Brian Pratt - Trail of the Gods

Finishing his last bite, Jiron says, “Well then, I’ll just go get the horses ready while you finish eating.”

“Thanks,” James says.

Jiron gets up and leaves the kitchen through the back door. James finishes eating quickly and then goes to his room where he fills one of his belt pouches with thirty gold coins. Then he returns to the kitchen and leaves through the back door. Making his way over to his workshop, he searches through his sack of crystals for five of the largest, all roughly the same size. Once he has them in another of his pouches, he leaves the workshop and heads over to the barn.

Outside the workshop, he can smell the meat being smoked in the smokehouse. Glancing over to it, he sees Miko and Illan sitting in a couple of chairs, talking. Looks like Illan is instructing him in the finer points of smoking meat.

As he approaches the barn, Jiron comes out with the horses. They mount and are quickly on their way. Uther’s standing guard at the end of the lane leading to The Ranch where it meets the road into town.

“What’re you doing?” Jiron asks him.

“Making sure no one approaches the house,” he replies. “After hearing what you said at dinner last night, Illan set up a schedule for watches out here.”

“Seen anyone?” James asks.

Shaking his head, he says, “Not a soul.”

“Be back in a couple hours,” he tells him.

Uther just gives him a nod as they turn on the road and head into town.

They find the blacksmith overseeing an apprentice who’s working on some nails, his hammer ringing with every blow. His other apprentice greets them as they ride up and asks them to wait a few moments while he tells his master that they’re here.

When the apprentice has finished the nails, the blacksmith comes over to where they’re waiting. “What can I help you gentlemen with?” he asks.

“My name’s James and I wish to have a small iron box built to specific dimensions,” he says as he holds out his hand.

Taking the hand, the blacksmith gives it a shake then replies, “Kraegan, nice to meet you. What sort of box did you have in mind?”

Using his hands to show the dimensions, James gives him a rough idea what he wants. “Also, I need the inside to be padded to prevent the contents from coming to harm,” he explains. “On each of the four sides, as well as the top, I need to have a crystal embedded within it.”

“Hmmm,” he says as he considers the request. “The box and inner lining I can do with no problem. The crystals now, that’s another matter. I know someone who can do it and can get with him to do that part once I’m done with the box.”

“That would be fine,” James assures him.

“For what you’re asking, I’d have to charge seventy five golds for everything,” Kraegan says.

Sighing, he knew it would come to this. He begins the haggling process and eventually works him down to fifty three. “I have forty golds on me,” he tells the blacksmith. “I can give you the rest upon delivery of the box.”

“Agreed,” the smith says as he leads him over to a table where they count out the coins. Once the count is agreed upon, he asks, “Do you have the crystals with you?”

James removes the five crystals from his pouch. “Now, there can be no flaw in the crystals,” he insists. “And they must be centered in each of the sides as well as the top.”

“I understand,” the smith tells him. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it for you.”

“Thank you,” he replies. “If you can get it done by the end of the week, I’ll throw in another ten golds.”

“Doubt it,” says the smith, “but we’ll see what we can do.” The smith takes the golds and the crystals into the building adjacent to the forge area.

“Back home?” asks Jiron.

“Yeah, I’ve got a lot of work to do before the chest is done,” he tells him.

As they’re riding back and after they’ve left town, Jiron asks, “Is it for the Fire?”

Nodding, James replies, “Yes, and I’d appreciate you not saying anything about this to anyone.”

“No problem there,” he assures him.

They see four people standing at the end of the lane to The Ranch, three women and a man. Uther, Illan and Jorry are standing there barring their way.

“He’s not here,” they can hear Illan’s voice telling the people.

At the sound of his approach, they all turn toward him. He can see relief evident upon Illan’s face at seeing him returning.

“Is that him?” a lady with a red hat asks the man she’s with.

“I think so,” the man replies.

The other two ladies both back up a step, their eyes never leaving him.

“What’s going on?” James asks as he comes to the group.

Everyone starts talking at once, finally Illan’s voice roars over everyone else’s. “Enough!” he shouts and everyone stops talking. Turning to James, he says, “They’ve come to see you, but they wouldn’t say why.”

The lady with the red hat steps forward though she’s obviously nervous about approaching him. He sees her and asks, “Yes?”

“We were told you could help us,” she replies.

“Who told you that?” he asks incredulously.

“I don’t rightly remember his name,” she tells him. “You see, I need a charm for my daughter here,” she says as she brings forward a comely looking girl of about fourteen. “You see, she’s infatuated with the butcher’s son but he has his eye on another.”

“Despite what someone may have told you,” he says to her, “I don’t do charms or anything else like that.” When he sees the disappointment on her face, he softens his voice and says, “I’m sorry.”

The girl seems almost on the verge of tears, he dismounts and comes to her. “You shouldn’t need a charm to ensnare a man’s heart, your beauty should be able to get you anyone you desire,” he says. “Where I come from, the girls don’t rely on magic, but on their own charms and abilities. There’s a saying where I come from, ‘The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’. Maybe you should try to impress him with your charm and cooking abilities. Find out what he likes to do and tell him how well he does it, how impressive he is, that sort of thing. You’d be surprised how much you can turn his head with the simplest things.”

“Do you think so?” she asks, hope springing to her eyes.

“Never know until you try,” he tells her. “Besides, if this boy is blind enough to not want one such as you, then he’s probably not worth your time anyway.”

She gives him a shy smile and says, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he replies and then gets back up on his horse. To the mother, he says, “A good day to you ma’am.”

As he goes by Illan, he leans over and whispers, “Keep them out.”

Illan gives him a brief nod.

Turning to Jiron he says, “Let’s get back. Still lots to do.”

“You got that right,” he tells him.

He glances back to the end of the lane after riding a dozen yards and he sees that Illan has moved them along. The man and the ladies are walking back toward town. This could get irritating. No wonder all the stories of mages and wizards always have them living in far away and inhospitable places. Probably move there just to get away from this sort of thing.

Before reaching the house, Sean the master builder comes over from the construction site and waves him down. Slowing down, he says to Jiron, “You go on ahead and I’ll be up shortly.”

“Alright,” he says as he continues on while James stops and talks with the builder.

“Sir, if you have a moment?” Sean asks. He’s the one who’s overseeing the entire construction project.