Inexperienced Mage (Reawakening Saga) (7 page)

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, metal, 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.”

Thad assured the man it was more for show than anything else. He made his way back to the Double Dove Inn. As promised, there was a large tub filled with water and a small bar of lye soap waiting on him in his room. He quickly put away his packages and stripped down for a nice soak. The water was much colder than he expected, but the weather was warm, so it was oddly refreshing.

Once clean, he tried on a set of his new clothing. The pants were slightly longer than needed, but, other than that, fit well. The dark blue shirt fit snugly but comfortably. Clean, refreshed and dressed, he sat down and began to closely examine the sword. The crack wasn’t all the way through and with only a slight effort he was able to bind it back together. With the sword whole, he began working the blade with the whetstone.  The sword was poorly made being very thin and prone to breaking. That also meant it could carry a very sharp edge even though it would dull quickly
.

As he sat upon his bed thinking of the best way to proceed with the enchantments on the sword, a light knock came at his door. He was pleasantly surprised to find Monique on the other side of the wooden portal. She was in a dark green dress with a low v-cut that showed off her cleavage. The view got more than a small reaction from him.

“We have completed our business sooner than anticipated and will be leaving as soon as they open the gates in the morning. I thought I would take you out to dinner, if you’re interested,” her voice was sultry and sending a shiver down his spine.

Giving her a smile, Thad grabbed his new cloak and took her arm, “It would be my pleasure.”

Monique took him to a fancy-looking place that had large sculpted dragons standing outside the door. The main room was large with tables spaced out enough to give the idea of privacy. A petite young blond greeted them and, at Monique’s request, led them to one of the private rooms in the back. The room was simply a table surrounded by a large velvet bench, while there wasn’t a door there was a heavy dark red curtain that closed off the room providing a sense of privacy.