“It’s for tonight sonny,” she answered with a twinkle in her eye. “It’s the innkeeper’s wife’s birthday. Tonight there will be music and dancing to celebrate it. You’re lucky you chose to stay at this inn. Now I need to help finish getting everything ready. You might want to get some more rest before tonight.”
She giggled as she returned to hanging ribbons. Music and dancing? That might be fun. Traven smiled as he looked around the room for the merchant that looked the easiest to approach. At last he decided on an old man who reminded him of his grandfather. The man appeared to be quite successful at his trade. He was wearing a finely cut silk coat and had a giant ruby on his left hand. The man he had been talking to had just left, so Traven figured that now was as good a time as any and timidly approached the man. He stood by the side of the table waiting for the man to look up from his drink, but he never did. Traven tried to think of what he should say.
“Are you just going to stand there all day or are you going to sit down and talk with me.” Startled, Traven plopped down immediately onto the bench across from the old man. “Well, what do you want? You don’t look much like a wealthy merchant or the such. Are you a messenger for someone? Speak up boy!”
“I um, well, ah . . . I’m on my way to Calyn to attend a merchant school, and I was wondering, I mean, I was hoping that if you plan on leaving for Calyn soon I would be able to go with, I mean accompany you.”
“Oh, there’s no reason to be nervous,” the man chuckled. “I’m just an old man used to getting his way. You’ve mistaken who I am however. I keep track of the merchant caravans that come into the city and leave from it. I’m too old for a lot of traveling anymore. I don’t know if I’ll ever be leaving the city and the surrounding countryside again. You did, however, come to the right person. As I said, I know when all of the merchant caravans are planning on leaving the city. I’d be glad to let you know who to talk to in order to join up with a caravan. How soon do you want to leave?”
The man was smiling now, and Traven breathed easier. He was sure lucky to have found him.
“I guess it’s not so much a matter of when I want to leave but when I need to. I need to leave as soon as possible so that I can be to Calyn when the school starts.”
“It’s too bad there are those pesky bandits roaming the countryside. Usually there would be a bunch of merchants leaving every day to try to reach Calyn before the snows come. With all the bandits however, some are content to just sit around and wait until they’re cleared up. Others are joining together with several other merchants for protection. There is someone who’s leaving tomorrow morning, but she’s only got about twenty guards with her. I would suggest waiting another week and leaving with the big caravan that’s setting out for Calyn. It’ll be safe enough to travel with that many merchant guards I should think. Wait another week. That’s my advice.”
“I wish I could wait a week, but I really need to get there on time. Thanks for the advice, but I’ll have to take the risk. I don’t really have much of a choice. Could you please direct me to who is in charge of the caravan that’s leaving in the morning?”
“I said I could, didn’t I?” the old man chuckled. “You’re going to have to talk to Meritza. She’s in charge of the caravan. She’s stubborn as can be, but other than that she’s a rather pleasant person. She’s pretty too! You’ll see her tonight dancing around the floor. I’ll point her out to you. I don’t know if she’ll let you go along with her. She’s really strict about sticking to her schedules and not traveling with others. She won’t listen to reason and wait for the large caravan to leave. I have an idea, though. Do you have a sword?”
“Not right now, but I found one today that I want to get,” Traven said eagerly.
“Then listen closely.”
The old man laid out his plan while Traven grinned. As soon as the old man had mentioned a sword, he knew he’d like the plan. It sounded like it would work. It also gave Traven an excuse for buying the sword he had found. He thanked the old man for all of his help and even offered to buy him an extra drink. The old man started laughing.
“I have enough money that you don’t want to waste yours on me. It’s been nice talking with you. I almost feel young again!”
He started laughing again and waved as Traven headed up the stairs to his room. Now all Traven had to do was buy the sword. He should be able to get back before the celebrating began. He turned off the stairs and trotted down the hall to his room to retrieve his money. Everything looked the same in his room except now there was fresh water in the basin and clean sheets on the bed. He took the key to the wardrobe from his pocket and opened it. He transferred ten gold tallies from the bag his grandparents had given him to the pouch on his belt. He realized that he had taken about half of the gold already, but the sword really was important. It would be useful. He locked the wardrobe back up and left his room. He couldn’t believe that he was finally going to be able to have a sword just like a hero in the stories! He was zooming down the hall lost in his thoughts when he suddenly ran into something.
Looking around, he saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire life! She had fiery red hair that flared from her head half way down her back. Her eyes were a rich chestnut and she had big, red pouty lips. She had on a baggy coat that reached to her knees. However, the coat didn’t hide her shapely figure that was emphasized by a tight red sash cinched around her waist. She was staring at him with a startled look on her face and was surrounded by papers at her feet. Traven realized he must have knocked them out of her hands. He dropped to the ground and quickly began to gather them up.
“You don’t need to pick those up. It was my fault. I should pay more attention to where I’m going instead of staring at my reports.”
Traven tried to tell her that it was his fault, that he had not been paying attention, that nothing could ever be the fault of a goddess such as herself. Instead, all that came out were a few squeaks.
“What was that?” she asked quizzically.
“Um, I be sorry, I mean, I am sorry. It was my fault.”
Traven didn’t mind that he had just stumbled all over his words. At least he had been able to get the words out this time. He got back to his feet with the papers in his hand and gave them to her with another muttered sorry. She took them and flashed a smile at him. That was almost more than he could handle, but he stiffened his legs to keep them from shaking and put a hand on the wall to keep steady.
“Well, I guess it was both of our faults,” she said with her mesmerizing voice. “Maybe I’ll accidently bump into you again sometime.”
With that, she winked at him along with another beautiful smile and disappeared into a room two doors down. Traven could not take any more and slid down to the floor against the wall breathing hard. Had she actually winked at him? He thought she had but couldn’t believe it. She had to be at least ten years older than him! Maybe she just got a kick out of giving men heart attacks. He got unsteadily to his feet. Maybe she would be at the celebration tonight. Maybe he would ask her to dance. Maybe she would even say yes and then . . .
get a hold of yourself
. He shook his head trying to clear his thoughts. Someone as beautiful as her wouldn’t even remember that he existed. Besides, he had things he needed to take care of. But he was sure of one thing, he definitely wouldn’t mind bumping into her again.
Traven hurried down the stairs and across the common room. He squeezed his way into the crowd out in the square and headed for the market place where he had been earlier. He had paid attention on the way back and had no problem finding the street where the man had the sword and dagger stall. He quickly made his way down the street until he found the stall and turned into it. The stall keeper was there, and he grinned when he saw Traven come in.
“I figured you’d be back son but not so soon. I picked out a few nice sheaths for the sword you wanted. If you’ll hand over the money, I’ll let you have the sword and the sheath of your choice.”
It was then that Traven realized that he was unconsciously reaching out toward the sword. He gave a start before reaching into his money pouch and retrieving the necessary gold. The owner made the gold tallies quickly disappear and handed the sword to Traven. He took the sword with awe. It was actually his now. He had paid for it, and it was his! He took a few swipes through the air with a grin on his face.
From behind the counter, the man pulled out three sheaths and set them down. One of them was a plain leather color with circular designs etched into the hide. The second one was a deep blue decorated with golden stars. Traven really liked how it looked but settled on the third one. It was pitch black and webbed with silver. It would match his saddlebag and his new dress clothes that he had gotten for his birthday. He would look splendid when he rode into the merchant school all in black and silver with a matching sword hanging from his hip. He slipped the sheath onto his belt and sheathed his sword. It was comforting to feel the weight of it at his hip. Everything was working out perfectly. He would return to the inn, convince the merchant leaving in the morning to let him accompany her, and celebrate late into the night. Things couldn’t get much better.
Traven left the man’s stall and headed back for the inn. The sun was beginning to rest low on the western horizon and already the crowds were starting to thin. He had no problem making his way back to the inn except for trying to figure out how to walk without getting the sword tangled in his legs. By the time he reached the square, he had figured it out pretty well and was feeling rather proud of himself. The common room of the inn was abuzz when he walked in. The tables along the wall were full of people eating their dinners and full of excitement. Traven found the old man he had talked to earlier and sat down across from him.
“I see you got a sword boy. Meritza was down here earlier but went back up to her room to get ready for the celebration I suppose. I’ll point her out to you when she comes back down. You might as well get something to eat and relax until then.”
Traven ordered some food and leaned back to wait for the serving woman to bring it. Over by the fireplace on the far side of the room he saw several musicians getting ready to play. Most of the people in the room were finishing up their meals and looked eager to celebrate. After a couple minutes a young, pretty serving girl brought over Traven’s food and gave him a quick wink and a smile before taking off to another table. He felt his face heating up slightly and quickly looked down at his food to keep the old man from noticing. He enjoyed the food. Another serving woman came and took his plate away when he was finished.
Traven stretched back with a sigh. The food had been delicious. The innkeeper’s booming voice suddenly rose above the buzzing in the room to announce that the celebration for his wife’s birthday would begin. The musicians excitedly burst into life. The common room was instantly filled with a lively melody that called to those present to dance. Traven was almost pulled onto the dance floor by the music before he realized it, but he caught himself. He needed to wait for this Meritza so he could ensure passage with her caravan. After he took care of that, he would be able to have some carefree fun. He sat and listened to the music. He hoped she came down soon so he could join in the celebration. The old man sitting across from him was smiling and clapping in time to the music.
Out of the corner of his eye, Traven saw someone emerge from the stairs and turned to see who it was. He had hoped it would be Meritza, but he forgot all about the merchant when his eyes fell on who it was. Traven’s mouth went dry. It was the woman he had bumped into earlier. She looked even more dazzling than she had before, if that was possible. She no longer wore the baggy coat that tried to hide her figure but a pale green dress that accentuated it. The bodice was worked with deep blue designs and slashes of white graced the skirt. The silky skirt flowed around her, swirling as she skipped onto the dance floor with a beaming smile. She snagged a handsome, wealthy looking merchant from the arms of a serving woman who Traven had thought earlier was beautiful. Compared with the woman who had just stolen her dance partner, however, the serving woman now seemed plain. She shot a quick, furious look at the beautiful woman and then quickly found another partner. Traven really didn’t notice. The only thing he was aware of was the fiery haired woman dancing around the room with laughter that sounded like silver chimes.
“Boy, are you okay? You’re drooling and your mouth and eyes are open so wide I’d think you couldn’t breathe.”
Traven snapped out of it and blushed fiercely as he realized what he must have looked like. The old man roared with laughter.