The court servant led Darius past the grand oak doors that were tall enough for giants. A polished marble floor stretched before him covered by a long dark blue runner with gold thread along its edges. It ran along the centre of the room to the raised platform at the far end. Several metres to either side of the runner, grooved black marble columns soared to the arched roof overhead, torches flickering in sconces mounted on their surfaces. There were no windows here.
He followed the court servant along the runner, his eyes on the platform at its end, raised three marble steps above the floor. A long mahogany table ran along its width, behind which a man sat in a high-backed ornate chair, a second man standing in the shadows behind him. Flanking either side of the chair were eight silent figures, wrapped entirely in black, faces hidden behind masks except for their eyes. They had no discernible weapons on them. But the Blackguard didn’t need weapons. At the very back of the room, beyond the raised platform, several court servants waited in darkened corners beside doors that led to the Emperor’s quarters.
At the base of the dais, Jalen stood to one side of the runner, feet together, hands clasped behind his back, head bowed. He must have made his report but hadn’t been given permission to leave.
As he approached the dais, to his surprise, it wasn’t the Emperor sitting on the chair. Instead, it was his firstborn son – Crown Prince Lucius, heir to the Empire. That was his primary title. He had another. Primarch Lucius, Supreme Leader of the Order of Balance.
Lucius sat a little slouched in the chair, arms on the armrests, the fingers on one hand gently tapping the top of the knob at the armrest’s end. He wore black breeches tucked into black boots, and a fine blue silk doublet buttoned to the top. His cloak was shining silver, the Bizayn coat of arms stitched in gold thread on the left breast. He had a strong shaved jaw and sharp cheekbones beneath shrewd blue eyes. Atop his combed-back black hair, he wore a jewelled circlet of gold.
The man standing behind him was tall and thin with a wrinkled face. What he lacked in hair on his head, he more than made up for with a long silver beard that almost touched his waist. He wore a turquoise robe that flowed to the floor and on its left breast, fine red stitching marked a pentagram within a circle. A grand archmage of the Order.
The court servant stopped at the base of the dais, Darius stopping beside him.
“Lord Commander Darius of House Valenir to see you, Your Majesty,” the court servant said, before walking around the dais to join the others in the corners. Darius tried to keep a frown from his face. The servant had addressed Lucius as ‘Your Majesty’. That title was reserved for the Emperor, but it seemed a lot had changed in the five years Darius had been away on the front lines. But if the Emperor had relinquished the throne, he should have heard about it.
Still, it was better to assume the worst. The Emperor wasn’t known for his leniency. His son was worse. Darius walked up the steps to stand in front of Lucius, dropping to his knees and bending over, placing his hands to the sides of Lucius’s boots as he kissed the tops. He stayed like that for the customary three seconds, before raising his head and walking backwards down the stairs. He took a deferential stance like Jalen, feet together, hands behind his back, head bowed.
“Your Majesty,” Darius said without hesitation, raising his head to Lucius. He’d learn what happened later. For now, he would manage the situation as best he could. “I came urgen–”
“To tell me about the Murderhobo?” Lucius said, eyes narrowed, a thin smile on his lips. “I know already.” Darius barely twitched towards Jalen, when Lucius caught it. “Not from him. There’s much we know that you do not.”
Darius kept his eyes on the Crown Prince. “I do not know their name. I haven’t met them. Just their handiwork.”
“His name is Elliott Carpenter. A man who travels and kills indiscriminately. I know he killed the Shadows we sent to you. That upset the others a lot. I had to stop the Alpha and Beta squads from dropping their assignments and joining you in Tarnov. You wouldn’t have enjoyed it if they did.”
“This…Murderhobo left us a message,” Darius said. “He told us to leave or die. I ordered the evacuation of civilians but await your orders for the soldiers under my command. Do you want us to hunt him down?”
“He killed six Starforged Shadows and you think you can hunt him down?”
The bearded archmage bent down to whisper in Lucius’s ear. Darius kept his eyes on the Crown Prince, keeping emotion from his face. As much as Lucius seemed to know, he didn’t know about Lyla. He thought her dead, but there wasn’t evidence of that. Unless Lucius knew something else about where Lyla was killed. Darius wasn’t about to correct him.
“He killed three thousand of our army on the border with Aldren and he will likely kill our armies at Tarnov and at the temple. He wants to take the dungeon. We’re going to let him.
“You are to wait here with Jalen. We’re going to agree to the truce with the kingdoms of Rhian and Aldren – the scribes are writing the treaty now. Both of you will take the terms back and whoever encounters him first will offer the terms. Make sure King Cedric and that rascal of a cousin of mine sign the agreement.”
Cousin? What cousin did he mean? “Your Majesty. If you’ll allow me to return to my men, I can order their evacuation before the Murderhobo comes.”
“You will return to them once the treaty is complete.”
Darius bowed his head, though he was troubled. “Your Majesty. Can we allow such a man to live if he is as dangerous as he seems?”
The corners of Lucius’s mouth curved slightly. “Even a rabid dog has its uses. He will be taken care of once the dungeon is cleared.”
Lucius stood. “You can wait with Jalen outside. One of the servants will come to get you when the treaties are written.”
Darius bowed again but as Lucius turned to walk towards the Emperor’s quarters, Darius spoke up. “Your Majesty.” Lucius turned to him. “I have been away from the capital for a long time. I had hoped to see your father while I was here.”
“My father has taken ill. I fear he won’t be able to speak to anyone for a long time. Don’t trouble yourself with it. As far as you and the rest of my army are concerned, I am the Emperor.”
Another usurper.
Darius kept his eyes on Lucius’s back as he walked away.
The shop floor of Elmes – El-Mez, Elliott corrected himself – wouldn’t have looked out of place on a London high street. Wooden floors gleamed in the spacious, well-lit interior. A few customers strolled among the display tables and cases arranged in neat rows throughout the room, stepping around wooden beams rising to the ceiling twelve feet above their heads. Elliott had a quick glance around the selection of colourful scarves draped over wooden stands, tunics folded neatly on the tables, vials of clear liquids presented behind the glass cases. Korin nudged him towards a set of stairs on the far side of the room.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
The five of them walked in that direction, stopping to read the noticeboard pinned to the wall at the base of the stairs. It was made of dark wood with a silver metal face, listing the store’s departments in engraved lettering. Money Purses on the fourth floor. Magical Storage on the fifth.
“Korin,” Elliott said, as he led the way up the stairs, the others following behind. Elsie remained still at his waist, though her eyes were open. “Can you explain the currency here? I get each of those bars was two hundred gold and the coins were two gold?”
“Yes,” Korin said. “It’s simple enough. Ten copper to a bronze, ten bronze to a silver and five silver to a gold.”
Elliott sidled over as a pair of customers began to descend as they reached the second floor.
“The ones you have are platinum coins,” Korin continued, as they ascended. “They’re twice as thick as regular gold coins, but there’s a thin silver line around the edge.” He paused. Elliott looked at the dwarf on his right, who seemed like he was thinking about something. They passed the third floor.
“There are mithril and orichalcum gold coins as well,” Korin said finally, peering up at Elliott, “but they’re rare. Mithril’s worth four gold and orichalcum’s worth ten. Same with the bars. They’re not usually used. Normally a trade of that size would be done with a credit note and you’d take it to the bank and they’d deposit it to your account, but it seems King Aldric asked Brenna to accommodate you.”
They’d reached the fourth floor and Elliott had a look across the room. It was full of glass cabinets displaying a variety of cloth, silk or leather money pouches. As they began to ascend the final set of stairs, Elliott turned to Korin again.
“And the coins can be used everywhere?”
Korin nodded, then met Elliott’s eyes. “Although in Bizayn, it might be best to use the coins minted by them. They’ll take foreign coins but it will mark you as foreign. You should be able to change the coins at a bank.”
Elliott smiled. He appreciated Korin having the foresight of problems they might face when in the Bizayn Empire.
They emerged onto the fifth floor, several display tables spread across the room in an open arrangement, each burdened with bags of various colours and sizes. On the walls, leather satchels not unlike Korin’s hung from hooks, while cloth bags were propped against the bottom of the walls and tables. On the far side of the room, behind the counter, smaller bags, no larger than his hands, were displayed behind a glass wall.
Elliott had barely taken a few steps when a young woman in a brown linen tunic approached them with a smile.
“Good morning!” she said with far too much enthusiasm. “Welcome to El-Mez! My name is Lucille. How may I help you today?”
“Hi there, Lucille,” Elliott replied. “You may help me, indeed. I am looking for your best magical bags. I had my eyes on the ones behind the counter over there.”
“Of course!” Lucille said. “Fantastic choice. Follow me.”
She led them towards the counter. Isabel and Rose left him to it, as they veered off to browse the other bags in the store. Captain Godfrey walked behind the both of them. Elliott had told him to keep an eye on Rose. Not that it was needed with Isabel there.
“These are our latest products,” Lucille explained as they approached the counter. She left Elliott and Korin standing on the other side as she walked behind the counter and presented the bags behind the glass. “The smallest bags we’ve ever produced, offering up to two hundred and fifty slots in the palm of your hand.”
She opened one of the cabinets and pulled a small pouch out, made of moulded light-blue leather etched with a series of sigils and a drawstring threaded beneath the small opening at the top.
“Watch this,” she said. She undid the drawstring and pulled open the top of the pouch, and a light green screen emanated into the air above the opening that all of them could see. This wasn’t like the System on earth.
Elliott could clearly see through the transparent green screen. White lines marked squares, ten across the screen and Lucille demonstrated scrolling to select the correct slot, her eyes watching them. Then she clicked one of the slots. The green screen collapsed back into the opening of the pouch at the same time as that opening widened far beyond the size of the pouch itself, a large box as long as his arm rose from the pouch and hovered in the air.
Lucille grabbed it and placed it on the counter as the pouch reduced to its original size. Then she rubbed her hands over the pouch, picked up the large box and the opening of the pouch widened, as if sensing the size of the box until it was wide enough to accept it. She pushed the box through the opening, watching as it disappeared and the pouch returned to normal. She pulled the drawstring and tied it to the belt at her waist.
“What do you think?”
“Each bag has a specific amount of slots?”
She nodded.
“Can you bind it?” Elliott asked. If this was a System world like he had first assumed, she would know what he meant. But when he had first seen Korin’s leather bag, he had begun to suspect that this world might not have a System. Aldric’s mention of gods solidified those thoughts. There were no gods on Earth. Watching this girl demonstrate how the bag worked further made him realise it was different here.
“Bind it?” Lucille questioned. “I’m not sure what you mean, Sir.”
“Nevermind,” Elliott said. “How much is one of these? With the largest storage?”
Lucille’s eyes lit up. She was probably on commission.
“It’s two hundred and fifty gold for the bag. If you don’t have your own vaults to connect it to, we also offer storage at one gold per month, or if you’d like to pay a year in advance, we can do it for ten gold for the year.”
Not dimensional magic then. Spatial, like earth. The bags connected to physical vaults held elsewhere.
He looked over to Korin. “Do you have a vault?”
“I have a subscription with them. I don’t need a personal vault,” Korin smiled.
Elliott turned back to the pouch on the table. He quickly glanced at the other bags. He needed inventory slots for the dungeon, but if he was wrong about the System, he didn’t want to be lumbered with an oversized bag, but he didn’t want to buy such an expensive bag for an experiment.
“How much are your cheapest bags?” Elliott asked, just to compare. Lucille’s eyes deflated.
“The cheapest bags are four gold but you need to have an appropriate bag. Some won’t accept all the items you might want to put in them. Cheapest storage for ten slots is five bronze.” Her tone had become flat.
“Can you get me one of those bags?”
A flash of anger passed across Lucille’s eyes. She put the expensive pouch back in the cabinet and strolled around the counter, far slower than when she had walked them over here. She returned with what could only be described as a brown cotton sack.
He picked it up, pretending to examine it as he whispered under his breath. “Bind bag.”
Nothing happened. He frowned, when Isabel came into his eyeline. “Isabel,” he shouted over. She looked up at him and he gestured for her to come over.
“Can you give me a month of storage?” he said to Lucille as Isabel joined them. “Two hundred and fifty slots. And I want this bag.”
“You want a four slot bag and two hundred and fifty slot storage?” Lucille raised an eyebrow.
“Yes,” Elliott replied, fixing the girl with a stare. He needed the storage anyway, but he wanted to test whether the bag would bind to his interface. He glanced over at Rose. Having the System wouldn’t make much of a difference to him. It was more a convenience than anything else now. It might make a difference to her.
Lucille rang the transaction through. “That will be five gold please.”
Isabel passed her three of the platinum coins, and received a gold coin back.
Elliott grabbed the sack and stepped away from the counter.
“Bind bag,” he whispered, holding it in the palm of his hand.
This time it worked, the bag lifting from his hand and hovering in the air for a few seconds, before it collapsed on itself and winked out of existence.
“Inventory.”
That familiar blue screen materialised a few inches from his face, showing him four highlighted slots with solid white lines around the edges.
“Dismiss screen,” he said, with a smile.
Lucille was staring at him, but said nothing. She probably thought he was doing some sort of stupid magic trick. Besides, he owned the bag. What he wanted to do with it was his business.
“Lucille. I’d like you to get me your cheapest two hundred and fifty slot bag.”
Lucille’s eyes widened with joy. She turned around and opened the cabinet behind her and retrieved the light-blue pouch she had demonstrated.
“This is the only two hundred and fifty slot bag we sell. The only one anyone sells.”
She fluttered her eyelids and gave him her best smile.
https://discord.gg/Hg7J2wubf5
The Nexus Discord (multiple established authors (inc me) and links to their stories):
