The Tower Of The Watchful Eye: The Legend Of Kairu Book 1 (15 page)

Aaron smiled.
“Luckily for you, I’m a thinker. I have anything of value in the
pack. We’ll trade them at Riverside.”

“
That’s got to be heavy,” I said. “Let me carry some of
it.

Aaron scoffed.
“I’m a farmer’s boy. This is nothing.”

“
Oh, so you won’t mind carrying mine,” I joked.

“
Did you want me to carry you as well?” he asked
sarcastically.

“
If it’s no trouble,” I smiled.

He laughed and
shook his head. “Come on. We’re not far from Riverside now.”

He turned and
started walking and I quickly caught up. The village of Riverside
turned out to be over an hours walk away and the sight of it
brought promise of not having to watch over our shoulders for
anymore wildlife.

The village
itself was surprisingly large. A river ran through the middle the
village that, according to Aaron, ran right to the outskirts of
Thurlborn Peak. If we could get a decent price for the bandit gear
from the farm, we could purchase a couple of tickets for the ferry
and ride to the capital in half a day. Otherwise it would be
another two days of walking.

Aaron
immediately led us into the market area which composed of a few
food carts, a blacksmith and a general goods store. People were
hustling around grabbing at whatever goods they could get their
hands on. We were able to pass through the market without drawing
any attention despite our large packs.

“
I have to warn you about Burt,” Aaron said as we approached
the blacksmith. “He’s a bit of a weasel and a crook.”

Then we really shouldn’t be putting our fate in his
hands,
Cathy said.

It’s our best
option though.

That doesn’t make it any better,
she
pointed out.

Then keep an
ear open and let me know if there is an advantage for us to
take.

I get to be devious?
Cathy asked
excited
. Finally!

“
Let me do the talking,” Aaron continued as he opened the door
to the blacksmith.

I nodded and
followed him into shop. The heat from the furnace made the whole
shop feel like walking into the sun. The smith, Burt, was a short
pudgy looking guy with black soot covering his face and hair. When
he saw us enter the shop, he removed his goggles and grabbed a rag
so he could wipe the soot off his hands.

“
Mr. Reed, good to see you,” Burt smiled. “Do you have some
more of your father’s equipment for me to fix?”

“
Not this time,’ Aaron answered. “The farm was hit by bandits
and I’m looking to sell their stuff.”

“
Ah, excellent,” Burt said trying to hide his excitement. “But
you should know that, bandits don’t usually have good upkeep on
their equipment. So don’t be surprised if it doesn’t fetch a high
price. If I even take it.”

“
You’ll like THIS stuff,” Aaron said as he removed his pack
and placed it on the ground. “I only brought you the
best.”

Burt rubbed
his hands as Aaron laid out three gauntlets, two pairs of boots, a
pair of greaves and a chest piece. All made of tanned leather.

Impressive
, Cathy said.
The kid IS pretty strong
.

“
Ah, just as I thought,” Burt smiled, “junk.” He picked up one
of the gauntlets and held up. “Scraps sewn together by some
want-a-be smith.”

So why does it look better then the pieces of the
wall?
Cathy asked.

I looked at
the arms and armour on the wall and stifled a laugh. The pieces of
leather armour looked like they would fall apart and the iron
looked damaged and misshapen.

“
I can give you maybe three pieces of gold for the gauntlets
and... maybe two for the boots,” Burt said to Aaron.

Yeah and then he’s going to sell those for twenty gold a
piece,
Cathy said.
Look at the price tags on his other stuff. It’s your turn,
make him sweat. He seems like the type that would be afraid of a
Mage AND crumble if you sound like you know
blacksmithing.

“
Excuse me,” I said walking up beside Aaron. “But what are you
talking about?”

Burt looked at
me then turned back to Aaron. “Aaron, who’s your friend?”

“
Mage Holcombe of the Order of Magic,” I said boldly. “And I
would appreciate if you looked at me when I was talking to
you.”

He turned to
face me again and the look in his eyes confirmed that mentioning
that I was a Mage scared him a little.

“
Now, anyone that has seen as much armour as I have knows for
a fact that these were professionally made,” I said as I turned
over the pieces and noticed a small mark on them. “In fact, you can
see the brand of the smith that made them still on it.” I pointed
to the symbol that appeared on every piece.

“
The symbols are meaningless,” Burt said trying to regain
control of the conversation. “Anyone with a hammer and anvil could
have made them.”

I picked up
the gauntlet and read the name of the brand. “The Steel Anvil,
Thurlborn Peak.” Burt looked sheepishly down at his feet. “What
game are you trying to play here?” I said raising my voice.

“
Look, keep it down,” Burt said quietly.

“
Based on the quality of the goods,” I said continuing in a
loud voice, “and how much you would probably sell them for, in
comparison to the other ‘fine’ goods you have here I would say: ten
gold a piece for the gauntlets, fifteen a pair for the boots, sixty
for the chest and thirty for the greaves?”

“
120 gold!” Burt cried.

“
Uh, that equals 150 gold!” I chuckled. “Besides, I think it’s
fair. I mean, we could always try the general goods store. I’m sure
if they advertised some good quality armour your business won’t
lose any sales.”

Burt gritted
his teeth. “Fine, 150.”

“
Pay the kid,” I said backing up from the counter to look at
the pieces on the wall.

Nice one
, Cathy said.

Did that come
from my personality or yours?

It’s hard to tell,
she
said
. I’ll take credit for it, if you
don’t want it though.

The sound of
gold hitting the counter made me turn back to make sure Burt
wouldn’t try any last minute tricks. When he counted out all the
money and Aaron nodded to me and headed out the store.

“
Have a good day, Blacksmith,” I smiled to Burt before I
turned to the door and followed Aaron.

“
I never want to see you in here again,” Burt called out as
the door shut.

Like I would
come back.

I don’t know, it was pretty fun to mess with him,
Cathy said.

In the centre
of the market, Aaron turned around to face me. “150 gold?” he said.
“We could buy ten tickets to the capitol if we needed. I can’t
believe he would agree to that.”

I shrugged. “I
think he just wanted to get rid of me.”

“
We didn’t even need to sell the two short swords either,” he
said excited.

“
Use them to trade for getting your tools fixed,” I
suggested.

“
Or we could keep them,” he said excited. “You never know when
they will be handy.”

“
Should we go grab our tickets?” I asked.

“
Yes, but let’s leave tomorrow,” Aaron said rubbing his hands.
“It’s been a long walk. We need to grab some ale.”

“
What’s that?” I asked.

“
Oh, you’ll find out,” he smirked.

Chapter 13

It took a lot
of effort to open my eyelids; more then usual. The sight of brass
was different as well. I tried to recall the night’s events but
drew a blank. The last thing I remember was ordering a couple of
rounds with Aaron. I closed my eyes again and groaned as a weight
descended on my mind.

Make it stop,
Cathy
groaned.

What happened
last night?

I don’t know,
she
answered
. Everything went fuzzy. What the
Void was that stuff you were drinking?

I don’t know
but let’s stay clear of it in the future.

I opened my
eyes again and dragged myself up to my knees. I recognized the
brass as a bathing tub and that only added to my confusion.

How did we get
in here?

First make the head stop hurting
,
Cathy groaned.

I raised my
fingers to my temples and moaned as the pain drained away.

That’s better,
she said.
Now, why are we cold?

I looked down
and sighed.

Because I’m
naked.

Searching the
room, I found my robes and under clothes in a heap by the bathing
tub. I climbed out of the tub, doing my best not to trip, and
dressed myself. I went through the door into the next room and saw
a figure sleeping in the bed.

“
Aaron,” I called to him. “It’s time to wake up.”

He stirred,
groaned and sat up in the bed revealing that he was actually a she.
Her blond hair was messy and she was very naked from what I could
tell. When she saw me, she quickly covered herself up.

“
What are you doing in here?!” she screamed.

“
What are YOU doing in here?!” I asked. “This is my
room!”

“
This is MY room!” she yelled. “Get out!”

She grabbed a
pillow and threw it at me shouting ‘Get out’ repeatedly. I quickly
opened the door and threw myself out of the room, shutting the door
behind me to make sure nothing else flew towards me. The number on
the door read ‘4’ and I stared at it confused. I WAS in the wrong
room. I was supposed to be in ‘3’.

“
How the…?” I asked silently.

I felt Cathy searching through my memories.
I can’t find any reason,
she said.

I headed for
Room 3 and opened the door. Laying half on the bed, half off, fully
clothed was Aaron. I entered the room and shut the door. The sound
from the door made Aaron wake up with a long groan.

“
Who’s there?” he asked with his eyes still closed.

“
Andy,” I answered.

He opened his
eyes and dragged himself into a sitting position. “Where did you
end up last night? You weren’t in the room when I got back.”

“
What happened?” I asked.

Aaron grabbed
his head. “I’ll tell you as soon as I can think straight.”

I walked over
to him and placed my two fingers on his temples.

“
What are you doi…” he started but then closed his eyes and
sighed pleasantly. “Now that’s a handy trick. How are you Mages not
loaded all the time?”

“
How much magic did you see my use last night?” I asked
sitting down on the bed beside him.

He laughed.
“You couldn’t even stand.”

“
So, what happened?” I chuckled.

“
You are a total light weight, that’s what happened,” he
smiled. “Three pints and you were complaining that you were hot and
wanted to take your clothes off. It’s understandable seeing as you
Mages like to wear those crazy robes but public displays of nudity
are frowned upon so I had to convince you to keep your clothes on.
You left early in the night to go back to the room but when I came
back here I couldn’t find you anywhere. Where did you end
up?”

“
In the room next door, naked in the bathing tub,” I
answered.

Aaron exploded
into laughter. I couldn’t help but laugh myself.

“
You are alright, Andy,” Aaron said as his laughter subsided.
“Maybe we’ll go out drinking more often.”

“
I don’t know if I can handle that again,” I said
unsure.

“
The more you drink, the more tolerant you become,” he said
with a dismissive wave. “You’ll be fine next time. At what point of
the day is it?”

A good
question, I haven’t even thought of that. I looked out the window
and tried to find the sun. It was a little higher then I would have
expected.

“
It looks like we are closing on midday,” I said.

“
Whoa, we have to hurry then,” he said. “Grab your pack and
let’s go to the waterfront. If we don’t catch the midday ferry, we
are stuck here till tomorrow.”

I stood up and
crossed the room to the corner where we had left our packs. I
picked up mine and slung it onto my shoulders while Aaron stood up
and wobbled.

“
That spell of yours did nothing for the queasy feeling,” he
said as he stumbled over to grab his pack.

“
What queasy feeling?” I asked.

“
Just don’t sit next to me on the ferry,” Aaron warned as he
threw his pack onto his shoulders.

We left the
inn as quickly as we could. I did my best to avoid the lady from
Room 4 and was happy to not have to deal with that awkward
situation. Everyone else in the inn didn’t seem to know what had
happened. Or they did and they chose not to care.

You got lucky then,
Cathy
said
. She would have embarrassed you with
a butt whooping like you would have never believed.

I have magic.
I could have calmed her and worked out the situation.

So why didn’t you the first time?
Cathy pointed out.