18 The Church
Chapter18
01. Reskeme said, "What, I am going to wait for 2 hours?" Hank said, "Yes, they are known for their drinking habits and usually don't wake up until around noon or later." Reskeme said, "If we know we are going to have to wait! Why am I going to go there and wait for hours?." Hank said, "We at the messengers guild deliver as quickly as possible. If others are being lazy that has no bearing on us." Reskeme made a sour face. He had no desire to wait around for some lazy bastards.
02. Hank calmly said, "you have to go if you want to be paid for the day". The boy sighed with defeat. He was trying to get out of this delivery, but it appeared the guild master had other ideas. Hank handed Reskeme a sealed letter, with a wax seal, before glancing down at the boy's pants.
03. Reskeme began to sweat when Hank asked, "where on Laurentia did you get a tear already?" Reskeme turning and making his way with much haste replied, "we can't leave the customers waiting!I will see you later in the day!" Then opening the door and dashing away. With a somewhat anxious and nervous sweat, Reskeme made his way down the street passing guards and other morning people as he went. Reskeme headed towards the merchant's quarter as it was the quickest way to the church area.
04. Reskeme was casually strolling through the merchants' quarter when he decided to look out for a mage shop along the way. The shops were all lined up in their own areas, each with their own display on the window. Reskeme studied them as he passed them by. The blacksmith, which had a hammer on a sign, had weapons and armour displayed in the window. The boy wanted to go in to look at them. He then noticed the price of even a simple spear and decided he should keep moving. The tailor's shop had suits of clothes and bolts of fabric in the windows.
05. There were no prices posted, but the boy wasn't too interested as he already had a good pair of clothes. Reskeme was getting stressed thinking about the church. He decided checking some other shop windows would help his mood. The boy walked down the line of shops. He made it halfway past the baker shop before the smell forced him to buy a loaf of hot steaming bread with his last copper. 06 Reskeme thought it was soo worth it as he chewed on the delicious loaf of bread. The flavour was amazing and the crunchy texture made his walk much more pleasant. With a hop now in his step, he noticed the shop with a book logo on the window. Ahh, he thought excitedly, that must be either a library or it could be a mage shop. Reskeme walked to the shop window and looked in at the displayed items.
07. Reskeme turned pale, he felt like he was going to pass out from excitement. He saw that there was a plain book, that stated it was a magic pattern book, of the second and third-level pattern techniques. There were the magic layering techniques of levels 1 and 2 followed by the book of spell layering 3 and 4. Reskeme was bouncing with excitement. He looked at the displayed books through the window and coughed when he noticed the price. The lowest book had a price of 10 gold and the second-lowest was 30 gold.
08. Reskeme was blinking at the books there must be a problem, the display in the window must surely be wrong, that seemed far too expensive for magic books? Reskeme was thinking of ways he could make some copper and silver, or maybe even gold. He had felt he was getting a lot of money when he was told he would make ten coppers a day! Minus the clothing, he had to buy he only made three a day. At least Reskeme thought with a sigh he could buy food.
09. The boy decided he would have to find valuable stuff to sell. He needed to make some silver as he would need the 10 gold to buy the first book. Not to mention another 30 for the advanced book. Reskeme was wondering what the super valuable items would cost. Surely they wouldn't put the best magic books out on the front display he thought.
10. Reskeme decided he might pass out from seeing the price of one such item. There were plenty of people in the area buying things in the merchant's quarter and the merchant guild. With a shake of his head, he turned and walked through the crowd towards the church. While walking, Reskeme wondered how much some more throwing knives might cost. The knives could be a good ranged attack if the man in the alley was anything to judge.
11. Reskeme was lost in thought as he slowly made his way through the streets. Making his way to the richer areas of the city, he came upon some guards who demanded a pass. Reskeme presented the letter with the noble seal, to which they allowed him to be on his way. Reskeme smiled at the two guards. They look menacing in their shiny armour. Reskeme glanced at the guards as he passed. He briefly thought about trying to take one of their purses, but quickly decided that was a terrible idea.
12. After he made his way through the guards, Reskeme passed huge mansions that alone took up whole city blocks. The nobles district was lavish! Houses surrounded by high decorated fences and even grass. Reskeme thought it was preposterous to have grass and trees in your yard. How on earth would one even afford that, he thought. Reskeme decided the church might have a few things he would be able to make a profit from. If he is lucky.
13. After passing huge houses, the next always seeming more colourful than the first. Some even covered in weird mud. Reskeme made his way to a building that was surrounded by a big stone fence with an iron gate. In the boy's opinion, the gate would be more useful to turn into cartwheels or swords as it was useless being left open. He thought the sign at the front gate which stated this was the Laurentian church was useful.
14. Reskeme entered the open gates to the churchyard. The sight made his jaw drop. He was shocked at the massive circular fountain in the middle of the path. Standing on edges of the fountain were three tall statues, all holding hands towards the centre. Each statue stood on a pedestal around the water, looking down like they were staring at a world. One statue appeared to be male and was covered from head to toe in bright colours, his beautiful robe seemed to radiate smugness the boy thought. The fountain was clearly a representation of the gods.
15. Reskeme stared at the statue who was neither male nor female. The statue was human and had no gender-defining features. It looked neither feminine nor masculine and was covered in green leaves and vines. Not a hair marred its head and a mask covered the face. It was odd to Reskeme how there were the right characteristics and shapes, but it seemed so inhuman. The being also held a long wooden stick with branches holding massive greenstone at the end. The third and final statue was a tall muscular figure that was very feminine. It was covered from head to toe in a bright colourful armour that glowed. A sword was gripped in one hand with a shield strapped across her back. The shield had the symbol of the Laurentian pantheon emblazoned on it.
16. Reskeme was baffled that people would waste soo many expensive-looking things like the beautiful armour on a statue. Reskeme was slowly moving forward, glancing at the grass on each side of the walkway, and noticed how green and well-groomed the damn bushes were. The boy saw no reason why anyone would make a bush square. He thought that was nonsense! In the boy's opinion, bushes were perfect just the way they were.
17. Reskeme was staring up at the statues wondering if anything valuable would let itself be removed from them. When he noticed dark circles in the fountain. Coppers!! He thought, with a gasp, Reskeme couldn't believe his eyes as he jogged forward and stared at dozens of coppers in the water. Reskeme was staring in bafflement and unbelieving excitement at the coins.
18. Reskeme glanced around making sure no one was watching and made his way to the edge of the pool. He there looked back at the gate. He noticed as people passed, some looking inside but most passers didn't care at all.
19. Reskeme noticed 2 coins close to the edge and Rolled up his sleeve. Reskeme reached into the water and shivered at the cold sensation. He then sat down and reached almost slipping in his excitement to reach the coins. His arm was in past his elbow when he was finally able to pick up his two coins. Reskeme quickly lifted them out, in his excitement he made a splash. Then he didn't seem notice at all as he stared at what he was holding. In his hand, there was a silver coin and a copper coin.
20. Reskeme was shocked and couldn't believe what he held in his hand, the silver coin shiny and beautiful. He couldn't understand why someone would throw a silver coin into the little pond. One gutter rat had once told Reskeme that some nobles and merchants would toss coins in as they thought it brought good luck.
21. Reskeme had assumed his friend had been lying his ass off and making a joke. He was broken from his bafflement when someone shouted, "What are you doing boy!!" Reskeme almost jumped in panic. He was lucky his back was turned to the voice, he then took a second to fix his expression and get ready to lie like crazy. The man clearly angry shouted, "what are you doing?"
22. Reskeme slowly turned. There was a guard in shiny armour, carrying a spear, with a sword on his waist. The glare the guard was giving him gave him the chills. Reskeme replied, "I am donating, I wanted to get lucky and decided this could help". The guard didn't seem to believe Reskeme soo the boy turned trying not to show his panic. He took the copper in his other hand and pretended to pray before tossing the coin into the water. Reskeme knew how to pray. He had met many people who prayed, it was very common, even for gutter rats.
23. When Reskeme had waited for a moment, with his head bowed and hands to the sky he turned and smiled to the guard. The man smiled and said, "I'm sorry for disturbing your prayers. Do stay away from the fountain as stealing is punishable by the lash." The guard turned and marched away. This time, much louder than when he had entered, the man's armour clanked and jingled.
24. When the guard was out of sight Reskeme took in a deep breath. His body was pumped with adrenaline. Doing that kind of thing always made him stressed out. Reskeme stepped away from the fountain and made his way to the big doors. He decided he had enough excitement for the morning! Surely that kind of excitement wasn't good for anyone.
25. Then walking up the short steps, he knocked on the door. He waited a minute before knocking again. No one answered, he knocked harder and listened. Maybe no one could hear him? With that thought, Reskeme kicked the door a bunch of times Bang! Bang! Bang!. Reskeme kept kicking the door impatiently and was beginning to get frustrated. A muffled shout came from the top floor. Reskeme pretending he didn't hear the clearly angry person, kicked the door again Bang! Bang! Bang!.
26. The man yelled again "Shut up I'm coming!" Reskeme could tell the man was still in his room upstairs and decided he had enough of waiting. He kicked the door again. The curses and slanders the man-made about his mother made him blush. Reskeme, of course, was not one to waste time. When the man still wasn't to the door after another minute he lined up and got ready.
27. Reskeme kicked the door hard creating a loud Bang! Bang! Bang!. The man could be heard tripping down some stairs. Followed by more cursing and yelling, before some loud stomping. The man stopped on the other side of the door. Reskeme stepped back just in time. The door swung open with a slam!!! A clearly pissed and partly Dressed fat man stepped thru the door and yelled"Whaaat?!!!"
