Keeper of the Realms: The Dark Army (Book 2) (23 page)

Groaning, he tried to sit up, but Charlie leaped to land feet-first on his chest, driving him back down. Crouching on top of the moaning herald she rifled through his robes, removing all his coins and valuables. ‘What’s this? No fistfuls of diamonds or rubies? No precious bounty? I’m kind of disappointed.’

‘Are-are you going to kill me?’ gasped the herald.

Charlie fixed him with a stare. ‘I’m no killer … but I’m no pushover either. Go back to Bane and tell him he’ll have to work harder if he wants my head.’ Reaching down she patted one of his cheeks. ‘Have fun getting all that mud and fruit out of your pretty clothes.’

Hastening back to her companions she found Crumble fingering a big dent in his cooking pot and the unconscious body of a soldier at his feet. Nibbler trotted over with the Stonesinger’s burnt cloak in his mouth.

‘Everyone OK?’ she asked. Getting a nod from both she showed them her haul: a small pile of gold coins and two sapphires. She pocketed some of the gold and then gave several of the remaining coins to Crumble. ‘Here’s what we owe you and a little extra for the camping supplies, and here’s some more in case we need to buy any other stuff on the way.’

Striding over to the group of wide-eyed merchants and
villagers, she tossed the leftover coins and sapphires at their feet. ‘I’m sorry for what happened to your market day. I hope this goes some way towards paying for the damage.’ Then, without waiting for a reply, she tore open a Portal so she and her companions could make a quick exit.

31

The Golden Touch

‘Yes? Can I help you?’ asked a haughty cashier.

‘Yes, ya can. I’d like ta speak ta the master banker if ya please. It’s Jensen the Willow of Sylvaris.’

The cashier looked down his nose at the travel-worn Treman standing on the other side of his counter.

‘And does sir have an appointment?’ enquired the cashier in a slightly mocking tone.

‘Does it look like I’ve been in town long enough ta make an appointment?’ countered Jensen. ‘Of course I don’t have one, but I have several large accounts with dis bank and many more with its sister banks in Sylvaris, Alavis and Alacorn. I think ya’ll find that the size and merit of my accounts allow me more than ample opportunity ta drop inta any branch of the Gilded Bank as and when I want ta.’

‘Is that right, sir?’ said the cashier in a patronising voice. ‘Are you sure you have an account with us? Perhaps you’ve got your banks confused?’

‘Listen, sonny –’

‘No, you listen, sir. This a bank for gentlemen not scoundrels! You must think me a buffoon, sir. Not one of our clients would ever dress as poorly as you or, might I add,
stink of the road as much as you. I insist you leave our premises or I’ll have our bailiffs escort you out!’

Jensen sighed. Reaching over he grabbed the cashier’s ear.

The cashier yelped and tried to close his own fist round Jensen’s, but the Treman twisted his ear even further. All the other clerks watched in alarm and one of the burly bailiffs started to lumber over.

‘Ladies, gentlemen,’ began Jensen in a loud but polite manner, ‘I find that I am rapidly losing me respect for the Gilded Bank. Allow me ta repeat meself, I am Jensen the Willow and over the years I have deposited enough money in this bank ta warrant a little respect. Now if someone doesn’t go and fetch me the master banker
right this instant
I can guarantee that I will be withdrawing me more than considerable business from this sorry excuse for a bank!’

‘What, might I ask, is going on here?’ A plump Stoman with thick reading glasses held open one of the doors that led deeper into the bank. She wore a concerned look on her educated face. ‘And who, might I add, is the gentleman who is manhandling my staff?’

‘Jensen the Willow.’

The woman blinked upon hearing the name. ‘Of Sylvaris?’

‘Aye, that would be me.’

The Stoman blinked yet again. She snapped her fingers at the bailiff. ‘Please remove that man.’ The bailiff loomed over Jensen. ‘No, not that man,
that man
.’

The bailiff hesitated for a moment, but, reading the seriousness of his employer’s expression, swiftly let go of Jensen and instead clamped his oversized hands round the surprised cashier’s shoulders.

‘Wh-what?’ stuttered the cashier, unable to comprehend what was happening.

‘Silence,’ growled the bailiff.

All the other clerks watched in fascination as their ex-colleague was unceremoniously hurled out of the door.

‘I do apologize for that,’ said the Stoman once the door was slammed shut, silencing the cashier’s high-pitched squawks of protest. ‘Since the war broke out it has become perilously hard to find good staff. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sindris the Third and I am the master banker of Idle Wind’s branch of the Gilded Bank.’

Jensen’s eyes twinkled.

‘Sir,’ continued Sindris the Third, ‘you are an honoured customer and it is a pleasure to welcome you. If you would please follow me, we can retire to a room more suitable for someone of your stature.’

The clerks all watched with open mouths as the scruffy Treman walked past their desks and breezed through the door that the master banker held open.

Arriving in Sylvaris, Kelko headed towards the Jade Tower. However, when he tried to dismount from his exhausted horse he found that his legs wouldn’t obey him. Groaning and doing his best to ignore the sniggers of those passing by and the whinny of protest arising from his steed, he half fell and half slumped from the saddle to land with an ‘oof’ by the feet of a surprised guard.

‘Are ya OK there, buddy?’ asked the guard.

‘I can’t straighten my legs,’ croaked Kelko.

‘Here let me help ya … Oh, my Sweet Sap, wot have ya been eating?’ the guard grunted as he strained to pull Kelko back to his feet. ‘Blight my Leaf, but ya’ve got girth enough on ya for two grown men.’

‘Ahh,’ sighed Kelko. The relief of being able to stand without a horse bumping and bruising his thighs with every step was wonderful. Straightening up, he cricked and cracked the ache from his back before fixing his sights on the entrance to the Jade Tower. ‘Listen, we could spend all day discussing the merits of me manly girth over yer weedy chest, but right now we’ve got more pressing matters. I need ya ta help me get inside the Jade Circle right away.’

‘Wot for?’ asked the guard, slightly taken aback by the sudden seriousness of Kelko’s demands.

‘War.’

‘Say wot?’

‘War is coming ta Sylvaris and a lot sooner that we expect. Now stop gawking and lend me yer shoulder!’

Leaning on the guard, Kelko staggered into the tower.

All the councillors looked up in surprise as Kelko and his attendant banged against a table, knocking over a particularly graceful vase of flowers before rebounding into the table’s twin and knocking over a second vase. The crash of shattered porcelain was especially loud.

‘Er …’ began the guard as he realized he had earned himself the unwanted and displeased attention of the Jade Circle. ‘I’m just the help. He’s the one ya want ta talk to.’

All eyes turned to Kelko.

‘Oh, Bless my Oak, but I can’t do this standing up. Would someone please bring me a chair? I’ve been riding non-stop for three days and nights, I haven’t had a bite ta eat nor a sip of water and I’ve been bitten by just about every mosquito that lives in the Great Plains.’

‘Fetch the man a chair,’ said Lady Dridif in a particularly dry voice. ‘We’ll let Kelko the Oak sit before listening ta his no doubt golden words of wisdom … and if we don’t value the words that pass his lips we’ll have him clear up every splinter from those Tulip Dynasty vases with a pair of tweezers.’

Kelko winced as his bruised bum settled into the seat offered, then sighed in content as his thighs finally stopped cramping.

‘Oh, thank me beloved Oak for that.’

‘Kelko,’ said Lady Dridif with a warning tone of disapproval.

‘Sorry, ma’am. It hasn’t been an easy week. Let me get straight ta the point. We’re at war.’

There was a brief period of silence during which many of the councillors paused to stare at one another with a what’s-he-going-on-about look.

‘We know we’re at war,’ said a rather uptight-looking councillor. ‘I don’t think anyone would call the past couple of years’ relations with the Stoman lord a “period of peace”.’

‘Wot? Ah, no. Look, wot I mean ta say is we’re
about ta be
at war. Bane has sent his First Army across the Great Plains in the hope that we would be too distracted looking at Alavis and Alacorn to notice the danger coming from a
different direction. I’ve come ta warn ya that we’re under threat of an immediate attack.’

There was a moment of shocked silence that was swiftly broken as every councillor tried to speak at once.

‘Silence!’ snapped Dridif. ‘Kelko, I would very much like ta think that ya would have the good sense not ta come in here with a concoction of idiocy, however having known ya since ya were a child I feel the urge ta ask ya ta repeat yerself. Do ya really mean dis? Do ya really mean that Bane’s forces are bearing down on us as we speak?’

‘I do, Yer Honour. And I fear that we have little more than a day’s reprieve before they arrive.’

There was yet another period of silence during which Dridif held her hand aloft to prevent anyone speaking out of turn. Weighing Kelko’s words against the wear and tear of his clothes and the obvious signs of a forced journey evident in the dark circles beneath his eyes, she finally spoke.

‘Then we’d better prepare our defences,’ she said. ‘Captain?’

‘Yes, ma’am?’

‘Get me me generals.’

32

Brimstone and Fire

‘Charlie, what’s up with your Will?’ asked Nibbler as they sat around waiting for the contents of Crumble’s battered pot to come to the boil. ‘Why isn’t it golden any more?’

Charlie winced, not really willing or ready to offer an explanation. But from the look on Nibbler’s face she realized he expected an honest answer. Casting her eyes skyward she sighed. As one of her most steadfast friends, she owed him the truth.

‘There’s something in me, Nibbler. Something dark. I can feel it in my chest and when I tense I can feel it in my muscles too.’

Nibbler’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked at his friend with concern. ‘What kind of “something dark”?’

‘I don’t know what it is. It’s been there for a while.’

‘How … long?’

‘A while now. I first felt it in Narcissa’s tower, but when I think about it perhaps it’s been there all the time. Maybe since my parents went missing, maybe since Mr Crow came to live with Gran and me. All I know is that it’s there, it’s with me now. Since Darkmount broke my leg and left me for dead. And … and I like it.’

‘You
like
it?’

‘Yes. It … it’s like a fire. A fire that rages in my chest, a fire that fuels me when I need it. It keeps me going, keeps me strong and hard.’

Nibbler, a stony expression on his face, walked over to Charlie and rested a paw on her chest. ‘There’s nothing there, Charlie, it’s all in your –’ He yanked his paw away as he felt something hammer and pound beneath his talons. His eyes grew wide, and slowly he reached for Charlie’s ribcage again. ‘Oh my gosh …’ he whispered as he felt whatever it was pulse inside his friend. ‘What is that? It’s real, isn’t it? It’s really real.’

She nodded.

Crumble, who had been watching with some alarm, spoke up: ‘Does it hurt?’

‘No.’

‘What do you think it is?’ he asked.

‘I’m not sure. All I know is it helps.’

Crumble cocked his head to one side. ‘I’ve never heard of anything like this before. But what if it’s harmful? What if it’s going to cause side-effects or damage your body? Maybe one of the great healers could take a look at it.’ He scratched his head thoughtfully. ‘Might be best if a Treman healer looked at it. Are you sure you don’t want to go back to Sylvaris? With your Keeper abilities you could be there and back in less than a day.’

‘No,’ said Charlie with a determined frown. ‘I’m not moving backwards. I won’t. Forward or nothing.’

Nibbler and Crumble shared a look, but neither chose to pursue the subject. Both of them knew how stubborn Charlie could be.