4. Chapter 4 #3
Gordoc’s fishlike lips gawked in offense.
“Relax, gentlemen,” Dreya appeased, prying open the lid to take stock of the contents.
She had a funny little hat on again today, only this time it was more like a beret.
“Seems there’s an even mix. Green.” She passed them each two bolts.
“Blue.” She passed out more, so on and so on through many colors of the rainbow—something else Levi wished he could see in real life instead of only reading about them or admiring pictures, but the sun was needed for that.
Dreya continued through many bolts of fabric, too many for Daedlys or Gordoc to carry, but they each had a small cart to load.
“Finally, one additional red and one cream.”
“Red,” Daedlys and Gordoc said in unison, following their declarations with menacing glares at each other.
“I require the red for a special order,” Daedlys declared.
“So do I,” Gordoc insisted.
“Gentlemen,” Dreya said soothingly, “could you cut each bolt halfway and share?”
“No,” they overlapped again.
Yentriss’s sigh was audible even from where Levi and Ashmedai watched from the back, though some of the crowd had thinned, not waiting to see what might remain in the depths of the final carriage.
“Well then.” Dreya held out a sideways fist, and within her grasp conjured two thin sticks like incense. “Whoever draws the long straw wins the red.” She had enacted similar simple games to settle disputes, which Levi thought both ingenious and endearing.
Daedlys and Gordoc each claimed a straw, seemingly pleased with their choices, and when Dreya gave a nod, they both pulled.
Daedlys’s was the long one.
“Red goes to Daedlys!” Dreya declared.
Daedlys shimmered in his preening almost enough to go invisible.
Gordoc grumbled but accepted the cream.
“Just a few unexpected items for this month,” Dreya said next.
She mentioned spices, scraps of leather, and several pieces of jewelry, most of which only had one person interested, though a cluster of arrows with green feathers were argued over and eventually awarded to a lottery winner.
“The last item is a music box with a white horse spinning inside.” Dreya opened it for the crowd.
The box was small enough that it only just filled her palms as she held it out, made of painted wood in green, blue, and white.
Inside was indeed a white horse, rearing up on its hind legs as it rotated to a tinkling melody.
“For no bard is humble, And no hero’s flawless. All that matters is the stories we tell.”
“What was that?”
“Hmm?” Levi looked at Ashmedai.
“You were singing along to the music box.”
“I was?”
Ashmedai furrowed his lovely black brows—then turned forward and called out before anyone else, “I’ll take it!”
The crowd pivoted to look at them, hushing in surprise as they confirmed who was laying claim. Levi wondered if Ashmedai never asked for something of his own, or if the people simply hated to disappoint him, for those who had seemed ready to throw in their lot decided against it.
“Ash has it,” Dreya confirmed. “The caravan will remain until the day before the festival to be loaded for the return trip. Thank you all.”
The remaining crowd began to disperse. At the same time, Ashmedai started forward, still holding Levi’s elbow, clearly meaning to claim the music box.
Levi planted his feet. “I had another daydream.”
Ashmedai stopped with him. “Just now?”
“No. I mean, I don’t think so. It was earlier this morning.”
“What did you see?”
“The woman I heard during the hunt. I know it was her because she sounded the same. She had red hair like me.”
“Like the boy from before?”
“Only she was human. She said, ‘Help me in the garden, won’t you?’ And then… Leander?”
“Oleander? There was a flower called that once. ”
“That must have been it….” It all felt like a dream, like Levi could almost remember, almost understand, but truly grasping the meaning was just out of reach.
He glanced shyly at Ashmedai, feeling small with those beautiful white-on-black eyes studying him so intently.
“Do you think there’s something… broken in me?
Is that why you want me to see Luccite?”
“Not broken.” Ashmedai tightened his hold on Levi’s elbow and lifted his other hand to gently cup the side of Levi’s cheek, his long nails tickling pleasantly at the edges of Levi’s hair.
“Nothing about you is broken, Levi. You’re simply a mystery needing to be solved.
Come, let’s get your music box.” He smiled, showing off his many fangs, which was almost enough for Levi to miss what Ashmedai had said.
“ My music box?”
“You know its tune and made an illusion of a horse just like the one inside. Clearly it is meant to be yours.”
Levi had wondered where the idea for a white horse had come from during the hunt, but he couldn’t possibly have seen something like it or the music box before. “Do you think I can see the future?”
Ashmedai chuckled. “In this kingdom, anything is possible.”
Daedlys was rearranging his cart with his keen telekinesis as they approached the carriages, Gordoc already heading away in the direction of the market, wearing a pout. Once Levi and Ashmedai reached Dreya, she was waiting to hand Ashmedai the music box with a smile.
“Enjoy it,” she said. “Oh, and… have either of you seen Luccite this morning? She’s usually here for delivery day. She’s the only one who loves seeing what Emerald sends each month even more than I do.”
“Preparing for us, I’d imagine,” Ashmedai said. “We have an appointment with her.”
“Ah. Tell her I missed her,” Dreya said and turned to close the carriage.
With little ceremony, Ashmedai began to present the box to Levi, only to hesitate and call out to Daedlys. “My friend, would you examine this for us?”
Daedlys had just finished levitating the final bolt of fabric into place and floated over to them.
“Of course! Let’s have a look.” Like anything Daedlys held, the box seemed to hover on its own as he turned it and opened and closed it again, inspecting it closely.
“Beautiful, to be certain. Are you interested in the type of wood or—”
“No.” Ashmedai stopped him. “I only wondered if it might be homemade for a specific owner rather than from a shop.”
“Mass-produced,” Daedlys said with a shake of his head, handing the box back to Ashmedai. “There’s a shop’s stamp on the bottom, but the detailed craftsmanship tells me there weren’t many made. Perhaps it was the last of its stock.”
Ashmedai nodded thoughtfully and then gave the box to Levi.
Levi felt his cheeks flush as Daedlys’s eyes fell on him, and the banshee smiled like he knew something unspoken.
“Why, Stitches, my dear, I’ve been meaning to ask—why haven’t I seen you wearing that new tunic yet?”
Levi gave a start big enough that he almost dropped the box. He gripped it tighter in response, eyes wide as he searched for an answer.
“I hope to see you in it soon.” Daedlys beat him to it. “You’ll look positively radiant.” He winked and floated back to his cart to begin wheeling it away.
“Tunic?” Ashmedai asked.
It was rare that Levi wanted something just for him. He felt guilty and selfish for taking the tunic at all, just like he had when wishing to be closer to Ashmedai than Braxton was.
Because he wanted Ash for himself too.
“It’s too much.” Levi dropped his eyes. “Too special.”
“Then someone special should wear it.” Ashmedai’s fingers grazed Levi’s hand, and Levi looked up, caught in the eyes he adored. He shifted his grip on the box so Ashmedai could take the hand he had touched, and Ashmedai kissed the knuckles like before.
Levi didn’t think his cheeks could feel any hotter.
Almost everyone else was gone now, only Dreya and Yentriss remaining, but they were on the other side of the carriages. They wouldn’t notice. No one would notice.
Levi leaned toward Ashmedai.
“Lauffy!” Dreya yelled after one of the departing citizens, and Levi and Ashmedai snapped away from each other.
Had Ashmedai been leaning in too?
“Well….” Ashmedai softly lowered Levi’s hand and let it go. “Perhaps you’ll wear your new tunic to the festival?”
For the king, Levi would do anything. “Perhaps.”
Ashmedai took Levi’s elbow again and led him from the caravan to the market steps.
Ashmedai
When they arrived at Luccite’s, Ashmedai could tell Levi had never been inside this shop.
He looked around in utter awe, pausing to breathe in the unique scent of mixed oils, poultices, and spices.
Levi didn’t have his bag today, so he still held the music box, which only added to the mystery—because how could Levi recognize a horse or a tune from something out of a shop in the Emerald Kingdom?
“There you are,” Luccite greeted them from a stool before one of her shelves, which, since she was on the third step, made her almost Ashmedai’s height. Her eyes went to the music box. “What is that?”
“Oh, um… a music box from the Emerald carriages,” Levi explained. “Ash got it for me.”
Luccite tsked. “The one time I miss delivery day, and for you , and you swipe something I might have actually thought worthy of collecting. My loss, I suppose.”
“You collect things from Emerald?” Levi asked.
“I collect things from all over,” Luccite said with a gesture at a few of her fuller shelves. “Emerald is simply the only source these days.”
Ashmedai walked with Levi as he studied the shelves more closely. Mixed in with the usual healer and alchemical paraphernalia was the occasional trinket of foreign craftsmanship, like an elven-made clock from the Diamond Kingdom, or a dwarven mortar and pestle made of stone from Ruby.
“Dreya sends her regards,” Ashmedai remembered to say.
“Silly girl.” Luccite’s ears twitched. “We see each other every day.”
“You’re also an alchemist?” Levi asked, nodding at items he must have been used to from Braxton’s workshop.
“Of course.”
“Why don’t you and Braxton work together?”