CHAPTER THREE

Later that day, Taralynn went to talk to the stable boy. One of her jobs, as Vasha's apprentice was to gather information.

The stable boy was pathetically eager to talk to her, since no one else would give him the time of day. Not only did he smell incredibly bad, but also he had been kicked in the head by a horse when he first came to be an apprentice to the Warrior Powell. He was even slower than Flavin. The only thing they could think to do with him was to make him the Warrior Powell's stable boy.

The other apprentices, and even some of the grownups, liked to torment him, but having the Wizard's apprentice as a friend gave him some protection, even he had enough wits to know that. She would bring him some of the pastries that were given to Vasha every once in a while, something Donnel looked forward to with great anticipation.

Today Taralynn had a couple of cream pastries that had his mouth watering from the smell alone.

'Come on, Donnel,' Taralynn said, 'forget cleaning the stable for now, come have these while they are hot.'

'I have to get this done, Master said.' Donnel looked around carefully.

He leaned in closer to Taralynn and whispered, 'There's a messenger from the Liege Lord coming in soon, Master wants the stable to be ready for him.'

'Really.' Taralynn turned her head away and tried to breathe through her mouth. 'And how does your master know this?'

'He has pigeons, pigeons that carry messages. I seen them once. They looked good.'

Donnel's thoughts turned for a moment to pigeon pie while Taralynn thought. If Warrior Powell did have a way to talk to the Liege Lord and he got information before Vasha, Vasha would then look bad.

There was a subtle but strong rivalry going on between the Warrior Powell and the Wizard. Each felt that they were the person in charge; each didn’t want to confront the other directly.

Vasha because he didn’t want to lose the Warrior Powell who could control the mercenaries so well, and the Warrior Powell because, well, who in their right mind would want to challenge one of the strongest wizards around?

But to make the other lose face in front of the rest of the camp was different. And the Warrior Powell had been trying to do that ever since the quest had started two weeks ago.

'When is the messenger supposed to be coming in?' Taralynn picked up a pitchfork and started helping Donnel with the stall.

'Anytime now,' Donnel said, looking gratefully at Taralynn. No one else spent any time with him, and only Taralynn brought him treats and helped him when he needed it. He would do anything for her.

'He is coming to the stable and I am to send him to the dining tent, where my Master is waiting for him.'

The sounds of someone approaching leading a horse made Taralynn put the pitchfork down. She went to the door of the stable.

A messenger, dressed in the Liege Lord's uniform was coming near.

Taralynn went to take the horse, bumping into the messenger as if knocked aside by the horse.

'So sorry, sir,' she said, taking the reins. 'I will see your horse gets in the stable sir.'

'See that you do,' the messenger sniffed. Obviously he thought himself well above the station of a mere stable hand. 'Where can I find the Warrior Powell?'

'I heard him say he was going out to inspect the mercenaries this morning, sir.' Taralynn kept her head down, so the messenger would not recognize her if he saw her later as the Wizard's apprentice.

Even though he didn’t seem the type to look beyond the layer of dirt she was now wearing from working in the stable with Donnel.

'I will go find him then.' The messenger tossed a copper coin at Taralynn, saying, 'Do a good job on my horse, boy.'

Boy! Taralynn glared at the messenger's departing back. It was one thing to be treated like a child by almost everyone in camp, but to be mistaken for a boy! She wished she had taken his purse when she lifted the message from him.

Taking the horse into the stable, she handed it over to Donnel. She took three coppers out of her purse and added them to the messenger's one.

'The messenger would like you to do a good job,' she said, giving the coppers to Donnel. 'I know you would anyway, but it makes him happy to give you coppers, and we wouldn’t want to make the Liege Lord's messenger unhappy, would we?'

Donnel shook his head, speechless. Four coppers were more than he usually saw in months. He would be able to buy some sweets to keep in his stall for at night now.

'Make sure you let everyone know that I know you have the coppers and will be spending them, OK?'

Donnel nodded. He knew that the other apprentices would take his coppers away from him, or, even worse, take his sweets. If they knew Taralynn knew he had them, they would leave him alone.

'Are you going now?' His gaze went to the pastries, still sitting wrapped in cloth on a barrel.

'I have to see Vasha. Put the horse up and then you can have the pastries. Mine too, if you want.'

Donnel smiled. Taralynn was always nice to him, he was glad she was his friend. He watched her as he led the horse to the stall.

She was muttering and throwing a handful of water in the air over herself. In seconds, she was clean.

He had seen her do the cleaning spell before but he just didn’t understand her fascination with being clean.

'I'll see you later Donnel,' Taralynn said, going out of the stable.

She made her way to the dining tent. If that's where the Warrior Powell was, chances are that Vasha was there too. The Warrior Powell would not be able to resist giving hints that something was up, and Vasha would be waiting to see what was going on.
He knew that Taralynn would be coming to tell him so he could be informed before it actually happened. That is why he picked her as his apprentice. Another magic user who would be ambitious and try to take Vasha's place was not someone he could use.

But a thief, with intelligence, loyalty and most importantly, a smidgen of magic ability, was just what he could use. Not enough magic to set herself up as a mage, but enough to aid him when he needed it.

Sure enough, Taralynn slipped into the tent and gently bumped into him.

'Come apprentice,' he said, 'carry my plate so that I may choose some of this fine food to have for lunch.'

Taralynn rolled her eyes. Vasha was constantly schmoozing up to the cook, getting extra food, pastries and special dishes. She picked up a plate and they moved away from the others.

Vasha reached into his pocket and took out the messenger's scroll. 'And where did you come by this?' he asked quietly, breaking the seal and unrolling the scroll.

'Apparently,' Taralynn answered just as quietly, 'the Warrior Powell has pigeons that send messages back and forth to the Liege Lord. He received a note saying a messenger was on his way, this is what the messenger was carrying.'

'And where is this messenger now?' Vasha pointed to some roast pig slices and Taralynn put a couple on the plate.

'He is looking for the Warrior Powell down by the mercenary camp.'

'Ahhh. Very good.'

Vasha turned and addressed the others in the tent.

'A message from our Liege Lord,' he said, showing the scroll.

The Warrior Powell scowled. 'Where did you come by that?' he demanded. 'A messenger is coming to give me a message.'

'I believe,' Vasha said, 'you will find your messenger in the mercenary camp. Looking for you, I would assume. As for his message, here it is. The Liege Lord's scholars have found a reference to the Treasure of Leight. It's supposed to be a distance from here. He advises us to pack up and move closer so we can start searching.'

The Warrior Powell glared and strode out of the tent. The others muttered amongst themselves. No one was eager to leave the campsite just when it was becoming comfortable.

And who knew what was further in the desert? Monsters were the least of it, suppose they ran out of water?

Vasha looked at Taralynn. 'Come child,' he said. 'We have a lot of packing to do. You don’t want me to forget something we might need to fight one of the monsters who are undoubtedly guarding this great treasure, do you?'

Taralynn scowled. He knew she hated to be called child.

'But I haven’t had any food,' she muttered, knowing her part.

Vasha made a sign with his fingers. Taralynn jerked forward, as if against her will.

'You will come when I say to come,' he said coldly.

Vasha watched as Taralynn apparently fought something that was forcing her to move as he directed. She was so plausible, he thought for a second or two that he actually had cast a spell over her.

Taralynn made herself jerk a few more steps forward. 'Yes, Master,' she said. 'I don’t need to eat, I had breakfast, after all,' she couldn’t resist adding, knowing the Vasha would remember that she didn’t have any breakfast. Not that any kind of guilt trip would work on him.

The cook broke in. 'Please Master Vasha; the child can’t work well on an empty stomach. Let me fix a lunch to take to the tent with you. You didn’t eat that much either, I'll make it two lunches.'

Vasha looked at the cook. 'Dear lady,' he said. 'You are too kind. Perhaps you should make it three, the child will be working hard, and might not be able to make supper, either.'

Taralynn gritted her teeth. She knew who would be eating that extra lunch, and it wouldn’t be her! She took the food the cook offered.

'What do you say, child?’ Vasha asked. He could see Taralynn was getting angrier every time he called her that and decided it was time to get her out of the tent before she forgot what she was supposed to be doing.

'Thank you, mistress,' Taralynn said. She walked to the exit carrying the food, following Vasha.

As Vasha and Taralynn walked back to his tent, he said, 'you have done excellent work today, Taralynn. I hope you can keep it up. My punishments must be working, I will have to make sure you are punished whenever you stray, instead of being as lenient as I have been.'

Lenient! Who did he think he was kidding, Taralynn wondered as she trudged to their tent.


return to Dina's den