A Spell Misplaced, page 4
part #4 of Gags & Pepper: Protection Agents Series
“Why treat us so well?” Gags asked.
“Well, King David wants his peers, well, no one is the king’s peer, to be taken care of properly. It makes everything tidier in the end. Don’t you think?” Flora Baker flashed them a smile.
“What do we do?” Lucian asked.
The woman gave Lucian and Gags lists. “Go to these establishments to get complimentary goods and services. They will be deducted from your stipends, but you will be thrilled by what you can get.”
Gags shrugged as he looked at Lucian. “An inn?”
“The Royal Inn, of course. You will get superior service, again at a reduced price taken out of your stipend,” Flora said.
“Do we have any restrictions on moving about the country?” Gags asked.
Flora frowned. “You will be restricted to Baxterton for two weeks, and then you can go where you want.” She smiled again.
Gags sighed. He had guessed it might take two weeks to find out where Miria was located, but they could use the time to prepare. “Sounds reasonable,” Gags said. “We probably need to learn how the local culture works.”
“Of course!” Flora said. “Sign here.”
Gags took the paper and, rather than sign, he read it. Without the pretty woman’s brilliant smile, he wondered how much money exchanged hands for merchants to get on the list. Most services had one provider. It was suspicious, but Gags thought they would only need a week to rescue Miria after their two-week holding period.
“What about this provision?” Lucian asked Flora, pointing to a spot on his form.
Gags looked at a section that was entitled “Provision of Services.” If they chose not to prevail themselves of the stipend, there would be unspecified services to perform. If the services became onerous, Gags would be happy to sit in a dungeon cell for two weeks if he would be released to find Miria.
Flora blushed. That wasn’t a good sign, Gags thought.
“You are required to attend a few balls and meet the local lords and ladies,” Flora said.
“Then why doesn’t it say that?” Lucian asked.
Flora shrugged and smiled a little uncomfortably in Gags’s view. “Who knows what the social events might entail? A picnic with local nobles, a ride in the harbor to look at all the ships. Rides in the countryside. Hunting parties. We can’t put everything down.”
“And if we don’t want to do them?”
Flora’s countenance clouded a bit before her brilliant smile lit up the conversation. “You can immediately return to where you came from. The ship is scheduled to reach,” she looked at the harbormaster’s form, “Veilport. You will be restricted to your ship in that case. Life will be much more comfortable if you sign.”
Lucian nodded to Gags, and they both signed. It wouldn’t be the first time Gags broke out of prison, although this one seemed to have velvet-covered walls.
“Now what?” Gags said.
“Your luggage is still on board the ship?”
“It is at our feet,” Gags said. “We travel light.”
The woman looked at their well-worn bags with disdain. “I’ll have a man show you to your inn and a few shops after you settle in.” She bowed to them. “Welcome to your new life as a Baxterian noble.”
Gags thought that comment was a bit intimidating. Something was wrong with everything, but they wouldn’t be able to learn anything if they were restricted to Seppius’s vessel.
Chapter Four
~
T he Royal Inn was fit for a king. Rugs adorned the floors. Flocked wallpaper, something rarely seen in Peria, covered the walls. The fixtures and door handles were made out of gold. The servants wore some kind of old-fashioned livery that was never in style in Karkle Cross or Bashing, the Hosandian capital.
Gags and Lucian had separate but adjoining suites on the second level, overlooking the stables but with a view of the palace and the auxiliary building above.
Gags put his weapons away. His iron staff found a place underneath a bed that fit him. There was a rack for a sword and long knife in the sitting room, which Gags used. He put his bolts in a side table drawer and washed up. Lucian rapped on the connecting door for Gags to let him in.
“Not bad,” Lucian said. “The workmanship of everything isn’t to Shatterset standards, but better than any town I’ve been in.”
Gags shrugged. “I’m not interested in the condition of our jail cell. Let’s get some clothes and ask our guard, I mean our escort, how much our stipend is.”
The escort refused to tell them but said few ever went through their monthly stipend. It seemed quite odd, but they had signed the sheet, and they would gather intelligence for the next two weeks.
Noria would probably buy some clothes if they were allowed off the Seppius’s ship. The styles were different for the better-dressed citizens. As one moved down the social ladder, the styles almost converged with what would be appropriate for Peria.
It was easy to spot the nobles strutting around in the same shop they had to frequent. The escort introduced them to the shop owners, and they were treated like the nobles that they were.
Gags and Lucian both disliked the fawning. The special treatment drove Lucian away from the royal court in Shatterset. They chose more conservative clothes, much to the disappointment of the shop owner. The bootmaker listened to their requirements and liked what he heard, so there wasn’t any fawning. Baxterton boots were a few centuries behind Gags and Lucian's styles, and the bootmaker sensed an opportunity to make money with the new styles.
The three of them walked through the market and ran into Noria, escorted by the navigator.
“We won’t be returning to the ship,” Gags told her before describing their treatment.
She smiled at them. “I should have claimed to be Lady Noria Darkman.”
“I thought you’d be restricted to your ship,” Lucian said.
“Two hours after noon while we are in port. We have to sign out and sign in when we return. We have to be getting back. Baxterton loves its rules, don’t they? ”
“Indeed, they do,” Gags said. “It is pleasant enough, so far.”
“We can be here for the next few days after lunch to talk to your father,” Lucian said.
“Seppius? I’ll tell him,” Noria said before turning and walking toward the harbor. The navigator didn’t have anything to say.
“Are you going to run your fiefs like this?” Lucian asked sarcastically.
“I’m taking mental notes,” Gags said. He looked at their minder. “How about a restaurant? Is there only one on the list?”
The man smiled. “There are six. What kind of cuisine are you looking for?”
“Something where quantity will at least equal quality,” Lucian said, smirking.
“I’m a good eater, too,” Gags said with a smirk.
“Indeed. You certainly look the part,” their escort said.
They walked closer to the inn. “This is a restaurant dedicated to rural food. It is the least popular on the list.” He opened the door for them.
Gags looked at the full tables. “It might be the least popular on the list, but it’s doing great business.”
“Some of our country nobles like the menu,” the escort said.
Gags rubbed his hands while they walked past the tables. He could tell he was in for a treat.
The food was spiced differently, but it wasn’t that different from village and town inns in central Peria. He had two whole helpings and was ready for a third when Lucian tugged on Gags’s shirt.
“That is enough for now.” Lucian winked at Gags, making him laugh.
“Of course. We don’t want to give everyone the wrong impression,” Gags said.
They left the restaurant. Their purchases would be delivered to the inn, so they asked the escort for a walking tour of the city. Everything was in order. Baxterton was clean enough; the citizens didn’t walk around with hunched shoulders, scurrying like beaten dogs.
Lucian went into a map shop. “I’d like a map of Baxter,” he said to the shopkeeper, who nervously eyed their escort.
“Can I…?” the shopkeeper said to their minder.
“This once,” the man said.
“I have my own money,” Lucian said.
Maps were brought out. Gags and Lucian looked down at them spread on the counter. “Where is Lord Browning’s fief?” Gags asked.
“Here is Temperton,” the shopkeeper said. “The manor isn’t a place to visit. You’d have to be invited.”
Gags looked closer. There was a village close by, but most of Browning’s fief was hilly, and according to the map, his estate was in the middle plateau.
The escort chimed in. “You will get an invitation. The annual Noble Retreat is held at his estate in four weeks. The mountains are beautiful this time of year.”
“Four weeks?” Lucian asked.
Gags sighed. Another week tacked onto the three he thought he’d have, but it sounded like it would be safer to be invited rather than invade the lord’s estate. “Sounds like fun!” Gags said, trying to put some animation into his voice.
Lucian ended up with three maps, one of Oroia, one of Baxter, and a street map of Baxterton.
Their first excursion into Baxterton was over, and the three returned to the inn.
“You will be joined for dinner by Lord Peter Pearton, the Minister of Rites and Protocols. Our office is under his supervision,” the escort said as he left after giving a late time for dinner.
“I’m going to get hungry by then,” Gags said.
“No one said we couldn’t get a snack, right? Maybe they deliver to the rooms,” Lucian said.
“I’m going to take a nap. It has been an interesting day,” Gags said, pointing to his ear. Lucian nodded. Gags suspected if they were getting escorted around town that, someone would be listening through the walls of their rooms, especially after the angry look the map shopkeeper got from their minder.
~
Gags woke Lucian up when he was hungry enough for a snack.
“I thought I was the one to take a nap,” Gags said.
Lucian just laughed. “I suppose your tummy is trying to tell you to feed it?”
“You know me so well,” Gags said as they left Lucian’s rooms.
The inn did have a common room, unlike any pub that Gags had entered. Padded seats surrounded the tables, and an ensemble played Baxterian music from a corner. There were a surprising number of patrons for a late afternoon, and most of them were playing cards or board games.
“The idle rich,” Lucian said when they were shown to a table by a wall and handed menus.
“Living off citizens,” Gags said. He put his hand to his mouth and invoked his night vision. He could see through a patch in the wall between them and see a young woman sitting at a desk with a pen and paper. Gags guessed he could poke his finger through the wallpaper. He’d have to try the same thing in his rooms. “I’m glad we will have the opportunity to, as well.”
“Certainly. What looks good?” Lucian said, opening his menu.
“A little sparse for a Perian pub,” Gags said.
They ordered. Gags ordered twice as much as Lucian, and Lucian sampled some of the items Gags ordered. The wine seemed weak, but the price wasn’t.
“Let’s look at the maps now that we’ve had a good sleep,” Gags said. “I’d like to memorize the Baxterton map so we won’t get lost when we stroll through the city.” Gags intended to spend most of his time learning the Baxter map, but he didn’t want to blurt the information out.
“We should buy some horses, so we don’t have to walk so far,” Lucian said.
“I’d like a mount,” Gags said. “I’m finished here. Let’s plan our exploration for tomorrow.
“Perhaps a stroll outside to work off our snack?” Lucian said.
They stepped outside and stood before the inn, watching the world go by. Gags was about to step off the curb when their minder showed up.
“How was your nap?” their escort asked.
“A happy event after more than a week at sea,” Gags said. “What do you do to fill your time when you aren’t escorting foreign nobles around Baxterton?”
“We don’t get many. Most nobles stopping in Baxterton don’t get off their ships.”
Gags bet they didn’t. If Gags had known he’d be put under so much administrative scrutiny, he wouldn't have.
“So, what do you do with your time?” Lucian said, following up on Gag’s unanswered question.
“I’m an administrator in the Auxiliary. I do a bit of this and a bit of that.” Their minder rubbed his hands, and Gags noticed that he had the callouses of a swordsman.
“Can you show us what you do?” Lucian asked. “I’m curious about the Baxterian administrative state. It is much more organized than what we have in Shatterset.”
The minder shrugged his shoulders. “My life isn’t interesting enough to show nobles.”
Another non-answer, Gags thought. “When is Lord Pearton coming?”
“Twinkle,” the man said. He genuinely laughed. “You wouldn’t know what Twinkle is. It is when all the stars appear in the sky. That is two hours after sunset, like I said earlier.”
“Twinkle. Do you have any other names for the time of the day?”
Gags was disappointed to find out the Twinkle was the only unfamiliar time that the Baxterians used.
The three walked a few blocks before heading back to the inn.
“I’m going to do some map reading,” Gags said. “Oh, Lucian and I would like to buy two mounts so we can move from place to place in the city.”
“Didn’t Flora tell you? You aren’t allowed horses for some time. We will provide a carriage for you. All you have to do is arrange it at the inn. Don’t worry about paying or tipping. It will come out of your generous stipend.”
“Oh,” Gags nodded. “We will do that then.”
They said farewell to their minder, who walked across the street and sat on a bench before pulling a small book from his pocket.
“They aren’t very subtle, are they?” Lucian said.
“Nothing we can’t overcome. We will steal horses if we have to,” they said, out of hearing and out of sight. It wouldn’t surprise Gags if their minder could read lips at a distance.
They returned to their rooms. Gags began looking at the maps in his rooms and sighed. He took a slip of paper and wrote that someone had come in and switched the maps.
Only a few places on the Baxter map were shown, but the Browning estate was one of them. The city map was incomplete, with sections of the city missing. Gags had already started on that map. The map of Oroia was almost blank. The only port showing was Baxterton, and the rest was topology and country and fief boundaries. Gags didn’t expect it to be accurate because it looked changed, too.
They went over the maps and discussed the geological features of Oroia, commenting on doing an excursion outside Baxter after the Noble Retreat. Lucian had seen enough, but Gags looked at the Oroian map and took his first try at memorizing the northern coastline. He could almost predict where the ports were if the shoreline was the least bit accurate.
The best plan would be to bring Miria back from Lord Browning’s estate, take the first boat out anywhere, and then arrange passage to Peria from the next port. That would suffice for the initial plan. It might not hold up after they learned more, but the plan gave Gags hope and direction.
~
Lord Peter Pearton was more vigorous than Gags imagined. He was probably Seppius’s age. The man appeared to have a pleasant personality. His smile didn’t seem forced, and Pearton said he had looked forward to the dinner when he learned earlier that two handsome nobles had arrived from Peria. He seemed thrilled to use the term “handsome.”
Gags noticed that the server did not seat them next to a wall but in the middle of the dining room.
“Where are you both from? I’m afraid you’ll have to be general since I never learned much about our neighbors across the sea to the north,” Pearton said genially.
“We don’t live too far from one another. Gags’s fief is to the south of Yellow River, and Yellow River’s capital, Shatterset is just south of the centerline of the continent,” Lucian said. “Yellow River is mostly agricultural, being located on the river plain. The river goes through Bashing, where Gags’s king lives. Most places are like Baxter, where most of the land is under the custody of fief lords.”
“And your fief?”
Gags took a sip of the watered wine, hoping it was stronger. “I have three that I’ll be consolidating, but I have a liege lord over Hardcastle fief. It is on the rocky edge of Yellow River to the north and the kingdom of Heartswallow to the west. Yellow River and Heartswallow don’t have fiefs and are what we would call petty kingdoms.”
“We have those, too,” Lord Pearton said with a smile. “What makes your fief special? Agriculture like Prince Lucian’s land?”
“There are pockets. What used to be the richest areas have been farmed out. There are mines in Yearsend. The rest looks like the land around Lord Browning’s fief.”
“He is Paul to his friends and Count Browning to everyone else,” Pearton said with a wry smile.
“And what is he to you?” Lucian asked.
“Count Browning.” Lord Pearton sighed. “One of the reasons I wanted to meet you in a more relaxed setting is that I wanted you to understand the political situation in Baxter.”
The server came, and they ordered. Gags restrained himself, and Lucian made a crack about the food.
“There are two major factions, the Order of the Manx and the Golden Shield. The Order of the Manx is for non-royal nobles, and the Golden Shield is an organization for those of royal blood.”
“You are a Golden Shield?” Lucian asked.
“I am. Count Browning is a Manxist, as we call them. For years they were both social circles with little barrier between us, but since Lord Benjamin Julius stood down as prime minister, divisions began to grow stronger. You may want to be careful. I would recommend not joining either faction if you can help it.”
