by Char Cam
Gorwith looked confused. "Um...no? Why would you want someone to write on your forehead? Is it a spell?"
"Figure of speech," Sonetshea explained. "It means you’re not fooling me. It means I know what you’re doing. Before this job is done, you’ll have invited all of your family and friends and all of their family and friends--and their businesses--in to help and you’ll all share in the profits with kickbacks and bonuses to each other for recommending each other for this or that."
"Pfft," he said succinctly. "I’m a Gnome."
"Yes. Yes you are," Sonetshea agreed solemnly. "If ever a Gnome there was, a Gnome would definitely be thee."
Said gnome’s eyes sparkled with mirth. Negotiations were underway. He rubbed his figurative hands together, preparing for hard bargaining.
"We really, really don’t care about who you have to hire--as long as they are hired for a purpose. No sitting around collecting a paycheck,” Elsbeth ventured, looking at Sonetshea. She got a nod and continued. “Hire the whole town if you want. We do care if we’ve been overcharged, however. We don’t know enough about what these things should cost."
"And frankly, we can’t be bothered with the research," Sonetshea added absently. "We’ve been tasked to do other things and we can’t even keep an eye on the workers."
Gorwith’s eyes gleamed. The innocents! They were handing him excellent bargaining tools, telling him their weaknesses. Suddenly he was leery. No one blatantly told someone weaknesses in negotiations like this. What were they up to?
“If you have five uncles, and they have families…," Elsbeth speculated as she sauntered about. "You have cousins who are married and they have families." Idly she doodled on a dirty glass door. “That means you have various amounts of relatives. All in related businesses, since gnomes encourage family trades.” She pinned Master Gorwith with a hard stare. “How many workers do you have and when would you be thinking of starting and how long do you think it might take to finish the whole Palace?”
Blindsided, the gnome glanced at Sonetshea, who was admiring her shoes. Realizing he’d focused on the wrong employer, Master Gorwith gulped out quickly, “Um, thirty six in various businesses. We could start immediately, and finish in six months…soonest.”
Elsbeth looked skeptical.
“For one wing,” he added lamely.
Sonetshea took a loose hanging piece of wallpaper and pulled off a wide, long chunk while Elsbeth continued to contemplate the gnome.
“How bout this, Elsbeth,” she asked casually. “You’re the inside girl, but how bout I take this entire wing off your to-do list? After all, Master Gorwith only has thirty-six relatives--”
“For one wing--” Elsbeth reminded her.
“--he can use to get the job done.”
“Yeeeees.” Elsbeth sighed heavily. “At least we’ll get one wing done.”
“Do I have ‘sucker’ printed across my forehead?” Master Gorwith snorted.
Sonetshea leaned down. “In very. Small. Letters,” she admitted.
“All right,” he groused. “I plan to outsource some of the work. This is a big job and whoever gets it will have the reputation of having done it. My family relocated here and we don’t have any rep. We’re competing against some huge businesses that a job like this is peanuts for. We can do the job cheaper than those other companies simply because we’re working with small no rep businesses that will have rep when the job is finished. Everyone will be our friend to get in on it.” He unrolled the length of paper held under his arm. “I’ve already made some preliminary sketches. You can see it’ll have to be completely gutted for some of it, but if you get past--”
“These are very good!” Sonetshea praised. “I like this underwater motif in the garden area. From the stories above, you have water falling into a natural pool. But the overflowing water will surge over a glass ceiling and those underneath the ceiling looking up will see waves. And these plants all have long hanging branches and fronds and the wind blowing through will look like ocean currents. Oh this is fantastic! I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with for the rest of the house.”
“House?” quirked Elsbeth.
“Grrrrr. Work with me, Woman.”
Master Gorwith rubbed his nose. “Soooo, do I get the job?”
Sonetshea looked at Elsbeth who looked back, lips twitching. “You tell him,” Sonetshea urged with a sad shake of her head.
Elsbeth straightened and faced the gnome. “Master Gorwith,” she said with a haughty tone. The gnome obviously expected rejection because he gravely nodded his head and rolled his plans stiffly.
"You already had the job when Liolith brought you in.”
The gnomes eyes gleamed as he finished his task with more energy. “Sucker,” he said, feeling his forehead.
“Tiny. Letters,” Elsbeth agreed solemnly.
Sonetshea handed him a Rare card. She gainfully kept her twitching lips still and courteously ignored his open-jawed stare as he reverently accepted his card. It finished its ‘syncing to an owner’ dance before she handed him the rest of the Rares wrapped in protective plastic. “These,” she explained, “have already been activated. Hand them out as you will.” He gulped and his eyes threatened to pop out of his face as he gingerly took them.
"You are the most unnatural creatures," he muttered. "This isn’t normal for a Royal. This isn’t normal for anyone."
"Are you saying you are untrustworthy, Master Gorwith," Sonetshea asked severely.
The gnome’s eyes jumped to Sonetshea. What he saw in her eyes reassured him and a snort of laughter escaped. He carefully tucked all the Rares inside his jacket. Elsbeth then handed over the large stack of Uncommons and Commons she’d been holding. He almost fainted. "Unnatural," he mouthed silently.
"Well we certainly don’t know what you need," Elsbeth said repressively. "You can’t expect to send people to us for every little thing. We’ll pick colors, you do the rest."
Master Gorwith’s eyes shone and he gazed around as if he already saw the completed room, perhaps the whole palace, for all Sonetshea could judge.
Liolith bustled in, barely contained energy vibrated around her. “Come, come, Master Gorwith. Come eat. It’s been a long time since lunch and I’ve catered in. We’ll be camping out by the very nice fire pit between the two south arms of the palace. You two stop wearing him out before he even gets started. You can pick his brains tomorrow--”
“But mo-om,” Sonetshea whined.
“Wez just getting’ to tha good part,” Elsbeth wheedled.
Liolith crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue and was halfway to the door when she added, “Don’t make me drag him outta there,” she called sternly. “And if you don’t behave, no strawberry swirl iced cream for desert!”
“Well why didn’t you say so,” complained Elsbeth. She urged Master Gorwith forward on one side, while Sonetshea urged him forward on his other. There was no need for urging however. Master Gorwith, like most gnomes, had a weakness for iced cream. Especially strawberry swirl.
Cryson hung upside down like a fly on a ceiling. A glittering ceiling. A very pretty ceiling.
He leaped for an outcropping. Now he was a spider, splayed against crumbling rock. He was actually crawling a good thirty feet above packed dirt flooring along a cave wall. Below him, a guard guarded an entrance into the cave he was presently breaking into. ‘A funny thing happened on the way from the market’, he thought grimly as a finger slipped. He found a better handhold and contemplated his next grip.
That very morning, he’d expressed a half joking wish to the costume guys measuring, folding cloth against him, and otherwise sizing him up for a whole new wardrobe, that they’d create a pair of shoes that could stick to rock walls. One of them gave it a little thought.
“I think we’ll have the cobbler put those first on the list, shall we? Since you specifically asked for them?”
Cryson had been astounded. He’d stood with his mouth open. A beatific smile had spread acros
s his face. So when he’d driven the credit card laden cart off an hour ago, he’d called for his own cart and decided to check on the status of his special shoes. They were done. Naturally, he’d had to try them out. He’d gone to his ‘game room’ in the complex, changed into appropriate clothing, consisting of form hugging gear so nothing loose would snag on prominent rocky, jagged edges, and went in search of a mountain to climb.
It was fortunate, for this little operation, that he brought rock climbing gear everywhere he traveled. One never knew when an opportunity would come to get a little dirt under his nails. Because wouldn’t you know the one place he’d found that looked like a promising challenge would be guarded by a pack of thieves? There he was, climbing along, when he’d rounded a rock and saw the guards. ‘What could they be guarding way out here?’ he’d asked himself. He should have told himself to mind his own business, but noooooooo. Did he think to tell himself that? Of course not. So here he was. Sneaking past them. No one ever thought to look up.
Presently, he was using his free climbing skills to become a thief. Cryson had thought of an idea. While observing the guards, he’d watched Mint saunter up to gain entrance into the sanctum of sanctums: the Headquarters of the Thieves Guild.
“Whatda want, Mint. This is the Thieves Guild, not the Arena Fight Club.”
“Boys. You think I come here for every little thing? You better let Haro know I’m here. Let her decide if what I have to say has value. If she finds out she could have had this info sooner, she’s gonna roll heads looking for why she didn’t.”
“She’ll want to at least know something’ ‘bout why you’re here.”
“Tell her it’s about a new player. He’s gonna want in on her action.”
The guards laughed. “Everybody wants that,” they scoffed.
“This guy could do it,” Mint said adamantly. “You tell her that. See what she says.”
Cryson was not idle while Mint made his point. Slowly, he’d sidled further into the cave. He was soon out of sight and hearing of the ‘secured’ fissure entrance. He was now hearing voices from ahead of him.
He rounded a bend and was nearly blinded by light.
“Frell it all. We got a visitor. We’ll have to change the code after he leaves.”
“Again? Why do we always have to change the code. It’s really annoying.”
“You want to argue with Haro? You do that. I’ll sing you a lament at your funeral. Maybe.”
He passed the bickering duo and climbed further into the cave. Lights were evenly spaced along this passage, but it was a flickering glow. He double checked each place he chose for his fingers and toes. However, it was easy to find places in the uneven surface.
Ahead of him, a dwarf woman came out of a side passage. She waited. Mint strode confidently up the path.
“I’ve called a meetin’. Ifn this player is able ta do wha’ ya say, everyone will wan’ ta hear ‘bout him.”
Mint nodded. “He can do it.”
“This way.” Haro led Mint down another section of the branching cavern.
On a hunch, Cryson started angling down. Soon he was on the ground and walking the passage the woman had come from. A sentry stood in front of an actual door. A young man of perhaps twenty. His clothing looked new; unscuffed boots, no dirt around his jacket collar from waiting too long between washes, pockets tight against his tan pants from not being used, a tag that said ’trainee’. Cryson stalked him. Arrogantly approached him.
“Password,” the youth demanded.
“Don’t you know it?” Cryson demanded.
“’Course I know it,” the youth said, affronted.
“Then why are you asking me?”
“I’m not asking you what it is, I’m asking you to tell me what it is.” The youth looked nonplussed as he realized how he sounded.
“I’m not telling you,” Cryson stated irritably. “If you don’t know what it is, are you sure you should be standing guard here?”
“I know what it is!” the youth said defensively.
“Then what is it?” Cryson demanded.
“It’s ‘Crying shame about the Stargazer,” the boy said smugly.
“That’s not it,” Cryson said haughtily.
“Yes it is,” the frazzled boy replied.
“Nope. That’s the old password. What’s the new one?”
“There aint a new one. I’m telling you that’s the password.”
“And I’m tellin’ you it aint!” Cryson said belligerently.
“You wait here!” the inexperienced guard demanded. He went a little down the ‘hall’ and called around a bend. “Hey Kartik, what’s the password?”
“Light’s dawning passes. Hey, how’d ya know it got changed? I just got it.”
“Um, thanks,” the young man muttered.
“Can I go in now?” Cryson asked bored.
Clearly embarrassed, the newbie guard nodded.
“You did good, Trainee,” Cryson said sagely. “You’ll get better.”
The young man stood straighter. Cryson gave him a nod and opened the door. Went through.
Inside, desks were hodge podged about and he ducked behind a support pillar, of which there were several about the soil layered floor. He observed the activities. People answered crystals, wrote on styluses, read from folders, moved folders elsewhere. Busy, busy, busy.
“Here, take this and put it on Haro’s desk,” a grizzled veteran ordered a passing man.
“Can’t you take it, Stom? I’m on my way out the door already late for an appointment.”
“Waiting for a call. If I leave the desk and miss it--”
“I’ll take,” Cryson volunteered. He came from an angle that made it look like he’d just come in. “I have to drop something off anyway.”
The man scurried off before he could be stopped again. The crystal pinged and Stom quickly shoved the file at Cryson. Cryson caught it nimbly before it spilled to the flooring. He walked off like he had a purpose. There was only one other door in the room. Cryson was betting that was Haro’s office. One sentry stood beside it.
“Password,” demanded the bored sentinel.
“The new one or the old one,” Cryson asked politely.
“There’s a new one?” the guard demanded. “Frak frell it all! Why don’t they ever get me the codes in a timely manner.” A crystal ponged on the wall beside him. He answered by taking an ear piece from beside it. He listened for a moment. “Took your sweet time telling me,” he barked angrily. He replaced the device and turned back to Cryson. “New one,” he groused, rolling his eyes.
“Light’s dawning passes…unless they’ve changed it. Again.”
The guard guffawed. Turned and unlocked the door. “You have five minutes to file that.”
Cryson smiled and went in.
The office was stark. Just a desk in the middle of a very small annex. The desk was well used and clear of clutter. Behind it, a glass bookcase could not claim the same. Cryson glance quickly through the file in his hand, then set it neatly on the desk. He went to the bookcase. Opened it. What could he take that wouldn’t be noticed as obviously missing? Behind a portrait, a pen stood in a pen holder, almost hidden from sight. Perfect. He quickly slipped it in his pocket and closed the glass door. That’s when he noticed another opening in the cave. A floor length wall hanging the same color as the pitted stone had cleverly concealed it. He peeked inside. Bright light covered only the front of the room. The span of space was huge. Rows and rows of bookshelves stood back to back, going into the deep dark. All of them stuffed with so many files they seemed infinite. Quickly, he walked back to the door. He exited and sighed, nodded to the guard, who acknowledge him, then he headed out the main passage door. Nodded to the kid. Walked back the way he’d arrived. Headed back up on the cavern wall, and reversed his entire climb.
Back at Game Complex, he showered and changed. Time to head to the palace and see if any unsavory visitors show
ed up--and send a message if they did.
"With Milly gone, there’s a void in the power grid. You know there’s going to be petty squabblings over her assets. He will definitely be gobbling up all he can.”
“Indeed. Ahm well aware. Ya think ah go’ ta be leader on ma looks?”
“Um...”
Zeharote rolled her eyes. That was exactly how she got to be leader. She was a taller than average dwarf of almost four feet. Strawberry red curls framed a green eyed fair skinned delicately shaped face that hid a cunning intelligence. She’d used that intelligence to weave her way up into the top echelon of power by using her beauty to fool men into spilling their secrets. Then she simply made sure the ones in her way were caught robbing the robbers. A definite no-no with a band of thieves. She had so much incriminating evidence on everyone in the leadership hierarchy that when it came time to fill the executive vacancy, she was unanimously voted head of the guild.
“What do you want to do about the three new players?”
“Stall tha two, arrange tha meetin’ wi’ tha third. If he ca do wha’ he says an’ find our HQ, Frankenzoid could do it. We’ll need ta move and initiate emergency measures.”
“Consider it done.”
TEN
"Well we have no place to store it yet, do we now?" Liolith stated irately. "You have an extended family. Surely you have a teen or two. Don’t they have voids where normal people have stomachs? FILL THEM! Now I’ll hear no more about the matter. Also, you can come as early as you like, but work, including cleaning up, must be completed each day by five. Children need parent/play time."
"Mad. About. You. Marry me," Cryson begged.
"Now, I'm off to sleep. My morning started early in the infirmary and it’s been quite the adventurous day. Rest well everyone." Liolith pointedly ignored Cryson and his latest proposal and went inside the palace to ready herself for sleep.
"I think she’s going sweet on me," Cryson commented into the silence.