The Sorcerer's Legacy (12 page)

Azerick gave the excitable and nervous clerk a friendly laugh. “Let me know when you are prepared to start, Simon.”

“Oh, ah, I had planned on starting the, ah, counting today but that does not look like a productive thing to start with at this, ah, time. With your permission, ah, Master Azerick, I will check out the, ah, kitchen staff and get an idea of their expenditures before I return to the, ah, city to round up a couple of trustworthy, ah, assistants.”

“That sounds fine, Simon. Now about your salary, what do you require for a job like this?” Azerick asked.

“Oh, ah, my pay, yes. Um, I normally get paid, ah, two gold crowns a week for general accounting services amongst the, ah, more successful merchants but this job is a fair bit, ah, more complicated, so perhaps three gold crowns per week would be fair?” Simon bid nervously.

“Make it five crowns a week and pay your assistants two per week,” Azerick offered.

“Oh my, you are most, ah, generous, Master Azerick, most generous. I shall begin right away and will return with my assistants in the morning.”

“Then I will leave you to your work, Simon.”

The two climbed the stairs back to the main level where Azerick pointed out the way to the kitchens to Simon. Simon shuffled off to perform his work. Azerick hoped the kitchen ladies would not frighten the little man overmuch. Cooks tended to be rather territorial and did not stand for anyone whom they felt was trying to usurp them in their own little kingdom.

Azerick walked out to the stables and saw that nearly half the horses were already housed in their own stalls. Brandon strode up the moment he saw the sorcerer entering the stables.

“We got four new doors hung already, milord, and the men are busy digging post holes and cutting timber for the paddock. The timbers will be a bit rough for the nonce if you want it completed by this evening, though,” Brandon informed him.

“Complete it as you deem best, Brandon. I doubt keeping the horses in the stable for a day or two will cause them any harm. There is a small man by the name of Simon in the kitchens. See him about getting a load of hay and oats delivered to feed them all. Horse’s food will not last this many animals for long and he is not fond of sharing.”

“Aye, milord, I’ll see to it straight away,” Brandon promised.

Azerick saddled Horse and rode into town where he made his way to the Golden Glade’s stables. Peck saw him the moment he rode in and jumped off the overturned bucket he was sitting on and playing a game of marbles with the other two stableboys, John and Wally.

“You stayin’ the night, milord?” Peck asked excitedly.

“No, I am afraid not, Peck,” Azerick told the young boy and watched his excitement fade from his face.

“Oh, then you won’t be needin' me to take care of your horse then will you?”

“Actually, that is what I am here to talk to you about. Are you an orphan, Peck?” Azerick asked him.

“Aye, milord, he’s an orphan alright,” the one named John shouted out. “He ain’t got a mum or a da’ that want him.”

Azerick ignored the older boy as he looked down at Peck. “Is that true, Peck; are you on your own?”

Peck drew in the dirt with the toe of his worn shoe that looked as though he had outgrown it a year ago. “I ain’t really by myself. I get to sleep in the loft here where I earn honest coin in tips and I get enough kitchen scraps to keep from being hungry most the time,” Peck said sheepishly.

“How would you like to stay and take care of my horses? I will pay you a gold crown each month, get you some new clothes and shoes, and you can eat as much as you like. A proper meal too, not kitchen scraps.”

“A gold piece a month and new shoes? You mean it, milord?” Peck asked elatedly and John and Wally looked at him in amazement and envy.

“Go get whatever you want to bring with you. You will not need any blankets or old clothing; I’ll replace all that,” Azerick instructed.

Peck darted off into the stable house with a whoop of joy and returned a moment later with a small wooden box that he kept well hidden. Inside was the gold piece Azerick had given him the first night he stayed at the Golden Glade and a few mementos that he had saved before his family had died in a fire. Azerick leaned down and pulled Peck up by the arm where he rode on Horse’s rump right behind the sorcerer.

“See ya, ya boggers, and that single he gave me was gold, ha!” Peck cried as Azerick wheeled Horse about, stopped by the clothier’s once again, and then rode back to the keep.

It took only a little more than twenty minutes to ride the four miles back to the keep after making a stop at the clothiers. Peck kept wiggling his feet and examining his new shoes. Azerick also bought him a tall pair of steel-toed boots to wear when he was working around the horses due to smashed toes being the leading cause injuries to grooms with kicks being a close second. Peck slid off Horse’s rump as soon they rode into the stable.

“Whoa, do I get to care for all of these horses?” Peck cried as he ran past the two-dozen stalls, half of which now housed a horse.

“They are all yours, Peck. Them and seven others that are tethered elsewhere until their stables are finished.”

“Seven more? Wow, that’s like,” Peck paused to count, “fifteen horses!”

“Eighteen to be exact,” Azerick corrected. “Peck, have you been educated at all? Can you read and write?”

“I learned myself to count but I don’t read so good, but I do know my alphabet.”

“Then that will be something else you will be required to learn. How old are you, Peck?” Azerick asked.

“Ten, milord. Most people think I am younger but I swear I’m ten,” Peck replied.

Azerick had him pegged at only eight. He was a year older than Ellyssa but she stood a good half a head taller than the boy did.

“All right, Peck. I will have men to help you with the horses for now. I will have you sit in on some classes with Ellyssa so you can get a basic education.”

“Milord, I can take care of the horses myself I can. I’m a hard worker and no slacker!” Peck insisted, afraid he was already being replaced.

Azerick understood the boy’s fear. Being small, he probably has had many things taken from him.

“Do not worry, you are still in charge of the horses,” Azerick reassured Peck. “I just want to make sure you have enough time to succeed at both tasks. There is no shame in getting help. I have hired many people, like you, to help me fix up and run this place.”

“I’ll do you proud, milord, you’ll see,” Peck promised.

“I am sure you will, Peck. Let me show you where you can stay.”

Azerick led him to the large tack room that sported several saddle racks bearing saddles, horse blankets, and bridles for each of the horses that had been brought in.

“There is a small room in the back you can have. I will have some carpenters build you a bed, bring in a chest for your belongings, and get a mattress stuffed before tonight. Before winter comes, I will also get you a small stove. Store Horse’s gear in the tack room and give him a good brushing. I will call you when it is time to eat.”

Azerick left Peck to take care of Horse and store his new clothes in the room until the workers brought him a chest and put a bed together. Azerick returned to the keep hoping to relax away the day’s bustle with a glass of wine but as soon as he entered, Ellyssa came running down the stairs.

“Azerick, there is another man here to see you. He looks old but he is nice. I told him how you make me squish rats with Grick and he showed me how to make a really neat dart that I can throw at the rats and kill them without getting guts on my shoes!”

Azerick sighed deeply.
So much for relaxing,
he thought to himself. “Take a breath, Ellyssa. What is his name?”

Ellyssa chewed her bottom lip and looked up as if she were trying to see her own eyebrows. “Um, I forgot.”

Azerick knew that she forgot very few things, especially when it came to reading. It was more likely that she simply had not listened when the man had told her.

“Where is he now?” Azerick asked.

“Upstairs in the
library
,” she answered, putting a mocking emphasis on library, obviously still peeved at having been sent away earlier that day.

Azerick ascended the stairs in no hurry, unlike his apprentice who practically bounced her way to the fourth floor far ahead of him. The double doors that had been built were like most everything in the keep, simple but made of the highest quality. He pushed the brass handle down and entered the room.

“Ewen, you made it up here I see,” Azerick greeted his old instructor warmly upon recognizing the man sitting next to Ellyssa who was sitting on the chair on her knees and leaning on the table with her elbows examining a piece of parchment.

“His name is Ewen and he drew a picture showing me how to make darts. Not little darts like they play with in taverns but real ones that’ll kill a rat!” Ellyssa beamed.

“I am not sure sharp metal objects are such a good thing for you to have,” Azerick said slowly.

“Ewen said you played with knives, swords, and bows and arrows when you were my age and those are sharp! You tell me I have to kill rats and I find a better way to kill them that doesn’t get guts on my shoes and you don’t want to let me. You always say anything I do I should try and do my best, but if you don’t let me use darts to kill rats I’ll be nothing but a second rate rat smasher with guts on my shoes!”

“I think she has you there, lad,” Ewen piped up.

Ellyssa jumped up from the table clutching the drawing. “I’m going to go see if the blacksmith will make me some darts!”

Before Azerick had time to speak any words of dissention, Ellyssa darted through the door and out of the keep in search of a blacksmith.

“Congratulations, Master Ewen, you just put a lit torch and a jug of lamp oil in the hands of an arsonist,” Azerick told the weapons master.

Ewen waved a calloused hand at Azerick. “Bah, she’s no worse than you at that age. So, it looks like you got quite an operation going here.”

Azerick took a seat in one of the several padded chairs he had delivered and set around the long, oblong table. “To be honest, I don’t know what I have going on here. I just meant to have a place to call my own, and then the next thing I know I
bought
an apprentice, stabled nearly a score of horses, and hired an orphan boy to take care of them, whom I now have to teach to read and write on top of training an apprentice.”

“Like I said, quite an operation,” Ewen grumbled. “So tell me everything that’s happened since I last saw you.”

Azerick raked a hand through his hair. “Gods, where to start.”

Azerick told Ewen about the death of his mother, Jon Locke and his family of thieves, and the revenge he had enacted for them all. He explained his run in with Magus Allister, his acceptance at The Academy, and why he had to flee the city.

Ewen interrupted Azerick for a moment. “Some rather shady-looking men came around asking about you. That was when I decided it was best to move on and head to North Haven.”

“I am real sorry you had to displace your family and all, Ewen. It was because I did not want you or your family bothered or hurt that I never asked for your help, even after my mother was killed,” Azerick explained.

“I would’ve taken you in, son, and moved us all up north if I had to, but it don’t do any good talking about would haves.”

Azerick agreed and proceeded to tell Ewen about the attack on the ships, Captain Zeb, and their escape. He even bit back his tears and told his old weapons master about Delinda and what had happened to her and their unborn child.

“It’s a damn shame you didn’t have a month or more to give that bug-faced bastard the pain he really deserved, but at least you killed him,” Ewen said angrily.