The back door opened silently, then closed with a soft click. Jal followed the packed-down path through the snow. After Jal had been around the buildings twice, it walked the perimeter of Eiske's property.
At the south edge of the property, Jal found a set of prints and followed them through Eiske’s thick grove of trees. The prints led directly to an open area that was unclaimed, then disappeared over a small slope. At a second stand of trees, Jal lifted the binoculars and studied the next property. There were no lights anywhere. It pulled the hood up over its head, took a path between the trees and looked again at the outbuildings. Taking the longest strides possible, Jal stepped to the graveled area by the nearest shed, then went around the back to the next building.
The broken storage shed door was partway open. Jal pulled its hood low over its face. Looking around, Jal saw the blinking red light of a security camera. It pointed a wand at the machine. “Oit!” The light blinked off. Jal flicked on a flashlight. Moving quickly, it stepped between an old, rusty cultivator and an ancient planting machine. It opened the seed canister on the right side. Jal picked up a thick plastic package, slid it into an inside pocket of its coat, and carefully stepped toward the door.
Jal turned off the flashlight. Standing just outside the door, Jal pointed the wand at the light, “Aan.” It stepped around the edge of the building. Mid-way across the open field, Jal stood with its feet in two of the footprints it had created in the snow earlier. It pointed at the track of prints. “Gelikver.” The snow became as smooth as butter. As Jal retreated to Eiske's, it would stop, turn, and repeat the spell. When it was through the trees, it said the spell one final time.
As Jal came around the corner of a storage shed, it saw an animal digging in the mud at the side of the chicken shed. Unarmed, Jal backtracked around the building. It walked around the buildings in the tracks it had created earlier. When Jal was at the back door, it slowly opened the door and stepped inside.
Eiske’s rifle hung on the wall near the door. An open box of ammunition sat on the shelf. Jal put the binoculars back on the shelf. It picked up the rifle, loaded it, and went out the door. Standing by the house, it activated a defense charm. Jal went carefully around the buildings watching for the animal. It was big, and Jal was afraid that if it missed the first time, there wouldn’t be a second chance. Behind the shed, Jal stepped as gently as possible, hoping the snow would be soft and not crunch. At the end of the building, it saw something move and jumped. Jal raised the rifle and fired. The oversized wolf leaped as Jal pulled the trigger a second time. As Jal lay on the ground, it was glad the charm had worked. It pushed the animal off its chest, got slowly to its feet and trudged to the house.
Eiske was at the back door, pulling on his coat. “What the hell were you doing out there, Jal?”
“I sensed that something was wrong!” Jal wasn’t lying, but knew it wasn’t telling the whole truth. “I was right. There's a bocoraine in the snow by the chicken shed! It was trying to dig under the boards.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you were going out?” Eiske raged. “Those things are huge! Bigger than a grey wolf! What if you had missed?”
“Shh, don’t wake Jan. I used a defense charm. I’ll take care of the carcass in the morning.”
“I’m going to make some tea. Would you like a cup?”
“Yes, please.”
As Jal took its boots off, the package began to slide out of its inside pocket. With the coat still on, Jal stepped to the corner. It moved some clothes and tucked the packet into the bottom inside pocket of its backpack, zipped it, then shifted things back.
“What are you doing, Jal?” Eiske’s voice caught.
“I thought I put some tea in here. It’s a new blend that I hoped you would try. I really like it.” Jal dug around a bit more. “Here it is. Just for you. Lemon grass, passion flower, red raspberry and peach leaves.” Jal saw tears in Eiske’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Eiske! I didn’t mean to cause you worry. Please forgive me.”
Eiske opened the container and smelled it. “Umm. Fruity.” Jal hung the coat up and joined Eiske at the table. Jal read for a long time after Eiske went to bed. Before Jal went to sleep it activated Eiske’s security charm for the property.
***
One dawn, Jal stood in the middle of its sleeping room. "Ridali Tower.”
“Yes?”
“Show me the control panel for this room.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to know how you work.”
“Only Pitir Ridali knows, Jal.”
“Pitir Ridali is long gone. Someone needs to know how to repair you if something happens.”
“I have an auto-repair program that runs around the clock to detect any problems.”
“Show me the control panel for this room.” A panel opened near the headboard of the bed. Jal studied it for several minutes. “Close the control panel.” The panel closed. “Now, show me where the security cameras are located.” Three circular panels opened in the ceiling. “Turn off the cameras and secure the room.”
“Which level?”
“What are my choices?”
“Levels one, two, and three. Three is the most secure.”
“Secure the room at level three. Open secure drawer.”
“State your password.”
“Pegmatite.”
The drawer opened, just above the desktop. Jal counted the pile of currency in the drawer. It turned on the tablet and made sure the numbers matched the accounting program. It counted the currency in the belt pack and placed part of it in the drawer before entering it onto the tablet. “Close drawer.”
Jal placed the package that had been in its backpack on the desk. For the next hour, Jal counted, then recounted the contents of the package. Jal took a deep breath. “Ridali Tower?”
“Yes, Jal?”
“Can you make a second drawer for valuables?” A second drawer slid out next to the first one.
“It needs to be deeper.” The drawer slid closed. Another one opened. Jal placed the stack of currency in the drawer. “Close. Codeword: Lapis lazuli.” Things were going exactly as it planned. “Ridali Tower, Erase all activities since 00:00 this morning in this room, except for creation and password for the second security drawer. Release the security on the room.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“I cannot erase the record without the proper authorization.”
“Authorization: Jal Jomari.”
“Enter Personal Code.”
“Zeta-two-one-one-six-six-four-seven.”
"Access denied."
"Ridali Tower, Erase all activities since 00:00 this morning in this room, except for creation and password for the second security drawer. Release the security on the room."
"I cannot erase the record without the proper authorization.”
“Authorization: Jal Jomari.”
“Enter Personal Code.”
“Zeta-two-one--one-zero-six-six-four-seven.”
"Erased. Security returned to level zero.”
It was cold outside, and Jal longed to go for a walk. Instead, it looked at the schedule it had set, and did schoolwork. A few hours later, it turned off the machine, jumped down the levels, and went into the cooking room.
“Good morning, Jal."
"Good morning.". It looked around. " Jan's sleeping in?"
"It's already gone. Said you could have a day off."
"That's great! Let's see. What should I do today?". Jal rubbed its hands enthusiastically."
"I'm going to Kauflen on a regular trip for supplies. Want to come along? You don’t have to."
Jal thought for a moment. “I really do need to learn these new herbs."
“You could go up and check out the herbs in the solarium."
“I haven’t been in there. Am I allowed to?”
“Of course. You’re allowed to be anywhere on the property. Except for the caves. Jan gave permission for you to go to Pencadick Rill. He said something about you making a delivery."
“Caves? How can there be caves on Ridali Farm? The ground is flat.”
“Trust me, there are caves. Please don’t go looking for them.”
"I'll study herbology for an hour, then I'll go to Pencadick Rill."
"Be careful."
Later, at the atrium door, Jal stepped forward. The clear door slid open. There were plants hanging in pots from the ceiling along the walls. The sun shone brightly overhead. Jal closed its eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Six long raised planters were filled with beans, peas and lettuces. “Wow!”
“This is Gotu Kola. I’ve never seen this before.” It listed off the botanical name, conditions it treated, and side effects. "I can’t remember the interactions. I need to look those up.” Jal wandered through the section with herbs and named most of them.Jal inhaled lemon, mint, and lavendar, then turned to the ones it wasn’t as familiar with. It looked up the ones it didn’t know on its pad, then marked the pages to review later. Six glass containers sat in a row with plant starts in them. “I’ll have to ask Tarryn what these are.”
Jal checked its timepiece as it went down the levels. “My curiosity has been killing me. What is in these rooms?” it muttered as it went through the hallway along the crafting room.
Jal opened the first door on the right. The walls were covered with swords, axes, and daggers. Jal recognized the rapiers, scythes, and great swords. Not interested, it closed the door. The crafting room was on the left and the door stood open. The second door to the right was a small chapel. It reminded Jal of the sanctuary, and Jal had no idea what to do there. Across from it was the crafting storage room. The last room on the right was filled with boxes. Each one had a label. It appeared to be paper archives from years, decades, and maybe even a century ago. “Ugh,” Jal thought as it clicked the door closed. The final room held several odd-looking barrels. They sat on low platforms with a bar on either side. A tall bar fit through a bracket on the top. “I wonder what these are.”
“You are in the wine-making room,” the voice of Ridali said gently. “Be careful that you don’t fall down the stairs.”
“Thank you,” Jal responded. As Jal went down the stairs, there was an audible click. “What was that? Did you just lock me out?”
“I did. Come back with an adult. The caves are not a safe place. Particularly when there is no one else home.”
“Ridali, are there empty crates anywhere?”
“There are three in the storage room by the cooking room.” Jal retrieved them and took a big pile of rags. It wrapped dishes and packed the crates. When they were full, Jal wrote a note on one of the blank walls in the eating room saying it was going to Pencadick Rill.
In the village, Jal parked the speeder behind Tunne’s store, climbed out and went in the front door. Tunne greeted it with a big smile. “Jal, my friend! Did you bring merchandise for me today?”
“I did!” Tunne helped carry the boxes in and Jal counted and placed items on the back shelves. Tunne watched as Jal set a new display up in the main part of the store. “What’s happening around the village, Tunne?”
“I don’t know. The gossip lines have been quiet since the trial. People are afraid to say anything. I do know that there was a farm sale scheduled, then cancelled.”
“Do I know the new owner?” Jal wondered out loud.
“Maybe. Two of the younger Bron boys convinced the bankers that they could maintain the productivity of the place and got a loan for whatever it was that Haerm and Geldou needed.”
“Hm. So, they’re going to make a go of it.”
“They’ve sold off some of the older machinery and hauled off the oldest stuff to the dumping ground. It sounds like they’re taking some old buildings down and are cleaning up around the farmyard.”
“It sounds like they’ve got a plan. Good luck to them!”
Jal finished its business, went to the community center for some downloads, then sat in the speeder trying to decide what to do. “I’ll go visit Minnie Blok, since the greenhouse is closed.”
After it left the Blok’s, Jal went past the small area where people dumped their old junk. “I wonder what they got rid of.” Curious, Jal turned around and went to the dumping area.
Jal climbed out of the speeder and looked for fresh tracks. There were a bunch around a collection of old implements. Old sickles, a smashed-up loader, a rusty old planter, and a hay rake had been left off. Jal lifted the lid of a seed box on one of the planters. There was a small box in it. “Likely parts for it,” Jal thought as it opened the box. It was full of currency. Jal couldn’t believe the brothers hadn’t checked everything out before dumping it off. “Why would they? They never went into the shed. There was no reason to.” Jal could only imagine what Haerm would say when he found out what they had done. It opened the second seed box and then the third, removing the contents from each. The fourth one was empty.
“Junked!” Jal thought as it walked away. “It would have ended up here.” Jal looked at the stuff dumped in a pile. “I guess this didn’t fit in the cupboards of the new kitchen.” Jal remembered being scolded for taking out bowls for picking peas in the garden. It recalled the way Geldou insisted the children wash and dry the dishes, while she put things away. “I wonder if she was hiding currency too?” Jal looked in an old coffeepot, a coffee grinder, teapots, and anything that had a lid. There were rolls of bills in several of them. Jal started to laugh.
It was still laughing to itself when it arrived at Eiske’s a short time later. Jal greeted Eiske as if they hadn’t seen each other for weeks. “You’re sure in a good mood, Jal. Where have you been?”
“I'm on my way home. I made a delivery at Tunne's, then went to see Minnie Blok. After that I stopped at the junkyard.”
“Were you looking for something specific?”
“No, I was just looking to see what was salvageable.”
“Did you find anything?” Jal started to laugh. “It must be good."
"You know what they say, ‘Finders keepers, losers weepers?' I found something alright! And I’ll bet someone’s going to be crying!” Jal’s high-pitched trill tickled Eiske’s funny bone, and he started to laugh. When Jal stopped laughing, it laid the rolls of currency on the table. “I found all this.” It tossed Eiske one of the rolls of bills. “Put this in your savings account!”
“Did you come to confess to this, or something else?”
“I came to see you, but I thought I’d share.” Jal looked at Eiske. “Anything out there is free for the picking, right?”
“That’s what we all agreed,” Eiske nodded.
“There were fresh prints in the snow. I heard some brothers took out a loan and are cleaning up their property.”
Eiske burst into laughter as he looked at the bills in his hand.
“Do you remember last time I was here, and we talked about being sneaky? I have some early memories of being told to go outside and stay out of trouble. I usually would follow one of the bigger boys around. Sometimes I would wander around the buildings looking for flowers that I knew, toads and pretty rocks. One day I watched Haerm look around, then go into the oldest shed. He was acting weird.”
“You remember that he put something in there?”
“Yes, but I wasn’t sure what it was. This was left for anybody, so I have the right to take it?”
“You do. What will you do with it?”
“Save it so that I can go to the university.”
“You’ve decided for sure?”
“Yes.”
As Eiske made tea, Jal sat bouncing its leg. “I can’t stay long.”
“You went from excited to anxious in a very short time. What’s wrong, Jal?”
“My anxiety is so overwhelming. I’m trying to stay busy and not over-think things. Jan and I are going to meet Giel Moti tomorrow. What if I say something mean to it?”