7.6

After what Jewel could only call the wedding ceremony (The intensity between Celsus and Bethica demanded nothing less)! The merchant settled out to something closer to the usual of merchants in villages. Adorján parted from the crowd to discuss with peddler Leandor and a few of the families that had been eyeing the herd of towering cattle.

It was beneath Jewel’s station but she had to remain now that she had made the appearance. Her headman had a better grasp of families in Valasect than Jewel although she was trying to be better.

Paul was talking to some of the mercenaries that had made their way north with the herd while Smithson had gone to collect ‘Gem’ who was making a game of avoiding him.

Jewel offered a smile that her smaller self mirrored before dashing around one of the sheepfold.

“These are prize Sun Blessed Epirus Cattle! That’s forty Grosz in silver for the least of them! Nevermind what was paid for the seer!”

Sadly she was currently not her smaller self and thus could not run into the fields for freedom from the infuriating greed of petty merchants. Adorján was at least aligned with her against the scheming man. Thankfully Leandor’s hate had mellowed after seeing Celsus accept Bethica.

Jewel considered the size of the beasts before turning to the merchant.

“Our pastures are only so large, and much of it is rough, spoken for by the shepherds. So we cannot take on the entire herd even if you were to offer a fair price. There is little point in taking on such fine beasts only to slaughter them come winter.”

And that seemed to light something in the merchant’s eyes and bring a straightening to his spine. He smelled sharp, like a hunter who caught prey, like a soldier preparing for battle. The peddler’s fear was faltering against his own will despite how much terror he reeked of when looking at Jewel. He finally spoke up with a fervor now that Jewel was unsure if it was genuine or merely a practiced act.

“That is the beauty of the fine Epirus hillsides, it is a land of warmth and mountains! Every beast kept there is made strong and sure footed among its rocks. Aside the need to accustom themselves to the winter they will take to these slopes as sure footed or more than your own sheep!”

That claim drew enough attention from the rest of Valasect who prided themselves on their sheep to draw a shepherd’s wife into the discussion. Jewel did not yet know her name but she smelled familiar and her voice was recognizable.

“Oiy then, let’s see the giant lumbering things make a show of it on the pastures then? The Northeasterly is not so grazed it can’t afford a few extra hooves.”

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And that saw Adorján and a good chunk of the villagers parting to make way for the herd.

A few of them jeering a bit at the challenge. Although many more were already starting to make a more festive bent too it then already had come from the advent of a trade caravan. Jewel could already smell some of them bringing out their various house ales.

The noise of all of it building up around her so that Jewel almost missed the quiet gasp of her husband.

“I beg your pardon?”

Paul’s strained voice, held just barely in check, drew Jewel’s attention like the sound of a boar’s snort in the woods. He was talking to one of the mercenaries dressed in more worn but far more protective armor then her husband. The man nodded along, having missed the distress entirely.

“Truth your lordship, I was brought on last year to do some extra guard work in cantor and it made news up and down the streets. In the pantheon with gods and magisters they did it.”

Jewel held herself from reacting, but she could not stop her ears flicking at the words.

“Mighty proud they were too heard word of it from criers. Quite the prize to have cracked open a true wyrm egg. Was not a small or easy thing either by my reckoning, you could smell the sorcery and god in the air for nearly the whole season afterwards.”

Paul spoke softly, awed enough in his voice for both of them. Although Jewel’s mind was suddenly spinning in horror, her husband gave voice too.

“Then they have a wyrmling?”

Which got a laugh from the mercenaries and a shake of the head from his conversation partner.

“No, they were proud to have been able to force the shell open at all. But even with an entire council of gods and their priests and magister beside them they got nothing even solid from it. What I heard last though is that the yolk does something peculiar. Cantor is offering a king’s ransom in bounty for more eggs.”

The glance he offered Jewel made her hide want to shake off the sudden greasiness. It was an effort of will to avoid the shiver breaking free up and down her coils in revulsion. To help express some of her discomfort she flexed her wings a little and nodded to a question from Adorján.

There was greed and a calculation there that she did not need to imagine the reason for. Jewel was a lady, she was a Wyrm, she ostensibly would lay a true wyrm egg at some point.

But she definitely would not be selling it to some overlarge temple full of gods!

However Jewel could not linger to listen to more of the conversation. She needed to stay with her headman and most of the village. There was a contest to prove the honor of the peddler and his pride in the beasts of his homeland.

Jewel was almost certainly going to end up involved in that by stint of being the Lady of Valasect. Paul met her eyes with a firm nod. He would inform her what he learned tonight.

Jewel had to force her attention back to the nattering peddler.