by Guy Antibes
Whit smiled at Pin. “You didn’t let us down, if that is how you are feeling. There are other ways to speak to the king, aren’t there?”
“Yes, but you are foreigners, and that makes a difference.”
Whit thought for a bit. “Can we search without permission?”
“I did talk to a contact in the Interior Ministry. You can look all you want within Garri’s walls, but it might not be safe for an unattended group of foreigners to wander around Perisia.”
“Yetti is a pixie,” Whit said.
“But she’s not a Perisian pixie. I’m sorry, but I will still be working my contacts in the capital, and so far, my status isn’t solid enough to accompany you outside the city.”
That was disappointing, Whit thought. “Do you know someone who can be our guide?”
Pin looked thoughtful. “I’ll have to think about it. I’ll come up with a few names for this afternoon, so if you will excuse me, I’ll be going.”
Two pixies in a row disappointed Whit. He sat, sipping his light ale, not enjoying being so out of control of the expedition. Gambol and Fistian joined him.
“Did I see Pin walking out of the inn?” Fistian asked.
Whit nodded. “You did. He can’t go out in the field with us, if the parts aren’t in Garri.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s start asking around. Is there a museum or a university in the capital?” Fistian asked.
“Let’s wander around the market district and see what we can find out.”
~
Everyone split up into pairs. Deechie declined the offer, and Yetti joined Zarl and Whit. The marketplace wasn’t too far away in a another square, a few streets over.
Whit felt like an ogre, being taller than everyone else. He wondered how Zarl handled the attention, since all the stares were directed at the tallest of the three.
“I’ll need to get some fabric,” Zarl said. “I’m used to making my own clothes. Custom tailors are too expensive in Herringbone.”
Little pixie children walked behind them giggling as Zarl would sometimes turn and growl at them. The atmosphere was happier than Whit had expected. Zarl stopped at a few stalls and finally bought enough fabric for a few tunics and tougher material for trousers along with needles and thread.
“I’m going to take these back to the inn and get started,” Zarl said. “I’ll see you two later.”
Whit looked at Yetti. “Are you willing to continue with just me?”
Yetti looked disgusted. “Why wouldn’t I? I don’t need anything in this market,” she said. “Let’s ask for directions to the nearest church.”
“Already done,” Whit said. “Garri was built after the saints ceased being worshipped. There is no reason to hide any artifacts there.”
Yetti smiled slyly. “The parts can be hidden anywhere. They could be in the ground under one of the stalls in this market.”
Whit looked around and realized that Yetti was right. His thinking had been too rigid. They asked around to find a library, which faced the far end of the market where they had already been.
They walked inside the cool, dim confines of the library. Whit approached the information desk with Yetti trailing behind.
“Do you have anyone here who knows what ancient artifacts there are in Perisia?”
“Treasure hunters? We get you folk from time to time,” the smallish pixie man said.
“I suppose you might call us that,” Whit said.
Yetti groaned behind him.
“Honest, aren’t you? This isn’t the best place to find information. Many of the artifacts are tied up in legends, and Ornnis is our historian. You can find him at the museum.”
“Where is the museum?” Yetti asked.
“On the other side of this building. You’ll have to go outside, turn left, and go around the corner. It has a separate entrance.”
Whit nodded and thanked the man. Yetti was already out the door before Whit turned around. The museum couldn’t be very large. Ornnis was easy to find since he was the only employee at the museum at the time.
“We are looking for parts to the Augur’s Eye. Have you heard of it?”
Ornnis was tall for a pixie and could almost pass for a gnome. “Of course I have. There are three parts to the orb in Perisia.”
“Do you know where they are?” Yetti asked.
Ornnis wasn’t that old, and he gave Yetti the kind of smile that showed Whit the man was attracted to her. “Of course not. It would be nice to have the parts in the museum, but all we have are copies of some entries in journals about the artifacts.
“Can we see those?” Whit asked.
“We’d like to see if our information matches up,” Yetti said.
“Of course. Follow me. We will proceed to our archives on the first basement level. We have three floors below and five above.”
Ornnis said it proudly, but each floor wasn’t much bigger than Whit’s house back in Herringbone. They got a running commentary on Perisia as they walked back to the basement steps and down to the next level. Ornnis lit magic lights that were linked. Whit hadn’t seen that spell before. With one spell, the floor was lit. He could see a magical device that could do the same thing.
“You store the magic in something?” Whit asked. “I’m impressed.”
Ornnis looked very proud. “It is my own power, but I link it through metal wire and tiny wands that are tuned to my magic.”
That wasn’t a device, then, but there were new concepts to jot down, Whit thought.
“Through here.” Ornnis took them into an alcove filled with manuscripts shoved into slots a few inches high and a foot wide. He walked along the shelves and pulled out two from one vertical row.
“These are the best ones,” Ornnis said. “This one was written by a treasure hunter who claims he had information on all the parts, and the other one is a Perisian pixie who wanted the artifacts to be discovered and placed in this very museum. I won’t let you touch the manuscripts, but I will read them to you. You may take notes.”
Whit hadn’t brought any writing materials, but Ornnis had a desk just for the purpose of note taking. Ornnis sat by the desk while Yetti sat on the edge of the desk, swinging her legs back and forth while Ornnis read to Whit.
Since Whit had memorized the parts of the documents relating to Perisia, he didn’t have to write down every little thing that Ornnis read to him. Both accounts confirmed that someone in ancient times had collected three of four parts reputed to have been sent to Perisia. The last reported location was in the royal complex. The treasure hunter’s account was almost identical to the one that Whit had. He kept writing from time to time until the reading was over. Nothing new was discussed after that.
“Those aren’t a lot of notes,” Ornnis observed.
“I have an excellent memory,” Whit said. “You can quiz me if you wish.”
“I’ll do just that.” Ornnis asked Whit a few questions and was startled that Whit knew all the answers.
“Now we read the Perisian’s account?” Whit asked.
“Of course, of course,” Ornnis said.
Yetti just grumbled while Ornnis started. The Perisian’s account was not a derivative of the treasure hunter. “The artifacts are likely hidden in an audience hall,” Ornnis said.
“What audience hall? Where?” Yetti asked.
Ornnis shrugged. “It doesn’t give a better answer,” he said shuffling through the old papers. “This is something I haven’t noticed before.”
“What?” Whit asked holding a pen in his hand ready to write.
“There is rumor of a fourth artifact, but it is not with the first three. It came to Perisia from another country,” Ornnis said.
“Read it, please,” Whit said, writing as much as he could from Ornnis’s words.
Most of the account was a justification for finding the artifacts to increase the prestige of King Harret. Ornnis said that dated the account to approximately two hundred seventy years in the past and
before Garri had been built.
“The fourth Augur’s Eye part was sealed up with Saint Varetta,” Ornnis said. “That can’t be right,” the pixie said mostly to himself. “Saint Varetta’s body was never found, so it couldn’t have been buried. Everyone in Perisia knows that.”
Whit made sure he heard Ornnis’s comment correctly and had Ornnis verify what the account said.
“What’s next?” Whit asked.
The rest of Ornnis’s reading dealt with petty politics and how the Perisian pixie couldn’t get sponsorship for his work. He acknowledged the help of a retired scholar named Torry Winnet who lived along Winnet’s Bay. That was it.
“Where is Winnet’s Bay?” Yetti asked the curator.
“Southeast of Garri. It is on the coast that faces the open ocean.”
Yetti’s face lit up. “A trip to the beach? I haven’t been to the ocean in ages!”
Whit smiled. “You must remember that Torry Winnet has been dead for almost three centuries. He won’t want to be disturbed at this point.”
Yetti flashed Whit an excited grin. “You never know where we will end up.”
Whit made sure the ink was dry on his notes and folded the sheets. “What do we owe you for your reading?” Whit asked.
“Any contribution will do. It will, of course, go right into the museum’s preservation fund.”
Whit gave five florins to Ornnis. “We have competitors. I would appreciate you not showing them the accounts.”
Ornnis looked at the coins in his hand. “I think we can manage that.”
After tucking the accounts back in their places, Ornnis accompanied Yetti and Whit up to the ground level and out the door.
Lunch was long gone, but Whit took Yetti to the closest likely looking restaurant. They walked into a pub and ordered whatever was left from the midday rush. They sipped light beer while the kitchen heated up lamb stew.
It came after some time, but the bowls were hot and the bread was fresher than Whit would have expected. He was about to dig in when he spotted Ornnis walking merrily through the door.
“A large mug of dark Honnet wine. I have come into good fortune today,” Ornnis said at the bar.
Whit adjusted his chair so a pillar stood between Ornnis and he.
“I’ll take this with me, but I’ll be back for dinner!” The curator left the pub with a spring in his step.
“Your five florins are being put to good use,” Yetti said sarcastically.
“He didn’t make up what he read. Why can’t he enjoy the fruits of his labors?” Whit said.
Yetti smiled and lifted up her light ale. “Fermented fruits.”
Chapter Nine
~
“I
have arranged an appointment with the prime minister,” Pin said, dropping in just after breakfast the next day. “If we can’t get the king to meet you, we will have to do it through others, I’m afraid. It is for this afternoon. Whit, Gambol, and Argien would be whom I suggest for the meeting.”
“I am the advisor,” Deechie said.
Pin pursed his lips. “There are a few prejudices in play. The prime minister and those of her circle are biased toward original folk. Gambol can come since he is a gnomish professor.”
“I’m an instructor,” Deechie said.
“I said professor.” Pin grimaced and turned it into an ugly smile for Deechie.
“The others can practice their fighting.”
“I don’t fight,” Deechie said.
“You fight all the time,” Razz said. “You can fight us.”
Deechie sniffed as he frowned. “Go ahead. I can do some sightseeing on my own.”
To Whit that meant send another letter to the competing expedition. In a few hours, Pin met Whit and the other two in the inn’s lobby before they set out for the palace.
“What do we have to watch out for? The prime minister is hostile, isn’t he?”
“She,” Pin said, “and she is hostile toward anyone, but especially King Quiller. The purpose of our meeting is to show the king that we are willing to talk with other factions.”
“The prime minister will put up with that kind of ruse?” Argien asked.
“It is part of Perisian politics. Shifting alliances, feints, thrusts, and parries,” Pin said. “I don’t know what it is this time, but we need to stir things up, or you will not succeed in Garri or Perisia.”
The prime minister met them in front of her offices. She led them through a room filled with tall writing desks, but Whit didn’t see the occupants working very hard. Most seemed to be talking casually to each other.
“Sit,” she said waving her hand at a conference table in a room that looked like it was connected to her office. The woman looked pleasant enough.
“I am Ornetta Carlia,” the woman said. “I know Piesson Nistia well enough.” She glanced at Pin, but the pleasant look wasn’t in her face when she did so.
“This is Argien, from Merinda. We met at Herringbone University. My name is Whit Varian. Professor Laring Gambol is with us because of his knowledge of the world.”
“Professor Gambol is not an expert of life in Perisia,” Ornetta Carlia said testily.
“That is why I have chosen to guide them, Ornetta,” Pin said.
“I am the leader of our group. Has Pin, uh, Piesson Nistia, told you about our mission in Perisia?” Whit said.
“Pin has. You seek to steal parts of an ancient artifact. I’m not too excited about ancient history, since I focus my time on the future of our pixie kingdom,” the prime minister said. She gave Whit a tight smile.
“We don’t have designs on anything that isn’t ours or what we can’t purchase,” Pin said. “Whit says that a temporary loan is acceptable. The locations of the Augur’s Eye components are unknown, but we have documents that were prepared long ago that we feel will lead us to most of the parts. We are part of an annual expeditionary contest put on by the university. Our quest is to find as many of the Augur’s Eye components as possible.”
“I understand there is a competing group?” the prime minister asked.
“You’ve met Greeb Deechie?” Gambol asked.
“Is that his name? The human thought he would impress me with his linkage to the College of Magic of the University of Herringbone, but we have our own magic academy that teaches pixie magic, something that is an afterthought in Herringbone,” the prime minister said. “He said you weren’t really qualified to be an entrant, but the magic college assigned him to keep you out of trouble.”
Argien laughed out loud, and Pin grinned.
“Deechie’s superiors quickly assembled an expeditionary team to shadow us,” Gambol said. “He is not working in our best interests, as you may have surmised.”
“I have. However, the issue here is what is the relevance of either team poking around in my country? Perisia is officially closed to any folk other than pixies.”
“We understand that,” Whit said. “That is one of the reasons we have two pixies on our team so we can be sensitive to pixie needs while we are here.”
“Having a gnome on your team does you no favors,” the prime minister said. “Gnomes have no magic,” she turned to Gambol, “as I am sure you are aware.”
“Actually, we have two gnomes on the team, and since the Eye is a magical device, Fistian and I are here to interpret and verify the authenticity of the strictly mechanical parts that we find,” Gambol said.
The prime minister nodded. “I didn’t think of that. Using gnomes for what gnomes do best.”
Whit wanted to say more but Pin gave him a glance, barely shaking his head.
“I met with the king,” Pin said. “He is less interested.”
Ornetta gave them an icy smile. “As well he should, but I have more information. What is it you want from me?”
“Permission to search, but not to take. If we find an artifact, we will notify you and follow your directions as to what we can do with it.”
“That is a fair proposition. Yo
u won’t abscond with it?” Ornetta asked.
“You know me better than that,” Pin said. “I am a Perisian subject—”
“Even though you’ve lived in exile for years?”
Pin’s smile was more like a grimace. “You know I’ve kept in touch, even with you.”
“I was using you to joke with our foreign guests,” Ornetta said. “I will think on it.”
“Can we have permission to at least travel throughout the country?” Whit asked.
“If you leave a monetary bond ensuring you won’t damage our country or remove state property.”
Whit could see Ornetta thought that might be an impediment.
“How much were you thinking?” Whit asked.
“One hundred guineas per member of your team,” the prime minister said without another thought.
“I’ll arrange it,” Whit said.
Pin looked as surprised as the prime minister.
“Pin is already a subject of yours, so I won’t pay a bond for him. Is that acceptable?”
The prime minister glanced at Pin before turning back to Whit. “It is. You can return tomorrow with the money. I think we have talked long enough. I have other matters to attend to.” Ornetta Carlia stood, gave them the barest of bows, and walked through the door to her office.
Whit was about to say something, but Pin put a finger to his lips. Everyone followed Pin out of the building and into the late afternoon sunshine. He didn’t stop until they were well into the main square.
“Tell me you don’t really have that kind of money on you,” Pin said. “What a risk!”
“I have some, but not eight hundred guineas with me,” Whit said. “I have a letter of credit written on the Bank of Ayce. Any reputable bank will recognize it.”
“I think that’s a surprise to us all,” Gambol said. “She didn’t expect you to agree and probably still doesn’t believe you will return tomorrow with the money.”
“Let’s see if I will or not,” Whit said. “I’m almost sure I passed the Royal Bank of Perisia on our way to the palace.”
They walked into the bank, and Whit was eventually shown to the bank lord, what pixies called the bank manager in Perisia. The others weren’t permitted in the meeting, so Whit sent them back to the inn. The Bank of Ayce had sent correspondence to all the national banks in Fortia establishing a line of credit for Whit in the amount of two thousand guineas.
