Walking across the last mile to Televal took little time and Cheleya didn’t feel as tired as she had the previous day after walking, though part of that could be from the excitement of seeing a human town for the first time.
Farms dotted the land between river and town, and then a smaller unprotected village area came and went before finding a fifty foot space between the building and a fifteen foot stone wall. A pair of towers rising about a human taller than the wall guarded each side of the large doors of the north gate. Made of thick wood beams bound by steel cross bracings, Cheleya could see it would take an army without wizards hours to break through the gate. A set of wizards using magic to reinforce the thick doors might even hold out until an enemy could be repulsed.
The wall extended perhaps half a mile in either direction dotted with more towers making the dragoness think that it looked large for human standards, but compared to Mar’kal it was small. Simple buildings like che’ther homes were taller than this stone wall and the city was much wider. Even the streets weren’t nearly as wide, though Televal didn’t have to worry over che’ther and their forty to fifty feet of length either.
“It feels big to me, but I know that this is much smaller than home,” Cheleya said quietly to Kel’lor.
Nodding his head more than a foot above the little blond girl, the human facade managed to say quietly, “It is all perspective. Mar’kal is large to a mar’goyn’lya as well, but to a che’ther most things are small.”
“To an undersized che’ther, the city was large to me as well,” Cheleya noted even as she realized that she was on the small size for a human based off of the traffic moving in and out of town. It seemed very busy to the girl, so she turned to Colbie and asked, “Are there always so many people walking around Televal?”
The battle mage laughed, “The traffic is less than half of what you will see in a few weeks. It is too cold for people to stay out all day, but when spring and the warm weather come there will a lot more people on the street.”
With such numbers boggling her mind, Cheleya couldn’t even imagine so many people. Mar’kal was physically large, but compared to a human city it was almost barren of population. Since mar’goyn’lya often lived up in their eyries around the mountains, che’ther made up most of the city’s residents and they often remained in their homes like dragons staying in their lairs. Those who went to the market seemed very few compared the humans. It reminded her once more of how many humans there were in this world and how few che’ther since Mar’kal held most of their species and Televal was a single, simple town among hundreds or even thousands around the globe.
After a few changes of streets, a tall building looking like a small castle loomed up in front of them. Orlerin turned to his new friends and said, “We need to report to our superiors and see about getting an allowance for the horses and leave to go to Hala. If you don’t want to be noticed, then I suggest either going to a tavern or inn to wait for us. Your presence will be logged here.”
“I could take them to the White Mare, while you make the report,” Colbie offered receiving a tolerant smile from her leader.
“Me too,” Evantus quickly added.
“You two are just going to leave the report to Tilana and me, aren’t you?” the man questioned with a shake of his head. He knew they hated making reports as much as anyone, but it mattered little to him. Their superiors might request the others to give their knowledge of the attack that cost them Veras, but they could go later once he found them at the White Mare. Tilana was enough to back him for a report.
“Fine, but don’t get into trouble and keep them from getting into any trouble as well,” the falcon demanded as he led Tilana to the doors of the local headquarters for their army and magical corps.
“What will you tell them?” Cheleya asked quickly before they could move more than a few steps.
Turning to face her, the falcon stated with a warm smile, “The truth, but only as much as they need. We were attacked and with help from a pair of travelers we fought off the enemy, but Veras was killed in the battle.”
Kel’lor nodded and turned Cheleya away to let Orlerin do what needed to be done. They weren’t from Staron and he owed them no loyalty, but the two had probably saved their lives so Orlerin did owe them that much.
“Let the falcon take care of things. He has a better idea of what to do than we do,” the huge man stated as he guided the smaller girl after Colbie and Evan.
The tavern they spoke of was very near, only a block from the headquarters’ building and the two battle mages looked ready to skip like school children getting out of class early as they led their new friends. A sign with a rough picture of a white horse’s head on a black plaque was an easy clue to the place intended and Cheleya noted that the three story building was whitewashed to look clean.
“This is an inn and tavern,” Colbie said with a smile turning on her heels to see those following and returning full circle to continue her journey to the door at the top of three steps. A small porch gave patrons of the White Mare a place to sit during warmer days, but it was barren as winter had yet to leave the land.
Evan offered Cheleya a hand up the steps bringing a small frown to Colbie as the girl already stood with her hand on the doorknob to the tavern. Shaking her head, the woman ignored him as Evantus helped the dragoness up the three steps, an act that puzzled even Cheleya, but she let him escort her inside none the less.
Kel’lor ducked in the doorway, though it had a little clearance above his head before they were all inside a large room. Stairs led up to a balcony lined with doors and a hallway leading deeper into the building. Half a dozen long tables held the bulk of the floor while a handful of smaller tables lined the walls. A long bar dominated the far wall and a doorway led into a kitchen behind it. Another hallway to the left led deeper into the building revealing doors with numbers on most of them. Cheleya guessed that the inn had around twenty rooms, though how many were able to be rented for a night and how many held those who owned the White Mare was unknown.
“We could get you rooms for the night,” Colbie started and suddenly frowned at the idea. “Do you have any money?”
The odd couple looked at each other realizing that money had never been considered. Humans especially loved using coins to purchase items and services. While che’ther and mar’goyn’lya didn’t rely on such things as much, they knew the necessity of such things. Unfortunately, they hadn’t planned for a trip to human lands when Kel’lor had packed a small amount of food.
Suddenly Cheleya’s face brightened, “Do your people take gold?”
Speaking quietly to avoid notice by the handful of patrons sitting in the tavern eating and drinking, Colbie asked, “Do you have gold with you?”
The dragoness nodded remembering the broken items in her bag. She had used her alteration skill to pull the pieces of glass and metal together, since broken glass was getting into everything dangerously. Though they weren’t in their original form as Cheleya had formed three solid balls from the glass and four bars nearly as big as her human hand, they were neatly organized and could be used for other things using her skill in alteration.
Sitting at a table near the wall, Cheleya pulled one of the bars from her pack to show the mages. Evantus picked up the bar feeling its weight. “This is easily a couple pounds. It should be worth quite a few coins to a merchant.”
Colbie nodded and decided something. Standing up, she pulled the dragoness with her. “You two stay here and order something. Kel’lor’s a big guy and probably hungry. Pay if you have to, Evan, and we’ll go find someone to change this out.”
“But...” the man said starting to rise, but Colbie’s hand pushed him back into his seat. He wanted to go as well, but for protection or simply to be around Cheleya even he wasn’t sure.
“Stay,” Colbie ordered again like she was speaking to a dog being trained.
Taking the dragoness by the hand, the two ladies went and found a money changer quite quickly.
The mage had known of the man before making the men wait. He had a small business dealing in gold and other trinkets as well.
“Excuse me,” Colbie called as she knocked on the counter. The man working the business was in a room within sight of his sales area. He was an older gray haired man and looked annoyed to be bothered so late in the afternoon.
“What is it, mage?” the old man asked gruffly as he walked behind his counter. He had said the word mage a bit disparagingly to Colbie’s ear. Probably figuring that someone in the military at her rank would have little money or items of interest, he continued, “Do you have a sword or dagger that you want to sell for coin? I don’t do that here. There are pawn shops on the other end of the market for that.”
“You do exchange money for gold, don’t you? Or should my cousin and I take our business elsewhere?” the brown haired mage asked the man sarcastically. Noting the girls’ green eyes and similar size, perhaps the old man believed her suddenly created relationship to the dragoness, or perhaps it was the mention of gold from the surprising source.
“Where would you find gold, falcon?” the shrewd old man asked.
“My cousin comes from a family of some wealth, but needs some coin, but if you can’t help us...,” Colbie started to turn as she left the question hang in the air.
“Let me see the piece and I will tell you if I can help.”
Nodding to Cheleya to bring out a bar, the dragoness pulled out a single shaped piece of gold. The man’s eyes opened wide in shock and he stammered a moment before settling down to answer, “I would need to test it for quality and weigh it, but I am not sure that I have enough coins here to cover a whole bar.”
“A money changer that can’t even cover a single bar this size? I am shocked at your lack of funds. Perhaps I should head to one of the banks near the mayor’s office?” Colbie stated and began to pull Cheleya with her.
“Wait, wait, let me at least check it for you. Once I know its worth, perhaps we can work something out,” the old man back pedaled unable to take his eyes off of the gold bar. “I have never seen a bar like this. It looks refined unlike those smelted at the mines, but it bears no identification like one of the banks would sell.”
“It came from some worked items that were melted into this shape,” Cheleya informed the merchant. “We didn’t need them anymore and formed them into bars that could be carried.”
Colbie could tell that the story meant little to the merchant. He was already hooked and wanted to find a way to get the gold. Letting the man take the gold to a scale in sight, they were informed that it was two and half pounds. His gear to check for the quality of the gold brought a low whistle from the man before he realized that he was increasing the price that the girls might want for such a rare quality of gold.
“Would you take coppers and silvers for it?”
Colbie shook her head and demanded, “We are not going to be carrying a ton of cheap coin around with us. You need to offer at least half the worth in minted gold coins or I will take my cousin elsewhere.”
Cheleya could hear the merchant grind his teeth and he turned to go into his backroom once more. “A moment,” the old man excused himself and closed his door.
Looking a little confused, Cheleya asked quietly, “Is this normal for a negotiation with money?”
A shrug was her reply as the mage said, “I’ve never tried to sell something like this, but Staron coin will be easier to use and coins are weighed in the mint to make sure they can be used without shorting a merchant or customer. Two and half pounds of gold will weigh about half that in silver and copper will be closer to ten pounds. A bag to carry that many coins would take up half your pack.”
The old man returned looking less than happy to have delved into his coins. Colbie assumed that he had a safe of some sort in the backroom, and three mid size bags were placed on the counter. “The exchange price takes five percent for my efforts.”
Colbie looked ready to argue, but the old man would take no argument to his fee. Ten gold coins came from the first pack. Twenty silver came from the next and twenty copper from the last. The mage frowned being unable to sway the merchant’s price, so she added, “Throw them in a pouch and you have a deal, old man.”
Finally a smile flit across the merchant’s face. Colbie was pretty sure that they weren’t getting robbed, though such money changers had almost as bad a reputation as the pawn shops and money lenders. She figured that they had done well enough and Cheleya had three more bars left besides so money should be no issue for quite awhile for the two from Mar’kal.
Leaving the shop, the girls began to walk back to the inn and Colbie glanced to make sure no one was looking as she said, “I can’t make that much money working for three years as a battle mage. They do provide a lot of basics, but money is little enough for the work. Make sure that no one knows that you carry more of those bars. Work from the pouch until you need to get more money.”
Cheleya nodded. Gold was precious to men and even some che’ther, but that brought jealousy and greed she knew. While her people rarely were swayed by such things, she had heard of crimes committed to get more wealth.
“I will do my best. We did not need money the way we might here,” she acknowledged. “I know some people commit crimes against others for gold, so I know wealth is best hidden.”
Placing a sisterly arm around the slightly smaller blond, the falcon added, “We may not be able to go with you, but I hope that you will be safe anyway.”
“Because you are my cousin?” Cheleya asked trying to make a joke like she had heard Colbie and Evantus exchanging for a few days.
Laughing at the girl, Colbie nodded. “That’s right, cousin. I try to take care of my family.”
Chapter 12- Dancing Dragoness
Night began to descend on Televal by the time Orlerin and Tilana were able to join the others at the White Mare. The four were finishing their meals that had been paid for with four coppers while a silver had already reserved a room for Kel’lor and Cheleya despite the inn keeper’s disbelieving face. The story of sister and brother was still hard to pass by some people based on their different looks; and Cheleya could do little to change hers, while the gargoyle seemed unwilling.
By that time, a small meal crowd had already begun to fill many of the tables. During the winter, taverns like this were places to gather out of the cold for those willing to brave it to get there. The six did their best to remain quietly separate as dinner took precedence in the White Mare. Orlerin ordered a pair of meals for Tilana and him, before informing the table of the results of the meeting.
“The falcondi wasn’t very happy with the loss of Veras, of course,” the man began.
“Who is?” Evantus retorted thinking that the loss of their only portal wizard was a rather large blow to the team. The wizard hadn’t always been the friendliest or most beloved, but he had been a comrade for a long time making his death a blow to his team’s hearts.
Ignoring Evan, the falcon continued, “When I asked if we could take a break and make the trip to Hala for the tournament, he bit my head off. I reminded him that until Estaria sent his replacement, our team can’t finish our mission. While I did inform him that we had found out the two gates had sent through creatures from Ensolus and most were neutralized, he still wasn’t very enthusiastic about giving us time away.”
“It’s also winter,” Evantus pointed out though the meeting was long over with and he was just hearing the notes.
Nodding to the younger mage, Orlerin continued, “There is also that and it will delay any journey of a wizard to Televal.”
It was Tilana, who interrupted as she put in, “Estaria isn’t that far from Hala in the grand scheme of things, so Orlerin offered to deliver the message and escort a new portal wizard from the capitol, if we could take a break to mourn our friend and relieve some tension by going to Hala as well. The falcondi said yes.”
“So you’ll all be traveling with us?” Cheleya asked in surprise.
Kel’lor nodded as his mind went to other things and he revealed his thoughts, “Did he approve of horses for you as well?”
Orlerin replied, “We were approved for four horses plus a pair of pack horses. We will just have to make the horses carry you instead, but on the books that will be what is written. Since you don’t know if the man who attacked you will send other agents after you, this should at least confuse the matter of whether you were here and where you are going now.”
“When can we leave?” Cheleya wondered though she was trying not to push her new friends after all they were doing for them. “We also haven’t thought to check if there are any wizards here that might understand what was done to me.”
Tilana shook her head. “Orlerin has already set up the horses for tomorrow so we can leave then. As to anyone that can help you with your problem in Televal, I would have to say that it was an outside shot at best. There is only one healer and the only other kind of wizards that might have a clue are earth wizards like myself.”
“Hala is still probably your best chance at finding someone to help cure you,” Orlerin added as he leaned on his hand conspiratorially bracing against the tabletop. “There will be wizards from around the world and maybe one of them will have heard of such a skill being used and more importantly how to fix it.”
Evantus had another question, “Is it so bad being stuck as a human?”
Colbie frowned at his words and the tone with which he spoke to the girl. She feared that he was letting her facade make him forget that Cheleya was still a che’ther despite her pretty human exterior. The dragoness didn’t seem to notice though she looked a little taken aback by the question.
“I actually always enjoyed being able to change into one, but I think since I can longer turn back I am close to resenting it. Being a human girl has its fun points and I certainly feel more graceful than as a twenty foot long che’ther with a tail. It is just being confined to this one look that bothers me most.”
Battle Mage: Dragon Mage (Tales of Alus) Page 15
