To Be Chosen (7 page)

Daniel knew Zane was a small city situated along the Hirus, about twenty spans west of Aakadon. The unique feature of the city was that it was on both sides of the river with a bridge that arched high up over the water, similar to the one spanning the
Gosian River that leads into Zoltair. These men were more than three hundred spans from home.

“My family has been serving the Sharmines for three generations. Most of them are still employed by the current lord so I don’t want to jeopardize their positions by making a fuss. I am not without certain skills and am sure some noble will need my services,” Jared said after finishing the last scrap of meat on his wooden plate, which he borrowed from Daniel.

“A Teki troop might be willing to hire on an account keeper,” David said, clearly trying to be helpful, even though Daniel knew it was unlikely any Teki would trust an outsider near their accounts.

“That is a hard set of circumstances,” Silvia told them. “Where are you headed, home to your families?”

“I have taken no wife, my brothers, sisters, most all of my family will be better off if I stay away for a little while. At least until Lord Sharmine forgets I witnessed his failure to enter Aakadon,” Jared answered.

Marcus chuckled, but it was tinged with bitterness. “That means never. Lord Sharmine may have his faults, but a bad memory is not one of them, especially if his pride is involved. He could not take out his anger on the Aakacarn at the gate so he took it out on us. I suspect if word gets back that we are speaking of this matter, our families will be dismissed. The others of our company dispersed and will probably tell what happened to them, but their families are not employed by Lord Sharmine so they have nothing to still their tongues. If rumors spread about, most everyone will accept the word of a lord over that of a commoner, so his reputation will not suffer no matter what they say. I’m not sure why I am even telling you this, perhaps it is the act of kindness you have extended to us. I would be much obliged if you do not spread the particulars of our circumstances around.”

He had been answering Silvia’s question but his eyes were locked onto Daniel’s while he was speaking. The Teki woman assured him she would not repeat what he said and, remarkably, vouched for David as well. This left everyone looking to Daniel for a response.

He remembered the incident that took place at the gates of Aakadon and had to agree, from what he had seen of the man; Lord Sharmine was a prideful person who would try to erase any incident that impinged on his ego. Daniel had seen enough giant egos in Aakadon to convince him how petty some men can be. “I’ll not speak of the matter,”
he assured the two travelers.

Marcus had finished his meal and was sipping water from a cup he produced from somewhere on his person. “I have no sword but am good with the knife and have been trained in unarmed combat. I say this only to suggest that we travel together,”

Silvia and David again looked to Daniel, he would have to get used to people deferring to him, folks had done so during the Battle of Bashierwood, but that was only for the duration of the conflict. “We are bound for Ducanton,” he told the chief.

“To meet the Queen,” Silvia volunteered; at least she did not proclaim anything about the Chosen Vessel.

Jared perked up at the news. “I could be most helpful to you, having no small experience in how to comport oneself among the nobility.”

Daniel’s first instinct was, as Ruth had said, to turn them down. He had no need of extra protection, would more likely be protecting all four of them than the other way around, and had no need of an account keeper. Even so the Seer had counseled him to accept anyone who insists on accompanying him. “David has told you who I am, and I’m telling you, trouble follows me like bees to a flower, and you would likely be safer traveling as far from me as you can get,” he said and then nodded toward Silvia. “She can tell you better than I.”

All eyes went to the Teki woman, she did not seem to mind, all of them were born performers, and she was no exception. “You are caught up in the swirl of events that surround the Chosen Vessel,” she proclaimed, so far so good. “You can join him, be smashed by him, or get out of his way. To journey with us will be perilous. I council you to go a different way, it will be much safer for you.”

Daniel wished he had not encouraged her input. He did not smash people who failed to get out of his way, at least not many, only those who were involved with the Serpent Guild. She made him sound like a natural disaster. He stood up and walked around a bit to stretch his legs. The shield on David was no longer necessary so he removed it. The Teki blinked and glanced at him, clearly noticing the cool night air.

“I am a professional, handling dangerous situations is what I am trained to do. If trouble follows your path as you suggest, you will need my services or those of one much like me, you being Silenced and all,” Marcus said, while watching Daniel pace back and forth.

That would be true if Daniel could no longer summon potential. He stopped and looked at the account keeper. “Trouble began following me from the time I cast my first spell, continued even after I was Silenced by the Grand Maestro, and has not stopped to this day. I have encountered no less than fifty yetis since leaving Aakadon and have no idea what else I will encounter between here and Ducanton. Think hard, both of you, before you decide to travel with me,” he told them and sat down.

Jared took in a deep breath and replied firmly, “I am an educated man, a student of history, and know the opportunity to serve the Chosen Vessel only comes once in a millennia. It would be my honor to provide my services. If the written accounts of Della Lain are anything to go by, you are just beginning to gather whatever support group is necessary to accomplish the task given you. I’m not much to look at in my current state, but please do not let my appearance prejudice you, I can be of help if you let me.”

“We should reach Jeeter before sunset tomorrow, travel with us there if you like, and then decide if you still want to accompany me to Ducanton,” Daniel replied, l
eaving the decision up to them.

“Jeeter is a prosperous town, you can acquire a silk shirt and some wool pants to go with that fancy coat before we head on into Ducanton,” Jared suggested, making no mentioned of staying behind. If his actions matched his words, that would make him insistent enough, and therefore acceptable as a companion.

“If you will have me, I’ll go with you to Ducanton and beyond. Serving you is a good use of my skills, I will finally be doing something of importance, and it might even be exciting,” Marcus said and smiled as if the prospect of doing something important and exciting pleased him greatly.

Daniel eyed the two men and wondered if their wanting to be with him was out of desperation or were they part of something bigger, like Ruth had said, “The Chosen Vessel draws what he needs.” He could not imagine how either of these fellows fit into his future needs. For now he would follow the elder’s advice and accept these men, and if the going gets too tough for them or they prove untrustworthy, which seemed unlikely, he could let them leave if it is too tough and send them away if they cannot be trusted.

“Both of you have offered your services and neither of you have mentioned anything about wages,” Daniel pointed out. He still had a bag with at least a hundred gold coins in it.

“I was earning ten silvers a month as chief of the men-at-arms. Unless you have an estate that needs guarding or someone to lead your armed escort, I don’t expect much. Frankly, at this point, I would be happy to have a decent meal at least once a day,” Marcus replied.

Jared pursed his lips thoughtfully. He seemed a bit uncomfortable talking about wages and was eyeing what was visible of Daniel’s buckskins. “I earned fifteen silvers a month as account keeper, a fair wage for one of my calling. I will work for whatever you can afford, if that is a decent meal once a day, boots on my feet, and a hat I my head, then so be it.”

Daniel reached into the bag tied to his belt and tossed each of them a gold coin. “You are both now paid up for the month,” he told them and watched as the mouths of the two Teki dropped open.

He was not worried about earning more gold, while he would refrain from counterfeiting Ducaunan coins, it was not beyond him to summon potential and transform a stone into gold. He once turned an oak tree into hundreds of arrows. All he had to do was summon the potential for, Change It; a spell that allowed him to form any object into a duplicate of whatever he held in his hand. At the time he had turned the dead oak tree into wood dust, and then took one of Tim’s arrows in hand as the object to be duplicated. There had been a lot of dust so Daniel had pictured in his mind not one duplicate, but five hundred, and actually refined them so they were better than the original. This of course was not the same spell he had used back then, that one had been lost when Efferin Silenced him. This was a new composition meant to replace the other and he only learned during his solitary travels that the object being transformed into the duplicate does not need to be of the same substance as the original. Wood dust into arrows is like to like, turning a handful of pebbles, each weighing about an ounce, from the bottom of a stream into their equivalent in gold coins is something else entirely. He then formed the duplicate coins into a belt buckle, which he was now wearing. Having left his bow and quiver of arrows in Bashierwood, he used the spell to create the ones he was currently using.

The discovery of the planets with their little moons inspired him to compose a Melody while his companions had been talking among themselves along the way, before they met Jared and Marcus, one that could take the little worlds from one object and add them to another. He added a six note harmony and titled the work; Hunger. Change It
, could only transform whatever little worlds and moons existed within the object to match that of another. Hunger would give him the ability to draw more of them from another source, like a tree, plant, water, or even rocks. If he wanted to turn a small stone into a boulder, he could draw what was necessary from any nearby object, and create an exact replica many times the size of the original. With these new spells in his repertoire he had no financial concerns, not when he could create any quantity of gold out of dirt.

“Close your mouth or you’ll swallow a bug,” Daniel said and tossed each of the Teki a coin as well, they were his official escorts, and it only seemed fair they should get something more than the
dubious honor of his company.

At dawn they started out with David and Silvia walking for half a mark while Jared and Marcus rode, and then they would switch. Daniel dismounted to allow Silvia to ride Sprinter. “Here it is my turn to walk,” he told her, while t
he account keeper rode Whisper.

“Do I look frail to you?” the female Teki replied, refusing to mount the Stallion.

“No, you appear to be perfectly fit,” Daniel answered quickly, and then turned to David.

“If I wanted to ride I would not be walking,” the juggler told him before being asked.

Daniel swung back into the saddle until both Teki were riding again and then dismounted and offered Sprinter to Marcus, who refused and then to Jared who also refused, none of them would even hear about him taking to foot. The pace was half what Daniel had expected and there was no chance they would make it to Jeeter before dark.

The forest had given way to farms with crops of corn and wheat in the fields and ranches with horses, cows, and bulls ranging the tall grass on both sides of the river. Most of the farmers lived in A-frame houses with barns in the back, but some of the larger properties had two and three storied homes with huge stables. Coming up on the right was a spread with forty head of horses in the field and likely more back behind the stables. Daniel made a decision; he needed to buy two horses, and he was absolutely terrible at bargaining. He stopped at the wooden gate of a fence that stretched all aroun
d the property out to the road.

“How much should a couple of good horses cost?” he asked without addressing the question to any particular companion.

Silvia answered, “Twenty silvers should buy a decent pair of mounts,” at the same time David spoke up saying, “Thirty silvers will get a pair of mounts with some staying power.”

“With six Ducaunan gold pieces you can purchase a pair of purebred Battencayan horses, of which I see half a score in this field,” Jared replied, with Marcus nodding agreement with him.

They were a good breed, no doubt about it, likely worth the money, and Daniel certainly had enough coins to buy them. He had to admit to being inexperienced when it came to handling coins, having earned coppers working for Henry Polkat at the inn, and only rarely had a silver coin. Now he had a bag full of gold coins and none of lesser value. Well, he had just hired an account keeper, maybe Jared should be allowed to hold the bag and take care of those things he is used to doing; it was also a way to see how trustworthy and honest the man actually was.

“Here, hold this,” Daniel told the account keeper while tossing the bag to him.

Jared snatched the bag out of the air, took a look inside, and then closed it quickly. “A goodly sum to be entrusted to someone you just met on the road.”

“A trustworthy man is more valuable to me than gold. If I can trust you with this, I know I can trust you with more important matters,” Daniel told him while glancing at Marcus.

“So this is a test?” Jared said, paused and then added, “If so, I am glad for the opportunity to demonstrate my integrity. I will begin by telling you we should exchange some of these coins for those of lesser value when we reach Jeeter. Second, if this is all the coins you have, I caution you not to spend them too rapidly. Finally, while I am a skilled negotiator, I suggest Silvia do the bargaining for the horses. I seriously doubt the rancher will get the better of a Teki in the art of deal making.”