Wizard of Jatte by Rowan Erlking (ereader ebook .TXT) 📖

do I care if we have a naked lord baron stuck permanently in our doorway? It will be a funny tourist item.”

“Theissen Wizard!” Tippany struck him in the arm.

He laughed, ducking from her.

“Don’t joke! Who wants to pass a naked man! Besides, it’s cold outside,” she protested.

“Then, the window like I said.” Theissen turned, nodding to the steward, though he blushed at Tippany with a look of surprise. “I’m not going to undo the hate ward for the likes of him. If you knew what he does to his mistresses, you would throw rocks at him.”

Milrina nodded to her, agreeing.

Tippany jumped behind Theissen again for protection.

“The window.” Theissen pointed to it.

“You’ll pay for this!” Lord Baron Kirsch shouted. Yet his steward gave him a leg up so he could climb out the window discreetly.

“Get in line,” Theissen shot back, laughing with a snort. “I have three magicians, an Angledon captain, a ton of feather merchants and metal merchants already mad at me, not counting a thug somewhere who I hope has run back west after our last little fight. Why should I care about your threats over theirs?”

Lord Baron Kirsch went speechless. His face had gone purple as he blustered. But with the urging of his men, who also climbed through the window with a fear that they too could get stuck in the doorway, he was out. His men escorted him to the road where his carriage waited for him.

“Now close that,” said Theissen as he waved to the window, looking at Pago. “It’s still winter, you know.”

The former moleman grinned. He quickly hurried, latching the window shut.

“So!” Theissen slapped his hands together and rubbed them with looks to his employees. “Has everyone signed the form yet?”

Milrina rolled her eyes then gestured to the counter where he could see it for himself

*

The taxman came and went over the books with Theissen and Vans around an hour after the lord baron’s departure. Both they and Milrina figured their taxes out within the following hour, parting only after they received their tax certificate to put in their books, and the taxman had his collections pouch full of money from them. Theissen hopped back into his hired carriage as soon as the taxman was gone.

“Where to?” the carriage driver asked as they rolled towards the mercantile district.

Yawning with a wish for an afternoon nap. Theissen gestured to the road. “Take me to the jewelry guild building.”

The driver shrugged. “A wizard now wants jewels. Ok.”

“Not want,” Theissen muttered, yawning again. “I’m helping some friends sell.”

“Jewels?”

Nodding, Theissen closed his eyes. “Wake me when we get there. Okay?”

“Sure thing.” The carriage driver chuckled. With a snap of his reins, the horse quickened its pace.

 

Chapter Forty-Five: Do You Enjoy Harassing Humans?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“We’re here,” the carriage driver announced.

Theissen blinked open his eyes. He rubbed them and peered out at the large building. It was made of cut granite, with at least three floors. A fenced yard occupied the sides of the building, but the front had an open roundabout for carriages to come and go easily. In the center of the roundabout, Theissen saw the most unusual statue of a man. The only reason it caught his attention was that it reeked of demonic knots.

“This is the jewelry guild?”

The driver nodded. “Over there is the statue of their founder, Kontis Jeweler. They say they stone in his hand is a real ruby.”

A high spiked fence surrounded that statue, one that looked like it was sharpened regularly. Of course, Theobold would have no trouble flying over and snatching that ruby, and Theissen knew he could take the stone on a whim if he wanted. But of course he wasn’t there to steal precious stones. He could get rubies that big from the molemen for nothing if he really wanted to.

“They call it the heart of stone,” the carriage driver murmured informatively, sighing. “You know that statue is said to be covered in over five hundred—”

“Seems like a waste to me,” Theissen said as he jumped from the carriage. He opened his coin pouch and took out a gold coin. “If you stay and wait, I’ll give you this gold coin.”

The carriage driver’s eyes fixed on that coin. “Ok. That’s fine.”

Tossing it up to him, Theissen smiled. “Just wait here.”

Striding away from the carriage, Theissen gazed over the square, looking for Karo. He found the former moleman standing on the front steps. Karo’s eyes looked here and there but not at the carriage, as if he did not think Theissen was the kind of person who did anything less than walk places himself. Karo and the others had hired carriages already. Theirs had gone on from the roundabout back to the city center where business was busiest.

“Karo!” Theissen raised a hand and waved, trotting over to him.

Karo heaved a sigh of great relief. “I was wondering when in afternoon you were coming. I was hoping you were coming soon, but I didn’t expect you this early.”

“You were looking for me?” Theissen smothered a smirk.

Replying with a smile, former moleman said, “It pays to keep an eye out.”

Turning towards the broad steps, Theissen gestured for the others to lead the way. They climbed up, going to a landing that would extend into the second floor of the building. In the front, tall marble pillars held up a stone relief covered in depictions of ancient myths over the entrance, the key figure being the god of the south, Klodil. The other three gods cowered under his power and glory—a twisted form of the same legend Theissen learned from the magicians in Liptan Town.

“So, what is the plan?” one of the other former molemen asked. He anxiously kept up with the wizard’s stride.

With a nod to Karo, Theissen said, “Karo will lead us to wherever it is we need to go to meet the heads of this place. We’ll request a tour, take a look at the guild then express our intentions.”

“Are we or you speaking with them?” that former moleman asked. He was hopeful that Theissen would do all the talking.

Halting in his tracks, Theissen glanced at the five ex-molemen. Karo seemed especially anxious. “Have you been able to see the heads of the guild at all?”

Every one of them shook their heads.

“Not even to express your complaints?” Theissen asked.

They shook their heads again.

Theissen frowned. Looking back up at the broad doors of the guild building, he murmured to himself. “I see. Ok, fine. I’ll go and make all the requests. You just walk with me and speak up when I ask you to. Will that work?”

They all nodded. Karo was the most exuberant of the bunch, though Theissen could see a couple of the ex-molemen tearing up. He averted his eyes to avoid embarrassment on their behalf.

A wide set of tall wooden doors stood at the entrance. They pulled on the handle, causing it to swing open, though it squeaked. And that squeak echoed in the hall. Together, they stepped into a broad foyer with marble floors and enormous white columns. Across the floor stood a shiny reception desk, covered in smooth stone. A large number of guards dressed in matching blue uniforms stood in every entrance. There were several. In fact, there were more guards here than in the capitol building the time Theissen had snuck down to see Emrit in prison.

Everyone followed Theissen in. Theissen marched with a confident stride across the marble to the main desk. Their footfalls echoed with an almost agelessness. At the desk, another man in a blue uniform sat, busily writing something. He lifted his eyes only in query at the new face added among the former mole men he had seen on a many number of occasions.

Theissen formally bowed.

“Hello. I’m Theissen Darol Mukumar Carpenterson of Lumen Village, current resident of the Ki Tai tower and owner the Wizard’s Inn. I request an audience with the masters of the Jewel Guild.”

The man just stared.

Tilting his head, Theissen asked, “You can hear, right?”

Flustered, now blustering, the desk guard found his voice and sat up. “Of course I can! But no one goes in to see the masters without making an appointment!”

Theissen turned to look at Karo. “You didn’t tell me we had to make an appointment.”

“We tried to make an appointment, several times,” Karo responded. His teeth set in a cringe.

Nodding, Theissen then smiled to the guard. “Well then, make me an appointment for now. I have come to speak on behalf of the molemen, and I will not be deterred.”

Shifting uncomfortably in their suits, they could see he wouldn’t.

One of the guards whispered to another about the rumors they had heard about the wizard, and that other turned and talked to the gate guard with a look of asking for permission.

The guard nodded to him.

That man ran off into the building towards the stairs.

“Wait a moment,” the main guard said to Theissen, keeping his voice steady.

Theissen stepped back with a smile. He set his hands behind his back. “Thank you.”

They waited for about ten minutes before they saw sign of the guard again. Striding into the room with a smooth elegant gait, was a refined looking man who smelled of a musky balm and wore an emerald pendant on the front of his dark suit coat over a tucked-in, white neck scarf. He also had on about five jeweled rings dispersed among his ten fingers. The man gave a piercing look to Theissen as he approached with a nod to the guard.

“I hear the Wizard of Jatte has come to pay us a visit,” the man said.

Theissen bowed politely. “Yes. I’m Theissen Darol Mukumar Carpenterson of Lumen Village, resident of the Ki Tai tower, owner of the Wizard’s Inn and hired liaison for the molemen to discuss matters of business. And you are?”

The man delivered a cold short bow. “I am Ruban Mukumar Koin Jewelerson of Jattereen City, one of the assistants to the masters.”

“Pleasure,” Theissen said and smiled.

“Is it really?” Ruban replied. His eyes had fixed on Theissen. “I find it highly disconcerting when demons hire a wizard to threaten us. Do you enjoy harassing humans?”

His smile stiffening some, Theissen’s eyes narrowed as he lifted his chin. “Harassing? Is that what you think I am here for?”

“I heard about how you took on Korgin Mercantileson’s organization single-handedly,” Ruban said.

Theissen’s smile widened. “Don’t flatter them. They weren’t that organized.”

A small smile thinned on Ruban’s lips. Theissen could smell animosity swelling from him. “That may be, but what are you doing here if not to threaten us?”

“I was hoping we could reason with you.”

“About what?”

“Over price,” Theissen said.

Laughing now, Ruban turned to dismiss them. “The price is non-negotiable.”

“I’m sorry to hear it.” Theissen glanced at Karo with an understanding nod.

All the former molemen frowned, already wondering if their cause was lost.

“I am also sorry we will be taking our business elsewhere then,” Theissen continued. He pivoted on his foot as if to leave.

Ruban stopped and looked back. “Your molemen are truly serious about that?”

Theissen nodded, appeareing as honest as a schoolboy, though a faint mischievous glimmer floated in the back of his eyes. “Very serious.”

“But they can’t cut stone.”

“No, but their smelting business is starting to take shape. I suppose they’ll have to suffice with their gold and silver