Garth turned and stared at Kalina. For a long time he didn't speak, but a broad smile crossed his lips.
"You are beautiful," he said softly. "I thought it took hours to get into something like that."
"Not with magic," Kalina winked. "We will have to leave the dog here. The innkeeper has already had complaints about him."
"What did he do?" asked Garth.
"He stole the chicken right off a customer's plate," answered Kalina. "The innkeeper wanted to skin the dog alive, but I offered to pay for the dinner, and the matter was resolved amicably, but they don't want him in the lodge."
"We will lock him in the room," vowed Garth. "Are you ready?"
Kalina nodded, and Garth led the way to the doorway. Smokey followed them across the room and was lying in ambush, waiting for the door to open, but Garth knew that trick. He opened the door and immediately moved his feet to block the dog's path while Kalina slipped into the corridor. Garth backed out of the room, closed the door, and locked it. He smiled in satisfaction and led Kalina down the stairs.
The common room in the Gateway Lodge was similar in layout to the Waxhaw Wheel House, although it was more garish. Half of the room was a dining area, and the other half was an open floor with a long bar serving wine and other alcoholic beverages. Most people were finely dressed, although there was no rule demanding it. Here and there were merchants and couriers still dressed more appropriately for the trail rather than the city, but it was the elite of the city that Garth needed to mingle with.
Garth was more comfortable talking to soldiers and mercenaries than he was princes and dukes, but Kalina acted like she was born to mingle. She led Garth from cluster to cluster, nodding politely and listening to the conversations. Some of the people were curious and asked about them, which gave Garth the opportunity to speak of his status as a trusted agent in search of wares, but an hour passed by without any progress towards their goal. Garth moved to a doorway leading outside and pulled a pipe from his pocket. Without a conscious thought, Garth filled the pipe and lit it, while Kalina moved across the room to check on Tedi and Natia. Tedi saw Kalina heading for them, and he led Natia away from the group they were standing near.
"Any luck?" Tedi asked.
"None," Kalina sighed. "Everyone is polite enough, and more than a few are curious about who we are, but we didn't find anyone willing to sell anything of value."
"Where is Garth?" asked Natia.
"He stepped out for a smoke," answered Kalina. "I don't think this is the type of life he enjoys. How have you two made out?"
"Nothing," replied Tedi. "I think we are wasting our time. I wouldn't mind joining Garth for a smoke, but I left my pipe upstairs."
"Go get it," urged Natia. "We've covered just about everyone in here. Maybe if we wait an hour some fresh blood will arrive."
Tedi grinned and excused himself. He moved up the stairs and unlocked his room. As he opened the door, Smokey flew out the door and dashed down the stairs. Tedi stared in confusion for a moment before shaking his head and locking the door. He turned and headed downstairs to find the dog.
Smokey dashed through the common room with the shouts of the innkeeper chasing him. The dog dashed out the door and fled down an alleyway and out of sight. Tedi showed up a moment later and saw the innkeeper fuming and looking around the room until his eyes landed on Kalina. The innkeeper marched towards Kalina with anger on his face. Tedi moved swiftly across the floor to intercept the man.
Tedi grabbed the innkeeper by the arm and loudly said," Excuse me."
Every head in the room turned towards the sound, and Tedi nodded his head in a warning to Kalina. She nodded and started leading Natia out the door.
"What is it?" scowled the innkeeper as he tore his arm away from Tedi.
"There is a problem with my room," Tedi said calmly. "I can't get into it."
"In a moment, sir," the man replied, "I have an urgent matter to attend to."
"And my needs are not important?" scowled Tedi.
"I will get right to it, sir," sighed the innkeeper. "Just a moment please."
Tedi saw Kalina and Natia slip out of the inn, and he smiled and nodded at the innkeeper. While the innkeeper turned and proceeded across the room to where he last saw Kalina, Tedi slipped out through another door. Tedi worked his way around the building and found Kalina and Natia a block away from the Gateway Lodge in a park.
"What is the matter?" Natia asked with alarm as Tedi approached.
"When I opened the door to our room," Tedi explained, "Smokey ran out. The innkeeper chased him but couldn't catch him. The innkeeper was heading towards Kalina, and he was pretty angry. I thought I should warn you."
"Thank you," Kalina responded. "I fear that the dog has succeeded in shortening our stay in Zinbar, at least at the Gateway Lodge."
"Natia told me about the chicken incident earlier today," chuckled Tedi.
"How did he get in our room?" asked Natia.
"We left the balcony doors open for him to get fresh air," offered Kalina. "I bet you did, too."
"And he jumped across," nodded Tedi. "I guess we should be more careful in the future. Where is Garth?"
"I don't know," frowned Kalina. "The last I saw him, he was standing just outside the door grabbing a smoke."
"Is that him?" Natia asked as she pointed to a figure two blocks away.
Kalina followed Natia's gaze and nodded. "I wonder who he is talking to? Let's go find out."
The three Knights of Alcea walked along the street and past the Gateway Lodge. They found Garth talking to a small man in a crumpled brown robe standing next to a makeshift table. Smokey was sitting calmly alongside Garth. Arranged on the table were dozens of small sculptures carved from mahogany. Kalina picked up a small swan and examined it. The detail was finer than anything she had ever seen before. Her eyebrows rose and she smiled.
"This is an exquisite piece," she complimented the man. "Are you the artist?"
"This is DeCardia," declared Garth as the man nodded in reply to Kalina's question. "He is a starving artist of considerable talent. It seems that he used to sell his works in the common room of the Gateway Lodge, but the innkeeper did not care for his appearance, so he has been banned from the location of his most likely customers."
"He is probably not the only person to be banned from the Gateway Lodge," Kalina sighed as she put the swan back and glared at the dog. "As soon as we reenter the inn, we will also be asked to leave. I fear it is time for us to be moving on. "
"Not just yet," Garth replied. "I am negotiating a deal with DeCardia."
"There is not much use in haggling," DeCardia said. "My position is not strong enough to demand a fair price. I cannot eat my wooden figurines. What will you give me for the lot of them?"
"I truly don't know what they are worth," Garth replied, "But I know talent when I see it. What were you trying to sell them for when you were chased out of the inn?"
"I think they are worth ten gold apiece," answered DeCardia. "It takes me some time to make each one, but I will sell them to you for one gold each if you take them all."
Garth stared at the figurines as he contemplated the man's offer. He truly had no sense of their value, but he wanted to pay a fair price, neither too low, nor too high. Finally, a smile spread across his face.
"Do you have any more other than what is on the table?" he asked the artist.
"I do," answered DeCardia, "but I am hesitant to sell you more at that price. The price is low today because I need the gold to live, but I am hoping to get back on my feet someday. I can't do that if I sell all of my stock for next to nothing."
"I will make you a deal," smiled Garth. "I will buy all of the pieces on display here for two gold apiece, but I have two conditions to the sale."
DeCardia's eyes brightened with hope, but they were tempered with skepticism. "What conditions?" he asked.
"After this sale," instructed Garth, "your price is to return to ten gold, and you must use some of the
money to get fine clothes. You may wear whatever you like when you create your masterpieces, but wear the fine clothes when you go into the lodge to sell them."
"But they won't let me in there," protested the artist.
"I think they might in the future," chuckled Garth. "Tedi go get a pack to put these things in."
Tedi dashed off. When he reentered the Gateway Lodge, the innkeeper hailed him. He told the man that his problem was solved and that it had only been a problem of using the wrong key. He grabbed a pack and returned to the artist. Garth had already paid for the merchandise. DeCardia took the pack and filled it with the figurines, wrapping each one in a strip of cloth before consigning it to the pack. Tedi frowned as he watched the artist fill the pack. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, but it still appeared as if the wrinkles and stains in the man's robe were disappearing before his eyes. He glanced at Kalina and saw her smiling thinly as she stared at the artist. He chuckled inwardly and shook his head.
"There you go," beamed the artist as he handed the pack to Garth. "I'll see about those clothes tomorrow. Today I am going to eat until I pass out."
"You might want to wait another hour before eating," grinned Garth. "Just in case some more profitable business comes your way."
The artist's eyes narrowed at the puzzling words, but he nodded in agreement.
"And get some more figurines on display," Garth said as he turned and led the group back to the Gateway Lodge.
When they got to the lodge, Kalina offered to hold Smokey outside while the others slipped into their rooms, but Garth rejected the offer. He urged Kalina to enter before him and told Smokey to follow her. Amazingly, the dog actually listened for once. Kalina got halfway across the room before the innkeeper caught her.
"You and that foul dog have spent your last night here," he shouted at Kalina. "I want you out of here right now."
The whole room fell silent and everyone turned to watch the spectacle. Garth walked through the silence and came up behind Kalina. He walked forward until his toes were practically touching the toes of the innkeeper. The innkeeper was a small man, and he was forced to look up as Garth's imposing figure entered his personal space.
"I don't recall giving you permission to address my wife in that tone," Garth said threateningly, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "I can understand your problem with the dog, but you seem to think that you can bar anyone you want from this fine establishment. I have searched half the world looking for the artist that created this piece," he said as he pulled the swan from his pack.
The innkeeper was forced to step backwards to see what Garth was holding in his hand.
"I finally discovered that he could be found in this very lodge in Zinbar, but he is not here," Garth continued as some of the patrons moved closer to see what Garth was holding. "Fortunately, I found him, but only by chance. While chasing my fool of a dog, I found him a block away, standing outside in the damp because you thought him unfit to grace these rooms. Do you have any idea of the talent of DeCardia? Do you know how much his figurines are worth? I don't mean the paltry sum he sells them for," Garth continued lecturing. "I am talking about the thousands in gold each will be worth when the artist is no longer among us."
Many in the room gasped at the statement, but Garth was almost done with what he had hoped to accomplish.
"I do not think we wish to stay at an establishment whose innkeeper cannot recognize greatness when he sees it," Garth declared. "You can rest assured that we will be leaving the Gateway Lodge the first thing in the morning, and we will never return unless you change your mind about letting the great DeCardia display his wares in here. Come along, Kalina."
The innkeeper stood shocked as Garth took Kalina's hand and led her to the stairs. Smokey padded along obediently, but one of the patrons moved quickly to intercept Garth.
"I could not help overhearing your conversation," the man said as his eyes stared at the swan in Garth's hand. "I, too, have been searching for this artist. Umm, what did you say his name was?"
"DeCardia," Garth replied tersely.
"Might I ask where to find him, and how much he charges for such a fine piece?" the man asked sheepishly.
Garth held the swan up so that the man could see it better. All the while a crowd was forming behind the man. Garth smiled and bent over as he opened the pack to place the swan inside. Everyone's eyes peered at the full pack with dozens of figurines wrapped in the same cloth.
"I think you can get some pieces for ten gold apiece," Garth replied. "I guess DeCardia is hungry for business today. You can find him a mere block away to the east."
"Thank you," smiled the man.
Garth nodded politely and led Kalina and the dog up the stairs. They entered their room and Garth immediately began undressing. By the time Tedi and Natia arrived, Garth was dressed in his traveling clothes.
"Where have you been?" Kalina asked as she answered the door.
"We thought we would stick around the common room and see what happened," chuckled Tedi. "That was an excellent performance by the way."
"Did that man take the bait?" asked Garth.
"You might say so," laughed Tedi. "In fact, the common room is practically empty now. The innkeeper was having a fit as everyone left in a rush to find DeCardia before he ran out of stock. The man you spoke to was especially in a hurry. He said something about worrying if you had cleaned the artist out."
"You would make an excellent gypsy," grinned Natia.
* * *
Olansk was the newest city in Zara. At the time of the Collapse, some twenty years earlier, Olansk did not exist. The Aranak River, which now joined the Zinbar River at Olansk, used to flow farther to the east through a city named Aranak. That ancient city was now buried under the dunes of the Sands of Eternity, a vast, barren wasteland of sand stretching over two hundred leagues eastward to the sea. Buried along with Aranak were the port of Cyranak and the whole country of Sirocca. The few Siroccans fortunate enough to have survived the catastrophe by being away from home went in search of new lives. Many of them moved northward to the other horse countries where a common culture and heritage welcomed them, but some were stuck in the south when the Collapse occurred. Along with the burial of Sirocca, the only road to the northern horse countries had been obliterated.
While the Siroccans had been friendly with their neighbors, they had a hard time adjusting to the ways of the Aertans. Eventually, the Siroccans gathered together and formed a new city. Olansk was born and was originally populated by Siroccans alone, but within a few years the city became a magnet for refugees from other countries where the Gloom was decimating the livestock and withering the fields. The Gloom was also harsh to Olansk, but for a time there was a sense of newness that helped lift the people's spirits. Over time that newness dissipated, but it left a city that was diverse in culture and unique in all of Zara. Aerta itself was the smallest country in Zara, and a great deal of the land was cultivated. Before the Collapse it had been the breadbasket of Zara, and while it still produced a great deal of food, the land had not yet entirely recovered from the Gloom.
The Knights of Alcea arrived in Olansk around high sun on their fourth day out of Zinbar. They had traveled the Zinbar Trail by day and hidden well off the road by night. While bandits had inspected them from afar several times, there had been no attempt to attack them.
Olansk did not have a stone wall surrounding it, but rather a tall wooden stockade. The gates of the city were open and unguarded, and the Alceans rode in without notice. The first odd thing that Garth noticed was that there were elves in the city. Most of the elves were servants, but some of them worked the farms south of Olansk. The Siroccans, he discovered, were generally taller than most and had broad shoulders and square faces. The people in general appeared to be somewhat friendly and less judgmental than he had encountered elsewhere in Zara. There were no airs of superiority, and there was no palace, as Giza was the capital city of Aerta. The most extravagant inn to be foun
d in the city was the Aranak Dunes, but it was a poor sister to either the Waxhaw Wheel House or the Gateway Lodge.
Garth procured two rooms at the Aranak Dunes, and the Alceans went out for a walking tour of the city. Smokey tagged along, sniffing everything in sight, but he didn't cause any trouble, and no one seemed to mind him in the inn. There was not a lot to see in Olansk. The city had a small stockade of Federation troops as had Zinbar. The street beggars were more numerous than any city they had yet been in, but they weren't aggressive. All told, it did not appear to be a good city to sell expensive merchandise, and Garth decided that they would push on to Giza in the morning.
Upon returning to the Aranak Dunes, the Alceans decided to dine informally. Garth and Tedi walked up the stairs with Smokey on their heels while Kalina and Natia grabbed a table in the corner. Once they reached the top of the stairs, Smokey began to back away.
"He knows that you are going to lock him in the room," chuckled Tedi. "He doesn't want any part of that."
Garth tossed the pack of figurines to Tedi.
"Put that in your room," he said conspiratorially. "I am going to tackle me a mutt."
Tedi laughed as Garth walked along the corridor and unlocked the door to his room. As Tedi unlocked the door to his room, Garth casually started walking along the corridor away from the stairs. Smokey cocked his head as he wondered what Garth was up to. Tedi put the pack and his staff in his room and locked the door. He stood watching Garth at the far end of the corridor, and Smokey at the near end. As soon as Garth turned the corner at the far end of the corridor, Smokey started running after him. Garth kneeled around the corner and waited. The dog slid to a halt as the corner approached, but Garth was able to reach out and grab him.
"Got him!" Garth called jubilantly as the dog squirmed in an attempt to break free.
Tedi held the door to Garth's room open while Garth approached and threw the dog into the room. Tedi pulled the door closed and Garth locked it.
"That is what I call teamwork," grinned Garth. "Let's go eat in peace."
Final Voyage of the Remora Page 39
