“Come Prin,” she said. Then she reached out to shake Chalmers’s hand in farewell. “Thank you for taking the time to show this to us this . . . sad excuse for a building. Perhaps another time we can strike a deal.”
“Wait, you mentioned you might be willing to purchase. What are you prepared to pay?”
“For this?” Sara smirked, and her eyes went to the hole in the roof and the blackened beams.
Chalmers said in a smooth, oily tone, “You have to admit it has potential, and if you use your imagination, it fulfills all your requirements.”
“The price?” Sara asked.
He told her, and Sara reached out and took Prin’s hand and again started for the door.
Chalmers held up his hand. “Wait. I’m sorry, I misstated the price, thinking this was another property. With the problems with the roof and all, well, what do you say we cut the price in half? By the way, there is a good well out back, satisfying one of your concerns, and also a small private garden.”
Prin had already calculated that the price was less than one of the two large gold coins she had in her purse. Now it was less than half that coin, and she had another just like it, and several smaller gold ones. For the other half of the coin, they could hire workmen to rebuild the loft area and still have enough left to live on for more than a year without touching the other coins.
“We’ll take it,” Prin heard herself say. “Can you draw up the papers and escort us to a bank?”
Chalmers suddenly broke into a smile. “Where do you have an account?”
“Nowhere, but I need a bank to change this into smaller coins so we can pay you.” She held one of the large coins up.
His expression froze. “Leaping Lords and Dancing Goddesses, where did you get that?”
“From my father this morning. His spice, or should I say salt business has been doing well in Indore. He said for us to find a place and buy it because he is far too busy buying and selling more salt.”
Chalmers turned to Sara after the younger girl’s comments. She said mildly, “A little girl like her needs to do family chores to learn the spice business. That way, she can strike a deal when she is older and negotiate with buyers and sellers. At least, that’s what our father says. Can we go to the bank, now?”
“I have a feeling your sister will someday own Indore.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Once the large gold coin had been exchanged for a fist full of smaller ones, they settled with Chalmers, and he provided a deed that the bank agreed to hold for them—for a small fee. Everything the bank did was for a small fee. Even the changing of the large gold coin to smaller ones entitled the bank to keep a small portion. Prin didn’t dare ask for a mug of water.
Leaving the bank, they left Chalmers and made their way back to their new building, getting lost in the confusing maze of roads briefly. With the help of the steeple as their guide, they quickly found their way. Sara said, “Maybe we should have looked at more buildings before buying this one.”
“Why? It has all we wanted and more.”
“Really? The roof leaks so bad birds fly in and out,” Sara complained.
Prin laughed. “But the building’s ours. We own it. You and me. The location is in the right part of the city, there’s plenty of space, and we have money left over to do what we want with it.”
Sara didn’t join in the laughter. She said, “Where will we sleep tonight? An inn where the proprietor will report us to any passing mage in the morning?”
“We will sleep in our new home,” Prin answered, skipping along. “The apple family this morning said the bazaar down by the waterfront is the small one. Why don’t we go to the bigger bazaar and buy some things we need?”
“Such as?”
“Oh, cheer up, Sara. Such as blankets to soften that stone floor tonight.” Prin carried her satchel and two keys for the lock on the door. However, she also intended to buy new locks for both doors. No telling how many other keys existed for the locks that looked older than her. Or Sara. Or Chalmers.
As they turned onto their street, Prin paused and admired their building again. It blended in with the others, had solid stone construction, and was in a clean part of town. There were only two doors, and no windows were on the ground floor—for security they’d been told. Near the top were small windows, dozens of them, built to allow light to enter.
Once inside, she searched somewhere to place the satchel and settled for leaving it beside a post near the door, where any thief couldn’t help but find it. But she removed the valuables and placed them under a small pile of rubble in one corner where she hoped they would be hidden and secure. Most thieves will not look in rubble for valuables, or so she hoped, but they will snatch and run with what they find first.
When she was convinced the valuables were out of sight, Prin said, “Things are going too well. We escaped Wren and the assassins, and yes, we changed our appearances, but it has been too easy, or we’ve been lucky.”
Sara pulled to a stop, her hands holding more trash to throw in the corner. “They’ll still come. Maybe. It’s a long way from Wren to Indore, and a rugged mountain pass to cross.”
“Or they are already here,” Prin continued. “They have killed three men, two high-ranking royals, so far, and they are attempting to overthrow the king. A few days of travel aren’t going to stop them. Do you know any spells that might help us?”
Sara chuckled. “If you want them to like us better, I know a pretty good love charm. I know how to use my arrows that won’t miss, but even those were enchanted by another. I can read, write, and work numbers, but in my small village, there was nobody to teach me sorcery, so I know only a little more magic than you.”
“But you’re older,” Prin protested.
“Twenty. You’re twelve or whatever, but I didn’t even know I had any powers until a few years ago, so we’re not all that far apart in casting spells and magic of any sort.”
Prin kicked more trash in the direction of the growing pile. “We need help. I was hoping you knew a spell or two that would help hide us or something. Maybe we can hire a local sorceress to help us, and we can buy some spells from here.”
“You know what I think?” Sara said. “I think we definitely need a broom to clean this place up.”
“And food.”
“Candles. And chairs.”
The requirements quickly grew into a list far more than they could possibly carry back to the building in ten trips. Both knew the list would continue to get longer, and they laughed as more items were added.
Walking in the general direction of where they thought the Bazaar might lay, they asked directions and turned without getting lost. A raven flew down and landed on a branch in front of them. After they had walked past, the bird flew ahead of them again and landed. It twisted and cocked its head as it watched. Prin remembered the crow that had scolded her when she pronounced her letters wrong.
Twenty blocks later they heard voices singing, music played by different instruments, and other noises generated by a crowd. They entered a square far larger than the other down by the waterfront, filled with throngs of buyers and sellers.
Sara said, “How can so many people be in one place?”
“Don’t worry. We don’t want to talk to them all, we want to find only a few that can help us.”
“How will we find the right ones?”