Chapter 12

The sun was already up when we rose the next morning. It was dry and fairly warm in our defensive shell, and the fire that the Eternal Flame had left was still burning. While the women started on breakfast, Pat and I fed the horses.

"We are going to take the horses for a drink," I told the women, as we prepared to move the horses through the defensive shell and our wards. They didn't like this, and were always skittish when we did it.

"Breakfast will be ready in a bit," Shannon called before we left.

The Great Outdoors was much colder and wetter than it had been inside our shell. The horses didn't like that either and snorted. They did like the water in the pond. We could see the other horses huddled in small groups under the trees to try to keep dry.

"We need to transfer them back to Dijon before we leave," Pat reminded me while our horses drank their fill.

"Yes, and let's hope the day turns out warmer and dryer than it is now," I told him.

Breakfast was ready when we brought the horses back in, and we all sat and ate before addressing the things that we needed to do today.

"The first order of business, after we get everything packed and loaded on the cart, and the horses saddled and harnessed, is to transfer the other horses to the area near the hedge of thorns," I told everyone.

"The next is to reach Gray. What are we going to do there?" Pat asked.

"Buy more food there," Shannon told him.

"Find somewhere to take a bath!" Sheena suggested to him, expectantly.

"We can't remain in Gray too long. We don't know if the Duke will send others after us, but we can probably stay long enough to all take a bath," I told them. "After that, we'll move up the Saone River until the 'Book of Dreams' finishes the women's instructions. Then we'll return to Grandfather in Frankfurt."

"Isn't Frankfurt a long ways?" Clare asked.

"It's much closer than you would imagine with the transfer spell," Pat told her.

The women cleaned up and started repacking the cart while Pat and I saddled our horses, and harnessed the cart team. We were soon ready, and hitched the team to the cart before canceling the spell for the defensive shell. The fire left by the Eternal Flame went out also.

"We need the horses in as small a group as you can arrange," Pat told Cathleen. She and Clare started a mantra, and the eight horses all converged on them. They petted each horse and spoke quietly to it before moving away from them.

"We have calmed them for your Magic," Clare told us as they rejoined our group. Pat and I joined hands with Shannon and Sheena, and all four of us cast the transfer spell while Pat and I traced its glyph on the air. The eight horses vanished from the field with a pop of inflowing air to replace that which had gone with them. We set out for Gray immediately after that.

The Saone River, upstream from Losen where the Doubs joins it, is called the Petite Saone. Gray is some distance upstream from Losen, but the river there is hardly what one would call Petite. It is a broad, deep, and swift flowing river, especially this time of year with the rains.

Gray is a thriving major river port with a very long quay for loading and unloading the multitude of barges and passenger boats that work on the river both up and down stream. All of the services and commerce that one could wish for can be found there.

Gray had been razed by fire (destroyed) twice during the period from the 10th to the 15th century, but had been rebuilt into a major center for commerce and industry by the 17th century. It had maintained its prosperity since then, as it was the center of navigation for the barges and passenger boats that plied their cargoes up and down the Saone valley.

We arrived in Gray about noontime that day, and were amazed at how large and busy a place it was. We needed to purchase food for us and grain for the horses. The women wanted a hot bath, and we could all use some lunch. First though we needed to determine where we could safely leave our horses and the cart while we did these things.

"Why don't we check into a hotel and spend the night?" Pat asked.

"What about being pursued?" I asked.

"Have you checked on the Magic signature here?" Pat asked.

"No, I haven't. Why?"

"Just open your senses," Pat told me, "and you'll see." I was nearly overwhelmed, when I opened my perception, by the amount of Magic that was being used in the city.

"There is no way that anyone can track us in that!!" Pat said to me with a huge grin.

"Right, let's look for a hotel, but not one near the river this time," I told him, just as another Apprentice Wizard happened by. Pat called to him with a question.

"Excuse me, young Apprentice! Could you recommend a hotel to new arrivals? Some place where our friends can get a hot bath," he asked in Trade Celtic.

The other Apprentice looked at us like we were some kind of lower life form with our wrinkled clothing and mud splattered horses and cart. We could actually see his upper lip curl in distaste, but before he could do or say anything Shannon and Sheena cast a freeze spell on him, stopping him in mid-turn, as he turned to avoid us.

"He isn't a very nice person, and thinks that he is a hot shot Wizard," Shannon told us. "We are going to teach him a lesson."

"Allow us to handle this," Clare asked quietly, as she and Cathleen got out of the cart, and approached the other Apprentice. Each took one of his hands, and I could feel them using their Magic, but couldn't tell what they were doing. Shortly they released the young man, and he came out of the freeze spell.

"Certainly!" the young Apprentice said cheerfully. "There is a hotel about a block down this street where many traveling Apprentices stay. It's the Hotel des Postes, and while not overly expensive, it is clean. You can use their stable to keep your horses and the cart in," he told us with a smile.

"Thank you! We appreciate that," I told him, as the O'Toole Sisters got back in the cart, and we headed in the direction of the hotel.

"What did you do to him!?" Pat asked the Sisters in awe.

"We simply changed his attitude," Cathleen told him.

"His... ?" Pat asked dumbfounded.

"Yes, he was having a very bad day, and was unhappy with the world. We just showed him that things could be worse," Clare told him with a little smile.

"I see that you have learned the freeze spell," I said to the O'Connell Sisters.

"We learned it many days ago, but didn't have an occasion to use it until now," Sheena told me. We soon arrived at the hotel. They had a passage along the side of the building that led to their stable in the rear, and we pulled in there so as not to obstruct the busy street in front of the hotel.

Pat and I tied the reins of our horses to the cart, and then helped the women out of the cart. We all entered the hotel from its side entrance.

"We wish to rent two rooms for the night," Pat told the clerk behind the counter in Trade Celtic.

"Two rooms?" the clerk asked skeptically.

"Yes, we like our privacy," Pat told him.

"Can we get a hot bath here?" Shannon asked.

"Bath?" the clerk asked in very accented Trade Celtic, like it was a foreign concept.

"Yes! We have been traveling for several days, and need to clean up," Shannon told him.

"Are all of you Apprentices in the Magic Guild?" the man demanded. "We do not allow ... female companions to stay here," he stated very primly.

"Yes, we are all Magic Apprentices," I assured him

"How do I know that?" he demanded. "These women are not dressed as Apprentices."

"Our clothes were damaged, and we had to wear these," Sheena told him. "Would you like us to turn you into a pink frog to demonstrate our abilities?" she demanded with a grin.

"Perhaps this will convince you," Cathleen told the clerk, and she and Clare pushed up their sleeves to reveal the vines and leaves on their arms. There was a sharp intake of breath from the clerk when he saw them.

"My apologies, Ladies. It isn't often that we have the honor of Earth Mages staying here," he told us in a very apologetic voice. Pat and I signed the register, but didn't have the women sign it.

"We require payment in advance for the rooms, and also for services," the clerk told us then.

"We have four horses and a cart to keep in your stable also," Pat told him.

"There is an extra fee for the horses. You may park the cart inside the stable for free," the clerk told us, and then gave us the amount for one night.

This hotel certainly wasn't inexpensive, not with all of us and our horses staying here, and it would have taken most of my remaining small value coins to pay the bill. Instead, I removed one of the gold coins that Grandfather had given us from my wallet and removed the spell from it so that it was visible. It was one of the smaller gold coins. The other size was larger and presumably worth more. I laid the gold coin on the counter. The clerk's face registered shock and surprise on seeing it.

"It will take me a short time to get your change, young sir," he told us in a much friendlier voice, and better Trade Celtic, as he picked up the coin, and turned toward the small office behind the counter.

The clerk wasn't the only one surprised by the sight of the gold coin. All four of our women were nearly in shock.

"Do you know the value of that coin, Master?" Shannon whispered to me once the clerk had entered the office.

"Actually, No!" I told her. "Grandfather gave them to us but didn't explain their value."

"Them!!" both Shannon and Sheena asked in shock. "Do you have more than the one!!?"

"Yes. I have several more that size, and several larger ones," I told them. They were even more surprised at this.

"In Ireland, a man of great wealth might possess two such coins. More than that, and one would be considered a member of the royalty, a Baron or a Count at least," Shannon whispered to me.

"And your Grandfather GAVE them to you?" Sheena asked in shock.

"Yes, just before we left on this trip," I told her, as the clerk returned from the office.

"It will be a few more minutes, young sir. The manager must go to cash the coin. We don't have sufficient money on hand to change it," the clerk told us in embarrassment.

"I'll have one of our people show you to your rooms, and he'll help bring your things up to the room. The groom in the stable will see to your horses also," he continued, as he handed us two large iron keys to the rooms. A young man led us up to our rooms. When we were alone in one of the rooms, the girls couldn't stop themselves from giggling.

"Did you see the expression on his face when Michael put the coin on the counter?" Shannon asked the others.

"And how very polite he became after seeing it?" Cathleen asked.

"We had no idea that you were wealthy," Sheena told us.

"We aren't actually wealthy," Pat told them. "That is just spending money for the trip that our Grandfather gave us."

"Your Grandfather must be very wealthy then," Clare told him seriously.

"We never really thought about that," I told them. "Our Parents and Grandparents in our Reality all make good money with their teaching and their businesses.

"Grandfather Michael probably has a lot of money or at least his Clan does. We just never thought about it. Is that important to you?" I asked.

"NO!" all four women answered immediately.

"We love you for all that you have done for us, but it is nice to know that we won't need to worry about how to feed our families when we have them," Shannon told Pat and me.

Our rooms were next to each other, and the women decided which room they wanted to sleep in before returning downstairs to move our belongings up to the rooms. Pat and I took the horses into the stable and turned them over to the stable-hands there. We transferred our saddles and the other tack plus the harnesses from the cart team up to our rooms before we returned to help the women unload the cart.

To our surprise when we got back outside, the cart was already empty, and Shannon and Sheena were smiling like the cats that ate the canaries.

"You're finished!?" Pat asked in surprise.

"Yes, we transferred everything but the grain bags up to our rooms,"Sheena told him with a smile.

"We need to eat lunch," Clare said, reminding us all of the state of our stomachs.