Techromancy Scrolls: Adept (10 page)

I exhaled and she took that as assent, “Grand. Livery courtyard at three then?” I couldn't stop from smiling at the woman, she looked so pleased. I nodded. Lady Verna and Jace were there at the bottom of the staircase with mother who didn't look well.

The two knights were in tune and Verna simply smiled at mother, saying, “Margret.” And lifted her by the waist up to the wagon to Celeste like she were made of straw. My Lady helped her sit then gave her a smile and hopped down lightly. She looked up to me. “Three then?” I nodded then she clasped Verna's shoulder and they made their way back up the staircase to where Sir Kristof waited.

Celeste looked back before they went back into the church while Jace hopped into the wagon. I know, I watched. Mother knocked me out of of my silly grin when she prompted, “Home please Laney. I overdid it, but it was invigorating to be out in the world again.”

Then she was silent, looking back nervously as I urged Goliath around the roundabout. I glanced at mother as Jace idly tied a piece of string he had found somewhere into various knots. “What is it?”

She looked at me and asked, “What did Lady Celeste mean when she said we were all going to be getting closer earlier?”

Oh lord. I took a deep breath then exhaled, gathering my thoughts. But this was a good thing right? To keep me out of trouble for... what... I am. I looked into her eyes, she seemed nervous. I smiled meekly and lowered my eyes and said, “I, what did they call it? I ignited. And yesterday at the castle's salvage intake courtyard, others saw.”

She had a strange combination of surprise, pride, and – horror on her face. I quickly assured her, “I'll not be going to the stockades. Prime Techromancer Donovan and Lady Celeste came up with a plan to keep me free. Well sort of free, I'll be beholden to someone.”

She looked relieved, curious, and nervous now. I was starting to wonder what was going on. She nodded sadly and laid an ice cold hand on mine on the reins. She spoke softly, “I know you swore you'd never take a man's hand in marriage, I'm so sorry Laney.”

I shook my head and said, “No man will ever have me. I will be a spinster first.”

She was confused now, then looked appalled, “They've sold you! Barbaric custom! How long do we have with you before they take you away from us.”

Those were the same two solutions Donovan came up with. I shook my head. “No. Lady Celeste has claimed me as a squire. I am to be beholden to her. Prime Techromancer Donovan wants to train me in Techromancy as she trains me to defend the realm.”

She inhaled and then said in a ghost of a voice. “Squire? But that would mean with such a small family, we will be moved to the Castle, assigned positions there. Why did they do that? We can't go back to the castle.”

My face fell, did she truly prefer to have me sold into another family? She was... disappointed in me? I said as we were pulling up to our cottage, “I'm sorry mother. The Prime Techromancer said the Duke would approve. He said I was an – adept?”

She put her hand to her chest, I held her shoulders. “Are you okay mother?”

She smiled at me and placed a cold hand on my cheek, “An adept? My baby girl?” Wait, back to the castle? What was going on.

She exhaled and relaxed. She smiled at me, “Well then, I guess there's nothing to do about it then.” She shook her head and her eyes twinkled with pride as she whispered, “An adept.”

Jace and I helped her down, using a bucket as a step again. “What's an adept?” he asked as he automatically started unharnessing Goliath without prompting.

Mother told him as I supported her toward the door. “A powerful magic user that is not constrained by the usual limitations.”

I heard him say in awe, “Woooow.” As he led Goliath away.

I brought mother in and helped her into the house and got her changed into her bedclothes. I made sure she took her medicines and then sat at her side and held her hand as she slowly drifted off from a strenuous morning.

I smiled, it was so good to see her out and about. I hope she continues to improve. I looked at her sleeping and my brow furrowed slightly as I contemplated why she seemed so afraid of the castle. It was good we'd all stay together right? If I was sold off, contact is discouraged.

I, like Celeste, thought this solution was the best solution. Except for the fact that I'd make a terrible knight since I couldn't fight my way out of a burlap sack and I'm not much stronger than Jace. I wondered if a squire could be a squire forever. I smiled, I'd be beholden to my Lady forever then.

I thought of the invitation to the feast. It was held in the large livery courtyard at the castle on Holy Day and was open to all. It was devised by a Lady of the Court before I had even been born, to ensure that everyone in the village got at least one good meal a week. Yet another thing that differentiated Wexbury from the other realms. It also gave a forum for commoners to mingle with any knights or Nobles who chose to attend. It started after service on Holy Day and ended at dusk.

Until mother was confined to bed, Jace and I would attend every week, though mother would never accompany us. She always headed to Wexbury Minor instead to donate eggs to their version of the feast. I thought about that and then felt guilty that I hadn't given it a though until now. I'd have to rectify that and start bringing a basket of eggs down to the little village to the south every Sixth Day or Holy Day.

I paused, would I be able to? I'd be a squire now. I didn't think about what it would mean for our chicken farming. Would we be allowed to keep it? Would we have to hand it over to the Castle to assign a new family of herders?

I was getting anxious and recognized the heat I felt building with my rapid breathing, I calmed before I could feel it in my eyes. I smiled, I was already beginning to gain some control over my new magics.

I made a pact with myself to get some of these answers from Lady Celeste at the feast.

It was an unofficial tradition that if you had anything you could spare to share with others less fortunate, that you bring it to donate to the feast or the castle kitchens. I looked around. Our larder was restocked but had meager pickings. I opened the little cupboard that had our chicken jerky and I grabbed four or five strips off the rails and wrapped them in burlap. This would do.

We always had jerky. The hens that stopped laying we would sell off to the butcher, or trade for them making strips for us out of half the chicken that we could make jerky with. It was good protein for rough months and the winter when egg production was low, and it stored well.

When Jace came in I looked at him and smiled. I didn't think anyone would mind so I asked, “Did you wish to go to feast while mother sleeps?” He nodded and I licked my fingers and ran them through his unruly mop of tangled hair.

I smiled and said, “Grand!” I opened the back shutter and looked at the clock high in the cathedral in the distance, we had about two hours to kill. I cocked an eyebrow at the boy, imagining the man he would become then whispered conspiratorially, “Stories?”

He nodded enthusiastically and I went to sit by the bed near the heater and waited as he pried up the floorboard and picked a tome from mother's cache. He handed it to me and sat next to me. I grinned, it was his favorite. A fable. I opened it and wrapped an arm around him so he could read along and I read the story of the cobbler and the stag. When the Church bell tolled twice, I looked at him as I closed the book and handed it to him to hide away.

I stood and he rejoined me and I handed him my bundle and said, “Shall we be off?” On a whim, I also grabbed the basket of eggs by the door, it was marked with the seal of the realm. No sense making another trip tomorrow, I could bring our tithe to the realm today. Every citizen paid a tithe each month, either as five percent of their earnings, or five percent of their craft. We tithed twenty four eggs, once a week.

It wasn't much but it was what we had. It would give ten people in the castle a good breakfast. I smiled with pride that the Lords and Ladies seemed to favor our eggs.

Then we stepped out into the early afternoon and started walking down the lane toward the Crossbar and turned north. Jace chased an escaped rabbit between some buildings with a giggle. That would be Hank's, his family raised rabbits in their large lot at the end of the lane. We occasionally trade a rabbit for a chicken with them as long as they could keep the pelt. Rabbits make for some good stewing.

We had thought of switching to rabbit farming once because the pelts are so valuable. You could get two or three pennies for them and a half penny for the meat of two rabbits at the butcher. Then we did the math. A chicken, in its life, could produce four or five pennies worth of eggs, then we could get a half penny for two at the butcher. Then trade for the feathers we pick up in the coop to fishermen and seamstresses. Chickens also eat half of what rabbits do, so less investment. We had decided to stick with what we knew.

I looked up at the cathedral clock as we passed, we'd be a half hour earlier than Celeste would arrive, but that would give us a chance to drop off our offering to the kitchen and our tithe to the steward.

I never tired of the sight of Castle Wexbury. I looked on in amazement as we approached the looming castle that stretched on for well over a half mile. The towers and spires were awe inspiring and I suppressed a smile at the wind turbines on the ramparts. It was something out of mother's tomes. The granite blocks that comprised the inner walls were like the ones of the great wall around the village, hewn smooth by expert masons. The colors of the reflected sun made the walls seem rich, regal, and full of warmth.

We approached the crowded Portcullis to the livery courtyard and I glanced south across the Hawktail River as it flowed through the keep, and to the Great Meadow down to Beggar's Creek, making the meadow a little island. The Great Meadow was the only area of the city that wasn't packed with buildings. It was a flowing, manicured lawn, like a park hidden in the keep. There were exotic flowers and some trees that just punctuated the beauty of the area. Not may of us commoners walked the park or picnicked, it was usually full of nobles and castle servants, so we sort of felt out of place though all were welcome.

I smiled at the guards at the gate. One smiled back. Then Jace was tugging on my sleeve. “Did you see their swords? One day I want to be a warrior like them!”

I grinned at his enthusiasm then nudged my chin toward the servant's entrance to the north. “Could you please get the jerky to Cook? I'll find the steward, with our tithe. Come find me in the courtyard when you're done or find some of your friends to eat with. In any case, we'll leave at six.” Cook was the lady of the kitchen, she was second only to the head Maid, Earnestine, matron of the castle. Her name was Corwin but she made everyone call her Cook.

Jace didn't even look back and just darted through the crowd with the little bundle of jerky. I headed toward the main castle courtyard away from the celebration. I found the steward of the watch at the large table beside the arch. I bowed my head slightly, “Sir, I've our tithe. For Margret Herder of Cheap Quarter.”

I could tell he was grumpy, having to work on Holy Day. Only the most junior of the stewards pulled this duty while the others feasted. He wordlessly looked into the thick bound castle ledger and turned a few pages. Then he looked up at me then the basket and held his hand out. I passed it to him and he looked inside. The man was actually counting the eggs!

He grunted, and wrote something in the ledger. I was fascinated as always with the featherless quills they used. They called them pens and they didn't require dipping in an ink well to write. They were like the pencils mother used in our lessons but they used ink instead of graphite.

Then he roughly cuffed the boy who was sleeping on a stool beside the table. “Wake up! Make yourself useful, take these to Cook!” He thrust the basket at the boy who blinked away the sleep and picked up his page cap that had fallen when he was struck. The boy grinned at me as he took the basket and ran off. I grinned back, he was a cheerful sort.

Then the steward looked under the desk and found another empty basket and thrust it at me. I took it bowed my head slightly. “Sir.” Then turned and made my way back to the feast in the livery courtyard. He definitely was not a chatty fellow.

I looked around at all the people, they gathered in cliques, though this was supposed to be a chance for mingling. All were welcome at the feast and like the church, this was supposed to be a place where serfs could sit with nobles as equals. Near the main courtyard were the few nobles that came, keeping to themselves at three of the long plank tables. Then the servants as a buffer.

Then there were the knights. Their tables were always crowded, they were sort of the exception to the rule. They loved getting a chance to speak with the people they were sworn to protect. But most commoners were intimidated by them so not many ever chanced sitting with them to break bread. And closest to the livery stables, where the smell of horse and manure were the worst, were the thirty long plank tables where the serfs congregated.

I smiled at the gathering then stepped in the long line by the buffet tables. I grabbed one of the ceramic plates on a table and tin silverware and stretched and bobbed, trying to see the wonders the castle had laid out for us this Holy Day.