The houses were like a brothel except for men that could prove they could procreate, married women would be brought there and the child would never know his birth father’s true identity. It was a place some Gaea worked at, after all, the work was easy compared to manual labor and they were forbidden from going back to the great forest. Outsider men though could fetch a higher price for services rendered, they could make a silver for each time they performed and only had to give the owner 25% of the days earnings. Better looking men were tasked out more than those not so good looking, only the best-looking Gaea got in and they were paid about 80% less than their Outsider counterparts. No Outsider man wanted a short son with Gaea blood as his first choice if he wasn’t the real father.
Ray saw the carriage ahead of him stop, there was something blocking the road so he stopped his wagon and went to investigate. It was three men, two of them held pikes to keep the horses from moving and the other had a sword he was menacing the driver of the carriage with. Ray grabbed the only weapon he had handy, one of his staves. While he couldn’t do magic with it, it would still make an excellent weapon. Ray approached the man who had just yanked the carriage door open.
“Alright ladies you know how this goes, just give me your valuables and be on with you” a man said as he flashed his sword. “I want your money, not your life, but if you try to make a move I won’t think twice”.
“I think you have bigger problems” Ray said as he smacked the staff into his palm. “How about you turn around and I will forget this whole thing”.
“Gods damn you are one big fucking Gaea” the man said as he took a step back. “Where in the hell did they find you at and what business is it of yours if we rob these two pretty misses, it’s not like we are after their flower, we just want to eat”.
“You are trying to rob my mother and sister” Ray replied.
“No way a bloke like you come out of that” the man said as he twiddled his moustache between his fingers. “You one of those adopted types?”
“What you trying to make of it?” Ray replied.
“Well I have three guys versus you and a big ass stick” the man replied. “I don’t want to be hit with that big ass stick and neither do any of my boys. You look like fancy types but none of you have any kind of guards, you wouldn’t happen to be hiring now would you Milord?”
“Hiring for what?” Ray asked.
“Show muscle” the man replied. “We will probably run at the first chance of trouble but not many people will attack a man with three guards even if there is only one sword between them. We work cheap, a copper a day plus one meal and one cup of ale”.
“Don’t bargain with these brigands” Ray could hear his mother say.
“You mind doing me a solid and shutting that door?” Ray asked as the man shrugged and closed the door on his protesting mother.
“I think we can come to an agreement, do you have any horses?” Ray asked.
“Pit no” the man replied. “We took the sword off of a drunk guard and made the pikes with an old ax. Do we look like the sort of men that could afford horses?”
“Well you have been out here robbing people” Ray replied as he raised his eyebrow.
“Nah, I am a con man” the man replied. “This is my first shot at being a proper robber out here, me and these two idiots came from the coast to see if we could make some money, well that and we are wanted men”.
“What is your name?” Ray asked.
“Does it really matter?” the man replied. “You can call me Simon Whirl, those two are my nephews, Sam and Frank. Only reason they are traveling with me is because my last partner got blasted apart by an angry mage. I miss my little brother but he should have taken my advice and got the hell out of town”.
“You are not quite what I pictured a bandit to be” Ray said as he looked Simon over.
“I don’t know how to take that coming from a seven foot Gaea” Simon replied.
“Tell them two to put their little twigs down” Ray replied. “Follow us into town and I’ll get you something to eat. No con games though, I am an honest merchant and won’t be a part of anything”.
“You seriously going to hire us?” Simon replied. “You know we are unskilled peasants right that hate hard work?”
“Are you trying to talk me out of hiring you?” Ray asked.
“Hey boys we are on the straight and narrow now” Simon screamed out. “This big bloke is the new boss, said he will pay us a fair wage and put something in our belly. We are merchant guards now”.
Ray gave the carriage driver a signal to keep moving, he could still hear his mother yelling something out as she looked out of the carriage window and saw the men walking with the carriage. Ray knew he would have to talk to her eventually, they had one more stop before Xalen then they would push through until they reached the capital. The next town they came to was called Tafarin, it was a sizable town that looked to be extremely busy. Ray left his mother in front of an inn, she wouldn’t be staying there but it was likely they had food and he went to directly to the square to set up shop. It was likely a town of this size would send someone over and demand he stop selling immediately without a license, depending on how good he did he would either buy one or stop selling.
“Are those spineberries Milord” Frank asked. Frank was not as old as Ray first thought, the dirt covering his face hid his age a bit and Ray found out he was thirteen, a year younger than his brother Sam. Frank was built like Sam and Simon, they were of average height and had slim builds but that could be due to malnutrition.
“They are, it’s what I came to sell” Ray replied. “I am out in front of this baker because he will most likely try to run me off”.
“That makes no sense at all” Sam said entering the conversation. “Why would you set up shop somewhere people are going to run you off?”
“Hey you can’t put that cart here” came a man out of the baker’s shop looking at Ray. The man was a little portly and had flour on his fingers and stains on his apron.
“Everyone likes spineberries” Ray began as he picked a couple of his vine and ate it. “I won’t be long, I am selling them for a gold a pound. I hear they go great in pies or drinks”.
“A gold a pound you say?” the baker said as he rubbed his chin and put flour all over it.
“You could sell a single berry for a silver, you know that Gaea?” the baker replied. “A pound should net you three gold in Xalen”.
“But I am not in Xalen” Ray replied. “I’ll tell you what, I will give you a pound in return for seeing to it my men get cleaned, fed and clothed”.
“I am not some lackey” the baker protested.
“Well then it looks like you just left three gold on the table” Ray replied.
“I don’t need that money Gaea” the baker said and crossed his arms. “I am making good money here with that ball going on in a few days. Travelers all over are coming and paying me good money for my bread, not to mention so is the inn, I have tripled my prices and still keep running out. In fact I don’t have anymore left and only one cake”.
“So you are saying I can triple my money, that I have possibly nine gold on me?” Ray asked. “Well if you don’t think it would be worth it to spend a little time for that kind of investment, I bet other people might”.
“Give me the damn berries Gaea” the baker said angrily. “Come pick up your nasty men in about two hours, I’ll have them ready for you”.
Ray plucked off a pound of berries and handed them over, he had regrown them almost as soon as he turned around to go to the inn where he would have a talk with his mother. Ray covered his cart and gave the stable boy who looked to be a mix of Gaea and the people of Holyan two silver to watch his stuff. It was probably more money than the boy ever had, obviously mixed Gaea were only treated marginally better than full Gaea and that money would probably go a long way in his household. Ray smiled at the way he just gave that money out, he was normally very cheap but it seemed the amounts of
money he could make made his argument against spending it a little invalid.
Ray opened the inn door and could see the place was packed, he waded through the crowd and attracted some attention from the people he was moving out of his way because of his size. Ray finally found his mother sharing a table with a married couple and their two sons. Ray saw there was an empty chair and sat down.
“Excuse me” the older man said when he looked at Ray.
“This is my son Ray” Gertrude replied. “The one that didn’t want to be here but changed his mind almost instantly when we got on the road”.
“Your son is Gaea?” the woman at the table asked. “Did you adopt him or have him naturally”.
“I am right here and I’m not deaf” Ray snapped. “What’s it to you either way?”
“Ray don’t be so defensive” Gertrude chided. “People are just curious because you look different, I may not have had you but you are mine now and I hope your birth mother approves of the job I have done”.
“She meant no offense Gaea” the older man spoke as his wife elbowed him. “We meant no offense Lord Ray”.
“So what do you all do to make a living?” the woman asked. “I am assuming you are not a landed noble or you would be in Xalen paying outrageous prices”.
“My son sells staves and crops” Gertrude said proudly. He has made us a decent enough living and we only stopped here to get a bite to eat. We are staying in the Crow’s Nest in Xalen”.
“The Crow’s Nest?!?” the older man said startled. “It is a gold a night per person to stay there and another gold for meals. What kind of crops are you selling Lord Ray?”
“Mostly spineberry” Ray said as he plucked one out of his pocket and tossed it over to the older man. “Go ahead and keep it, I got plenty more”.
“You are just giving this to me?” the man asked.
“I got more and business has been good, even got me some guards using the money I made coming up” Ray replied.
“You mean you are still with those bandits?” Teresa asked.
“I haven’t splurged this entire trip unlike other people I know” Ray replied as he could see Teresa turn red then look away.
“Well I am Lord Puffs, Rolan Puffs” the old man replied. “This is my wife Tilly and my two sons Declan and Wallace. Me and Tilly both got our titles because our grandmothers were both mages, our bloodline comes with no land but we have done alright, we own a brothel and were thinking about having a house business”.
“Rolan” Tilly said as her face turned red.
“Don’t Rolan me, these people are selling spineberry” Lord Puffs replied. “We are all a couple of deviants at this table”.
“Spineberry doesn’t work on the Gaea the way it does for us” Tilly reprimanded him. “Now Gertrude thinks we are deviants”.
“We are deviants” Lord Puffs said loudly which made Ray laugh a little.
“Can we just change the subject you are embarrassing me and your sons” Tilly replied and covered her face.
“So Lady Teresa, what do you hope to get out of this ball?” Lord Puffs asked. “I know this is going to be one big matchmaking scene, I am sure the only reason this whole thing was put together was to see how many young nobles have the mark”.
“You are embarrassing me Milord” Teresa said and turned red.
“What you embarrassed about?” Ray replied. “You told me you hate the home we got and you plan on running out and having babies with some landed noble to escape the dreary existence I am forcing you to be a part of”.
“I did not say that” Teresa replied.
“You used flowery words but you said it” Ray replied. “No need of leading the one in the blue shirt on since he apparently doesn’t know he has been staring at your breasts for the last ten seconds”.
Ray saw the boy look away blushing along with almost everyone at the table except Lord Puffs who let out a hearty laugh. His wife Tilly punched him in the shoulder which made him laugh even harder and eventually he got Ray along with everyone else giggling.
“No need to be embarrassed boy if you spot quality” Lord Puffs said as he smacked his son on the back. “Lord Ray can never say he hasn’t stared at a good pair although you must be more discreet when her brother is the size of our horse and has hands the size of dinner plates”.
“You are wrong Lord Puffs” Teresa said as she looked at Ray and smirked. “My brother is too busy with his books and the dirt to notice any women”.
“It’s not like I have a family to look after” Ray replied sarcastically. “What is some silly girl going to do for me that I can’t do for myself?”
“Plenty of things lad” Lord Puffs said as his wife hit him again causing him to laugh. Ray decided he liked Lord Puffs, the man was always out to have a good time and seemed to enjoy life and embarrassing his wife. Even Ray’s mother found the man charming but Ray could tell Tilly was looking suspiciously at Gertrude so Ray decided it was time to leave. His men, if they were still around should be finished with whatever they were doing and if he wanted to make Xalen before nightfall they had a decent ride ahead of them.
“It was nice meeting you Lord Puffs” Ray said as he stood up. “I have to take my mother and sister away if I plan on reaching Xalen anytime other than the dead of night”.
Ray led the way out and had the carriage and the wagon brought around, he was paying the driver two silver a day plus meals. The older man normally slept in the carriage at night and was a decent enough driver although it seemed he loved the bottle too much. Ray doubted he had ever seen the man entirely sober but he was a good driver. Ray found Simon, Sam and Frank just as he was leaving town, they were cleaned up a little and their hair was cut low like a soldier’s or city watchman. They had matching black pants with a light blue tunic and now all of them carried a sword stashed in a scabbard on a sword belt. Their boots and gloves matched with their tunic and they seemed pleased with themselves. Ray didn’t remember asking for weapons but wouldn’t turn down any freebies.
“You trying to leave us Milord?” Simon replied.
“I didn’t see you near the bakers and figured you left once you were fed” Ray replied.
“We were going to but look at me” Simon replied. “We look like a couple of honest men, even my idiot nephews look decent for once and we are fat on meat buns and cake. The baker let us wash off at his house and his wife did our hair, why in the hell would I want to leave that? I am getting all kinds of perks and I haven’t really did shit. I look better than you do now, you just look like some big fucking corn fed farmer. It’s the perfect job”.
“Well then get on” Ray replied. “Carrying that head around has to be tough and you don’t want to scuff your pretty little boots”.
“That baker paid one gold for all of this stuff” Simon said as he climbed aboard. “You got ripped off”.
CHAPTER 3
Noble Asshats
“I am nervous Ray, how do I look?” Teresa asked.
“For the fourth time Teresa you look alright” Ray replied.
“What do you mean by alright” Teresa asked. “My hair, make up and clothes cost us two gold, I should be better than alright. Good money was spent getting the cut just right and this corset is very uncomfortable. My breasts feel like they are ready to come spilling out of this thing at any second although the tailor assured me they wouldn’t”
“I don’t want to hear about your breasts” Ray snapped. “I’d rather stick my tongue up a warthog’s ass than see those things without any covering. I am barely holding my lunch in as it is”.
“You are just jealous” Teresa replied. “I have seen a few men looking already”.
“Well if you seen people looking why are you asking me how you look?” Ray replied. “Maybe because the pickings are slim and these lads are desperate”.
“Be quiet they are about to announce us” Teresa said as a man asked for their name.
“Lady Teresa Riverdale and her younger brother Lord Ray
Riverdale V” Teresa replied as Ray noticed the man was staring at her chest.
“Keep your eyes where they belong” Ray said as the man looked at him startled then let him pass.
He and his sister were announced early, the only people before them were the descendants of mages but if four generations had went by without a mage they would be just regular commoners again. Ray found a table that had their name on it and sat down. His sister looked around excited and smoothed out her dress three or four times before sitting down.
The Mage Slayer Page 2
