A New Hope (Tales From a Second-Hand Wand Shop Book 4)

by Robert P. Wills

  “Well, if I were going to put down roots, it should be in a place where our kids are going to be accepted.”

  Now Chéri stared at Colossus. The future of their relationship had always been something neither discussed. There were, in fact, many cases of inter-race families that were well accepted, however when it came to Halflings, that was not the rule- mainly because Halflings tended to invade, devastate, and occupy other race’s territories. Not too many folks wanted a Halfling, or even a Halfling-mix as a neighbor. Julesville seemed to be a very unusual exception. “What did you...”

  Colossus plopped several cubes of sugar into his cup and then added milk to it. “You heard me.” He stirred his cup. He took his napkin out of its brass ring. He snapped his napkin and put it on the table. “You heard me good and well.” Colossus stood up and moved to Chéri.

  Several patrons turned to look as the Corporal got down on one knee. “Chéri Belladonna, would a Grand Master Assassin ever consider marrying to a wayward Corporal of the Great Halfling Empire, with nothing to offer but...”

  “Ye - yes,” she stammered.

  Colossus slipped the hammered brass napkin ring over Chéri’s hand onto her wrist.

  Several patrons clapped as Chéri kissed Colossus. “We should celebrate,” she said.

  Colossus smiled wide. “That sounds like a great idea to me.” He pointed at the stairs.

  Chéri picked up her fork. “By finishing breakfast and going to get some wood so you can build me a good and proper home before those men turn the rest of Aution into charcoal.”

  “But... when... where...”

  Chéri gestured at Colossus’ seat with her fork. “Your seat is right there, dearest.”

  Colossus returned to his seat, retrieved his napkin, snapped it and dropped it onto his lap. “Oh, that female of mine.”

  “Oh? You have a female?”

  Colossus nodded as he picked up his cup. “Well, you’ve never met her, of course. But let me tell you; she’s one-minded when she latches onto an idea.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh yes. Sure, she’s a knockout to look at, and witty. But one minded?” He picked up his fork with his other hand and scooped up some eggs. “Like no other you’ve ever met.”

  “She sounds interesting. I’d like to meet this woman of yours,” said Chéri.

  “I’m not sure I’d want the two of you together in one place.” He sipped his coffee. “I don’t know if I can handle that.” He put his cup down and ate some of his eggs.

  “A tough Corporal like you?” She skewered a sausage link and pointed it at him. “I can’t imagine there’s anything you couldn’t handle.”

  “You’d be surprised.” Colossus smiled at Chéri. “But for now let’s go get some wood so I can get a nice cottage with a couple of spare rooms in it built someplace in this town.”

  “Tonight when we’re back, we’ll make an official announcement to our friends.”

  “Friends?” Colossus chuckled. “We’ve only been in this town a few days and we already have friends we’d make an announcement to?”

  “The folk that have welcomed us here should be told.” She ate some of her sausage. “And be invited to the event.”

  “Now there’s an event?” Colossus picked up a roll. “When did that happen?”

  Chéri tapped her brass bracelet. “Just recently this Halfling asked to marry me.” She leaned forward. “Soon even.”

  “Soon?”

  “While the weather’s still nice.” Chéri ate another sausage. “So that’s soon.”

  “Well then you should stop dawdling so we can get the wood to build a place.” Colossus shoveled the rest of his eggs in his mouth.

  “You soldiers need to learn to chew your food.”

  “No time; I’m on the tail of a one minded female.” Colossus slurped down the last of his coffee. “Let’s go then.” He picked up his last sausage and shoved it into his remaining roll. “Walking food.”

  Chéri picked up two sausages and a roll. “Well then, let’s go.”

  The two left the shop and made straight for the stables. By the time they got there, they had finished the rest of their breakfasts.

  “Make sure you ask for some rope and some tools to take apart planks and cut them,” said Chéri as she looked around the yard. There were quite a few horses and shamblers, as well as two donkeys in the field. It seemed the blacksmith also ran a very successful livery stable.

  Colossus laughed. “Of course we need those. Who’d go out wood gathering without tools?”

  Chéri moved to the wagon and hopped onto it, not wanting to answer the question. As Colossus loaded the wagon, she sat and turned the brass bracelet on her wrist. Even thought it was roughly hammered brass made to hold a rolled napkin, it was by far, the most beautiful piece of jewelry she had ever worn.

  Within a few minutes, Colossus had the wagon loaded with tools and rope. The ancient-looking, one-armed blacksmith had a horse hitched to it.

  “You’ll be back by tonight then?” The blacksmith asked, tersely. “Don’t want my animal out at night.”

  Colossus smiled. “Definitely; we’ve got a celebration to go to.”

  “Celebration, huh?” The grimy blacksmith said as she tossed the reins to the Halfling.

  “We’re announcing our engagement,” said Chéri to the female, hoping for a congratulatory response.

  “What, to each other?” The blacksmith looked back and forth between the pair. She put her hand in the front pocket of her leather smock. “On purpose?”

  “Yeah; we’re getting married on purpose,” said Colossus testily as he eyed the Dwarf. She had to be at least to three hundred fifty years old. “Don’t let your beard get all in a knot.”

  “Why don’t we just get going,” suggested Chéri as she took the reins. “So we’ll be back in time.” She looked at the Dwarf, “Since we’ve already arranged for the day’s rental and all.”

  “You’re paid up,” snapped the Dwarf blacksmith. “So take your male and get out there and back.”

  “I don’t need any comments from you, you old iron hammerer,” said Colossus angrily. “A deal’s a deal. So deal with it.”

  “Up yours, Halfling,” the blacksmith said as she turned and walked off.

  Stunned, Colossus sat.

  Chéri snapped the reins and the horse trotted out of the fenced in area. “Colossus?”

  Colossus stared straight ahead, eyes wide.

  Chéri leaned on him. “What did you expect? ‘Welcome, sonny’? ‘Make yourself at home’? ‘Marry that Gnome’?” She put her arm around Colossus’ shoulders. “You've got to remember that she’s just a simple blacksmith. She’s a person of the land. The common clay of Julesville.”

  Colossus looked at his fiancé.

  “You know; morons.” Chéri said with a smile.

  “She’s definitely off the guest list.”

  Chéri laughed. “I agree. But you can’t expect everyone here...”

  “I suppose,” Colossus cut her off. “But after my speech about how tolerant the folks around here were, you’d think...”

  “Let’s get that wood and not build on this side of town,” suggested Chéri.

  Colossus nodded. “My sentiments exactly.” He thought for a moment, “But not too close to the Gnomes either.”

  “You’ve got something against Gnomes?” Chéri prodded him.

  “In general? No.” He nudged her back. “In Grimbledung? Yes. You want him as a neighbor, so you can talk to that fellow Gnome on a daily basis? Loan him sugar, flapjacks, and whatever else he probably runs out of. On a daily basis?”

  Chéri stuck out her tongue. “Maybe someplace in between.”

  Colossus nodded. He sat back. “Well, since you’ve been there before, I’ll let you drive.”

  “And you’re going to stay awake the whole time?” Chéri glanced at him.

  “Sure, sure!” Colossus stretched. “Since I got to sleep in and was woken up so nicely? I’ll de
finitely stay away the entire trip.”

  “Sure, sure,” repeated Chéri. “We’ll see how that goes.”

  The pair chatted as they rode to the ruins of Aution, discussing the plans for their home as well as their upcoming nuptials. In a testament of his feelings for her, Colossus didn’t nod off once on the way there.

  Moving around the back of Aution, the pair avoided the coal-making brothers. Thanks to Chéri’s levitation wand, the pair was able to load the wagon within three hours.

  Covered in sweat, the pair rode back in content silence. Colossus nodded off twice, Chéri once. Since the horse knew the way home, the pair came into view of the stables by late afternoon. By then they were both awake, thirsty, and hungry.

  “Where’re you keeping this wood stacked?” Asked Colossus. He was back to managing the reins.

  “Round the back of the barn with the green roof.” Chéri pointed. “There’s a pile of my wood, and a pile of the two Magicians.”

  “Those two.” Colossus shook his head. “You don’t really think they’ll actually make enough money to pay you back for their tab, do you? Typical Humans.”

  Chéri shrugged. “They saved my life on several occasions, Colossus.” She turned to him. “I was completely defenseless. Tied up and prepared to die when one, or the other, or both, came to help me when they really had no reason to.” She thought back to the first incident. “Especially that first time with the Pics. I was not...”

  “Pleasant?”

  “Pleasant,” agreed Chéri, “with them at all, so they really didn’t need to include me in their escape plans.” She put her arm around him. “And the second time with the Orcs was actually two separate times in the span of a day where they could have easily left me to deal with three Orcs on my own, yet they didn’t. And for his trouble that second time, Semfeld was run through by an Orcish long knife. He nearly died.”

  Colossus nodded.

  “They’re honorable men, those two.”

  “They’re complete buffoons,” offered Colossus.

  “Well, sure; they’re that in spades.” Chéri laughed. “But that doesn’t make them bad people.” She shrugged. “You know, I really want Liverioso to find that gal of his.”

  “You’re such a romantic.”

  “Curious is more like it,” said Chéri as they turned through the gate. “I just can’t imagine the type of gal that would be interested in him.”

  “Every pot has a lid,” Colossus reminded her. “Even the buffoon pot.”

  “He’s the lid, of course.”

  Now Colossus laughed. “Now wait a minute, the males are the pots. The females are the lids.”

  “No. We females’re the pots” said Chéri.

  “We’re Pots!”

  “You’re Lids!”

  The pair rolled up to the blacksmith. She stood with her arm behind her back as they approached. “Hey there lid,” said Colossus.

  “Pot,” corrected Chéri.

  “You two finished?” Snapped the blacksmith.

  The couple looked at each other then nodded.

  “That’s about it, I think.” Colossus stifled a chuckle.

  The blacksmith let out a long sigh. “Remember what I said earlier?”

  Colossus nodded. “Yeah. Something about having your horse back before nightfall.”

  Chéri elbowed him. “Hush,” she whispered.

  Colossus nodded at his fiancé. “Yes Blacksmith, I remember.”

  “Well, I meant it.” Said the Blacksmith. “You two lovebirds can giggle and carry on like fools all you want. The bottom line is your people,” she pointed at Colossus with a hammer, “killed nearly everyone in my village.”

  “Well that’s...”

  “Save the ‘that was other folk in the past, and I’m better than that now’ crap for someone else.” She lowered her hand, tapping the well-worn hammer against her thigh. “And included in them was the one I giggled with and carried on with.” Her eyes grew cold and her knuckles whitened as she clutched the hammer. “And the kids the two of us had made. All three of them.” She pointed the hammer at him again. “And my left arm when all that wasn’t enough.”

  Colossus looked her in the eye. “That was war.”

  “Soldiers wiping out a defenseless village isn’t war.” She shook her hammer at him. “So don’t even bother unloading that wood. And I expect the rest of your wood to be gone by tomorrow night or I’ll have me a big celebration of my own. With a bonfire. You Halflings are all alike.”

  “We had a deal,” said Chéri. “When we first brought the wood in.”

  “That was when I thought it was two Humans associating with a Gnome.” Now she shook her hammer at Chéri, “Nothing’s wrong with that. Once I knew you were...” Her voice faltered. “... with a Halfling, I could barely stomach the thought of the two of you in my wagon.” She let the hammer drop to her side. “But a deal’s a deal,” she said, mimicking Chéri. “And that deal is done now. So get your Halfling tainted wood off my property or I’ll burn it up.”

  “Fine,” snapped Chéri. “And I’ll make sure I tell Semfeld and Liverioso that...”

  “The Humans’ wood is fine where it’s at.” The blacksmith interrupted her. “They came to our aid and fought off the likes of him and bandaged up my stump.”

  “Semfeld and Liverioso didn’t come to your aid; Humans did. You can’t lump all folks together,” said Chéri.

  “I’ll lump folk any way I want to lump them. And if you don’t get off my property right now, get that wagon unloaded, and back before nightfall, I’ll have the Constable lump both of you together and lock you up.”

  The blacksmith let the hammer fall to the ground. It landed on its head, handle sticking into the air. Without another word, she turned and walked into the stable.

  “Let’s go Colossus,” said Chéri. Maybe we can store this wood behind Second-Hand Sorcery, or out at Julie’s school.

  Colossus snapped the reins harshly, sending the horse off at a quick trot.

  “It’s not true what she said”

  Colossus didn’t look at Chéri. “Yes, it is. That’s how we are.”

  “But you didn’t attack her village.”

  “No, but I would have if I were part of that mission. Without a thought against it.” Colossus took the whip from beside the seat and snapped it savagely at the horse. It broke into a gallop. “I’ll get this wagon unloaded, move the rest of our wood, and get it back to her. I’ll drop you off at the Duck beforehand so you can get cleaned up and get something to drink and eat.”

  “What about you?”

  “Have something put together for me and I won’t be far behind you.”

  Chéri looked forward, with the speed Colossus had the horse running, she didn’t doubt that he would finish his task quickly.

  The horse was flecked with foam and snorting when the wagon tore up to Nulu’s establishment. “Take this to help you unload,” said Chéri, handing him the Levitation Wand. “Where are you going to check first?”

  “Probably the wand shop.” Colossus gave a smirk. “The word on the street is that Gnomes are poor judges of character.”

  Chéri kissed her fiancé. “Well, I’ll be here and waiting for you when you get back. And we’ll make the announcement then.” She hopped off the wagon. “Then we’ll have a proper celebration, you and I.”

  Colossus nodded. “A proper celebration?”

  “Oh yes.”

  “I’m just curious; will that fair maiden be at the celebration, or that Minx?”

  “Neither.”

  “Neither?”

  “I think maybe that Polecat might just make an appearance.”

  “Well then,” he said with a wink, “see you shortly, my dearest Polecat!” He snapped the whip between the horse’s ears. With a whinny, it was back at a gallop, heading toward the wand shop.

  Chapter 44

  Grim Noir – The Case of the Missing Wands

  (Day 5) -The Tale

  Knocking.
Here we go again. I’m really getting tired of my days starting this way. I think I’m going to have a talk with management about this. Maybe even Management.

  I wake.

  “Grim you awake?”

  I nod.

  Nothing happens for a little bit so I doze off again.

  “Grimbledung! Are you awake?”

  Gads.

  I give another nod. “Yes, I already nodded that I was awake.”

  I hear the door open. “Well, I can’t hear a nod, you know.”

  I give a shrug.

  “I saw that.”

  Great.

  “So what happened?”

  “I’m not sure,” I say as I sit up. “I had some suspects suspectedly suspected, and was checking out what I thought was the thief’s lair when all of a sudden everything went black.”

  “Black?”

  Black? Uh oh. “Well, there were stars first, of course.” I say as I try to avoid the subject.

  “Of course.”

  “What’s Rat got to say about the incident? I don’t think he was waylaid.”

  “Rat’s not here.”

  Uh oh.

  I flip my legs off the bed. “What do you mean he’s not here? Is he out gallivanting or something? Is that what you mean?” I ask hopefully.

  “I mean Julie’s groundskeeper that carried you here, only brought you. No Rat.”

  “Well he’s small now. Did you check my pockets?”

  “Yeah. I made a copper doing that.”

  Nice.

  Drimblerod gives me a real serious stare. “You lost The Black, didn’t you?”

  Nuts.

  “Only for the moment, Drim. I need to get back there. I think I have narrowed down my list of suspects.”

  “Really?” Drimblerod’s hands went to his hips. I’m beginning to not like that move. “Who’s off the list?”

  “Well, you for starters.”

  “That’s nice.”

  “And me of course. And Julie. And anyone who isn’t a student.”

  “Grim, that’s pretty much the list you had when you started.” Drimblerod moves to the bed. “You’ve made no progress at all?”