by Guy Antibes
Rullon often stopped Bellia for better descriptions. It seemed as if he wanted to live the experience with her.
“Did you know about Ned?”
Rullon nodded. “He started the Temple with the Blind God. Only the Blind God has knowledge of his true story. I was unaware of the flute, but I’ve read hints of an ancient song language. You have uncovered mysteries that once had been only the knowledge of Ned and the Blind God.”
Bellia pulled out a stiff leather purse and brought out a handful of the Temple treasure.
Rullon reverently spread the gems out on the table. “To think that gods have held these in their hands. How many did you leave behind?”
“Three quarters, maybe more. The Reberrants wanted me to take some.”
Ulu nodded his head. “Mistress Bellia gave us our history back when she played from the metal pages.”
“Metal pages? You didn’t mention those.”
“I will. I will. In the storeroom underneath the main stage, I found a metal book. The fifty pages had holes in them and the book was bound with metal wire. The first part of the book consisted of a history of the Reberrants written as song. I left that with them and Ned’s flute.”
“Why leave his flute?”
“I felt that I should. For some reason, something or someone, maybe the Blind God has been directing me all of this time. Nudges. That’s what I call all of the circumstances that have guided me. Even to Togolath.” Bellia laughed. “I even called my horse Nudge.”
“The Blind God does nudge, doesn’t he?” Rullon smiled. “What about the rest of the book?”
“It is here.”
“Here in my house? We will have to read it.”
“I’m not sure I can let you do that.”
“But surely—”
“It teaches the magic before it was bound into codework.”
“You know about that?” Rullon looked amazed.
“I do. Unbound wizards diminished the gods. I’m not sure such power would be good for Gleanere.”
“But who are you to say—?”
“Nudges, Rullon. Nudges.” Bellia looked at the man in all seriousness. “You will know in due time. That is one of the reasons we need to spend time together.”
Bellia continued and by the time all three were yawning, Togolath appeared on the horizon in her story.
“Amazing. I would like to see your horses in the morning. I have always admired the pluck of the plains horses.”
“You may have one. Nudge is all I need. If it’s all right with Ulu.”
Ulu was drifting off, but said, “It is fine that you should have our horse. Perhaps that is another reason why we never gave him a name, so that you might have that privilege.”
Rullon called to Warnt, his servant. “Take Ulu to his room. I’ll have a few words with Bellia and I can direct her to her room when we both retire.”
Warnt bowed slightly and escorted Ulu up to his rooms.
Rullon look concerned. “Guardians rumored to be extremely dangerous people. They were forbidden to handle metal weapons. I’m surprised he didn’t kill you.”
“Ulu and I call it the fighting frenzy. His eyes actually glow blue when it overcomes him. I’ve seen it in action.”
“Perhaps you’ve only been lucky,” Rullon said.
Bellia smiled. “All I have to do is say stop and it leaves him. When he fought with Jukuto in the ring of the Wolf tribe, he was in the frenzy. He put down seven or eight men with only Jukuto to guard his back. I had to yell stop in the middle of my own fight.”
“But that’s impossible. Only a god…”
“A nudge. That’s all. Perhaps the Blind God has lent me some of his power. I am thankful for it. Tomorrow we can talk about magic without codes.” Bellia could feel her eyes droop. “I am done for the night.”
“We still have much to discuss. An astonishing story.”
The next morning Bellia awoke on silk sheets in a room with a view of Togolath’s harbor. The sun shone through the slats of half-opened shutters. She stretched. It felt so wonderful to be in a place where she would spend more than a night or two. She ran her hand along the silk sheets and wondered what it would be like to wear a real dress made out of that material. It was common among the upper classes.
Bellia wondered what amenities had she deprived herself of? A blacksmith, soldier, treasure hunter and traveler in hostile lands. Those were hardly roles for a lady. Bellia wondered if she were a lady at all. She had the shape of one, albeit she stood as tall as most men. She rose and went into the bathroom. She had used indoor plumbing at the Temple and few other stops along her way including the House, but Rullon’s fixtures were carved out of marble with golden valves.
The bath was already hot. Warnt or another servant must have filled it up. She sat and let the heat soothe her travel-worn muscles. When she walked out of the bathroom, her clothes were laid out on her bed, cleaned during the night. She decided to wear a split leather skirt and a colorful blouse she bought in Banta.
“Bellia. Come sit down. I have already eaten breakfast with Ulu this morning and seen to a few of my patients. We must get on a closer schedule. Your horse, Nudge is a magnificent beast. His kind are dwindling in the world, but he is worthy of a king.” Rullon looked into Bellia’s eyes.
“Let me look at your hand.” Rullon held Bellia’s hand and made some gestures while he closed his eyes. He opened them and frowned. “There is nothing I can do here. The salve the Guardians used had unique properties. They healed your hand, but the disfigurement is sealed.”
“I don’t need it for magic.”
“So you say.”
Bellia described her two tries.
“Can you demonstrate this? Perhaps we could go outside. I have valuable objects littered around my house.” He gave her a half-smile.
They went outside. Rullon walked over to his new horse. “These plains creatures are unique in the world. Pluck. Such pluck.”
“That is what the stable master in Hossel’s Corners said.”
“Yes. I will treasure him. Not to mention ride him often.” He grinned at Bellia as Ulu walked up. “Your friend is going to show me her magic.”
“We will need to find a safe place to observe then, Master Rullon. The last time she shattered a rock and nearly killed us both.” Ulu smiled, but Bellia could sense a tinge of fear.
“Suit yourself.” Bellia picked up a potted plant and took it to the middle of the courtyard. She stepped back to the edge and assembled the sky-layer-earth lines of power in her mind and gently lifted the pot using her forefinger as the focus. Her goal was to keep the power steady and not get excited. It rose fifteen feet in the air. She lowered her finger and felt a little anxious about the landing. The alignment of the lines slipped out of her mind, causing the pot to fall four feet to shatter on the cobblestones.
“I lost concentration.” Bellia frowned, somewhat embarrassed by her failure.
Rullon looked, open-mouthed at the pot and then back up into the air. “Don’t believe it. That should not happen.”
“Why not? Its just a matter of following instructions.”
“No it’s not. The magic was bound. Not the technique. The magic. You shouldn’t have been able to do that. The gods bound the power.”
It was Bellia’s turn to stand with her mouth open. “But, I just showed you. And I could play Ned’s flute.”
“Come in and play your flute for me.”
Bellia sat at a seating arrangement in the corner of a large room. The shutters were pulled back to reveal the inner sea. A dark smudge was barely visible at the edge of the sea. “Grianna?”
Rullon nodded. “Your father’s home and where you were probably born.”
Bellia felt the pull of Grianna. Another nudge. “No. I was born at the House. The wizard who healed me in South Wansua said my mother was pregnant when he created the house with my father.” She looked across the inner sea and a nudge told her that her quest led there. Grianna. She shook her
head and put the flute to her mouth.
Bellia took it out before she began. “The vision changes to match where I am. In the jungle, the jungle appeared in all its beauty. With the Middab, we all saw the plains in its glory. I am not sure what we’ll see here in Togolath.” She put the flute back to her mouth and began to play.
Visions of the city flashed in Bellia’s head as it grew from a fishing village, to a small port like at Palubat. The buildings rose from the town and a flurry of workers built the great moat along with the floodgates and pumps that controlled it. The vision sped up as armies rushed around its walls only to be repelled again and again. The scene ended with a sunset painting the town an orange-red as it turned into a misty blue twilight.
Bellia pulled the flute from her lips.
“Astounding. My city.” Rullon’s eyes were rimmed with tears.
“And that’s an ordinary flute.” Bellia handed it to Rullon.
He laid the flute on the table and threw codes at it and closed his eyes. “No magic exists in that instrument. Whatever power you called on didn’t leave a trace.”
“Hmmpf. Then the magic has got to be in the music. I don’t have any special powers like that.”
“Let me see that sword you made? I never got to properly examine it at the temple.”
Bellia left and returned with her short sword. Rullon again threw codes at the sword, unlocking the cloaking spell that he had put on it months ago. “Magic is in every layer. This blade will never break.”
“I think I have the answer to that. I must have made codes as I worked. I had all my fingers then.”
Rullon looked disapprovingly at Bellia. “Didn’t your father teach you about how magic works?”
“Of course he did. He taught me codes and he researched others. His library was filled with codes and combinations.” This conversation wasn’t heading in the direction Bellia thought it should. She was looking for guidance, not an analysis of her magic and of her family.
“I know. But I don’t live in a little village in Testia, Bellia. I knew Norlian, your father. I met him a number of times when we were young and we often talked about magic. Of course he never told me about you, just his first two sons.”
“Did you ever talk to him after he left Grianna?” Bellia thought she might as well learn something about her father now that her secrets were laid out for public view.
“I didn’t. Something happened at Court and he left. I always thought he had some kind of argument with his father about succession, although he was the third son. I do know the thought of being King was abhorrent to him.” Rullon picked at the braid of his jacket. “Becoming a hermit, as he did, wasn’t a surprise to me or anyone else.”
“Was my father a strong wizard? I have no way of comparing him with others. He studied a lot and had a large library.”
“He was strong enough. He accumulated most of his knowledge before he left. He had above average capabilities, but not extraordinary powers like you have. I heard about the House and that he needed the help of his wife, your mother, and another wizard to permanently bind the spell. That was your healer friend. I would classify Norlian as a highly gifted technician, but I always had the impression that your mother was more powerful than Norlian.”
“My mother?” Bellia never thought of his mother as a wizard of great power. She cleaned the house like any other woman, although she used her powers to keep food fresh and cook and maintain the air curtain.
“Oh yes. She came from a great line of healers to the north. I think that is why Norlian had his father force her to marry him.”
“No. Father wouldn’t do such a thing.”
Rullon pursed his lips. “Here it is done all the time. Not many women marry for love and when they do, it’s often a disaster. By the time I met Norlian, I do believe their marriage was a happy one with, as I said, your two brothers.”
“What do we do now?” Bellia said in hopes that Rullon had the answer hidden up his sleeve or that he could shake a few codes out of his fingers and there the answer would appear in the air written in glowing script.
“I’m not going to do anything, except maybe take my new plains horse for a ride after I spend the rest of the afternoon seeing patients and clearing my appointments for a few days.”
“I have something that I need for you to do for me. Is there someone you really trust in Togolath?”
Rullon chuckled. “In Togolath, trust is always relative.”
“I have my jewels. I don’t want to carry them with me. Is there a place I can leave them where they won’t be stolen.”
“There is a relatively new institution in Togolath. So far it has proven to be reliable. I have just started to use it after some thieves broke in here and stole some of my valuables while I traveled to Tuathua. Do you need an introduction?”
Bellia let out a sigh of relief. “I would. Carrying such wealth has been a worry that I had to ignore. The jewels are very valuable.”
“They might be able to buy you all of Togolath,” Rullon said.
~~~
Chapter Thirty
Disaster at Rulon’s Residence
~
The Treasure House. That’s what Bellia thought of it. The people who ran it called it a bank. She took Ulu along with her to deposit most of her jewels.
“I have significant wealth in this bag that I would like to keep here, if you can verify that it will be safe.”
The man at the desk was dressed in a silk suit. The style was foreign to Bellia, but that didn’t take much. “I have a few ways to keep your money. You may put it with the bank’s funds. That way we pay you a small percentage to use it.”
“Like a loaner?”
“Loaner. Such a gross term, but descriptive. We don’t lend at such high rates and we don’t pay high rates of interest to the depositor. We find that allows our customers to pay back their loans without hardship. We also can just store your money. For that we charge a small fee. What funds you join with the bank funds, you can draw cash from. We have a corresponding institution in Grian, however it is unknown how much longer they will be in business.” The man shook his head as if Grian was doomed. “There is also a program for our more wealthy clientele where they participate in larger joint projects, sharing in the higher interest of the project.”
Bellia didn’t care for the man’s arrogance, but he sounded like he knew what he was doing. “I’ll store most of my wealth, but will put some in the bank’s funds for projects. I have a few jewels I found in the jungles of Durnna that I’d like converted to Togolath or Griannan coinage. Can you do that?”
“We have converted jewelry to cash often enough. Certainly. You may hire your own appraiser to ensure your valuation is acceptable.”
“Thank you I will. I’ve brought my wealth with me.”
“In that saddlebag?” The bank clerk showed astonishment. “Be glad you reached the bank without being accosted.”
“Do I look like I have a vast sum on my person?” Bellia smiled and began to open the flap. “I’ve counted everything. But I’d rather this be left alone and not touched by anyone. Master Rullon, the healer, has sealed this.” Bellia pulled out a tapestry bag with the bulk of her jewels inside. “And this, I’d like to join in with the banks funds.” She gave the clerk a smaller purse holding five of the jewels.
The bank clerk looked like he held a sack full of iron groats. He gasped so loudly, other customers and bank workers looked at him. “These are—I don’t know if we have the funds to convert these to ready coinage today or even this month.”
“Do your best. I would like to personally see these valuables go into your safe place.” Bellia hefted her carpetbag of jewels.
“Of course. Of course. Come with me.” The clerk led them to the back of the building and then down to the basement. “Our basement is lined with mortared stone and then a two-inch thick single layer of iron welded in place. We had a forge down here with smiths laying strips of molten metal along all the joints. You
can see the stone lining. These are the largest single pieces we could find. There won’t be any tunneling into our vaults.”
Bellia was impressed. Only a wizard could hope to break through the walls. The clerk showed her a wall full of different sized iron doors. Some had keys sticking out of locks.
“Pick a suitably sized vault and pull out the key. It’s yours. The same smith’s that made the walls made this strongbox wall.”
Bellia put her bag of jewels in and pulled out the key.
“Let me know what valuation you come up with. If you cannot handle all five jewels, I will find someone who can convert the excess to coinage. Do I need to sign some parchment work?”
“At my desk.” The man seemed a bit flustered.
Bellia signed the documents. She pulled a paper out of her pocket. “Here are the names of two appraisers. Rullon thought they would provide honest valuations. I’d like you to have them both look at the jewels. Please let me know which one you use so I can verify the valuation.”
With that unpleasantness done, Bellia felt like huge burden came off her back. Ulu even looked relieved. They walked back up the hill to Rullon’s house.
“Can I show you our fine countryside?” Rullon said as they walked in. “After some refreshment or a light meal, of course.” Rullon wore a suede leather coat and black canvas riding pants. A wide brimmed black hat sat on the table next to him.
~
Not all the lands around Togolath were farmed. Rullon knew the richest men in the city and he led them to one of the largest estates. Close to a major road, the owner contracted farmers to work his land, but half a league from the road, a huge hunting preserve existed for the sole purpose of the entertainment of the owner and his friends. Rullon led Bellia and Ulu into the preserve.
“We’ll be careful. My friend has his personal patrol constantly clearing the woods of all kinds of undesirables, but this is a marvelous place to ride, as we all will see. This is a wonderful horse.” Bellia smiled as Rullon rode as proudly as a tribal chief on his plains horse.
