The Weapon Bearer (Book 1) (10 page)

He found the stables by the smell of horses and sounds of shovels on the ground. The groomsmen were already up brushing and feeding the horses. Daniel had always told them, if you find a stable with groomsmen brushing and mucking stalls before first light you would likely find healthy and disease free animals. Bowie walked along the shoots and looked at each horse until a stable boy eyed him looking and ran off to find the stable master. A burly man approached and straightened his fine jacket over his wool shirt, then continued picking the remains of his morning meal from his teeth. “Looking for a lost friend young lord?” he said offhandedly.

“I have need of making some new ones today. I am in need of two horses for traveling a great distance. Do you have any that can be made ready before first light?”

“Moss, fetch me the piebald and the skewbald. I have two for sale, my lord. They will cost two gold crowns each, but they are worth the price.”

“Let me look them over first sir, and I’ll see if they are indeed worth two gold each. Of course I’ll need saddles, good ones, feedbags, water skins, tack also. I’ll be making you an offer on the whole lot.” He nodded in agreement. Bowie had lords and travelers look over his arrows and strings, testing them, and breaking them to find their worth. They always set their own price and it showed that they knew their business. If they didn’t ask to test them he would usually get more than they were worth, just by using his last name as a guarantee of the fine craftsmanship. He hoped that in the past the stable owner had the same experiences so that he didn’t end up overpaying for the horses. Bowie walked out to the training ring and watched the stable hands walk the two horses around. Bowie made sounds as if he was considering their walk. He ran his hands over their flanks and checked their teeth, and lifted the feet to check the shoes. He made sounds of approval in some spots and disapproval in others. “These will definitely get me to the King, but I would have hoped for a larger animal. These seem to be short on strength for endurance. If these are the best two you have I’ll take them for one and a quarter each.” The owner started to object but Bowie cut him off, “I’ll give you another one and a half for the saddles, equipment, and tack. In addition, I’ll be sure to stop in here if I am ever in need of more horses, mind you I live in Humbridge. In my travels if I am asked about either horse I’ll tell them of your establishment and how honest of a trader you are and a personal friend. Is that a deal sir?”

He put a wad of tobacco in his pipe and stuffed it in with his thick thumb, “I don’t know if I want to be known as your personal friend. I don’t know you from any other lord in this town. The price stands at two gold each, and two for your other needs.”

“Let me introduce myself then. My name is Bowie Crescent.” He tipped his hat at the burly owner.

“Crescent, eh? You said you live in Humbridge so you must be the arrow maker’s son. Perhaps I should reconsider if you will be riding one of my horses.”

“Actually my father is a butcher which works out well since I can sale most of what I hit with my arrows.” He looked Bowie over again and thumbed the tobacco in his pipe as if considering him in a different light.

“I shouldn’t be taking this low of a price for these two. With Springfest here I can make two and half gold on each.”

“Springfest is over for another year. How much money will it cost you to feed and keep these two healthy until you find a buyer? With one so handily available as I, that cost will be on me. Is it worth the cost and trouble to you?”

“Boy if you’re not the arrow maker I have to say that you’re still a businessman. I see you know how to negotiate, as I hates to see these go for so cheap. I must make ready stalls for a new stock. They will be yours before first light, packed and ready to ride.”

“Four gold then?” he said holding out his hand.

“Four gold.” the stable master said reluctantly taking his hand. “You had best be mentioning my name, Brian Howl.”

“Can you have one of your stable boys run them over to the fletchers? I have a bet to beat the man who won that archery contest yesterday. Best of three arrows for twenty gold crowns.” The stable master cocked his head to the side and smiled.

“They will be there, and I’ll be there also. He took a gold crown from me, so it will be nice to see it taken from him.” Bowie departed the stable and moved from one shop to the next, gathering clothes, a tent, food, packs, oil, candles, paper, ink and other such supplies. At each shop he would ask for the supplies to be brought to the fletchers and told them of the contest.

When he arrived back at the fletchers, the archery range had quite the gathering of people. A man stood on the range with Crescent arrows sticking out of his quiver. He had black hair cut short and had a guardsmen uniform on. Bowie could see people were already starting to take bets on who the winner would be. Bowie would be the long shot since this man had already proven that he could win a tournament. He approached the betting men and put ten gold crowns down on himself to win. This made the betting go into a frenzy, everyone wanting a part of the gold. Bowie then approached the fletcher and his apprentice. “Can I ask you another favor sir?”

“You can, milord. I have already made more in sales than I did on an average day because of your challenge.”

“I ask that you would send your apprentice here to fetch my horse at the wandering spring. The horse has a large supply of Crescent arrows that I will sell to you at a decent price. I would ask that you go and take your Crescent arrows off the shelf and hold on to them as if they are a very rare item. They are about to increase their worth to everyone in this town.”

“Why would that be, my lord?”

“Trust me in this. I’ll let you return to selling them right after this contest, if you wish to then.” Bowie held out his hand and the shop owner shook it in agreement. “Tell the stable boy at the Wandering Spring to get Charger for Master Parker’s friend. He will know which horse to bring.” Bowie turned to the archer field then and strung the bow he had on his back. There were two targets at the far end of the range painted with colored circles red in the center, blue, yellow, and green on the outside. The targets were a man’s height and made of woven straw. He approached the man standing in the middle of the field. “Good day sir, my name is Bowie. I’m the challenger. I hear you made a pretty good show of it yesterday.”

“You woke me from my sleep for this boy, show me the twenty gold crowns so we can get this started.” Wanting to get right down to losing your gold, Bowie thought in his head. I understand, lose the gold and spend the rest of the day drinking the misery away. Bowie smiled at him and pulled out Kilen’s coin purse and counted twenty gold crowns into his hand as the guardsman watched. He placed them back when he was finished and re-tied the purse. The guardsman did the same and then strung his longbow. “I’d rather not lose a lot of these Crescent Arrows so l will go first, and if you can’t beat my shot in three I’ll take my coin and leave.” He didn’t wait for Bowie’s acknowledgement; he pulled back the bow and took aim at the target. They were standing about fifty paces from the target, it would be an easy shot to the center from here. He let loose his arrow and hit the target. His arrow landed in the blue ring touching the space between that ring and the red circle. Bowie nodded and turned away from the target. He wanted to make sure that everyone saw just how much better he was than the guardsman. He walked ten paces farther away from the target as the crowd that had gathered started to divide up the winnings. Bowie pulled an arrow from his quiver and inspected its fletching. Then he took aim. He made sure not to aim at dead center, he did want to give the crowd a show. He let the arrow fly and it hit near the other mans arrow but in the red circle touching the space in-between.

In order for the guardsman to beat that arrow, he would have to make his second shot from the same distance. He turned to walk out and gave Bowie a disgruntled look before he finished the distance. He took out his second arrow and took a more careful aim this time. When the arrow hit the target it was still no closer than his first. “Maybe I should have made the first shot so you knew what you were up against,” Bowie said taunting him. If he got angry it would hurt his aim, and insure Bowie’s win. The guardsmen took his third arrow out and inspected it and placed it in his bow. The crowd that had been so quick to bet against Bowie was at the side lines watching; sweat began to trickle down their brows as if the sun was in the sky at its peak, and the heat was blazing down on them. He released the third arrow, and it struck farther out than the first two arrows. The crowd started to get angry and take back their bets, but those who had bet for Bowie were holding their own. Bowie took a second arrow from his quiver and gave it to the guardsman. “Seeing as though you didn’t know what you were up against perhaps you should take another shot. Those are the same Crescent arrows that you use. They’re a bit better because they’re my own personal stock, and to make myself clear I made the ones that you already loosed,” Bowie said smiling at him. The guardsman looked at the arrow in his hand and then back at Bowie.

“The Master Fletcher Crescent is a boy, I should have known. I’ll not be taken pity on by you. You won fair and square.” He handed the arrow back and untied his coin purse and handed it to Bowie. He tied it next to Kilen’s and made his way back to the fletcher followed by the guardsman. “By the way, my name is Ross. I’m the King’s sergeant of the guard here in Basham. The King has asked me to purchase any war supplies that are exceedingly good in quality. I think I would like to employ you as a fletcher for the King himself, if you’re interested.”

“Thanks but I do well enough on my own. I’ll remember your name though in case I am ever in Basham and I have a dozen or two to sell. I thought you ought to know I am about to sell some to the fletcher here. It will be the last of my supply for quite awhile, I’m afraid.” He nodded and made his way out of the range pushing past the mad gamblers he had obviously beaten in the competition yesterday. Bowie was now standing at the far edge of the range from the target. He took the arrow the guardsman had handed back and took careful aim at the target. The bow let out a distinctive twang that silenced the angry gamblers. The arrow struck the center of the target. While Bowie retrieved his arrows from the target he noticed the winnings being separated without argument. Bowie then collected his winnings and thanks from the crowd. When he turned he saw the stable master with the piebald and the skewbald. Bowie paid him the four gold plus a couple silver marks for his delivery. He saw all the rest of the supplies he had ordered gather around the horses. He paid out each shopkeeper and provided a tip for each. The fletcher’s apprentice returned with Charger, whose bags were full with Bowie’s supplies to be sold here at Basham. The fletcher was surprised to find that Bowie had made his store’s best quality arrows. The fletcher had even tried to sell Bowie his own arrows. He agreed that the arrows would be worth twice what he was already charging for them, due to Bowie’s performance. The Fletcher bought what stock Bowie would sell him, leaving Bowie with two dozen arrows. When all the business was finished Bowie mounted Charger and led the two other horses back to the Wandering Spring. He had started out today thinking that they needed to bargain for every sliver of copper, and returned with a coin purse twice the size he had left with. Bowie could already tell that it would be a good day. He plucked a flower from a window planter and breathed of it deeply as he walked his bounty back towards the Wandering Spring.

***

Kilen was startled awake when Erica brought a morning meal into the room. His sister and the wizard were still sleeping. At least Kilen thought his sister was sleeping. He still didn’t understand what the wizard had done to her. All he knew was that she was alive and unhurt, and so was the city.

Kilen looked down to see that he had fallen asleep with his hand on the pommel of his sword. He felt refreshed and whole. He breathed deep to check the rib he had broken. There was no pain. It was like he had slept there on that pallet for weeks. While Kilen pulled his boots on and washed in the fresh water that had been left in the night. Erica went to Kara and spoon fed her broth until the bowl was empty. Kilen reached in his pocket and found the blue ribbon that Kara had worn on Springfest. He gently tied it around the hit of the sword right against the crossguard. He felt as if it belonged there. With that tied to his sword he would always know why he took this quest on. He tied the sword to his belt and felt the power of water and earth pass through him when he handled it. He could rest his hand on his sword comfortably now, while wielding the power that it held. Kilen had begun to eat his meal when the wizard woke and joined him in eating. He too washed his face. He placed his hand on Kara’s forehead and Kilen saw his eyes turn blue in the using of water magic. “She’s just fine, and doing much better with that broth in her stomach,” he said to Kilen. “Thank you Erica. Will you see that my horse is made ready?” She left them in the room, and he turned to Kilen. “Are you ok?”

Kilen finally had time to truly search his feelings, without the magic of the rings interfering in his choice. “I know what I must do, and it feels right to me. I will not abandon my sister. I know the kindness in her heart. I am glad that I was here when she found out she is a wizard. This way I can at least help her. I know that I would have felt guilty if I had not been there when it happened.”

“You will find that the choice will become easier once we are with the King and she is out of danger. How do you feel this morning?”

“Wonderful, I cannot believe the how much I have healed in one night.”