gave him a sense of nausea. For a moment he could see nothing at all, everything was completely black; it was total darkness which he had never experienced before, as if hung on an abyss as deep as hell. Suddenly, an intense blinding light forced him to close his eyes. He was back on land. Gradually, as he got used to the intensity of the light, he began to open his eyes again, blinking incessantly.

  The rest of the group was there and was watching him. The nausea he had felt for a brief moment had already vanished. They were in broad daylight and the sun shone with great intensity. It must have been late in the afternoon but it was still very hot. Now that he thought about it, he was almost suffocating. He began to remove his leather armor. He was wearing too many clothes for the temperature of the place.

  “What a trip! How do you feel? Do you still feel nauseous?” Ithelas asked as he approached him.

  “No. I only felt it for a moment; when I was... inside,” Erion said. “I feel good, I guess.”

  “It's a normal feeling when you use a long distance portal. But it passes right away. And I've heard that if you use them often you get to get used to it,” Mithir said with gestures.

  “Check your gear. Everyone, please! We must make sure we didn't lose anything during the jump,” requested Thost.

  The members of the group took off their backpacks and began to check what they had in them. After, Ithelas and Mithir checked the equipment that was loaded onto the mule they had brought. Nothing seemed to be missing.

  Erion took advantage to put some of the clothes he had on before crossing the portal in his backpack. It was sweltering in there. He realized he had not stopped sweating since he got there. The others had also considerably lightened their clothes; including Samar. She wore a green short-sleeved blouse, brown shorts and low boots. As usual, she wore her quiver on her back and her bow in her left hand. Erion thought she had never looked so beautiful.