AO 5 Ch 13

Chapter 13

I paused, reassessing my current strategy. Something felt off as I thought about my own time on the other side of the bar.

My mind flashed back to Vivian and the way she would walk into the inn, turning everyone into her friend in the blink of an eye. That's what I needed to appear more like, I’d been trained by a merchant. If I was going to pull this off, I needed to channel my inner Vivian. 

Taking a deep breath, I shot the woman behind the counter a big smile. Vivian had even managed to charm Beth during her cranky five-month pregnancy phase. I needed that level of charm.

Hopefully it wafted off me like four hard days of travel, only far more pleasant.

Leaning against the counter, I made eye contact and looked deeply interested in her. "You look like the kind of person that knows their way around," I said, then hesitated trying to figure out what I could possibly say to follow up that statement. "Around town, I mean. I don't suppose a guy like me could get a few tips?" 

She paused, as if reassessing me, holding off a baleful glare. "I might know a thing or two," she responded calmly, not offering more. 

I cleared my throat and tried to just be happier, be someone that anybody else would want to talk to. "Well, why don't you tell me about this place? What's good in town?" I gestured at her. "What do you do in town? Or is being the beauty behind the bar a full-time gig?" 

The dubious look she'd been giving me earlier slid into a sly smile as she blushed slightly. "Well, I do help with a few other tasks. Milking the cows down at the farm is a pastime of any woman in this town." 

"Oh, cows," I said, doing my best to sound interested. I hated cows; they were stinky, boring creatures. And getting milk from them was a lot harder than people thought. Not to mention pretty girls didn’t appreciate it when you saved three days of cream up to make them the best damned ice cream ever.

Then again, it wasn’t the cow’s fault.

"No wonder you're such a beauty. I swear, there's just something about being with the cows that makes girls prettier. You know, where I grew up they had all the teenage pretty girls like you doing it." 

"I'm a little older than that," she said. "You don't have to charm me so hard." 

"Charm you? Me?" I said, incredulously. "I think I'm the one who's been charmed." 

She continued to blush, and I felt like I was getting into the swing of this act.

While the woman regaled me with tales of her life, my mind threatened to wander off to Vivian, wondering how she was faring back at the Capitol. I felt a twinge of guilt for leaving her behind. However, as useful as she might have been in this situation, this was a war, and there was no place for a merchant's daughter. If things went even slightly awry, she would be in more danger than I could bear. So, it was good that she served as no more than inspiration for this new persona.

I refocused on the woman as she prattled on about the small town, her regulars whom I began to identify in the tavern, storing away the key pieces of information. As she babbled, I flashed her charming smiles and let my silence encourage her to continue. I almost regretted being so engaging. The woman just would not stop talking. I could see Emlyn feeling similarly if I wasn’t so witty. Nevertheless, I nodded along with her, agreeing with everything she said.

"And that is the Baron," she said, as the door banged open and an older man with a portly gut waddled his way in.

"Baron. So nobility. Is he a mage?" I asked, glancing at the two men that came in behind him. I wondered if Garrish had begun crossbreeding humans with gorillas. The men had far too prominent brow ridges, not to mention their arms were absolutely giant.

She shushed me, "Not so loud. You don't want to upset the Baron."

"Of course not," I said, reminding myself to channel my inner Vivian. I wanted everyone to like me and spill their secrets. I grinned at the man as he stepped around the first two tables, clearly heading straight our way.

"You must be the merchant passing through my town," the man said, puffing himself up.

"That would be me. You must be the man in charge," I said, giving him a broad smile. He looked me up and down, appraising me a little longer than I felt comfortable.

"I always like to check in with the merchants passing through town and see what they've got with them, given the times we find ourselves in. It can be difficult to move goods, and I know merchants need to get moving, so I'll happily buy what you have and distribute it to the town afterwards."

I blinked, several thoughts racing through my head. "What do I have?" I said aloud, drumming my fingers on the countertop. The reality was I had absolutely nothing, which made that a very difficult question.

Doubly so because I was supposed to be pretending to be a merchant.

"Yes, what do you have?" He asked.

"You see, the trouble is, we sold out," I said quickly. "Yep, that's it. We sold out and we are on our way back to go restock. Unless of course you have things to sell."

The Baron frowned at me. "Completely out?"

"Completely out. People have been ravenous for anything and everything I can bring. It's really a merchant's paradise.”

“You didn't manage to buy more of anything?" He asked.

"Nope. Not a very good merchant, am I?" I said slowly. I was really screwing this up, though it didn't particularly matter in the case of this Baron.

It was clear to me that he wanted to buy all of my wares to then sell at a higher price to the people in the town, which was not exactly my favorite behavior I've seen in my life, but not exactly the worst either.

In truth, there were probably a lot of things that a merchant might bring through and that townspeople were unable to come up with the coin to buy immediately. Or in the case of foodstuffs, the Baron could buy the food in bulk and distribute as time went on. Thankfully, we'd gotten through winter and the hardest of the food shortage, but it wouldn't surprise me if people were still wary of selling their food and hoarding, waiting for their first harvest.

People were usually a little squirrely for a few months after winter, and the frost was only beginning to thaw. 

"So, you have nothing?" He asked. 

"Yeah, that's what I said," I gave a grimaced reply, trying to play up the painful position. "Maybe when we come back through, I'll have something more worthwhile." 

The Baron was blinking, still trying to grasp the idea of a merchant without wares. 

"I'd like to see your carriage," he said. 

"Oh," I drummed a quick beat out on the countertop. "Well then, if this lovely lady will get some stew and beer ready for me, I'll be happy to show you to my stall while that's getting ready." 

She gave me a nod, more a polite gesture than any actual commitment, and I led the Baron away from the inn and towards the stables. I was hoping that someone in my group had seen the interaction and was going to jump in and fix all of this, because this desperately needed fixing. 

Our carriage had my Avente clothing, as well as my anchor's outfit. The bluesteel weapons and Kingdom Blues would be very unfortunate for the Baron to find. He would rifle through all of our things and possibly see that we didn't belong. It would probably get fairly bloody for him and I’d fail Uncle Valken’s test.

As I led him out, I decided to stall for as much time as I could get. 

"So, how's it going?" I asked, realizing I was really terrible at this type of conversation. Where were my chatty nerves when I needed them? 

"How's what going?" he asked. 

"You know, everyone has a story about how the war is affecting them. What's yours? How's the town?" I asked.

"Like any other," he sighed. "War's shit for everyone. We aren't different in the slightest. So, perhaps the only thing we have going for us is that we're so far out of the way, the king doesn't seem to give a crap about what we do.”

“That's good. It's not like you want the king breathing down your neck. Not to mention, you're a noble, which means a mage, I presume?" I asked.

"Not quite," the Baron said, his tone holding a fair degree of bitterness. I'd heard that before from several other anchors who had, of course, wished they were as incredible as me. 

"So, an anchor then, there's nothing wrong with that," I said, quick to try and encourage him. 

He gave me a look out of the corner of his eye as if he didn't believe me. 

"What?" I asked. "Mages would all be dead in the bottom of a ditch if they didn't have their anchors around to protect them."

I did not layer on all my personal experiences, but I felt like I might have said the right thing when he straightened himself up a little. 

"You wouldn't know it," I told him, "but I just happened to have awakened my magic and have been looking for an anchor." 

The Baron's head snapped to me. "You're a mage?" 

"The awakening was a little," I made a face, "violent. More than I would like. I nearly burned the place down. So, I'm hurrying home to get my father's opinion on it, not that he'll have much more than moaning in bed.”

“He's not well?" The Baron asked.

"No," I shook my head. "To make matters worse, we can't seem to find a life mage to save his life." 

"They're all gone," the Baron nodded. "Every single one of them. They’ve all been conscripted and put into the military, only to disappear within its ranks." 

I raised an eyebrow at the tone of his voice. It wasn't how a citizen normally talked about their military. 

He shrugged at my expression. "Don't look at me like that. I'm not some treasonous bastard. I just don't care much for war. All it does is chew up the people and leave nothing behind. I have family in all of this," he grumbled exasperatedly.

Our conversation had slowed our pace to the stables to a crawl. We were talking rather than moving. Meanwhile, Emlyn and Zuri had hung back to give us some space, and his two gorilla-like guards stood between me and them. I didn't like it. If I really needed either of my anchors, they were a touch too far away for my liking. 

"But back on the topic of you being a mage," the Baron continued, "I can't run off and be your anchor." His voice hesitated slightly. "However, I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to try and get myself topped up on magic. It's not often a mage comes through my town." 

I held my hand out. "You'll apologize if it's only a trickle," I said. "From what I understand, there has to be some sort of familiarity between the two parties. Most would say affection, but..."

"Affection, then," the Baron corrected me.

"Sorry, you're not quite my type." I told him.

He glanced over his shoulder at my three anchors, his eyes fixed on Maribelle. "Yes, I think I can imagine what your type is." 

I smiled, tongue still tucked in my cheek. "You can't blame me, though, for that one, can you?" 

"Not at all," he flashed me a grin. "She is certainly a lovely woman." 

I nodded along with him. "She is. You wouldn't believe how good of a cook she is." 

There was an incredulous expression on his face as he glanced back at Maribelle, his attention clearly drawn to a particular asset of hers. "A wonderful cook, you say? Fantastic. You're right, I don't believe you," he laughed. "Because if she's as wonderful a cook as you're trying to convince me, then I think I ought to steal her for myself." 

I put a hand to my chest. "You'd do that to me? Even after I offered you magic?" 

"I would. Opportunities for a woman like that are few and far between.” He laughed

“Don't I know it." I answered.

As we talked, he grabbed onto my hand and I pushed magic into him. Giving him magic was like the time Emlyn convinced me to use a piece of hay to drink water. The damn thing leaked like crazy and I barely got a drop of it every few seconds. 

He paused, staring at my hand. "Well now I know you were being truthful. You must be a new mage." 

"Why's that?" I said, playing along, but also hating him for thinking me new. It wasn't that I was bad at this. I was fairly sure he was not very good at this either. 

I had given magic to other anchors before, and it had never been this difficult. Then again, I was actively antagonistic with this man. Better he think I was just a new mage rather than start to question why the transfer was so slow. 

"I guess the transfer's a little bad. It's not like this when I..." I paused. The man glanced over my group, not seeing an anchor. "When you what? Have you given magic to someone else?" 

"A town over there was an anchor that wanted some magic, but she was..." I glanced at Maribelle for reference. "A little more my type." 

The Baron chuckled. "That'll do it. I heard a mage once make the joke that anchors stored magic in their tits. And that if you grabbed them there, the transfer was always faster." 

I choked. "That's... an interesting strategy.”

“Sadly, it was never one for me. Especially because my tastes are a little more..." He glanced me up and down once again. "Fit." 

I felt the magic I was shoving into him contract even more. And the Baron clicked his tongue.

This was probably for the best, because the Baron and I weren't getting along as well as I'd hoped. The magic I was giving him was essentially arming someone who could become my adversary in just moments. 

"I don't mean to scare you off," he said. 

I gave him a tight smile. There was no acting needed for that one. "Not scared off, just a little worried. After all, I am a brand new mage walking through your territory."

The Baron held his hands up, separating from me and taking a step back. "I don't mean to leave a bad impression on a young mage. Please, let's finish getting to your carriage and see what you have."

I walked with him the rest of the way, finding the carriage and the stable. I had seen many merchant carriages before, and I was suddenly struck with the several flaws with mine. Normally, merchants had things strapped down on top, as well as cords to keep their trunk from flapping open. Oftentimes, it was so overstuffed that there was a concern the next bump in the road would send all of their goods tumbling out. 

The Baron squinted at my carriage before even inspecting it. "Pretty light for a merchant."

"Like I said, I don't have anything. I was in a bit too much of a hurry to rush back to my father and tell him the good news."

"The sickly father," the Baron said.

"Yes, you never know when he'll expire. I wanted to get back before the worst happened." I added, feeling a little sweat bead down the back of my neck.

I let my head hang low, the sadness of losing a father rising up in my expression. I could see the Baron's own face fall in response. 

"You have my sympathies. Still, my responsibility as the Baron is to see who comes and goes. And though I believe your story, you never know when we might be dealing with adversaries from the East."

I gasped to hide my actual reaction. "Me, a spy? Do I look like an Avente?" I grabbed at my belt. "If I were an Avente, this belt wouldn't fit. They're all fat pigs stuffed with grain."

The Baron laughed. "Even so, a merchant with no goods," he raised an eyebrow, "that's strange enough to require an inspection. Otherwise, I'm afraid, if one of the roaming patrols came through and heard that same story, especially that I was present for said story, they would be asking how the inspection went next."

He motioned for the two men that looked like gorillas to move forward, and I was curious what they would find.

They opened the trunk of my carriage before opening the side doors and rifling through all of it. I stood back, a little nervous. 

"Travel rations." He pulled out two large cases. "That's more than you need to get home," the Baron said.

"Yes, but offering travel rations to a Baron is," I scratched my cheek, "a little embarrassing."

"Ah, but you're not offering it to me. You're offering it to the townsfolk. You could do with one or two less crates of travel rations."

I gave him a tight smile. As they continued to go through everything else, most of all, I could feel Emlyn slightly itchy behind me.

My anchor could, if they found anything incriminating, kill all three of them in the blink of an eye. The Baron might have a little bit of my magic, but it certainly would not be enough to stop Emlyn, especially if Maribelle joined in. So I was there, bracing for the worst.

But a few moments later, the two gorilla-like men to start putting things back inside.

"They're good. Besides the extra travel rations, we didn't find anything else." One of the men reported.

I gave the Baron a tight smile. 

"Well, if you would like to negotiate for these two crates, we could do that." The Baron pursed his lips. "Three silvers a crate."

I kept a smile on my face. Travel rations went for far less in Avente. One of the differences between the two countries was already showing. Both kingdoms had quite the intermixed population. There wasn't a vast difference in what the people looked like. However, many people pictured an Avente with more of a cooler skin tone, and Garrish people with more of a rusty red skin tone coming through their flesh. Having put on a maroon outfit, I realized it was more the colors they wore than anything of actual skin tone difference. 

But the biggest difference between an Avente and Garrish was that an Avente had far more fertile lands. Any villager could plant a garden behind their house and sustain themselves. The Garrish people weren't so lucky. The only things they grew at home gardens were hearty things like squash and pepper, and even then they got a meager supply in return. Garrish land was simply too dry.

That difference was showing itself in the price of simple travel rations. 

"Three silver," I said, sounding as if I was being cheated, and putting my hand on the crates. "As soon as I get back, I'm probably going to go out again, so I will use these. And it's getting harder to come by them." I tapped on the crates again. 

"Five  silver a crate." He upped his price instantly. I waffled my head as if that was beginning to interest me. "Call it six, and I'll turn a profit by the time I get to the next town and need to buy more." 

The Baron's eyebrows pressed down as he glared at me, and reached into his purse to pull out a gold and two silver. He held them out to me, and I accepted them with a smile. 

"Why thank you.”

“You might be a mage, but I think you were born to be a merchant," the Baron said, giving me a nod of his head and waving for his two gorilla-like men to pick up the crates and walk out with them. 

I knew neither of them were anchors, and I was surprised at just how easily they lifted the two crates. I also was hoping there wasn't anything other than travel rations stuffed at the bottom of those, or we would have to get them back. 

As the Baron moved away, I felt someone creep up behind me and glanced over my shoulder to see Aurelia, a bundle of cloth strapped to her back. One side of it held the shape of her battleaxe, but the bundle was large enough it was likely all of their blue steel weapons. 

I let out an explosive breath of relief. "Okay, you guys got here and you fixed it before he found anything.” I felt a giant weight lifted.

“That's the job now, I guess," Aurelia said. "I'm just supposed to move around behind the scenes and make sure it all works out while you do your thing," she gestured at me and the Baron, who was already off in the distance. 

"Well, I'm glad I was able to stall him long enough," I gave her a charming smile. "About time to head back into the inn and see how many ladies I can charm the skirts off of." 

Emlyn gave me a light smack in the back of the head. 

"Ow. You're supposed to pretend to be a playboy, not actually be one," Emlyn scoffed. 

I held my head and glanced down. "Well, good thing you're wearing pants," and then I turned my attention to Zuri, who wore a skirt, "and I'll just have to tease Zuri some more." 

It was an added bonus that I would help distract Zuri from her recent losses.