Chương 337: 6.4

Standing at attention on either side of her path into the courtyard of Kaeketeh's barracks island were two hundred men Jewel could only assume were the Wizard's entourage. Jewel should have expected this. Armored in full metal armor, she could feel the sorcery on them. Every link of chain and sweeping piece of plate singing with it. Practically trembling with a desire to leap into action before the man within so much as shifted.

The edges of the armor itself was keen and sharp with the whispered presence of the High King's Court wizard. Even without the weapons held the armors themselves seemed edged to cut down foes. And then each of them was holding some sort of morbid crossing of a battleaxe and a spear. Each wholly forged as a single piece of shining steel, the grips a cross hatch for grip in the gloves. With the axe head of the weapon a good foot higher than the helm of the man wielding it!

The edges of those axes and the point of their spears practically screaming with promises to gouge and pierce. The men within the armor seemed almost secondary against the eager violence yearning to be unleashed in every bit of metal around them. And awaiting her in his seemingly leather smith apron with a stern face the color of char and glowing eyes that absolutely bubbled in delight was Erhard Ironhand. Standing next to an apparently calm Adelyne. Well, calm If you didn't have Jewel or Gem's nose that is.

The sweat of the Guildmaster of Beggars and Orphans betrayed how agitated she was. But she kept that out of her voice and posture as she dipped her head just barely enough to avoid insult.

"Countess! It is so wonderful that you've arrived! Lord Sorcerer Erhard Ironhand has been awaiting you since he arrived, five days ago." Jewel dipped her head in acknowledgement, then paused reflecting on her experience with Wizards. The strain in Adelyne's voice... Oh dear.

"Awaiting since he arrived?" Adelyne met Jewel's eyes with the faintest hint of a desperate plea." Exactly as he now stands before you Lady Rochford. For five days." Jewel frowned and looked at the soldiers.

"With his entourage?" Adelyne ever so slightly shook her head.

"No, he has allowed them to 'see to their own maintenance'. But if you would, my Countess." Adelyne gestured to the statuesque figure of Erhard. Jewel turned to the outwardly stoic face. Lips a thin line, face hard with a slight furrow to the brow. But in those molten eyes? He was beaming in pride. Jewel sighed. The ride by barge from Kliatbatrn had been unpleasant. Gem had been sick to her stomach and Jewel had stumbled once trying to balance and nearly rolled over onto one of her eggs!

If it was not the fastest way to travel south for her party she would have commanded they walked the rest of the way.

"Erhard, Court Wizard of High King Mathias, well met, is there business from the High King?" The Court Wizard of Cantor Reborn looked at Jewel. Face held tight, but eyes glowing with an almost childlike joy as he hummed in admiration of her before speaking. Voice rough and crackling like a furnace.

"You've grown since last we met." Jewel nodded to the complement no matter how curt the voice sounded. Then there was a shift, his eyes got a bit more distant, just that much more dull with irritation and boredom, before he spoke.

"By the command of the High King Mathias of the Realm of Cantor Reborn, I Erhard Ironhand am pledged with two centauri of the realm's finest to escort you and see to your comfort and safety." The words struck like a hammer on hot iron. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"To act upon your command as vassal and duly appointed representative of High King Mathias." He bellowed like the roar of a furnace.

"Who so orders and empowers you, Jewel of Bathory and Rochford, Shining Wyrm and Lady of his land and the Countess of Viznove-" Jewel held her muscles firmly to avoid flinching. This had not been in the letters from Mathias when she asked for and was granted support from her liege in seeking to negotiate to tutor the young Wolf Prince.

"To act with the full and utmost authority of the High King of the Realm of Cantor Reborn and his rightful rule in dealings with the Sultan and Sovereign of Magarska, High King Murad the First of his name Conqueror of Orestias." The words strained Jewel's limbs with tension. She had only just gotten off the awful swaying thing that was a river barge moving at speed. She had hoped to not have to deal with Erhard for days.

She wasn't even going to be accepting the young Lord Kliatbatrn's pledge of allegiance until tomorrow afternoon! Fortune damned Mathias! He couldn't have sent her warning he was going to empower her in a letter?! That's what letters were for! As if summoned by her thought, Erhard reached into a pocket of his apron, and produced a very disheveled dove, with a message scroll tied to its leg.

"As is decreed in this letter, sent forth by my High King to reach you here in Kaeketeh at all possible speed." Jewel stared at the poor bird. It looked very much like a bird that had the misfortune of being grabbed by a man who could work molten steel in his bare hands and then shoved in his pocket without so much as a single thought to its comfort. Jewel had never seen such a bird before but if she had been asked to imagine one this would have been precisely what it looked like.

She could not fully contain the aggrieved sigh in both her throats. But at least Gem's was quieter.

"Lord Sorcerer Erhard..." Jewel did not share an aggrieved glance of apology with Adelyne. At least not with both sets of eyes. Gem got a full view of the Guild Mistress' incredibly intense eye roll.

"Am I to understand that you set out to Kaeketeh at pace and speed with two hundred fully armed and armored men?" The wizard nodded firmly at her, there was not even a twitch to his lips but Jewel could feel the delighted grin behind his lips.

"At all possible speed Lady Jewel of Rochford." She glanced at the fully armored steel that encased the men to either side of her.

"All of you riding here was faster than a dove flies?" Erhard's face was just as still but the pride in his smoldering eyes was so intense Jewel was astonished she couldn't smell it wafting off of him.

"We did not ride, the centauri in my armour ran faster and longer than any horse could survive unaided." Jewel raised her brow, voice getting a little bit aggrieved." Faster than a dove Lord Sorcerer?" He stared up at her lips drawn thin, eyes so jovial she was amazed he was not giggling.

"Doves still need to sleep, with my aid and armour, men do not." Jewel stared at the wizard. He looked back at her.

"You and two hundred men in full armour, with kit, ran from the capital to Kaeketeh non stop?" Jewel stared down at the wizard who nodded in one slow dip. Then with an actual emoted frown he added.

"It was not quite faster than the dove would have managed. A few extra days." No this was more than enough, she had been traveling by barge for the better half of the day with one of her selves being nauseous the entire time. Jewel took the poor bedraggled dove from Erhard, handed it off gingerly to Paul to fuss over and sooth and then fixed her Guild Mistress and ostensible host for what was going to be their brief stay in the Capital of Viznove.

"Adelyne, my party is going to settle in and unload our bags. Dariusz is going to see to dinner tonight, and I am going immediately to the bathhouse. If there is not enough space clear for me to completely submerge myself in hot water I will force the issue. Can you see that It does not come to that dear?" Adelyne nodded sharply.

"Of course, Countess." Jewel turned back to the Wizard and held back the sigh that was building within her. Behind his stern face there was the sudden floundering brittleness of a puppy that had only just realized it perhaps had done something it should not.

"Thank you for your sincere efforts to see that the High King's orders arrived securely to my person. You are dismissed until tomorrow." Which of course prompted a sudden flare of fire and the sound of a great hammer striking steel. But honestly Jewel was not even shocked. No, she simply marched both of herselves straight forward to Kaeketeh Keep where she could have her eggs secured. Then? Jewel was having a bath!