“Come with me. Business should be done in private and comfort,” the lady whispered as she led him to the large coach. The coach turned out to be a rolling room of sorts with soft fur covering its floor and walls, a small bed in the corner and a short table in the center. The lady motioned for him to take a seat on the floor across from her at the table.
From one of the chests in the small room, the young lady pulled a small jar along with two crystal glasses. “Before we begin our negotiations, there are a few things you must know. First, this room is soundproof. Anything said or done in here is forbidden to be spoken of outside. Just for future information, merchants from Rane take this very seriously.
“Second, it is customary to first have a drink and converse. Where I’m from we believe that whenever you do business with someone, in a way, they are become part of your family. Anyone caught stealing or misrepresenting their goods is executed. Now, I won’t cheat you but if in the rare occurrence you are ever cheated by a merchant from Rane, get proof to another Rane merchant and it will be taken care of. Do you have any questions my young friend?”
“I never head of Merchants doing anything like that before,” Mark said, trying unsuccessfully to keep the nervousness out of his voice.
The young lady let out a short laugh, “I would be surprised if you had! Merchants in your land have no honor in their trade….. it’s deplorable. There’s good money in moving goods from Rane to Farlen. Now, first introductions. I’m Monique of the Rose Trading Company.”
“I’m….,” he knew he couldn’t use his real name. He needed a new one but he hadn’t figured out what to call himself. “Well, honestly I don’t have a name. I know I need one. If you would like to give me one, I would be more than happy to take it as my own.”
Monique gave him a questioning glance then softly rubbed her chin. “I shall give you a name but if I ever hear you going by another, I shall consider it misrepresentation and I’ve already explained the penalties for such an action. Is that agreeable?”
He thought about her statement and decided he would have to tell her the truth or risk making an enemy. "Yes, if you were to tell me you robbed and killed another Rane merchant for your goods. I would kill you but no one would ever know the reason. As I said before anything said in here is private.... though I can't say it doesn't have consequence."
Mark took a deep breath and hoped for the best. “My birth name is Mark. I was a member of the slave academy. In transport to my master’s home we were attacked and I escaped. While lost in the woods, I came across a magic tome and taught myself the art of magic. The goods you will be buying were not found, but were made by me. I need a new name for fear that my original masters might try and find me. I’m not all that pleased at the idea of become a slave after finally gaining a scent of freedom.” Mark rushed his words, tangling them with each other. After he finished, he stared at the ground, waiting for Monique’s response.
Monique was quiet for a long time. When Mark looked up he noticed that she was rubbing her chin again, looking at him closely as if she were probing the very depths of his soul. “Well, that is quite the story. I have no reason to doubt you. If it’s the truth, I will very much want to keep your secret as you could provide a profitable source of income for me. First off, your name. I think Thaddeus Torin will suit you well.”
Monique brought out a small box and withdrew a silver ring with a gold face that was designed to look like a small wagon wheel with a rose where the hub should be. “Now let me explain. Torin is my family name. It is a rare gift to allow someone the use of one’s family name but if you’re telling the truth, I think you may become a valuable asset to me and my family. Now, if you accept, it is traditional for us to exchange gifts. Mine to you, as is custom, is our family ring. What you give me isn’t as important but the value of the gift expresses the value you put on joining my family.”
He took a long, slow drink from his glass as he mulled over what Monique had said. Thaddeus wasn’t a bad name and having a surname couldn’t hurt. The fact the name was of Rane origin might dissuade people from trying to sell him as quickly into slavery.
Mark quickly dug out the only other ring he owned that wasn’t a light. “This is a shield ring. When you are in danger, just use the trigger command ‘servo’ to activate the protective shield. To deactivate it, repeat ‘servo.‘ The shield will only last one minute and will then have to be recharged,” Thaddeus said, exchanging rings with her.
Monique quickly put on the ring not caring that it was made of steel and crystal. “I must admit, I normally pride myself in my patience, but this is too tempting. Would it be ok for us to go outside so I might try it out?”
As soon as they were outside Monique called over an older gentleman named Collin. At first, Collin refused to hit her with anything but finally consented to hit her with small branch he had broken off a tree. Thaddeus was nervous. He hadn’t had much opportunity to test the shields and only hoped they performed as he expected. As the branch descended it suddenly rebounded with a light pop. Collin swung again this time with much more force and the branch snapped in half causing the older man to stagger forward, off balance from the momentum of the blow. Monique clapped happily, laughing as she tried to catch the poor man before he fell face first into the dirt. Instead she caused him to land hard onto her shield.
Still laughing, she pulled Thaddeus back into the coach. “Marvelous! Simply marvelous! I could easily sell this for a tidy sum. But as it is a gift, I think I shall wear it to the envy of all my peers. Now, on to business. What all do you currently have for sale, Thad?”
He pulled out the eight light rings he had made and placed them on the table. “All I have is light rings like I showed in your camp earlier. They are simple steel and crystal, but will last for about five hours before needing to be recharged. It takes about three days to fully recharge if the magic is completely depleted. The keyword is the same for all of them, ‘lumanare,’ and they work in the same fashion as does your shield ring.”
Turning each one on and off, Monique looked them over closely. “Not worth as much as the shield but they will sell quickly, I can most likely get around a gold for one. I could get more if they were more fashionable.” Monique continued to talk to herself out loud for a few minutes. “’I’ll give you three gold for all eight.”
Thad let out a soft gasp. Three gold was a lot of money for a few steel rings. He had let himself dream of getting two silver apiece. “Deal!”
Monique grabbed his hand in hers and gave it a hardy shake. She then pulled out a dark, elegantly crafted wooden chest, counted out three gold coins and placed them in a row on the table. “Next time haggle a bit. I would have paid around four gold pieces for them. Let this be a learning experience for you.”
He was so surprised with the amount of coin she had offered. He had never even considered countering her offer. As he mentally kicked himself, an idea came to him, “Are you headed to the capital?”
Monique gave him a teasing smile. “Yes, Were you thinking of asking to travel with us?”
“I was thinking of it, yes. But more importantly, I was thinking that I could make a few more rings on the way.”
At the mention of the prospect of more magical items, Monique’s eyes lit up and began to dance. Much the same way they had looked when he had first seen her. It was slightly unnerving. “Do you have everything you need to do it? What all can you make? We’re carrying mostly furs and grain, but we might be able to come to an agreement,” Monique rattled with a greedy gleam in her eyes.
He let out a small laugh of his own at the enthusiasm in her voice and the way she was suddenly tripping over her own words. A moment before, she had seemed so sure and confident. “I can do a fair amount but the stronger the spell, the quicker the crystals will drain. If I had better quality cores, such as gems, diamonds being the best, I could make much more powerful rings. Also, the better the body of the item, the better it is able to channel the spell, wasting less magic
. Metals with few impurities, such as iron, gold and silver work better. Certain woods also work extremely well. In fact, lacewood and marblewood are supposedly the best.”
Monique walked to the back of the small room and pulled a long chest from underneath the bed and began searching through it. After a few moments, she brought over a glistening silver and gold box with two nice garnets set in the lid. Her hands were shaking slightly. “Can you use any of this?” Monique asked, opening the box up to revel a large collection of jewelry.
Thad sent out his magic, testing the gems and metal. They weren’t all great but they were far better than what he had been using. “Yes, I could. If you want, as an extra gift, I could enchant your jewelry box so it won’t open unless you want it to. You can even pick out the keyword.”
“That would be nice, but I don’t want to sell you the jewelry. Instead, I would like to commission you to enchant them. We can discuss what spells I would like on them and what price it would cost to have it done. Will that be agreeable?” she inquired.
They spent long hours that night talking over what all she wanted and, though he would be using her jewelry, he would be making a tidy profit. She even offered to pay him for the enchanting of the jewelry box but he politely refused. Saying it was merely a gift for his new sister, which made her glow.
It took six days before Thad could even see the capital in the distance. He didn’t know what he expected, but what he saw wasn’t it. He could see a tall wall surrounding the city but what surprised him were the many buildings that stood high above the walls. They were still miles away, allowing him to see the capital in its enormity. Hundreds of thousands could easily live within the walls without much trouble. He was nervous as he thought about the city. He kept telling himself that he would figure things out when he got there but now everything was crushing down on him.
Brand, a nice man in his mid-twenties with long raven-black hair and a hawk-like nose, sat down beside Thad at the small campfire he had built. Over the past few days, he had struck up a friendship with Brand who he learned wasn’t really Monique’s slave but an employee of the Rose Trading Company. The marks of ownership were painstakingly painted on with a dye and touched-up every few days to cut down on problems while they were in Farlan.
“Something bothering you, Thad?” Brand said, poking at the fire with a thin stick.
Absentmindedly running his hands through his hair that had grown slightly unruly over the past few weeks, Thad let out a heavy sigh. “I just don’t know what I’m going to do when I finally reach the capital. I have been so fixated on reaching there, I never thought out what I was really going to do when I finally got there.”
Brand gave him a serious look, “We will reach the capital fairly early tomorrow. I would suggest the first thing you do is procure you some clothes. After that, find a place to stay and take it one day at a time. No reason to try and plan your life out before you know what all is available.”
It wasn’t wisdom for the ages, but Brand’s reassuring words did help ease some of the burden from his shoulders. He spent his last night talking late with Brand, trading stories and dreaming of what their futures might hold.
The next morning Thad rode with Monique, talking in the comfort of the coach. He had been able to enchant twelve pieces of jewelry, her money, and the jewelry box. A few of the spells she wanted seemed useful while others were less so. One ring simply glowed slightly, alternating colors every so often. Because the gem had been of good quality, the amount of magic used was negligible. Though the spell served no real purpose, it would last nearly indefinitely if she wanted.
A small bell rang inside the room letting them know they were entering the city and that they would soon be coming to a stop. Monique took this as a time to settle up accounts. She pulled out her money box and used the key causing the lid to spring open. “We haven’t really agreed on a firm price for the work, but I think four gold pieces should more than cover it.
Thad laughed, “Four? You told me yourself that that the price of the jewelry went up greatly with the added magic. I think fifteen gold pieces would be more appropriate and I still think you’re still getting the better end of the deal.”
Monique’s gave him a stern look. “Fifteen? I owned them to begin with. All you did was add a few decorations to them. You don’t pay a gem cutter based on the value of the gem but the work he has done. Five gold pieces.”
Thad held his hand to his chest as if he had been wounded, “Decoration I gave you? Wondrous magic and you call them mere decorations? My fair lady, you can find a gem cutter in almost any town but how many mages do you know? For such a fair lady as yourself, I can go as low as twelve gold pieces.”
Monique let her eyes go wide, “You have to take none of the risk. Not only did I purchase the items, but I still have to sell them before I can make a profit. After I pay you extorted prices, you will bankrupt me. If I must, I can go as high as five gold and ten silver pieces.”
They went back and forth a few minutes before finally settling on six gold and eight silver pieces. As soon as they shook hands, Monique broke into laughter, quickly followed by Thad, “Not bad with more practice you might have gotten me up to ten gold pieces maybe even more. It is one of a kind work, so it is hard to judge the market price, but I think I’ll come out with a large profit from my investment. We will be in town for a few days then we will be headed back through this way after the harvest season. I will be looking for you to see what you might have for sale.”
Thad agreed to keep an eye out for her and to have her some products available when she came back through. As long as he didn’t get chased out of the capital before then. Monique had warned him about the risks of a male trading and he agreed. Sticking with someone he could trust was much more advisable.
The Coach came to a stop and Collin opened the door. They were in front of what Thad was sure was an inn. A signboard with two doves engraved on it and the words Double Dove, hung above the entrance. Not having anywhere else in mind for his stay, Thad followed Monique and Collin into the building.
A busty blond-haired woman that looked to be in her mid-thirties greeted them shortly after they entered the inn. “Welcome to the Double Dove Inn,” she said smiling. “It will be two silver per room, a copper per horse, food and drinks depend on what you order.”
After Monique finished her business Thad walked up to the counter, “I would like a room please.”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth the woman frowned down at him. “Thought you were with the merchants? Five silver a room, meals extra.” Her voice had lost all of the charm it had held earlier and her face turned into a sneer as he counted out the silver and placed it on the counter.
A young boy of about six years old led him to his room where Thad tipped the boy two coppers. The room looked nice and the linens were clean, but at five silver a night, his money wouldn’t last long. He would have to find someplace else quick or he would be broke in a matter of weeks. With his few meager possessions stored in the small trunk at the foot of his bed, Thad stuffed his coin pouch into his jerkin, picked up his wooden sword and headed back down the main hall. When he reached the desk, he inquired about a bath. After paying the one silver and being assured that when he returned from his outing in the city his bath would be waiting for him, he left the inn and headed toward the market district.
As far as he could see, the market district was lined with shops selling everything from trinkets to jewelry so expensive it was ridiculous. He found a decent-looking clothing store and bought three new shirts - two dark blue and one, a nice light green. He also bought two new pairs of pants, a dark blue cloak with pockets lining the inside, and a nice money pouch. All told, it cost him twelve silver and eight copper for the clothes. Almost double what it should have cost, but as a male there was little he could do about it.
Wrapping his new purchase in his cloak he slung it over his shoulder and began looking for a someplace to purchase himself a sword, met
al, and some more crystals or gems if they weren't too expensive. At one of the cheaper jewelry stores he was able to purchase a large sack of crystals of varying sizes, as well as a hand full of garnets and about a pound of broken silver jewelry costing him a total of one gold four silvers and three coppers. The lady was nice and didn't charge him too much more than what was reasonable. Then he found a blacksmith who let him buy two bars of steel for six silvers.
With his materials for enchanting purchased, he made his way to a small weapons store on the edge of the market district. He had seen many others but this one seemed the cheapest. While a good sword would be nice, he planned to use this one for a small experiment. If the experiment worked, even if the blade was of poor quality, it wouldn’t matter. Besides, if he messed up, he wouldn’t be out as much coin.
Inside the store was cluttered with weapons of every type, though most of them were rusted, broken or marred in some fashion. Behind the counter he was surprised to find a man sitting casually, whistling as he sharpened a long nasty looking dagger. “What can I do for you?” the man inquired, never turning to look at him.
“I’m looking for a short sword,” Thad said, putting as much confidence as he could behind his voice.
The shopkeeper sat down the dagger he was sharpening and went to the back of the room. He reappeared a few moments later, carrying a large assortment of short swords. The man displayed them on the counter and sat back down returning to sharpening his dagger. Most of the swords were marred in one fashion or another. After a lot of consideration, he decided on a simple one with a small crack that ran the length of the blade.
The shopkeeper let out a slight chuckle at Thad’s choice. After paying the five silvers for the sword and another seven coppers for a slightly used dark leather sheath and a small whetstone, as he began to leave the store when the man put a hand on his shoulder. “Business is business, but I’m not about to send a young boy out without a warning. That sword you have there will break after the first few times it connects solidly with anything.”
Inexperienced Mage (Reawakening Saga) Page 5