The Sorcerer's Legacy (11 page)

“Azerick, there are people outside with horses!” Ellyssa shouted excitedly as she looked out the window of the library where Azerick conducted her lessons on the newly completed fourth floor.

Azerick crossed the room, it was the largest one on the fourth floor, and looked out the window and into the courtyard. He saw half a dozen people, two women, and four men, each riding their own horse, and pulling nearly a score of horses behind them, each bearing a saddle and bridle but no riders. Ellyssa bounded down the stairs three at a time as Azerick followed at a more leisurely pace.

By the time Azerick reached the entrance hall, a cavernous room twenty feet high and large enough to host a ball, Ellyssa had already admitted three of the newcomers and they stood waiting as he walked down the stairs to greet them.

“You have done wonders with this place,” Lady Miranda praised him as the sorcerer entered the room.

She looked at the several chandeliers that hung by stout rope that ran through pulleys and attached to the walls so they could be lowered for lighting and cleaning. The walls were covered in thick tapestries that helped insulate the room and trap the heat from the two enormous fireplaces that stood to each side of the grand hall, unlit due to the warm season.

“The workers have done wonders, I have done very little, truth be told,” Azerick corrected.

“How do you get such a bright white light from the lamps?” Miranda asked, looking up at the large but rather plain chandeliers.

“It’s magic!” Ellyssa blurted out. “Azerick lets me light them every morning since I learned how to cast the light spell. I’m a wizard!” she added excitedly.

“Oh you are, are you?” Miranda asked smiling down at the young girl. “And what is your name?”

“I’m Ellyssa and I’m Azerick’s apprentice. I set a tree on fire but it was an accident and now I have to squish rats with an ugly goblin named Grick, but he’s not a bad goblin that eats kids, he’s nice even though he was bad and got turned into a goblin by the woods fairy so he isn’t a kid anymore,” Ellyssa rambled excitedly.

Miranda gave the chatty girl a bemused look but could not help but smile. “Well, my name is—,”

“I know who you are! You’re Lady Miranda. I saw you last winter fest. You are very pretty like your mother but she doesn’t smile like you do. That was before my father sold me to Azerick, but I don’t mind because a gross fat man was going buy me but Azerick give me a glass ball and I made it glow really bright so he bought me instead. The fat man was really mad but Azerick used magic to knock him to the ground. I thought it was really scary at first but now I think it’s really funny. Azerick said he was going to turn him into a pig if he tried to buy any more kids, but I think he already looked a lot like a pig, especially rolling around in the dirty street.”

Miranda could only gape as she tried to pick apart and understand the girl’s chatter. “Magus Azerick bought you?”

Ellyssa was about to begin a third rant when Azerick cut her off. “Why don’t you take a breath and go work on writing your
ten fundamentals of wizardry.
You have fallen behind and will likely not finish before your restriction is up at the rate you are going.”

“But I want to stay and talk to Lady Miranda!” she whined.

“Go to the library, now,” Azerick ordered.

Ellyssa crossed her arms and stomped up the stairs. “You never let me do anything except squish gross old rats. It’s not even a real library, Lady Miranda, it only has thirty-two books!” the angry girl yelled in a parting shot and sprinted up the stairs before Azerick could reprimand her.

“It looks like you bought yourself a handful,” Lady Miranda said, unable to keep the laughter from her voice.

“I have indeed. And to clarify my buying her, I basically gave her father a sum of gold for her to become my apprentice. I do not deal in slaves. She is as talented and as bright as she is willful. Whether she will use her potential for good or evil, I have yet to be able to determine,” Azerick explained.

“If I did not know better I would say you took her in out of the kindness of your heart, but you don’t do things just for the sake of doing good, do you?” Miranda asked, crooking her eyebrow at the taciturn sorcerer.

“I will on occasion take pity on those that are incapable of helping themselves,” Azerick replied somberly. “Nobles rarely fall into that category; at least I have not met any that do thus far. Present company accepted of course.”

Miranda cleared her throat uncomfortably and introduced the others. “You remember my maiden, Sarah, and this gentleman is Sergeant Philip Garmin.

Sarah looked much the same as she did the day Azerick met her when the bandits attacked thought the dress was not nearly so fancy. Sergeant Garmin wore a well-polished chain shirt over a padded doublet and a fine linen shirt of royal blue. A well-maintained longsword and matching dagger hung low on his hip where his hand constantly rested on the pommel.

“Welcome to my home, Ladies, Sergeant,” Azerick greeted coolly. “What brings you here today?”

“I received word that your workers recently completed repairs to the stables and I thought I might bring you a gift of my own. I am sure that you recall the horses we recovered that belonged to the bandits. I feel that they belong to you by rights,” Miranda replied formally.

Azerick gave Miranda a small bow of appreciation. “You are most gracious, My Lady. Was there anything else you desired, My Lady?”

Miranda stiffened at the obvious dismissal. “No, Magus, that was all I wished to convey at this time. I shan’t keep you from your duties any longer.”

Azerick saw the group to the door with hardly a word of farewell, ducking quickly back inside and closing the heavy door as soon as they were beyond the threshold.

“What an infuriating man!” Sarah exclaimed as they mounted their horses and began the ride back to North Haven proper.

“And rude, My Lady,” Philip added. “I would gladly return to teach him some manners when speaking to his betters.”

“He is infuriating and rude but I think we ought not to judge him too harshly. We know very little of him and what he has experienced.  Moreover, trying to teach him anything by force, be it by arms or will, I think would end badly for whoever tried, Philip, but thank you for the offer,” Miranda told her company.

Azerick checked on the horses as soon as Miranda and her escorts traveled beyond the wall. Azerick did have a team of workers repair the extensive stables even though Horse was the only animal, until now, sheltered within the structure. He caught up with one of the men handling several of the new horses.

“What is your name, sir?” Azerick asked the man.

“Brandon, milord,” the man replied nervously, fearing he had done something wrong.

“Brandon, are we prepared to stable this many horses?”

“Aye, milord. The stable is sound and a new roof covers the entire thing, but most of the stalls lack doors seeing as how there was only the one horse to stable at the time. We got men building new doors right now for the rest of the stalls and ought to be finished within a couple hours. We also got men building a large paddock for exercising them all and that can done by the end of the day if milord don’t mind pulling a few men off fixin’ the breaches in the wall to help,” Brandon replied, relaxing considerably seeing that he was not going to be reprimanded.

“Your plan sounds excellent, Brandon, see that it gets finished.”

“Aye, milord, right away then,” the man said and began shouting instructions to the men working on the wall to begin digging postholes for the paddock.

A small man wearing wire-framed spectacles, carrying a satchel filled with rolls of vellum, books, quills, ink, and walking with a slight crouch bustled hurriedly over to Azerick.

“Master Azerick Giles, are you he?” the man asked nervously.

“Yes, what can I do for you?” Azerick asked a little abruptly, not being used to having this many visitors in one day.

“Oh, ah, Lord Randall sent me. He told me that you have need of, ah, an accountant,” the nervous little man stammered.

“Yes I do, and you are?” Azerick prompted.

“Um, ah, the accountant, My Lord.”

Azerick raised an eyebrow at the man.

“Oh, Simon, My Lord, Simon the accountant.”

Azerick dropped his grim demeanor and shook the timid little man’s hand. “I do indeed require an accountant, Simon. Please follow me and I will show you what I require.”

Azerick guided Simon into the keep and took him down the stairs to the sublevel. The man flinched once as a large rat scampered across their path but Azerick reassured him that he had someone working on the rat problem.

“He is a goblin named Grick. You will likely see him, and perhaps my apprentice depending on how much trouble she gets herself into, down here working on it.”

“Oh, ah, a goblin you say? Very unusual help but efficient I would wager,” Simon replied.

“Here we are,” Azerick told Simon as they stopped in front of the heavy vault door.

Azerick spoke some words of magic and the engraved runes on the door flashed for a brief second before Azerick hauled it open by the large iron ring mounted near the center.

“I have changed the wards so that you may have access to the vault from now on without my having to disable them,” Azerick explained to the accountant.

“Oh, so you are a wizard. Ah, there were rumors going around is why a say that,” Simon hastily explained.

“Precisely, and I am able to track all of my possessions by magic should any of them come up missing,” Azerick informed the man.

Simon paused a moment to consider the importance of what Azerick had said before he was able to put them together and understand the significance.

“Oh, ah, of course, Master Azerick, of course. You need not fear any sort of, ah, illicit activities from me. I would never dream of taking something from my employer,” the accountant assured him.

Azerick was confident, given Simon’s expression and demeanor, he was telling the truth and that the odd little man would never even think of pilfering from him.

“Excellent, well here it is,” Azerick declared as he pulled the thick door open and revealed the pile of treasure inside.

Simon’s jaw dropped in awe at what he beheld. “Oh, ah, that is, oh my. Oh my, my, my, my,” he stammered and blinked several times at what lay before him. “What, uh, exactly will you be requiring from me, Master Giles? Uh, Magus Azerick, My Lord.”

“Just Azerick, Simon, I don’t like to stand on formalities,” Azerick tried to reassure the clerk but ended up confounding him even worse. He finally settled for Master Azerick, anything less sent the little man into a stammering fit.

 “I’ll need you to tally up all of the coins and jewels, inventory and document all the miscellaneous items, ensure that the workers are paid promptly and fairly, help my head cook track things such as food and household expenditures, and whatever else you may deem needs to be accounted and budgeted for.”

“Oh my. That is, ah, quite a task,” Simon replied nervously.

“Hm, it is isn’t it? I never really thought much on it until now. Feel free to hire as many assistants as you think you require that you feel are trustworthy,” Azerick told him.

“Oh ah, I think perhaps two more coin counters should sufficiently ease my, ah, workload enough to see to the, ah, other matters that you need me to address, ah, Master Azerick,” Simon suggested hopefully.

Azerick nodded his agreement. “That sounds like an excellent plan, Simon. See to it and budget in their pay. I believe people who are paid well are less likely to give into the temptation of theft, or skimming, as accountants like to call it.”

“Oh, ah, no, Master Azerick, no counters of mine would, ah, dare skim or I will bounce them right on out!” Simon exclaimed, waving a quill he gripped tightly in one hand.