Chapter 5
As usual, Lucia, Apolline, and Petra are at their corner of the coffeehouse. As unusual, Lucia is feeling optimistic and eager — restless, even. She just hopes Roland gets here soon with the charter from the Duke. And that they can find work soon. And don’t get horribly eaten by monsters. And —
Lucia feels herself frowning. She’s not nearly as optimistic as she was a few minutes ago, but before she can dwell on it, she jumps in her chair as the door of the coffeehouse slams open.
“Hey, guys!” Roland bellows cheerfully.
“Hi,” Alda says rather more sedately, peeking out from behind her brother.
“Guys?” Lucia repeats.
“Girls?” Roland offers.
Lucia glowers.
“People? Friends? Boon companions?”
Before Lucia can say anything else, Apolline gives her a jab with an elbow and quietly whispers into her furry ear, “That’s enough, Lucia.”
She promptly adopts a gracious smile and turns to face Roland.
“Good morning, Sir Roland,” she says warmly.
“Uncle Chuck wanted me to show this to you,” Roland says, holding up a large parchment.
They crowd around the table as Roland spreads out the parchment.
Duke Charles the Ninth, Most Serene Duke of status of chartered adventurers and all ensuing rights & privileges under the laws and statutes of Middlesbrooketo the individuals enumerated upon this charter:
– Roland von Middlesbrooke,
– Apolline Castor,
– Lucia Tormalina,
&
– Petra of Fulminata.
Additionally, by the authority of His Serenity, Duke associate status is hereby conferred upon Miss Alda von Middlesbrooke.
His Serenity hereby authorises this charter and attests therein to be true & accurate by affixing the Great Seal of Middlesbrooke.
“So,” Roland continues. “Let’s get going. Miss Celeste is going to want to meet you.”
“Have fun, dears,” Anya calls after them. “Stay safe!”
Roland leads the group from the coffeehouse to a large market square with an elaborate fountain crowned with an impressive statue of Emperor Theobald himself, topped with an impressive depiction of the Imperial Crown of the Theobaldian Dynasty. They turn left at the fountain, take a few steps into an alley between a bakery and painter’s studio and enter a small, out-of-the-way alchemy shop. The bell over the door rings gently as they enter.
Celeste is leaning idly over the counter as they enter. She straightens up and tucks a long strand of purple hair behind her pointed ear.
“These must be the ones from the poster,” she says to Roland.
Petra leans over to Apolline and Lucia with a proud smile on her face. “See? I told you the poster was a good idea,” she whispers to her companions.
Roland nods. “Yeah. This is them. Apolline, Petra, and Lucia.” He turns to the three adventurers. “And this is Mi — this is Celeste. She was me and Alda’s alchemy tutor.”
Apolline steps forward. “Sir Roland tells us you’re looking for some assistance?”
Celestine nods. “I need to get a load of alchemy supplies from here to Westfort. I’ll get everything ready and load up the cart myself. You just need to get it to Westfort.”
Lucia isn’t paying much attention as Celeste explains the job. She cautiously sniffs the air. “Do you smell mint?” she asks. “Oh no. I think that’s catnip.”
“Is that bad?” Alda asks, looking up in worry at the lynx-woman.
“Well, I am a cat,” Lucia notes. She sways unsteadily. “I’m getting a little woozy. I need some air.”
Alda gently takes her hand. “We can go wait by the fountain outside,” she offers.
Lucia nods and lets the girl lead her out of the alchemy shop.
“Are you feeling better now?” Alda asks Lucia as they sit on the edge of the fountain in the middle of the square.
Lucia takes a deep breath. There are enough bodies in such a busy market square and enough of those bodies are trying to sell live animals that it doesn’t smell good out here, but at least there’s no trace of catnip in the air.
“Yeah,” she says. “I’m fine now.”
“It’s an insect repellant,” Alda says suddenly.
Lucia looks down at the girl. “Huh?”
“Catnip. You can use it as an insect repellant,” Alda says. “I learned that during my alchemy lessons!”
Lucia scoffs. “I’d rather have the bugs,” she says.
“Bugs are gross,” Alda notes. “Well, except butterflies. And the pretty kinds of moths. But most of them are gross.”
Lucia shrugs. “Yeah, but bugs don’t turn me stupid. I’ve never got into an argument with a potted plant because of bugs,” she says.
“How about this,” Alda offers. “I’ll keep you safe from catnip. And you can keep me safe from bugs.”
Lucia smiles down at Alda. “It’s a deal,” she says.
They sit together on the edge of the fountain and Lucia listens to Alda identify all of the various buildings surrounding them: the library, the opera house, the temples, the most popular shops and cafés in Middlesbrooke.
“Well?” Lucia asks as Apolline, Petra, and Roland re-appear in the fountain square.
“The job should be easy enough,” Apolline says. “Two days from here to Westfort with the wagon, two days back.”
“And we’re not expecting trouble?” Lucia asks. “That sounds too easy!”
There’s always a catch. It’s, like, the first rule of adventuring. Nothing is ever as easy as it’s supposed to be. The gold is cursed, the gold is the curse, the house is haunted, the Countess Dowager isn’t accepting visitors, something like that. She can only wonder what it’s going to be this time.
“As an Amazon, I’m always expecting trouble,” Petra notes. “For example, that waterlemon seller could secretly be an assassin with weapons concealed inside his waterlemons. I’ll keep an eye on him, just in case.”
“Really? Cool!” Alda exclaims, excitedly gazing back and forth between her companions and the old man at the waterlemon stall.
“He is not an assassin, Petra,” Apolline insists.
“That’s what you said about that accordion player in Forte,” Petra counters. “And what did he turn out to be?”
Apolline sighs. “An assassin,” she mutters.
“Yeah,” Lucia says. “That was a weird babysitting job.”
Seeing the group looking at him, the old man at the waterlemon stall waves across the market square. Apolline, Lucia, Alda, and Roland all awkwardly wave back. Petra continues to cautiously eye the old man, mentally working out her counterattack should he prove less than trustworthy.
Chapter 4
Chapter 6
If you’ve enjoyed my content, please consider supporting me through Ko-fi or Patreon, or through Paypal by scanning the QR code below:
Follow Realmgard and other publications of Emona Literary Services™ below:
Subscribe to the Emona Literary Services™ Substack newsletter here.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The author prohibits the use of content published on this website for the purposes of training Artificial Intelligence technologies, including but not limited to Large Language Models, without express written permission.
All stories published on this website are works of fiction. Characters are products of the author’s imagination and do not represent any individual, living or dead.
The realmgard.com Privacy Policy can be viewed here.
Realmgard is published by Emona Literary ServicesTM
