by Derek Palmer
"I see. May I see those Bonds?"
I took two of the hundred crown Bonds from my backpack where I had had them ready. I also had two pieces of cloth that I could use for the coins to keep them together without making a noise. I took the Bonds and turned them so that he would be able to read them. All the time I kept my gaze in his face, looking for a reaction.
"But these are hundred crown Bonds."
"And this is a bank, right? Those Bonds have been signed to me, Stian Elder by the Guardians and now you are trying to tell me that there's a problem cashing those Bonds! What kind of bank this is if you don't accept Bonds signed by the Guardians? Or is it that you don't have the money?"
At the moment he read my name from those Bonds I was able to see a reaction. He knew my name. There was no reason for him to know my name unless someone had told him to look for it. Now I needed to get my money as soon as possible and get out of there.
"Of course we have money. It's just..."
"Mister, I'm sure that I haven't done anything criminal, totally opposite. I gave away my old home and decided to start for new. Now you are trying to tell me that you don't accept Bonds signed by the Guardians or that you aren't able to pay me two hundred Crowns for those Bonds. Is this really a bank?"
Now I was being loud and did my best to make sure that the man behind the desk felt the pressure. All the people in the room were now looking at me and the guy behind the desk. I wasn't done yet.
"I did my service to the Guardians. The Guardians! Thanks to that I lost my home and another one that was burned. Now you here are unwilling to cash these Bonds while all I'm trying is to get enough money to build myself a new home out on the hills. Mother Earth, I'd use these Bonds directly with the merchants but the timber makers and builders want coins."
"Maybe we can..."
"Maybe? Maybe? Back then, they promised me that these Bonds are as good as money and all respectable banks and bigger merchants are more than willing to cash them. I wonder what that says about you. Or, are you telling me that these Bonds are no good?"
"No, not that, but..."
"What is it then? Don't you have enough money? It's lucky then, that I didn't bring any more Bonds with me."
Now the looks on the people's faces had changed from curious to something else, their faces showed some unbelief and even disgust. This bank's obvious disrespect towards the Guardians wasn't taken too well by the people.
"You have more of these Bonds, Mr. Elder?"
"I do. I spent a whole year helping the Guardians."
I knew, now, that he was giving in. I had no idea what he had been told, but from the look on his face I was able to tell that now he believed he knew enough. Enough to satisfy those people who were chasing me.
"I'm sorry, this was some misunderstanding. In fact, our bank can even help you with..."
"No need. I've already talked with the distributors and the workers. All that I need now is some money in order to get things started."
A lie. Lies kept on coming from my lips nowadays without any problems if I spoke Anglon. This wasn't something my mother and father had taught me, but yet it was needed if I wanted to survive.
"But you are planning to build a new home?"
"That's what I just said. Didn't you listen to me or are you just stupid? Damn, I'm sure that the Guardians are really interested to know that your bank does not accept their Bonds. It wouldn't be the first letter I sent to their headquarters."
"No, no, Mr. Elder. I'm sure that we can work past this..."
"Easily, two hundred Crowns in silver coins, please. Then I can go back there and get things going."
"Let's create an account for you here and then our representative can come with you..."
"So, you really are stupid and there's problem with your hearing. I'm so sorry for you."
Now most of the people who had gathered around us chuckled and the man behind the desk started to look really red. I looked around.
"Please tell me, which is the best place to send that letter to the Guardians? I already know the name and address I can use..."
The man behind the desk looked distressed when he was putting the coins in two piles, but once I had sold him the idea that I would visit them again the following day, as I probably needed to cash one more Bond, he had been somewhat satisfied. I made sure to be extra polite when I collected the coins and put them in my backpack. The truth was that I had been very close to running away from the situation myself, but luckily the man behind the desk had caved in. Economically he had no reason not to do that, since his bank got some commission from all the transferred Bonds, which might have meant he had some other reason to hesitate. I didn't like that idea, not at all. Without the extra training I had gotten from Hantaliel I would not have been prepared to do this.
As soon as I was out of the building, I headed towards the outskirts of the town where the lumber yard was. As soon as I was sure that nobody would be able to notice, I sneaked through a deserted yard to another road and back towards the town. Not directly, but going around the center of the town. All the time, I was a bit more aware of my surroundings and the people there than felt comfortable. At least it didn't feel like someone had been following me, but it was like those ants I was able to see there around me, who just minded their own business. Unless there were multiple people following me... no, that just wasn't likely.
The big, barn-like structure was filled with merchants doing their business - and way too many people for my comfort. However, I managed to get a sack full of nails from there and they accepted my Bond without much hesitation. I left the building with a sack of nails and more than eighty Crowns in silver coins. Now I had money in coins, a sack full of nails which were needed in the valley and my mind full of worry. It helped just a bit when Gudrun was able to appear again after a quick change of clothes in an abandoned building. At least now there was a reason to walk slowly.
I was happy to find Luna safe in the place where I had left her. Sometime later, I wasn't at all so happy because of the cold rain that came from the sea and made sure that my night would be a wet and cold one. I couldn't help thinking that, if the situation were different I could be sleeping in a nice bed in a warm room and Luna would be in a clean and dry stable. Okay, I did feel sorry for myself that night. Blame me.
The following morning Gudrun really was the grumpy old woman she looked. I probably looked so sour that no-one wanted to come close to me which suited me very well. Had somebody tried to be nice to me I probably would have cursed him or her and hit the person with the bag I was carrying. The fact that there were two men keeping an eye on all the people approaching the bank building didn't make me feel any better. There was absolutely nothing special in those two guys. They looked like normal men in their mid-thirties, wearing such normal clothes that it wasn't normal. The only thing that wasn't normal was the way they concentrated every time when a man close to his twenties walked by. Especially if the man had dark hair.
Once I was sure that I'd remember those two men, I left the town. Now I knew for sure.
My journey back to the valley took two days longer since, first, I wanted to be sure that I wasn't being followed and secondly, I was moving mostly uphill with a heavier load. I didn't want to exhaust Luna which meant that I walked a good part of the journey, especially all the steeper parts. I had given some hints that I had been living in the area once claimed unsafe by the Elves because of the Trolls. I had no idea if the people wanting to catch me would go there to look for me - and if they did, would they meet any Trolls there. I didn't really care.
Only when I was through the narrow pass with Luna I realized that I hadn't taken any last look at the coastal western slope before leaving it. I guessed that it more or less confirmed the fact that I didn't think of that place as home anymore. Or perhaps it had been the nasty, rainy weather. Whatever the reason, I was happy to start my ascend towards my new home. Home. Now I had a home, again.
--
Chapt
er 10
During the following few years things remained the same - and at the same time, everything started to change. The trade with Birgit flourished and she insisted that I spend those few days with her as a part of the deal. Somehow the women who took part in those trade missions found that more humorous than I did. Well, the truth was that now, when I knew that both Bellcauniel and Fainauriel were okay with it, I did enjoy those trips myself without any problems with my conscience. Those trips to the town also helped me to tune my sensing abilities so that the visits became more tolerable. Yet, I probably never would learn to like crowded places.
Then there was Hantaliel. By far the oddest among the Elves, she was even more unsocial than I was. Much more. In a way, it was odd that she was the one who had spent more time in big towns - cities - than anybody else. In a way, it made perfect sense since she was totally alone there. In a big town and not able to make close friends of anybody.
She was with me on my second trip to cash my Bonds in a town in the south-west coast. I used the same lookout as I did the previous time and this time there were no warning signs that I might have been followed. We used two banks and then all but one of my hundred-Crown Bonds were now cashed.
Hantaliel was also the first person who learned how I lured rabbits with my magic sparkles. She almost accused me of cheating while hunting but that didn't stop her from doing it herself once she had learned it. Neither did it stop her attacking me and using my body for her pleasure afterwards. In fact, once out there in the wilderness she became a different person - and a passionate lover. When I saw her washing her lithe body in a cold mountain stream I couldn't understand how I could have considered her as a plain-looking Elf. Even if she wasn't really a huntress, she was the first person with whom I was able to share this part of my life; walking out there in silence and just absorbing everything around you. I guess that we both were a bit odd. Besides Bellcauniel and Fainauriel, she was the third woman who became something more than a good friend.
The Guardians - or a group of four men, probably Guardians - made one more attempt to sneak into the valley, but since I happened to be there at the time, I had been able to sense them and guide a group of guards after them. None of the men made it. After that, the Trolls made a few more attempts to sneak in, and two of those times I wasn't there. They did get a bit further, but the increased patrolling had revealed even those groups in good time. None of those who tried to enter, found their way back to tell what was going on. All the women still remembered Neuriel.
The Elders never complained too much about the shoddy things that were offered as a part of the official trade, they were just sent back. Without being purchased, of course. However, all the Troll attacks were carefully recorded and the report was sent to the Guardians, just as it was provided in the old Agreement. If the people behind these attempts were trying the patience of the Elves, they should understand that people who live long and are able to think about the following decades do have a lot of patience. Besides that, they may even have a long-term plan. Even a plan for what happens after the first long-term plan.
Together with Hantaliel, I had carried out a plan with my remaining Bond. It wasn't cashed for its full value in one of the banks in the western towns. No, it was sold to a somewhat shady character in the backyards of one small eastern town by Hantaliel at eighty percent of its real value. She made the deal and I acted as her bodyguard, staying at the back, armed. She gave a description of that man as being my Stian character so that the one who cashed the Bond wouldn't have any problems. If there really were some people after me they'd probably find out about this trade and the fact that an old woman with a bodyguard sold the Bond. The logical assumption would be that Stian had been robbed and killed. At least we hoped so. I hoped so. Being hunted didn't suit well with my plans for the future. Even how improbable it would be that someone would come after me. It was almost a year ago, now, that we had done that and I wanted to believe it was long enough time for the news to spread - news that someone had caught Stian and taken the Bond from him.
Those things were merely distractions from the thing we did most. I studied with the group of Elves. I was extremely busy both learning - and teaching - magic and all the other things. After two years, I was quite certain that I had learned most of the basic stuff that these women were able to teach me and some more. I concentrated on things considered most important for our survival together. What surprised me most, was how much I learned myself while going through the books that I'd brought and teaching the subjects to the Elven women. They made me do it, since written Anglon was still a foreign language to most of the women. During our selling trips we even managed to get some more books for our library. In fact, we bought all the useful books we were able to get our hands on. My task was to go through them and then explain their contents to the others.
Then there was another classroom-to-be of young Elf girls being born - even if they wouldn't really start school for a few more years. This time, all the mothers were of the younger generation, and even if they tried to make the situation as comfortable for all of us as possible, I still somewhat felt that I was being used. I did my best to keep it that way with all the women even if I would have been happy with just Bellcauniel and Fainauriel - and of course Hantaliel when she was there. Not forgetting Birgit. Sigh. At least I now knew better than to complain about it to my women. Together they could kick my ass - easily. Maybe not physically, but there are other ways, as I had learned. Whatever mischief those two did to me I took without complaining. Much. I also made it a mission to learn to know all my little girls. Thus far we had been lucky since they all had been healthy and well. But looking at those girls and thinking about their future helped me make the decision I had been afraid to make.
I asked Bellcauniel to invite both Mylaela and Immianthe to a dinner. I organized a watcher for our little girls so that both Bellcauniel and Fainauriel would also be free to attend. The day came and the dinner went well - until I opened my mouth.
""I need to apologize to you all since I haven't been totally truthful to you. First of all, I have a better idea than I have previously explained about a suitable location for a possible new ‘New Sanctuary’. Then I must also tell you that I know my mother's name before she started calling herself Helle. Her real name was Nestrariel.""
The silence that followed seemed to last forever - and then a bit more. I started to wonder if I had made a serious mistake, but then Mylaela snorted and shook her head.
""Of all the women - but I should have guessed. However, I do not envy you, Bellcauniel. Not at all.""
The she turned towards me.
""Stian, your mother was probably the best healer I had ever seen or known. Really. Despite everything, somehow she seemed able to...""
Then she stopped when she must have noticed how the look on my face changed. I shook my head.
""I'm okay, Mylaela. I knew that she had some issues regarding you Alfar.""
Someone next to me winced and when I turned a bit I noticed that Bellcauniel looked more distressed than I ever remembered seeing her. Ever.
""Not all of us at first, but me. Just me. Me alone at first.""
During the new silence all the women avoided my gaze until Bellcauniel raised her gaze and looked into my eyes.
""Back at Elonia I stole her fiancé from her. Stian, you need to understand that back then, it was considered quite normal, even if she was one of those not willing to share. We had no males of our own, and the competition was fierce. Now, when I'm older, I'm not so proud of it, especially considering what happened afterwards.""
Bellcauniel looked so distressed, so unlike her normal self, that a part of me started immediately worry for her. Another part of me tried to make some sense of the situation - without much success. Or any success at all.
""You mean that Veryamedliel is the daughter of my mother's former fiancé - and now I have children with both of you...""
I was interrupted by Immianthe.
That almost forbidden word 'Elonia' had now been mentioned twice and even I was able to sense what that single word did to the mood around the table. The enormous size of their loss helped me to evaluate my own hardships. Okay, I had lost two houses and a fiancée, but I was still in my home world.
In order to change the course of the discussion I picked up the small book I had been carrying and showed those women my mother’s writings. Having done it a few times, I had no problems making the text visible. Once the part 'Never trust the Elves' was revealed, I wondered a moment longer if I was making a big mistake.
I decided that it didn't really matter anymore since there were the children. They were also my children.