like to sell seven of these horses as well.”
A look of incredulity crossed Bear’s wide face. “You want to sell seven?”
“Yes. Can you buy them, or would you like us to try someone else?”
“No, no, I can take them. Let me have a look. I hope you’re not expecting a lot for them, I mean,” Bear said, walking up to Calvin and Phantom.
“Not those ones. The ones that have stuff tied to them. You can have whichever seven you want, it doesn’t matter to me.” Bear inspected the horses that a few days ago had belonged the queen. Legon wondered if Bear would figure it out.
“These are exceptional horses. You can tell just looking at them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were military grade. Say, how did you get them?” There was a suspicious look on Bear’s face. He was going to figure it out. They must look guilty bringing in this many horses to sell.
Arkin didn’t lose his cool and said in a calm voice, “We killed ten royal guard and these were their horses.”
Legon looked at Arkin in disbelief. He wanted to say something but his voice wasn’t working. Bear looked a little uncomfortable; he looked them over, eyes lingering on Sasha and Keither, and then gave a loud bark of laugher.
“Ok, ok, I get your point. I won’t go sticking my nose into your business. Killed ten royal guards, eh? I like you, buddy. Ok, so here’s what my thoughts are: there are five of you and you are going to have eight horses, so my guess is that three of them will be for pack. Now I don’t have the money to pay you for all seven, but,” he said raising a finger,
“I will do this instead: I will take the seven and will trade out the riding saddles for the three you keep with pack saddles. Then I will shoe all your horses and make any repairs to your current equipment.” Bear smiled widely, like he was going out of his way. Arkin took a moment to answer.
“We’ll take that deal, plus four hundred shells.” Legon did another double take. That was a good chunk of change, and they didn’t need the money. What was Arkin doing?
Bear frowned. “Three hundred and I get help with the shoes.”
Arkin looked at Kovos. “It’s your call—you’re the smith.”
“Oh, you’re a smith?” Bear asked.
“Yeah, ok, deal,” Kovos said. “But one question: Why don’t you go to the forge? Why do you need my help?”
“Ah, the forge. Well, that’s government-owned and you can buy ingots from it, but as far as production it only does government work.”
“Like what?” asked Keither.
Bear looked at the boy and smirked. “Looks like you had a riding accident. If you like I would be happy to give you some lessons while you’re here.”
“Thank you, but I’m not interested,” Keither replied. “What does the forge make?”
“Oh, the forge. Well, anything for the government really—armor, weapons, wheels, you name it.”
“So nothing for the town?”
“No, it doesn’t, that’s why we need a smith, and…”
“We don’t want to take any more of your time. We need to get a few other things while we’re here. How long with this take you?” Arkin asked.
“You can leave sometime tomorrow afternoon, provided your companion here knows what he’s doing.”
“I’ll have the shoes done tonight. If you can get the tack and other stuff we can leave by morning. You guys go run your errands. I’ll hook up with you later,” Kovos said, starting to rummage through his bags. Bear gave them directions to a local inn and shops they needed to go to. By nightfall they were done with their shopping and were in Arkin’s room at the inn.
“Why did you tell Bear that we killed those men?” Keither asked. Arkin looked at him with a wry smile.
“Because no one would admit that, and it’s hard to believe. Sometimes the best way to hide something is to put it in the open. No doubt your next question will be about why I asked such a steep price for the horses when we have money. Well, that’s also easy—if we look like we’re rich then we draw attention, but if we look like we’re just bargaining then we won’t.”
Kovos came in the room filthy. “Ok they’re all done. We can leave in the morning, and believe me, that will not be soon enough. Bear is driving me crazy!”
Legon chuckled. “Why is that?”
“He will not shut up, and he keeps trying to sell