Moonstone, Magic That Binds (Book 1) (6 page)

Lotto thanked him for the ride and the companionship and wandered around the market, taking off in a different direction than the cart.

The sounds and smells came and went as he made his way between the stalls in the marketplace. Vendors sold foods he didn’t recognize by sight or smell. The variety of clothes that people wore astounded him. He bought a meat pie for a price that would have kept him fed for a week at Heron’s Pond. Lotto spotted a lane that led away from the market and wandered towards the castle, drawn by the link that had become even stronger while approached Beckondale. He wandered into a nice neighborhood and sat on a stone bench in a tiny square with a fountain while he finished his meat pie. He leaned over the fountain and reached out his hand to drink some of the water.

A man walked up. “There you are.”

The man seemed to recognize him, but Lotto couldn’t see how that could be the case, since he didn’t know a single person in the huge city.

“Don’t do that. The water from that particular fountain isn’t fit for consumption. If you want something to drink, follow me.”

Lotto let the waters flow through his fingers and washed his face, letting it drip onto his clothes. He had nothing else to do, so he followed the man through a few streets and alleys. Lotto would feel awkward walking at the stranger’s side, so he just followed and stopped when the man entered a shop. He gawked through the window at the books inside, lining shelves from floor to ceiling. He couldn’t read a word, but he knew about books and the knowledge that must be in that shop astounded him.

The man came to the window, pointed to a paper pasted to the window just below him. Lotto looked down to see writing that he didn’t understand. “Are you inquiring about the job as well as looking for a drink?” The man seemed earnest enough. He was half a head shorter than Lotto with shoulder length hair, brown and streaked with a bit of gray. Lotto thought his eyes looked intelligent and honest, as far as his limited experience told him. “You look like you need a job.”

“I don’t know anything about a job.”

The man stood at Lotto’s side, looking at the sign. “You can’t read?”

Lotto shook his head. “No. I grew up in a little village and most people there don’t know how to read.”

“Well, the job only requires you to know your letters and I can teach you that. What I really need is a strong back and legs. My back doesn’t let me scamper up and down the ladders anymore and you look like a bright enough lad who seems to be in need of some help around Beckondale. Do you want the job?”

“You don’t know anything about me,” Lotto said. He couldn’t believe he could be so lucky. Jessie found a new healer’s post in a week and now someone offered him a job. Lotto didn’t know how he could say no. “I really need some help. I came to Beckondale without much money and I’ve got a goal, but I have no idea how I’ll achieve it. I’d be happy to give your job a try.”

“That’s the spirit!” The man acted like a friend and not some happenstance acquaintance. How could he go wrong? Lotto thought he’d be cleaning out stables at an inn.

Lotto took a liking to this man. “My name is Lotto. I come from Heron’s Pond.”

“Heron’s Pond?” The man put his hand to his chin as if searching his mind. The look on his face told Lotto that he played with him. “The name of that village has caught my attention recently. Did you see Princess Restella when she visited?” The man seemed to know quite a bit, as if he knew the answers and Lotto’s replies would be interesting.

“She had eleven men with her. Yes, all of the village saw her.”

“Well, well. My name is Mander Hart and I own this bookshop. I’ve only had it for a few years and I found that my ability to buy books is considerably better than it is to climb up and down getting books to sell all day long.  That sign has been out for the last three weeks without any interest. If you can learn your letters so you can put books in their proper place, I have a room on the third floor for you and a sufficient salary to keep you fed and entertained, modestly, mind you. How about it?”

Lotto couldn’t help but grin. Even if the man were playing with him, he couldn’t see any reason not to take him up on his offer. Perhaps he could learn to read and that would help him converse with the princess on a more equal footing. “I’ll do it.”

Mander Hart put his hand out, grinning. “Let’s shake on it,” he said.

Lotto couldn’t believe his luck. He had found a job on his first day doing something that would definitely help him improve his mind and nearly in sight of the castle!  He gladly took the man’s hand and pumped it hard to show his appreciation. Lotto stopped when Mander Hart pulled his hand out of Lotto’s grasp and rubbed it.

“It seems you have a lot to learn, young man and I’m just the man to teach you.”

~

Reflections from the polished surfaces of dull-edged practice swords sent shards of light into the covered observation areas. The men cheered the swordsman and merely tolerated the presence of the tall woman who fought in the ring. Restella pictured the tableau and ignored the occasional jibe. They wouldn’t be so free with their tongues if her father looked on, but she didn’t mind. She had to win their confidence and her father would only get in the way.

Her concentration shifted from the audience to her opponent. She slid to the side as his blunted sword swept past, fast enough to break bones. She turned halfway around and, with her other arm, jabbed the man in the side with her elbow giving her enough separation to slap the man’s stomach with her sword through the padding both of them wore in place of armor. Everyone heard the whoof from her opponent.

Restella brightened at the raising of the red flag indicating her victory. She raised her sword to polite applause. She shook her head and smiled to herself. She went to the side of the practice field and grabbed a towel to wipe the perspiration from her face.

A messenger stepped up to her.  General Piroff requested her presence. Her heart raced with the anticipation of a real posting. She couldn’t think of any other reason for the summons by a General. Stopping at her private cell in the barracks, the only advantage she had as a princess, she washed her face and changed into her uniform. She could still use her rooms in the castle, but that wouldn’t give her the proper feeling of being a soldier.

The two guards didn’t even straighten up as she knocked on the General’s door just inside the castle. She pursed her lips in disgust at the lack of respect and entered into the General’s study.

“Sir.” Restella snapped to attention. She looked straight over the head of the seated general, but couldn’t miss the smirk on the man’s face.

“At ease, Princess. I’m sure you will be glad to hear that Oringia is disputing its border with Earl Louson’s domain. The Earl has called upon the King to dispatch soldiers to bolster his own troops. You’ll be reporting to Captain Shortwell of the King’s Fourth Guards and will act as a staff member during the expedition.  That is all, Lieutenant Beecher. The Captain is waiting for you. Dismissed.”

The General didn’t have to be the one to assign her. A normal soldier would have been called to see the Captain directly, but she would take a post anyway she could. Restella shrugged and walked back to the barracks where the Captains had their offices. She knocked on the frame of Captain Shortwell’s open door.

“Come in, Princess.”

She stood at attention for the second time in the afternoon. She would stand at attention for an entire day to get a real posting.

“At ease. You’ve obviously seen General Piroff. From now on you will be granted the title of lieutenant and we will be using your father’s last name of Beecher. There are no princesses in the army. I hope you understand. You’ll be pretty much treated like any other junior officer.

“We will muster at the south parade grounds in two days at first light. Don’t be late. See my aide in the next office to get a list of what you’ll need, Lieutenant Beecher. You’ll be observing and commenting on strategy and tactics, but if the conflict heats up, there will be fighting. I am assuming I can rely on you to fight with real edged weapons?”

“Yes, sir.” Restella would have to cajole the sword maker that she had contracted to create her new sword to mount the Moonstone faster. She tried to wipe the grin off of her face. When she reached her rooms in the castle, she let out a scream of delight and pumped her fists in the air. Her distinguished career awaited.

~~~

CHAPTER SEVEN

~

M
ANDER ADMITTED TO
L
OTTO
that he had never given the shop a good cleaning for the entire time he owned it. He gave Lotto the task of cleaning the two floors filled with books, taking each volume off of each shelf, cleaning the shelf and then the books before he replaced them. Three or four times a day, Mander called to Lotto and began to teach him letters and how the coinage system worked in short lessons.

Lotto could recognize and call out every letter in Besseth’s 30-letter alphabet after two days and then Mander began to combine the letters into sounds. The numbers came quite easily for Lotto and he could now find the book’s price from binders that Mander kept and make change for customers. He reviewed his little lessons over and over the entire time that he worked in the shop.

Everything made sense to Lotto and in a week’s time he could sound out the titles. He had no idea what the titles meant, but he smiled when he recognized the words that he spoke. Though he could now remember what he saw, he just didn’t have the vocabulary. As he continued to clean the shop, his illiteracy became increasingly frustrating.

He sat down in the little kitchen in the back of the shop, right next to Mander’s office. His boss plopped down a pile of three books. “Thought you might want to start to work with some readers. I don’t carry too many of these, but you can read them when there’s no one about. Now that you know your letters, you can arrange all of the books.” Mander pointed to a folio that contained the descriptions of different collections. “There are thirty-something collections of books, so within each collection you organize them in alphabetical order. Some events have come up outside of the bookshop and I’ll have to spend some time away, leaving you more on your own.”

Lotto sat back surprised. “You mean you’d allow me to be alone in the shop?”

“I do,” Mander nodded. “You’ve picked up everything so quickly, I have all of the confidence in the world in you, Lotto. I can’t wait to be able to talk to you about what you read, but we’ll have to put that off until I return.”

He closed up the shop after Mander left, taking his readers up to his rooms. For the first time Lotto wondered where Mander would be spending his time. The man didn’t live above the bookshop, so he had left Lotto with a nice place to live. In fact, Lotto’s quarters were palatial by Heron’s Pond standards. There were two bedrooms, a sitting room, a large kitchen and a study with bookshelves filled with Mander’s duplicates.  He had an upstairs privy with a flushing tank and a water pump in the kitchen. Imagine water for drinking and washing delivered up three floors, he continually had to shake his head for his good fortune.

The rooms were furnished, but dusty. Did Mander ever come up here? He had to if he sold one of his duplicate books, but the man didn’t appear to have cleaned the rooms for some time. Lotto began to spend many evenings getting rid of the dust and the dirt. What would the old Lotto think? He snorted. When did the old Lotto ever wonder about his existence in the filthy lean-to he had called home for so long? Lotto smiled at his new fastidiousness.  He liked having things in order.

He lit a lamp. Mander decreed no open flames except to light the lamps and the cookers in the kitchens on the main floor and the third floor. That meant no candles.

He began to skim through his three volumes. The books had drawings and simple words. Lotto could tell because they were printed in large type and the words were made up of few characters. He sounded out the words and by the end of the evening he had puzzled out two of the volumes.

He woke at dawn and read them again, this time without pausing. It felt good to open the store in the morning. Lotto stretched out his arms and felt at peace. He could read, a little, and would find more challenging books. He could feel Restella somewhere close in the castle. Mander’s confidence in him made him smile all morning long. Since he didn’t know where his life headed, he couldn’t think of a better place to wait until he found out.

~

Restella sat up in bed and gasped. She looked out the window and could see the sunlight brightening up the sky. Her uniforms and bags filled up the floor in her rooms. She jumped up and dressed, splashing water on her face to wake up. She grabbed her new sword and paused to touch the Moonstone. It gave her a feeling of confidence, but she sensed something like a thread going out into the city. She didn’t have the time to puzzle it out. Perhaps when she returned from the expedition, she could visit Fessano and find out what it was.

She threw open the door to her quarters. A soldier blinked and stood up to greet her. “Lieutenant Princess!” He stammered and closed his eyes as he stood at attention.  “I’m here to help you with your bags, ma’am.”

“Bring the rest.” Stifling an urge to laugh, Restella grabbed one of her bags and walked off down the stairs and through the grounds towards the army stables.

She walked quickly to her horse and another soldier walked up to help her cinch things down.

“I’m to escort you to the mustering field.” He mounted his own horse, already packed and ready to go. “If you’ll follow me.” He rode out smartly ahead of her.

The soldier briskly trotted through the near-empty streets of Beckondale. In a few minutes, they reached the South Gate, the closest exit point from the castle. She rode into the parade field joined by a number of stragglers. At least she wasn’t the last to arrive. Finding her place, in the chaos that confronted her, proved a bit more daunting than the ride in.

“Where do I go?” she asked the soldier.