Deliverance (15 page)

“His entire family has been very renowned
and wealthy for hundreds of years in Daldussa,” Breuvial
explained.

“I take it he’s fairly popular?” Crystal
muttered.

“Oh yes, he’s a known philanderer. When we
asked a group of girls about him, they giggled and told us how
‘incredibly charming and handsome Victor Valamar is,’” Breuvial
said, flipping her blonde hair around and imitating a starry-eyed,
amorous girl. Several people in the room chuckled at the elf girl’s
display, except for Blaze, of course, who rolled his eyes. No one
seemed to notice, though.

“Did you find out where he keeps the shard?”
Crystal asked.

“Valamar is said to keep it in his art
collection somewhere in his mansion,” Breuvial answered.

“What does he think it is, an eccentric
statue?” Gavril blurted out in disbelief, “At least he doesn’t know
of its power, so that should put us at ease a bit.”

“Still, we need to go to his mansion as soon
as possible and somehow obtain the shard,” responded Crystal.

“And what are you going to do, waltz right
in, ask him for it, and expect him to toss it to you and say, ‘have
a nice day?’” Blaze snapped.

Crystal annoyingly replied, “No, I was
hoping to scrape up enough money to offer him more than he paid for
it in hopes of buying it. Seeing as he thinks it’s just a piece of
art, we may have a shot.”

“Are you kidding? Let’s just take the damned
thing! I’m sure your elf buddies can sneak in,” Blaze remarked. The
elves glared at him, but remained silent.

“We cannot risk stealing it.” Gavril argued,
“If Bogdan hears that rebels stole from one of the wealthiest men
in the land, he will attack the village and massacre innocent
people to get information about where we went.”

“Exactly. If we buy it, we avoid drawing too
much negative attention to ourselves. Valamar will see us as art
collectors and think nothing more of our sudden arrival,” explained
Crystal.

“But I am afraid, Miss Crystal, that finding
enough money to top his payment won’t be an easy task,” Breuvial
ruefully stated.

“How much did he pay for it?” Crystal asked
her.

“I am not sure of the exact amount, but from
what I understand, the shop owner was able to buy a small mansion
with roughly three acres of land,” replied Breuvial.

“We’ll never find the money for that!”
exclaimed Gavril.

“We could always go with my plan,” Blaze
muttered.

“I hate to admit it, Crystal, but Blaze may
be right,” Gavril regrettably stated.

“Even if I erased the shard from his memory,
the townspeople remember Valamar buying it! He will still know it
is stolen!” Crystal replied.

“Perhaps you can come up with another way to
get the shard,” replied Thaddeus.

“But how? What could we tell him that would
make him just give us the shard?” asked Crystal.

“Tell him it’s cursed. It isn’t exactly
lying,” replied Gavril.

“You mean scare it off of him? Not exactly
your style, General,” Blaze sarcastically remarked.

“Even so,” replied Gavril, trying not to let
Blaze annoy him, “It may be the only way that we get it away from
him without causing a scene.”

Crystal looked at her feet and though for a
few minutes. The room remained completely silent before she spoke
again.

“All right. I suppose that it’s the only
way.” she said, “I have a feeling that I may have to improvise a
little, though.”

“Well then let’s assemble our team,”
responded Gavril.

“If Kerali goes along, tell him he had
better kiss me goodbye first this time,” Breuvial muttered.

“Don’t worry, Breuvial. I’ll drill it into
his head for you,” Crystal laughed.

“Thanks! Can you believe him? I am his
fiancée and he doesn’t have the decency to kiss me goodbye before
leaving for a dangerous mission! I’ll have to have a nice long talk
with him,” Breuvial replied.

“Women . . .” Blaze muttered.

After thanking Breuvial and her team for
their good work, Crystal then began to make the plans for the trip
with Gavril.

****

By that afternoon, it was decided that all
of Crystal’s friends would travel with her northwest to Ordale and
even Blaze unwillingly went along. As Gavril had pointed out,
Ordale was a large city with a large amount of crimes that happened
on occasion and, even though he was confident she could defend
herself, he felt better knowing that more people would travel with
her. As it turned out, Crystal’s friends agreed.

“If you do not watch yourself in that town,
you will be robbed before you can blink,” said Sigurd.

“And we cannot risk the shard being
pick-pocketed by a lowly thug.” added Kerali, “This way, we can
stick in a group to avoid such a thing.”

“Very well,” Crystal finally agreed. Even
though she knew she would be fine, it made her feel much better
that she had so many protective friends.

It seemed, though, that Crystal and her
friends spent the whole trip to Ordale sitting together talking and
laughing together as a group, mostly with Taryn teasing Kerali
about the way Breuvial scolded him before he left. Taryn even
imitated the way she “nagged” him and then, while embracing the
air, he imitated a kiss and a high-pitched girl’s voice, which made
everyone else laugh except for Kerali, of course.

Blaze, however sat alone and away from them,
and Crystal couldn’t help but notice his antisocial behavior. The
night after they ventured out, the team set up camp in a wooded
area and lit a fire. While Crystal visited with her friends, Blaze
sat on a rock a little ways off and minded his own business.

Crystal didn’t understand why, but she
wished that Blaze would join them. She could only imagine the
loneliness he felt, and for reasons unknown to her, she wanted to
be near him so that he may open up and learn to trust her. Then
again, maybe she wanted to share her own pain with him, so that
they would have kindred souls to reach out to. She decided to
approach him and ask him to join them one night, but when she did,
he muttered, “No thanks,” and then remained silent until she left
him alone.

By the sunset on the third day of their
trip, the ornate city of Ordale came into view. The rebels walked
through the front gates without a problem, and as Breuvial had
said, they could see the rooftop of Valamar’s estate. “Gaudy” was a
gross understatement for this mansion; the outer walls and roof
glittered under the setting sun, flashing its brilliance to anyone
who walked through the front gate.

“Why does that guy have to show off his
wealth so much?” asked Maryn.

“Because rich guys have nothing better to
do,” replied Taryn.

“I honestly don’t think you’re very far off
from the truth, Taryn,” replied Gavril.

“Well, let’s head over there, then,” said
Crystal.

“Wait, wouldn’t it look odd for so many of
us, especially with an elf, a dwarf, and two halflings to show up
and tell this man that the shard he bought is haunted?” Thaddeus
brought up.

“Thaddeus is right.” replied Gavril, “Maybe
only a couple of us should go up there.”

“I will go.” Crystal replied, “So now we
need to find someone to come with me.”

“I will,” Gavril immediately volunteered, as
if it were a contest to see who answered first.

“Actually, I think it would be better if we
send Blaze,” replied Thaddeus. Everyone suddenly jerked their heads
and stared at the old mage confusingly. He took a defensive step
back and added, “What if something happens in there? Sure, Crystal
can hold her own in battle and Gavril could protect her, but from
what we hear, Valamar has far too many guards for you two to fight
off yourselves. If Blaze goes in, I can stand by the gates so that
he is far enough away—”

“—To where you can see what Blaze is doing,
and therefore see if they get into trouble,” Kerali finished for
him.

“And that way, I can alert you all so that
we can help them in time,” replied Thaddeus.

Gavril muttered under his breath and
approached Blaze. He then pointed a finger in the prince’s face and
said, “I swear to Caris, if you let any harm come to Crystal, I
will have your head before your father does.”

Blaze glared at the former general until
Crystal came forward and separated them.

“It’s all right, Gavril. I will be fine,”
she assured.

“I will wait here at the gate,” Thaddeus
reminded them.

“And I will wait here with you. If you go
into your trance, I do not want someone to harm you while you are
vulnerable,” Gavril offered.

“That is quite thoughtful of you, Gavril.
Thank you,” replied the kindly old mage.

After the twins, Kerali, and Sigurd agreed
to patrol the area waiting for a signal from Thaddeus, Crystal
motioned to Blaze to head forward, and so they both set off
downtown.

The roads were lined with paved stone and
elaborate stores with expensive merchandise. Carriages that were
led by horses carried wealthy citizens around the city, and a large
restaurant was just starting to see the rush of evening
customers.

The sky was getting very dark by the time
they had passed the restaurant, and some of the nocturnal lowlifes
that littered such cities started coming out. As Crystal and Blaze
passed a group of thugs near a tavern, they whistled and yelled
obscenities at Crystal. She shot them a dirty look, but it only
made them laugh and leer more than before.

“Pigs!” she muttered.

“They’re men, so get used to it. Not every
man you meet will be a knight in shining armor like your general.
More often than not, men will think with their dicks first, and I’m
sure even the noble and brave Gavril has been that way at some
point,” retorted Blaze.

“Why do such men have to look at a woman
like she is an object? It’s disgusting!” Crystal replied.

“Not every woman has to be a prude little
virgin like you,” Blaze blurted out rudely.

Crystal stopped in her tracks and stared at
Blaze like he had slapped her. Blaze rolled his eyes and said, “Oh
come on. It’s quite obvious that you’ve never slept with a man;
don’t pretend you have. And I’m sure even if you wanted to, Gavril
would have snapped their necks before they could touch you.”

“And what about you? Are you saying you’ve .
. .”

“Of course I’ve been with women before. As
the prince, I conducted business at the Daldussan castle while my
father ran things in Cierith. Do you have any idea the things that
go on there? There were so many rich women that visited the castle
that felt like rebelling against their fathers. Even here in
Cierith, I’ve had tons of women who always wanted to sleep with a
prince. I can’t count how many times I have been propositioned,”
replied Blaze.

Crystal’s face suddenly turned bright red.
“That’s disgusting! How can you just jump into bed with someone you
barely know?”

“I’m a man. It’s in a man’s nature to want
to have sex with every beautiful girl that he sees, and any man who
tells you otherwise is lying,” Blaze replied.

“That’s terrible! I would never give myself
to just anyone who shows an interest in me!”

Crystal then walked ahead of him, steaming,
and so Blaze couldn’t resist asking his next question, “Have you
ever even been kissed by a man?”

When Crystal did not respond, but started
walking faster, Blaze realized that the answer to his question was
“no,” and so he then grinned with triumph. Her naivety was so
amusing.

Eventually, after what seemed like hours of
not speaking to or looking at each other, Crystal and Blaze
eventually made it to Valamar’s estate. It was even more elaborate
and gaudy up close. Two guards stood in front of the gates and when
Crystal and Blaze approached them, they immediately straightened
up.

“Who goes there?” the taller, skinnier one
asked.

“I am a mage from the City of Magi,” Crystal
began, “and I have recently heard that Lord Valamar purchased a red
gem shard from a shopkeeper in town. I need to speak with Lord
Valamar about this shard right away.”

“Who is that man? He doesn’t look like a
mage to me!” the skinny guard retorted.

“He is a mercenary that was hired to protect
me. I am the granddaughter of . . . Elder Bredewig,” replied
Crystal. She had suddenly remembered that Bredewig had traveled to
Ordale recently and hoped that the guards had heard of him.

“Oh, yes, I remember him. He came here to
the estate a few months ago,” said the other guard, who was much
shorter and thicker around his mid-region.

“I had no idea he had any grandchildren,”
muttered the skinny guard.

“I am here on official business on my
grandfather’s behalf. May we please have an audience with Lord
Valamar?” Crystal asked again.

“Yes, Ma’am. You may enter,” replied the
short guard. The two guards then opened the iron gates inward and
Crystal and Blaze stepped forward.

The manor had a large courtyard in front
with rose bushes lining the stone walkway. Gorgeous green gardens
grew on either side of the walkway behind the rose bushes and the
front gates connected to a six-foot-tall cobblestone wall that was
covered in vines. It seemed that there was not an inch of the
property that did not show off the owner’s vast wealth.

Crystal and Blaze finally arrived at the
front door and saw a handle for knocking. Crystal lifted the
handled and banged on the door three times and after a minute of
waiting, a scrawny, middle-aged man in an elaborate suit that
clashed with his ragged appearance answered the door.

“Welcome to the Valamar estate. I am Lord
Valamar’s butler, Quincy. How may I help you?” he asked in a weak
voice.

“Good evening, Sir. I am Crystal,
granddaughter of Elder Bredewig of the City of Magi, and I need to
speak with Lord Valamar about the object he recently purchased,”
replied Crystal.