by Cadman, Dean
He quickly looked around to make sure nobody could see them, and without a second thought, he lifted her clean off the ground and into the air, while she kicked and screamed for him to put her down immediately. Laughing at her flailing her arms and legs around in mid-air, Lusam said, “Actually, I was practising last night. I've become quite good at it. In fact, I bet I could keep you there all day. Hmm … I wonder if it's any more difficult to hold something above the water?”
“Don't you dare!” she screamed at him. “Put me down right now!”
“Only if you promise not to make fun of me anymore,” he replied, still laughing at her.
“Yes! Yes! I promise. Now put me down!” she squealed.
He gently lowered her to the ground, and released his spell.WHACK! She hit his arm.
“Don't ever do that again!” she yelled at him. Neala actually looked visibly shaken by the experience, and Lusam was very hard pressed to stop laughing at her expense.
Regaining control of his amusement, he offered a half-hearted, “Sorry.”
Neala glowered at him as he tried to put his most apologetic face on, but inside he still found her reaction amusing to say the least, and he was sure she could tell. After a few minutes of silence, Neala asked, “So … are you going to tell me what you thought of last night that would help us, or not?”
“Well, as you may, or may not know, the city of Helveel is an old mining town. This river runs directly from the Elveen mountains, and it used to contain lots of gold in its sediment. It's been a long time since it's been worth panning for gold here, but I think I can collect enough gold with magic to make it worth the effort,” he replied, then waited for her to start teasing him about his idea.
He was pleasantly surprised when she just calmly replied, “Do you really think you could do that?”
“Yes, I think so. I can locate any gold that's in the river magically, then levitate it off the riverbed. Once I have collected it all together, I can remove it from the river easy enough. The problem would be how to create coins or strips with it. I have a few ideas about that, but it might take a bit of practice before I get it right.”
Neala was silent for what seemed like a long time, and at first Lusam thought she might be too sceptical about his idea, but he was soon proved wrong.
“Once you've got the gold out of the river, it wouldn't matter how long it took you to turn it into coins,” she said nodding towards the river. “Even if you couldn't make anything out of it, the gold would still be worth money.” “Yes, I thought about that too. The problem is, if we turn up in town with a bag full of gold dust, it's likely to start a fresh gold rush around here, and then we would have to find another river to work. Not to mention all the unwanted attention we would get. I don't know about you, but I would rather do without that,” he said, looking out over the sparkling water.
“Yes, I can see that might be a problem,” Neala agreed. “So are you going to try it now?”
“That was the idea. I was searching the riverbed as we walked along, and I could sense gold all along its length, but here it was a bit stronger. I'm not sure what this will look like when I start the process, so I need you to keep a good lookout for anyone who might see us, and warn me if anyone approaches.”
“That sounds easy enough to me. Just let me know when you're ready to start.”
“No time like the present, I guess,” he said, before starting the spell to locate all the gold within his range. As he concentrated he could sense thousands upon thousands of small particles of gold. There was no way he could single out each and every particle all at the same time, and then raise them from the riverbed as one. He thought about the problem for a while, then turned to Neala and said, “I think I'll have to do this a different way from the way I planned. There's a fair bit of gold here, but it's all extremely small pieces, much smaller than grains of sand. We'll need something to store it in, or the wind might just blow it away after I release it from my spell.”
Looking around, it became obvious there was nothing available to store the gold dust in. Just as Lusam was about to give up and arrange to try again next week, Neala said, “What about my boot? Can you get it inside without the wind carrying it away?”
“Yes, I think I can. Let’s give it a try,” he said, turning back to the river. Locating the gold again he decided to work from left to right. He levitated a few hundred particles at a time from the riverbed to the surface, and then out of the river. The fine gold particles glistened in the sunlight as they arced through the air, forming a constant stream as they entered Neala's boot which lay on the riverbank. Minutes passed before Neala could see more than a glimpse of gold in the bottom of her boot.
As each particle entered the boot, Lusam released it to gravity, and then searched out the next one on the riverbed to take its place. The constant glistening stream of gold dust now leaving the river, and accumulating in Neala's right boot, looked like a faint golden rainbow stretching out into the water. Lusam kept lifting the gold out of the sediment until he could no longer maintain the spell because of the range. When he had done all he could, he lay back on the riverbank with a sigh of relief. “How did we do?” he asked without sitting up.
“Take a look for yourself,” Neala replied, holding out the boot for him to inspect the contents.
“Wow! Not bad at all,” he said looking at the contents of the boot. “Maybe enough to make a couple of gold coins in there.”
“I would say so too,” Neala agreed.
“Give me a few minutes to rest, and then I'll try turn it into something more usable,” he said, thinking about the best way to accomplish the task.
After a few minutes rest, he decided to have a go at making a coin or two from the gold dust. First, he magically separated half of the gold dust, and contained it in a small force-field so it didn't blow away with the wind. Levitating it out of the boot and away from where they were sitting, he concentrated on increasing the heat within the small force-field. Hotter and hotter the space inside the force-field became, until he could see the gold dust melt into a liquid inside the mini spherical force-field he had created. He concentrated again, and began to manipulate the shape of his force-field, recreating the shape of a coin.
This was much harder than he thought it would be, because truth be told, he hadn't seen too many gold coins in his lifetime to be very familiar with them in the first place. Eventually, he settled for the design of a silver coin which he was sure would be close enough; after all, gold was gold. Once the molten gold was pressed into the shape of a coin, he sent it out over the water and lowered it into the cold flowing river. Releasing the force-field, with a hissing sound, the coin instantly solidified into the shape of a coin. Then he lifted the, now cool, coin back out of the river, and dropped it into his hand. Looking closely at the coin, he decided he was happy with his first attempt, but knew he could improve the design with further practice. Repeating the process he created a second coin, so now he was holding two new shiny gold coins. “Not bad,” he said out loud to himself.
“Are you kidding me! That was amazing! I've never seen anything like that in my life. You just created gold coins out of thin air!” Neala said, jumping around excitedly.
“Not quite out of thin air. The gold was already there in the river,” he replied, grinning at her. Flipping one of the coins in her direction, she deftly caught it in mid-air with her left hand, whilst trying to put her boot back on with her right.
“You're giving me one of your gold coins?” she asked, looking a little shocked at his generosity.
“Of course, we're a team, remember?” he replied, winking at her.
She walked over to him and gave him a big hug, before saying, “Thank you, Lusam.”
The rest of that day they spent in the forest, where Lusam taught Neala all about the edible plants of spring, which were just starting to show themselves in places here and there, before they headed back to town a little richer, but still holding hands.
&n
bsp; ***
Chapter Six
The following morning Neala made her way to the book room where she expected to find Lusam already at work. He was usually the first up and liked to get a good start, even before Neala went out on her daily shopping trip to buy their breakfast and other provisions.
“Morning,” said Neala, smiling at Lusam sitting at his desk, already hard at work.
“Good morning. Did you sleep well?” he asked without looking up, still concentrating on his writing. When he finished his current entry, he placed his pen safely at the side of the ink well and stood up from behind his desk, stretching out his stiff back with a groan.
“Yes thanks. How about you?” Neala replied.
“Not too bad I guess, but that mattress seems harder than the floor some nights,” he replied, rubbing the base of his back.
Laughing, Neala replied, “Yeah, I know what you mean. But at least it's warmer, and drier down here.”
“That's true,” he agreed, smiling at her.
“I was wondering if you wouldn't mind if I took a little longer today when I went out for our supplies?” she asked hopefully.
“Of course not. Did you have something else planned for today?” Lusam asked curiously.
“Well … when I was forced to leave Stelgad in such a hurry, I had to leave some important things behind. I wasn't able to retrieve my belt of throwing knives, and I really miss having them. I've been thinking, because you gave me that gold coin yesterday, I might be able to call in at the blacksmith's shop and get some replacements made.”
“Sure, it's your money to do with as you wish,” he replied, forcing a smile onto his face. No matter how hard he tried, he could never imagine Neala as a cold killer, wielding daggers and throwing knives, but he knew first hand how deadly she was with such weapons, even if it had only been in self-defence.
“Thanks Lusam. I won’t be too long I hope, maybe an extra hour at the most. See you soon,” she said, turning and heading out of the book room with a spring in her step. Lusam waved as she left, and then went back to his desk to continue his work, cataloguing the seemingly never-ending book mountain.
Neala opened the door at the top of the stairs and stepped into the shop. Seeing Lucy at the counter, she noticed that she looked even worse than when she'd seen her the day before. “Good Morning Lucy. You really don't look well today. Maybe you should go and sit down. I can help you with whatever you're doing,” Neala said, concerned at her pale looking face, and the sweat beads on her forehead.
“Oh … good morning Neala. I'm fine thank you. I just haven't felt myself these last few days, but I'm sure it will pass soon. I prefer to keep busy rather than mope around, but thanks for offering your help, I appreciate it,” Lucy replied, trying hard to look more energetic than she actually felt.
“Okay, if you're sure. But don't over do it working too hard. You need to rest, not work,” Neala chastised, sounding more like Lucy's mother than her employee.
Lucy smiled and nodded her agreement, then continued with what she was doing before Neala had arrived. Neala looked back at Lucy as she left the shop, and wondered if she would take her advice to rest, before coming to the conclusion that Lucy was a grown woman, and could make her own decisions. Closing the shop door gently behind her, Neala started down the now familiar cobbled road towards the local Blacksmith shop, all the time tightly clutching the shiny new gold coin in her pocket, like a child on their way to a sweet shop.
Neala had discovered there were three blacksmith shops in Helveel. One was in the north quarter, where all the rich traders and high-born lived. She doubted the blacksmith in that part of town had ever been asked to make a set of throwing knives in his life, not that she could have afforded to buy them there even if he had. The second was in the south district, and although the price there should be more to her liking, she had been advised against using that blacksmith, as he specialized mainly as a horse farrier, and was known locally for the poor quality of his metals. The only real option was the third blacksmith, who was located in the west quarter of the city. Thinking back to the last time she and Lusam had ventured through the streets of the west quarter, she cringed to herself at the thought of visiting that part of the city again. She remembered what Lusam had told her, that during the day the streets were as safe as the rest of the city, but that didn't stop her feeling nervous about venturing back into that part of Helveel alone.
The streets in the west quarter seemed eerily quiet at this time of the morning. Neala imagined most of the trade in this part of the city was conducted during the hours of darkness for various reasons. She turned a corner and noticed a seedy looking tavern with a sign hanging outside. There were two old drunks standing outside the open tavern door, leaning on each other for stability, and singing old sea faring songs, badly. Looking at the sign, she realised for the first time in her life that she could actually read what the words said: 'The Ferret Hole.' Feeling very pleased with herself, Neala continued along the cobbled street until reaching a junction, where she took a sharp right turn. After walking for several more minutes, she began to get the district feeling that she was being followed. Looking back the way she had come, she searched the doorways and shadows for anyone that may be trying to hide there, but couldn't see any sign of anyone. Either her over-active imagination was playing tricks on her, or whoever was following her was very good at their job.
Using the reflections in the glass shop windows as she passed, she tried to catch a glimpse of anyone who might be following her, but still she couldn't see any sign of anyone sneaking around behind her. Not knowing if the threat was real, or simply in her head, she decided not to take any chances, and increased her pace a little. As she turned the next corner, she set off at a jog down the wide street, still checking all the reflections and listening for anyone following as she went. When Neala finally reached what was classed as the main area of commerce in the west district, she started to relax, as she joined the small crowds of people going about their daily business of buying and selling their wares. Checking one last time, she still couldn't see anyone following her, but decided she would take the much longer route back, through the north quarter of the city, when she later returned to the book shop.
The blacksmith's shop was easy enough to find. A sign depicting a hammer and anvil hung above the door, swinging gently in the light morning breeze. The large well-oiled door opened with ease and operated a bell as it did so, alerting the owner to her presence in the shop. Less than a minute later a very muscular middle-aged man with dark hair, and a beard peppered with grey appeared from the back of the shop. Looking at him, Neala judged him to be in his mid-to-late forties. Still wearing his apron and holding a strange looking hammer he nodded to Neala, looking her up and down, before saying, “Hello there! Is there something I can help you with?”
“Yes, I hope so. I was told you made weapons here?”
The man looked at her again, this time with a little more curiosity in his eyes. It was obvious he was used to being asked for weapons, but Neala guessed it wasn't so common for a young girl to be asking for them.
“What kind of weapon were you looking for little lady?” he asked, with more sarcasm in his voice than Neala could take.
Swallowing her anger, knowing this man was probably her only chance of replacing her lost weapons any time in the near future, she replied coolly, “I was looking to purchase a set of throwing knives, but only if the quality of your weapons meet my high standards.”
The blacksmith's face turned red with anger at her intended insult, and with an extreme look of contempt in his eyes he spat back, “I make the best weapons in Helveel, and probably all of Afaraon, and I only sell them to people capable of wielding them with enough skill, not silly little girls like you!”
Deciding she would rather wait for her knives forever than take any more insults from this man, Neala looked straight at him, and with as much venom in her voice as she could muster replied, “If you call me a little g
irl again, I'll show you just how much skill I do have, and kill you where you stand.”
The Blacksmith removed his hand from behind his apron and revealed he was carrying a wicked looking knife. Dropping his hammer he lunged towards Neala's throat with his weapon. Neala had already removed her daggers and intercepted his attack with blinding speed and accuracy, parrying his attack harmlessly to the side. Faster and faster they acted and reacted to each other's attacks, neither gaining the upper hand. Neala was impressed with the man's skill level. Apart from her old guild leader, she had never seen anyone as skilful with a weapon as this blacksmith. Together they danced a deadly waltz in the middle of his shop, until Neala saw an opening, and took it. Disarming him of his knife, her dagger came swiftly to his throat. As she looked into his eyes expecting to see fear, she only saw amusement instead. The blacksmith suddenly started laughing at her. Neala was so incensed by him, she was about to end him, when he casually said, “Very good. Looks like you do have a small amount of skill after all. Seems I was wrong about you.”
“Some skill? Looks like you're a dead man to me,” Neala replied, with her dagger still pressed against his neck.
“I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you,” the blacksmith replied, as he applied a little pressure to a dagger Neala had failed to see, now pressed against her ribcage ready to pierce her heart. Damn! This guy is good, she thought to herself.
“So, are you going to sell me some knives or not?”
The Blacksmith roared with laughter at her casual remark, before lowering his dagger and taking a step back out of harm's way.
“You must be new in these parts. Which guild do belong to?” he asked, putting his weapons away behind his apron, and then retrieving his hammer from the floor.
“I'm not part of any guild. I approached one when I first arrived in Helveel and they refused to take me. They thought I might be a spy I guess. I didn’t think it would be too healthy to approach a second guild.”