Chapter 13

Ellerie accompanied Marco to Varsin Senshall’s spacious mansion in central Tyrsall. She’d never been there before—the previous meetings had been at the company’s plain and utilitarian main building.

Varsin himself welcomed them inside. “Your Exalted Highness,” he said with a practiced bow, “welcome back. We were pleased to hear of your success.”

“That title isn’t necessary,” she said. Leena had warned her that the investors had learned of her identity. “I left Terevas to pursue my own interests. Exalted or Lady Ellerie if you must, but I’d prefer if you’d just call me by my name.”

“I couldn’t do that, Lady Ellerie,” Varsin said. “The Senshall Trading Company has dealings with your family.”

“I’ll be sure to tell my mother and sister of the great help you’ve provided in my endeavors. Perhaps there might be additional opportunities for you in Terevas in the future.” Putting in a good word wouldn’t take any effort on Ellerie’s part, and she doubted her mother cared which human trading houses carried di’Valla goods.

“I would be personally grateful,” Varsin said. “Corec Tarwen isn’t joining us today?”

“He’s making arrangements for the next stage of our journey.” In truth, Ellerie wanted to handle the final negotiations herself. Given Corec’s history with the company and his status as the son of a baron, the Senshall brothers had tended to treat him as an equal partner in the expedition. Ellerie envied Corec’s ability to fraternize with near-strangers, but the expedition was her responsibility for one more day and she wanted to complete the last task on her own.

Varsin nodded. “Well, let’s get started then.” He led Ellerie and Marco to a formal dining room. “Lady Ellerie, I trust you remember my brother Burton and my concubine, Renny.”

Burton bowed and Renny curtseyed. “Lady Ellerie,” they both said, taking their cue from Varsin on how to address her. Ellerie returned the greetings, and then everyone sat down to look through the contract Marco had worked up. He’d managed to get scribes to make several copies overnight.

Burton was the first to speak. “Lady Ellerie, Marco spoke to us yesterday about the deal you’ve suggested. Before we accept, I’d like to ask how much effort this shaping magic takes. You’ve provided costs for the materials, but what else is involved?”

Ellerie stood and drew her new rapier from its scabbard, holding it out across her palms so everyone could see. The blade was made of fortisteel, and the basket hilt was constructed of silversteel. It wasn’t ornate, but it was perfectly balanced and much stronger than her previous weapon. “After I’d learned the spells and figured out the formulae, it took me another two months to master metal-shaping enough to make this. The trick is to use a mould. The shaping depends on constant concentration—if you let the mould handle the bulk of the work, then you can focus your attention on the finer details, like making sure it comes out sharp. This took me five hours to make, three for the hilt and two for the blade.”

The investors glanced at each other and gave small nods.

“Thank you,” Varsin said. “I believe we’d like to move forward with the arrangement. However, in the region you requested for yourself, we would prefer not to give up Terrillia. The wood elves are some of our largest customers for iron and steel, for both ingots and finished goods.”

Ellerie considered that. She’d only included Terrillia in her request because the Terril Forest extended as far as the free lands. She wasn’t opposed to altering the agreement. The dorvasta might want to purchase shaped metal goods, but metal-shaping by itself wouldn’t bring in much profit. The materials cost too much. Stone-shaping was more likely to be profitable, but the dorvasta wouldn’t be interested in that. They built very few stone structures, mostly just crafting wooden homes and work spaces along the trunks of the tershaya trees.

“I’d be willing to take Stone Home in place of Terrillia,” she said. She couldn’t just give them something for nothing.

Varsin glanced at his brother, who shrugged.

“Northern Aravor is your territory,” Burton said. “What do you think?”

“Stone Home has a larger population, but the dwarves have always refused to buy metals from us,” Varsin replied. “And Terrillia is much closer to our mining and smelting operations.”

“Then we’re agreed?” Ellerie asked. She’d only left Stone Home out of her initial request because she didn’t want to seem greedy.

“Terrillia for Stone Home, yes,” Varsin said. “You also requested the free lands. Which part, specifically?”

“The central region. I’m not including the northern plains or ogre territory.” The central free lands included Four Roads and South Corner, some of the largest towns in the area. Ogre territory and the northern plains were sometimes considered to be part of the free lands since they had no centralized governments, but settlements in those areas were too far away and scattered to bother with.

“And the terms?” Burton asked. “No stone-shaping outside our respective regions, and no sales of metal-shaped items outside our borders?”

“Yes,” Ellerie said. “If you want to set up shop in Dalewood, I can’t stop you.” Dalewood fell on Tyrsall’s border, right at the eastern edge of the free lands.

Varsin chuckled. “I doubt Dalewood would provide sufficient business, but I take your point. We’ll sell within our regions, but we won’t worry about who’s doing the buying.”

“I agree,” Ellerie said. “Have you decided to purchase the rights yourselves, or sell them to the company?”

“The three of us will buy the rights,” Renny, the concubine, said. “In truth, we don’t need the money. Bringing in a new business is more important, especially one that has such potential for growth.” The brothers had waited for her to answer, which suggested she’d either guided them toward the decision or had been the tie-breaking vote.

Ellerie nodded. “I’ve copied the book for you, both the spells and the formulae, and I’ve translated all of the procedures into trade tongue. I can bring that here tomorrow.”

“There was a second spell book, wasn’t there?” Varsin asked, glancing down at his notes. “It says here it’s been sold for twenty gold. I take it that means it wasn’t as valuable as the shaping magic?”

“It’s a book of minor enchantment spells,” Ellerie said. “Unfortunately, casting permanent enchantments is a skill that’s been mostly lost. I bought the book myself for its historical significance, but Lady Hildra negotiated to borrow it as part of her payment for the shaping magic. Leena will retrieve it for me the next time she visits the city.”

Hildra wasn’t a wizard and didn’t have to study spells from spell books, but when she’d copied the shaping spells, she’d explained that she could read the wizard language and had occasionally managed to teach herself spells that way. Ellerie didn’t mention that, though, not wanting to make the brothers curious about Hildra’s interest in enchantment magic.

“Ahh, yes, Leena,” Burton said. “That’s a very handy skill she has. Please let her know that if she’s willing to come work for the Senshall Trading Company, we’d like to double the previous offer Marco made. That would be ... what was it, Marco? Eight? So we would like to offer sixteen silver per day.”

That was an incredible sum for anyone other than a wealthy merchant or a powerful wizard, so Ellerie tried to let him down easy. “I’ll tell her, but I don’t think she’s planning to take on any other work right now.”

Burton nodded but frowned. “There’s got to be more of these Travelers down in Sanvar, right? Why haven’t we heard about them before now? Do you think she could find someone else for us?”

“I’m sure they’d listen to an offer, but I don’t know if the empress will allow them to work in the north. It was only through luck that Leena signed on to the expedition. She needed to go to Cordaea, and she wasn’t practiced enough at Traveling yet to do it that way.”

Burton sighed. “I suppose all we can do is ask.” He turned to his brother. “What’s next?”

“The unsold inventory,” Varsin said. “According to the manifest, we have two enchanted rings—one allows the wearer to breathe underwater, and the other allows the wearer to ignore hot and cold weather. There’s a lamp that provides heat rather than light, and a pair of spectacles that ... this says it sees through illusion magic. Illusions are false images, yes? So this lets you see what’s really there?”

“Yes,” Ellerie said. “Hildra was more comfortable trading in weapons and armor, so we brought a few things back with us.” It had actually been Marco’s idea, but she wasn’t sure if he’d admitted that to the brothers. In addition to trading for the tower shield, Hildra had ended up buying the stiletto, the mace, the longsword, and the small case of arrows, saying she’d be able to sell them all eventually. She’d found a buyer for the matched set of mage lights before the group had even left Aencyr.

Varsin nodded. “Magical enchantments aren’t our typical stock in trade, but we do deal in rare objects on occasion. There’s a wizard that helps us with that—a man by the name of Deshin. If he agrees with these prices, the Senshall Trading Company is willing to purchase the items. That way, we can close out our ledger with you and the other charter members now, rather than making you wait.”

Doing so would allow Senshall to make more of a profit by holding onto the items until they found buyers who would be willing to pay higher prices, but the arrangement would be convenient for Ellerie’s friends. They wouldn’t have to wait for some unknown length of time before receiving the final portion of their shares.

“Does that mean you’ll do the same for the miscellaneous artifacts?” she asked. Marco had gathered a trove of small items—mostly pottery, metal buttons and buckles, jewelry, and children’s toys. Marco’s treasure, as Ellerie privately thought of it, would take a long time to sell, but he had a list of contacts who were interested in historical artifacts, and Bobo had given him some names to consider in Matagor.

“Yes, with the exception of the two ceramic figurines—the fox and the owl,” Varsin said. “I’ll buy those myself, to commemorate the success of our venture.” He flipped through the final few pages of the contract. “It looks like that covers everything that wasn’t already accounted for. Lady Ellerie, does the rest of the list look accurate?”

Ellerie glanced over Marco’s thorough accounting, noticing a few omissions which could only have been deliberate. “Yes, this seems right,” she said.

Varsin smiled. “Then as soon as Deshin has verified the last few prices, we can disburse the remaining funds. I trust you’ll let us know of any further investigation you make into the ruins, and inform us when we can announce the location?”

“Of course,” Ellerie said. “I don’t plan to delay any longer than necessary. I’ll send you a copy of the book once it’s complete.”

“I would appreciate that.”

They made their farewells, and Ellerie gave Marco a quick tilt of her head before leaving. He followed her out.

“You didn’t tell them about the maul or the staff,” she said once they’d reached the courtyard, away from anyone who could overhear. “Or the Mage Knights’ weapons and armor.”

The factor shrugged. “Why borrow trouble? Right now, everyone’s happy. You paid off the investors’ loan, and they earned a great deal of money besides. They have a new business venture to keep them occupied, and they’re already talking about expanding my role in the company. I don’t see any reason to introduce complications. Besides, they wouldn’t want to risk offending you now that they know who you are.”

“You’re not acting any differently now that you know.” She’d finally told him the truth before he’d met with the brothers, so he wouldn’t be taken by surprise.

“If you’d wanted me to treat you differently, you would have said something before now. Besides, you’re not as rude as Duke Voss or the king were when I negotiated deals with them.”

Ellerie couldn’t help laughing. “Thank you, Marco. I know you like your job here, but if you ever find yourself heading west, look for us. I’ll be returning to Tir Yadar someday, and could use someone who knows the language and is already familiar with the work.”

Marco quirked his lips into a small smile, one of the few she’d ever seen on him. “I don’t imagine I’ll be leaving Tyrsall again for a good long while, but I appreciate the offer.”

They parted ways then, and Ellerie headed back to the inn with a sense of satisfaction. The expedition had been a success, and her four-year quest to find Tir Yadar was over. Now she could focus on writing her books, and let Corec deal with the headache of being in charge for a while.

“Duke Voss seems happy you found that Tir you were looking for,” Yelena said, pulling her cloak tight around herself against the cold breeze on the promenade. “He owns a small share in the Senshall Trading Company.”

Corec hadn’t realized the subject of the expedition had been discussed in the halls of the ducal palace.

“I don’t think they’re going to announce it right away,” he said. “Ellerie wants to explore the city more before anyone else sees it.”

“No matter,” she said. “Voss takes the long view. Long enough that it’s time for me to move on, before he gets me involved in any more of his schemes. I’ve decided on Sanvara City, but it’ll take a year or so to shut down my operations here and transfer them south.”

She stopped to watch the ships in the harbor. It had been her idea to meet on the promenade, away from the palace.

“Does that mean you’ll be taking on a new name?” Corec asked.

“I haven’t decided yet. No one in Sanvar knows who Yelena is, and I’ll be far enough away from Tyrsall that even the people I continue to correspond with won’t realize I’m not aging. As long as I don’t run into the Tyrsallian ambassador, I’ll be fine.”

Corec nodded. “I wanted to let you know that we managed to find Three in Cordaea. Or she found us.”