10.8
She had not believed it was possible, she was headed home in Spring Seeding!
Jewel was quite certain there was none of the distinct and clear cuts that marked a miracle or other divine interruption.
But in spite of the wyrm’s careful watch no miracles were involved. The guild head Slavomíra in fact did deliver on the promise of peace in Kaeketeh. Not only that but the Weaver and Spinners guild had been volunteering an almost constant presence amongst the common law court!
The Merchant’s guild and their near army of mercenaries and watchful men and women had formed up with Jewel’s still nascent Kaeketeh Guard. In an arrangement closest to that of levy and footmen. As the numbers swelled with good veteran eyes trained to watch for thieves and bandits?
Experienced men at both foreign city streets and long roads through wilderness?
It was such a solid boon that Muriel was actually taking aside some of the most experienced guards among the Merchant’s guild to assist in training in proper wakefulness and attention for long postings.
And even more valuable than guardsmen the Merchant’s guild opened their staff of clerks and lawyers to the courts of Kaeketeh and the training of the new guardians of the peace. Muriel and Paul still needed to oversee and test the loyalty and judgment of the recruits. But the burden of training being lessened had free’d up the captain’s time immensely.
Muriel was not attending Jewel to Valasect sadly, but she did not mind.
Jewel’s husband had also pleaded to stay behind in Kaeketeh. Which stung as a bit improper but he had insisted that since Smithson had to go with Jewel and Gem he was best as her voice in matters of court and law.
With all but Smithson and those footmen Muriel had sent home with Jewel it was a very sparse party traveling the far more soggy road to Rochford & Valasect.
Dariusz and his family were almost a third of the retinue!
But really it was not like there was any risk from bandits or lair spawn with The Shining Wyrm of Viznove defending against danger!
Jewel’s open wings offer what relief to her household she can. Shielding them from the near constant showers of spring in Viznove. The mud of the road caked Ox hoof up to the shin from the splashes and most everyone else had taken to riding. Jewel took up the extra burden of packs so they could still make good time without killing the horses.
The sound of the rain left a lot of time to think, the way it roared down out of the sky drowning out all but Jewel’s voice or a throat straining yell for anyone else. She considered the finances of the deal.
Of what the promised price for Slavomíra’s involvement was?
Well Jewel had agreed to not raise the tithe on wool, but only for this year! And it was a good thing she had too! After Jewel had gotten hold of the receipts that wyrmspun wool was trading for?!
The cost of a single garment made even partially of Rochford wool tended by Jewel’s touch would cost almost ten Grosz! If it was entirely cut of full Wyrmspun cloth the prices the Merchant’s guild had recorded abroad could easily approach two Knight’s Mark or more in wool alone!
Nevermind the clothier’s commission!
At such prices the taxes on the guild in Kaeketeh were still going to make for a sizable portion of Jewel’s income this year!
Looking at the figures and sums, the endless pestering to have Jewel spin wool with the Spinners and Weavers’ guild started to make a bit more sense. It also made the pledge Jewel had made to not adjust the taxes for just one more year far more understandable. This was an absolutely ruinous amount of silver that was not going to Viznove.
Silver that quite literally came from Jewel’s own labor.
But she consoled herself, her lessons in stewardship assured Jewel the silver was not in fact leaving Viznove. The guilds were still part of her domain.
And at the same time what it had bought her? With the patrols bolstered by the Merchant’s and their mercenaries? With the buy-in from every other guild that could even begin to benefit from this arrangement?
The Clothier’s and Leatherworkers guild (Why were clothiers not in a guild with the Spinners and Weavers?!) had waived the price of repairs and stitching for any men or women serving in lawful patrols. Jewel had not been present for it but Paul said there were agreements to discount the wool that passed through the Weavers and Spinners guild to them.
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It was all incredibly confusing, at once it felt like the guilds had found some way to steal from Jewel her labors!
But in another way it filled her flame with a sparking pride.
Before she had even assumed her position as Countess Jewel was already enriching her people. And it was not through her acts during war!
Jewel took a heavy breath and flushed her flame out through her entire body as she felt a foot start to sink past her elbow in the mire that had become of the road. A shifting coil and a quick call out to her party stalled the march.
“Hold! The mud is too deep to risk the horses here.”
As Jewel pulled her hand free of the muck it moved and slid off her scales in a familiar way.
A wide smile split her lips to reveal the shine of teeth.
Dariusz brought his own horse (claimed from the Kaeketeh stables) unsteadily besides Jewel. He was not a well practiced rider. He spoke with a voice strained by the downpour.
“Can we go around?”
Jewel laughed, and shook her head. There would be no need for that at all, although her friend was clearly really enjoying their theatrics.
Well two could play at such frivolity.
She spoke a word, a name, a feeling but barely at all a sound.
Reeds blowing in a storm, rivers meeting thick choking roots and dropping heavy silt.
It poured out of the wyrm’s throat and echoed and joined the sound of the storm, echoing in it, filling the already laden scent of petrichor with the stronger hint of wyrmflame just burned.
Jewel called out to the air, to the wetness in it, the subtle crawling feel of the air that she had slowly become very familiar with. The presence that had been swirling in the muddy puddle that had blocked their path
And unlike how they appeared in places dry and barren of the swamps and mud of their element, Tsulogothulan slid out of a sheet of rain. As if it was a curtain or a simple passageway. Eye already fully formed and body and wide brimmed ‘hat’ splaying out and almost ruffling like feathers.
“Did my absolutely favorite lady and countess of Viznove call?”
Jewel fixed her friend with a performative glare and a scolding tone with not a hint of malice.
“I’m glad you are in a good mood friend, and I presume the work went well despite your delays but did you have to undercut the entire road with a mire to announce yourself?”
The Weird of bogs laughed, a chorus of croaking frogs calling out loud enough to overwhelm the sound of rain splashing in puddles and leaves of the forest. The wet sucking of mud at feet closing off the sound as Tsulogothulan ‘caught their breath’.
“Of course! I am a weird and a sorcerer both my Lady, and blessings and thanks upon you! The working has taken very well indeed! The banks of the Ogien have widened and the shores churned over and wide with reeds and mire! I even left the side with the city properly deep to save on complaints for you!”
Jewel nodded at that, it was good news. The messengers from Baron Ogien had been thankful that sorcery was being performed as promised, but the time it took had been longer than Tsulogothulan had initially promised.
“So is the work finally done? Or is this just a short reprieve to say hello? I’m actually making my way to Valasect to enjoy a few of the summer seasons.”
Her friend’s eye glittered and shined under their wide brimmed hat, the pouring rain cascading around the brim of their ‘garment’ in curtains that shimmered like a column of ice so smooth was their flow. Only a small gap letting the violet gaze peer out.
“Oh?! Matters in your little city are settling out sooner? I was in fact just finished and turned to seeking you, but surprise here you are barely a pleasant two jaunts from my new shores!”
Jewel nodded.
“Yes, and if you are finished with your service could you offer us another so I can get my party indoors before they melt in this rain?”
Jewel’s wings did a decent job held out like this to keep her entourage mostly unmolested by water.
But the heavy air and the splash of mud and occasional billowing wind still got past just enough to make it more of a dampness than proper dry. Gem especially had to stay bundled up so intensely in front of Smithson that you could not see anything but the tip of her nose.
The Weird of Bogs laughed again with a chorus of frogs and then the mud and mire swelled up around Jewel and the horses. Surprising Dariusz and his family by their shouts.
Jewel offered her reassurance.
“Do not fret my charges, the sorcery will not harm you and we will be swiftly taken to our next lodgings! The good Weird Tsulogothulan will even wick away the damp and mud from your garments when we arrive!”
That caught a glare of annoyance from the mentioned Weird but Jewel simply smiled and started skipping along on the swell of thick mud that was now ferrying them along the road.
Served her friend right for nearly getting poor Oxhoof’s leg broken!
Apparently an excited weird was a slightly less considerate one.
Tsulogothulan murmured in the churn of the raindrops.
“So did anything of note happen while I was splaying the banks of the feisty river Ogien into a wide and wholesome thing deep in the trough?”
Jewel laughed, remembering what her husband had said when he found out the Weird was not present over winter.
“Oh my friend, where do I even begin?”