“That is the only key to this vault. Please keep it in a safe place.” I nodded and put the key in my pocket.
As we went back up towards his office he looked at me and asked, “David, with that much wealth, why do you stay here in this place? You could take the girls and live anywhere comfortably and safely!”
“If you had seen how thankful the people of Jaoca village were then you’d understand. I MUST do this because, if not me, then who?”
He stopped walking and looked at me. He smiled and said, “David, you really are a good man. I don’t even mind that you cheated to win the tournament!”
“Sir!” I gasped with mock indignation. “I won on pure talent! No one said that the talent had to be archery!”
He laughed, turned, and walked toward his office laughing all the way.
I returned to the room and quietly let myself in. The girls had gathered in a circle and were practicing spell words. They were holding their wands, pointed at the ceiling, just in case of a misfire. Isabel was leading out and quizzing the girls in turn about the spells they had just learned or already knew. I was glad that I’d had years of online training to get the spell words into my head! I suppose that online schools weren’t worthless, I thought to myself cynically.
Someone blonde looked up and saw me. “Hello David! Care to join us?”
I started over and said, “Ok, there has to be some way to tell you two apart. This is starting to make me a bit crazy, not knowing who I’m talking to!”
She grinned and said, “I’m Elizabeth! Look here.” She turned her head slightly and pointed to the right side of her neck. There was a small freckle there. “That is almost the only difference between us and the only difference that can be seen while we’re dressed.” She suddenly blushed as she realized what she’d just said.
The rest of us, other than her blushing sister were grinning. I said, “We’re all family here so don’t be too embarrassed. I’m sure we’ll all say or do something that will embarrass us sooner or later.” I winked at Chloe, just for good measure. She added to the number of blushing girls.
As everyone calmed down they returned to their spell practice. The day was drawing to a close so I stuck my head out of the door and asked the guard to have dinner for seven sent up. With a nod he was off. I sat close to the door so I could open it when the maids show up. I was sure they’d have their hands full. When the knock came, I opened the door to allow them in. The girls had made a game of floating the pillows around the room, passing them from one to the other. I had no idea how the food wasn’t spilled everywhere. The maids were so busy watching the flying pillows that they didn’t even look where they were going and ran into the table. That snapped them back to reality and they set the table quickly, watched for a few moments and left.
We had dinner and I told the girls that we should call it an early evening. I let them know that I needed to visit a big city. Isabel told me that the closest big city would be Tesil. It was about a hundred miles north. When the girls start getting up from the table I wished them a good night and told Isabel that I’ll be right back.
I walked to the vault and opened it up. I lifted the lid on gem box and grabbed a dozen gems from the top. The box was so crammed full of gems that you couldn’t even notice that any have been taken. I was sure there were still hundreds left. I closed up the box and left the vault, locking it and nodding to the guards on my way out. When I got back to the room it was cleared out except for Isa who was dressed for bed and sitting on the couch waiting for me. I went to my junk drawer and emptied a coin purse into the drawer. I put the gems into the pouch and joined Isa on the couch.
I told her that the reason that I wanted to go to town was because, when Pariset had seen the gem box, he had estimated the value in the millions. She gasped and almost fell off the couch! I didn’t blame her, that was how I’d felt too! I gently poured the dozen gems I’d grabbed out of the pouch onto the cushion between us. I hoped that, as royalty, she’d seen stones and could maybe identify them. She looked them over but couldn’t really identify or appraise them. She explained that a princess wore jewelry but didn’t buy jewelry! I told her that if we could sell the ones I brought up in town tomorrow for ten thousand or so then Pariset’s ‘millions’ estimate would be accurate. I bagged them up and stuck the pouch back in my pocket. I asked if Isa was ready for bed. She was as it had been a long, uneventful day. She headed for bed while I killed the lights and then followed her. Hopefully tomorrow would be more fun!
Chapter Eighteen
I woke early and dressed. I put my wand in my right pocket with the vault key and the pouch with the gems and my bull coin pouch with five gold coins and assorted silver and copper in my left. Isabel woke and asked if she should wear wizard clothes or something more suited to Tesil, the city we were going to today. I suggested that if we were to be the wizards of the kingdom then we should dress the part. If we went to a big city we would become more quickly recognized as wizards, our clothes would be a big part of it. I said that I was going down to put an order in for breakfast. It might be a good idea if she looked in on the girls and made sure they were getting around. She said she would and I stepped out.
I walked out of the bedroom and the guards snapped to. The one I usually sent on my errands looked at me expectantly, but I told him that I’d do the walking for him this time. I walked down stairs and saw Pariset standing by his office. I waved and walked over to him.
“We’re going to be going out again today.” I informed him.
“Nothing new there! A village to rescue or just a training run?” he asked.
“Actually, I was going to have a few gems appraised. Isabel had said that Tesil should have someone that would do that for us.” I said.
“Tesil, huh? That’s a large enough city and the jeweler has a very large shop marked with a wooden gemstone cutout. How long will you be staying and what day should I expect your return?” he asked.
“We should be back here before dark. While I’m thinking about it let the vault guard know for me that if they hear anything coming from inside the vault, not to worry. I might send something back if I find anything worth having.”
“Umm… My… Umm… David. You do know that Tesil is a bit over a hundred miles away, right? What noises from the inside of the vault? I don’t mean to be nosy but I’d really like to know what that’s about!”
“Just between me and you, my friend, I could make the round trip in about forty-five minutes but with the new girls we’ll take our time. The noise in the vault would be me sending something there using a teleport spell. It’s in Tesil one second and the vault the next.”
Pariset shook his head and chuckled, “I wonder if I’ll ever get used to things like this! It’s like living something out of the history books! Valeview and all!”
“I’m glad to have you with us in making a new history, Pariset. I hope to either completely clean up the Gwyllt or leave a wizard to continue protecting it.”
He put a hand on my shoulder, “Just be careful and don’t plan on leaving us any time soon, my friend.”
I took my leave and walked over to the kitchen. And the cook greeted me. “Good morning, my Lord! Seven this morning?”
I smiled nodding and said, “I’ve become predictable! I hate it when that happens!”
She grinned and told me, “with the things that have been going on in the castle and the rumors, that of course I don’t listen to, you’ll never be predictable my Lord!”
I bade her a good morning. I returned upstairs and found the room was full of girls rubbing their eyes and stretching. Everyone saw me come in and greeted me with cheerful good mornings. I let everyone know that breakfast would be delivered soon. Alice and the twins shook their heads. They just couldn’t get used to having maids take care of them. We talked back and forth about the trip to Tesil while we were waiting. I suggested that we try to locate an inn, pub or something like that go get something to eat at noon. Isa laughed and said it soun
ded like a good idea as long as it wasn’t like the last pub we’d stopped at. Chloe and Alba laughed and then had to explain the story to the other girls. By the time the story was through, breakfast had arrived and we all sat down to eat. I asked around if anyone was going to have any trouble flying for an extended period of time and no one said anything. I reminded everyone that we’d be flying rather quickly so be sure to shield up. I said that I’d like to fly point with a wedge like geese at about a thousand feet, so there would be plenty of time if something happened. Everyone just nodded. I guess they still hadn’t fully awakened or I just worry too much.
We left the room and went down the stairs. Alice and the twins were extremely excited and I sent them ahead, and told them to meet us in the middle of the courtyard. Alba looked at me with a ‘me too’ look so I sent her with them. I felt better with one of the girls that had been training longer being with them anyway. Just before we walked through the keep doors Chloe’s face turned a bit pink and she called me back to her. Isa stopped just outside and waited.
“David, you have to do me a favor. Just put your arm around me while we walk out into the courtyard.” she said pleadingly.
Isa looked around then came back in to walk out with us. I had an arm around both of them and had no idea why. As we were walking down the steps I saw Cador sitting in front of his shop. There was a very pretty young lady sitting beside him. (I reminded myself that she wasn’t pretty. She was a hideously ugly creature.) And then I understood!
We got to the center of the courtyard and Chloe and Isa took their arms from around me. I said “Alright, shields up everyone”, and lightly swatted them on their bottoms. Gotta play along, right? I listened to the pops of shields and then nodded for them to take off. They rose slowly to ten feet and hovered. I cast Fly and went up behind them, moved to the front and climbing slowly led the way north over the wall. As we were climbing Chloe caught up with me.
“What was that all about!” she asked indignantly.
I was confused, “What was what?”
“You swatted me on my bottom! What was that all about?”
“Well, either that you have a cute bottom and I couldn’t resist or that I wanted Cador to think that we had a very close relationship!” I replied.
“Which is it?” she asked turning red.
“I’ll leave that up to you to decide!” I winked at her and told her we’re going to be speeding up so she should get in line.
I saw her go straight back to Isa and they were watching our flying wedge out of the corner of their eyes while talking back and forth. I focused on speeding up and keeping an eye on the girls. They were pacing me perfectly so I continued accelerating. I watched the ground below flashing by and tried to gauge our speed. I could only guess, but estimated that we’d passed a hundred and fifty and were still accelerating. I pulled off the speed-up focus and locked in the speed we’re at in my mind. I looked back and made sure the girls weren’t having any problems. On the contrary they were looking around at the ground and sky whizzing by having the time of their lives. I kept a sharp eye on the sky. I hadn’t heard of any flying critters but it seemed that I never heard about anything until after it has tried to kill me! Right now I thought that the only flying thing that might want to kill me would be Chloe! I chuckled to myself. Chloe and Isa were flying out of formation and practically on top of each other so they could talk over the wind. I began to worry that I might have made a gaffe. All I could do was fly and wait for the city to show up. I was sure when my feet were back on solid ground I’d hear about it!
After close to an hour I saw the city in the distance. I started slowing down watching that I didn’t get run over by a girl not paying attention. I shouldn’t have worried about that because they’d all been really good at taking direction. We slowed and descended until we floated to a landing. I didn’t put us on the road because the main road into town seemed crowded and I didn’t want to throw the town into chaos. We walked across the field that we’d landed in and joined up with the main road. We got more than a few stares but we’d gotten used to that by now. We made our way into the city. It was quite a place compared to the little towns and villages that I’d been to. There were shops for everything and the girls, especially the previously poor girls were beside themselves. I told them all to let me know if they found anything that they would like to have. I brought some money so they could do some minor shopping if they felt like it. I did ask them to stick together and to avoid conflict if at all possible. Isa told me that she’d like to stay with me while I looked for the jewelers. I said, “Have fun and be careful. We’ll meet up before noon so start looking for us before that.”
Everyone agreed and Isa and I went one way and the five others, the other way. We didn’t have far to go, it turned out. Just two blocks down I saw the sign that Pariset had described. We walked through the door and were greeted by a heavy set man behind the counter.
“May I help you sir?
“Yes sir, I hope you can. First I’d like to have a ring appraised and sized.” I had Isabel take the ring I’d given her off and hand it to the man.
He looked at the ring. Turning it around and checking the stone and set and whatever else a jeweler would look at. Then he looked up at me. “If you were selling this to me, right now, I’d give you twenty-five hundred for it. It is worth about three thousand but a business man has to make a profit!” He measured Isabel’s finger, then went about doing some more of his jeweler stuff.
I nodded, said thank you and retrieved the ring. I handed it back to Isabel who now had a perfectly fitting ring and then turned back to the jeweler. “I also have some loose gemstones that I’ve heard you might buy. If you’ll give me an appraisal on them then we’ll see what we can do.” I took the small pouch out of my pocket and placed it on the counter top.
The man picked it up, untied it and poured the contents out onto a cloth. He looked at me with a hard stare and said, “Did you steal these? These gems aren’t some of grandma’s old gems. I haven’t seen anything like these in ages.”
“Let’s just say that I took them from an Orc Captain that didn’t need them anymore” I smiled.
The man shakes his head. “A man doesn’t kill an Orc Captain. I think you made up that story to cover a theft! I’ve half a mind to call for the guard!”
I’d had enough. I floated my wand out of my pocket and laid it in my hand that was on the counter. “Good sir, calling me a thief is way out of line! I did kill the Orc Captain and I’d be happy to show you how I did it!” Isa put her hand on my shoulder and I turned my head away from the man to wink at her and then back to him.
“Are you a wizard? You are, aren’t you! You’re a wizard!” the man exclaimed excitedly and the color drained from his face as he remembered what he had just been saying. “Good Wizard, I beg your forgiveness but in my business one can’t be too careful. I believe that you killed the creature and require no demonstration. Let me look at these gems for you…” He started examining the gemstones with a skilled eye.
He finally looked up and took a deep breath. “If you’re selling, right now, today I’ll give you thirty. I’d have to pay in platinum but I’m sure that a man of your stature would be able to handle that coinage.”
“Thirty would be fine. We’ll take it and platinum would be no problem at all.” I said calmly.
The man stepped toward the back of the shop and I turned to Isa. “Thirty thousand. That means millions! What in the world could we do with so much money?” I asked.
“You could afford a consort, or maybe even five!” She giggled.
“Speaking of other women, you are going to tell me what Chloe was so upset with me for, aren’t you?”
“As soon as we are done here and can find a nice place to wait for the girls I’ll tell you what we talked about.” she promised.
The jeweler finally returned lugging a very heavy bag. “Here you are, sir. Three thousand platinum as agreed. Would you care to count it?”
“Yes sir! I did.”
“Then that’s good enough for me. I know you wouldn’t cheat me.” I said with a touch of a threatening undertone.
“Absolutely not sir Wizard!” he exclaimed.
I opened the bag and took out six coins and handed them to Isa. “Take this for the apprentices.” I told her.
The jeweler gasps, “You’re a Master Wizard? And you say that you’re training apprentices?”
“I am.” I said. “This is my wife Princess Isabel. She and her sisters, Chloe and Alba are apprenticing under me with three others. The other five, dressed as we are, are exploring the town as we speak. I have a lot more business to bring you if you are interested and can afford it.”
“Stars be praised! With the wizards back, maybe the kingdom will be better off! I would love to have your business, how much are we talking?” He asked.
“Honestly, it would be in the millions. I’m in no hurry for gold on hand but would do business with you when ever you were able. We are in Valeview if you ever need to get us a message. Just ask for the wizard or Lord Stephenson.”
Vol. 1 - Another Typical Day (The Wizards of Eredwynn) Page 13