Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 71 No. It Did Not.

The clerk reached under the counter and withdrew a sack made of thin leather much like a coin purse. “Would this do?” He asked.

“Perfect.” Isaac replied and took the sack. “Should we leave forty of it in platinum to pay him or turn it all into gold?” Isaac asked Lenna as he held the sack open and turned around to face her.

“It’ll be lighter in platinum coins.” She reminded him.

Isaac nodded as he handed the open sack towards Lenna for her to hold. She grabbed it near where his hands were and held it open for him. Isaac turned his Inventory so he could more or less shovel the coins out of it and into the sack ten at a time. “There, sixty.” He said and took the bag back from her.

Isaac turned around and set the bag on the counter for the clerk. The clerk had been watching intently but had not seen anything. He did hear coins being thrown into the bag but there was no fancy magic and no incantations spoken. “Yes, please allow me to make sure it is all real.” The clerk then added: “I hope it does not cause offense.”

“It’s fine. I’m used to it.” Isaac replied. The clerk took the sack and walked to somewhere the pair couldn’t see, presumably to make sure the platinum coins were real. Once he was gone Isaac pulled the boxes with their swords out of his Inventory and set them on the ground. “Three hundred in each right?”

“Yes.” Lenna replied.

A few moments later the clerk returned with a small cart that had six hundred gold coins on it. “Six hundred gold coins for sixty platinum coins sir.”

“Thank you.” Isaac replied and the clerk started handing the coins over in stacks of ten while he counted them in front of the pair. Isaac would take a stack and hand it to Lenna who had crouched down next to the boxes and started setting the stacks into the cloth padding that surrounded the swords.

“And six hundred.” The clerk said as he slid the last set across. “Would you like to leave anything here in the bank before you leave? We can also reserve space for you for the one gold per week price.”

Isaac reached low enough that the clerk couldn’t see his hand and grabbed a gold coin out of his Inventory. “Here. There should be a rather large deposit tomorrow.” Isaac told the man and handed him the coin. Lenna stood up and stretched.

“Understood sir, and thank you for your patronage.” The clerk replied.

Isaac nodded. “Thanks for not making me carry around thousands of gold coins.” He turned around and handed Lenna his coin purse out of his Inventory. He pulled the last forty platinum coins out of his Inventory and poured them into the purse. He then took it back and tossed it in his Inventory again so when they went to pay later he only had to smuggle one thing out of his Inventory instead of forty.

He heaved one of the boxes up to carry it out. “I can carry both of them.” Lenna commented.

“I’ll get this one. Just get the door, would you?” He grunted in reply.

The clerk, who Isaac couldn’t see but Lenna could see clearly, looked utterly perplexed. “Where did those boxes come from?” He asked.

“Magic.” Isaac replied and started walking towards the door as Lenna grabbed the other box. “See ya around.” He said over his shoulder as Lenna opened the door and walked out. She held the door for him with one hand as the other held the box with three hundred gold coins and a sword in it.

The pair left the curious and confused clerk behind. They then headed to the little hole in the wall, where they could ship expensive equipment and gold over long distances, that totally didn’t sound super shady.

The building had no defining features. It was just a solid brick square with a solid oak door. Lenna knocked once and then opened it. Inside was a dusty, mostly empty room, with a desk at the end and a small silver bell sitting on it. The silver bell was the only thing in the room without a speck of dust on it and seemed to shine in the street light that poured in the open door. Isaac followed her inside. “I’m beginning to think this isn’t the right place.” Isaac commented.

“Should I ring the bell?” Lenna asked.

Isaac shrugged. “I guess.”

She walked over to the bell, picked it up, and rang it twice. As she was setting it down a mouth formed on the desk and spoke. It sounded like a man in his seventies who was both bored and reading off a script. “Ring the bell three more times for the Couriers’ Guild branch. Ring only once more if you entered accidentally. Good day.”

Lenna had jumped and almost dropped the bell to reach for her sword when the mouth formed. Isaac had almost dropped the box he was holding and stumbled to keep it from crashing to the floor. “I guess ring it three more times.” He told Lenna once he had regained his composure.

Lenna rang the bell three times and set it down. The pair waited a few moments and then suddenly a door appeared on the back wall and a slim elvish man with their stereotypical pointy ears and lack of facial hair emerged. He had tan skin and green eyes. Isaac couldn’t tell if he was one or five hundred years old because of the way elves aged.

Lenna could feel from the way he moved and just the general feeling of the man that he was probably around her age, maybe a little older. “Greetings fine customers. If you are here and with those,” He gestured towards their boxes. “that means you have something that needs to get from here to somewhere else and don’t trust a caravan.”

“More or less.” Isaac replied. “We need to get these to the Altia Academy of Magic and Artificery in Altesia.”

The man smiled and clapped. “Magic swords then? It doesn’t really matter. What does matter is their weight. We charge a flat fee of one hundred gold to get anything less than five hundred pounds from anywhere within Altia to any other place within Altia. Delivering outside of the country is also possible but the fee triples.”

“I see.” Isaac replied and took a step further into the room as he had still only been a step or two inside and felt like he was yelling across the room to talk to the man. “This is our first time. Do we need a note or something with the swords? You seem knowledgeable in this, at least more than us.”

The courier smiled. “Yes and no. I’ll need you to fill out this form. It states from whom, to whom, why, and what the package is. The last part is new after someone started using our services to smuggle stolen magic items out of a city on lock down.” He explained happily. He pulled a piece of paper and a fountain pen out of the satchel hanging at his waist.

Isaac set the box down and took the paper and pen. The courier gestured towards the desk for Isaac to write on it. He did so and filled out the necessary information. “What about bringing the swords back?” Isaac asked when he was done.

“Ah, simply fill out another form but switch the recipient to you and the sender to the Academy. When they are finished a courier will bring them back for you. You will have to pay both shipping costs now though. I hope you understand.” The man told them.

Isaac sighed. “I would prefer to pay when you return. I don’t like shipping money away and praying it comes back.”

The courier shrugged. “Risks of sending valuables over long distances. I will tell you that we have a ninety percent success rate. I hope that eases your mind but I will need the payment before I leave.”

“What causes the ten percent failure?” Isaac asked.

The courier chuckled. “Oh lots of things. Bandits, monsters, natural disasters, and very rarely the courier takes off with the goods. They don’t usually last very long afterwards, I’m happy to say.” The courier explained with obvious cheer.

“Oh, why not?” Isaac continued his questioning.

The courier got a twinkle in his eye as he responded. “Because anything worth losing this job over has to be worth a king’s ransom and whoever it belonged to is not going to let anyone get away with it.”

Isaac shrugged “I wouldn’t either.” He returned to the box he had set down and opened it away from the courier. He acted like he pulled the coin purse out of the box but had in reality withdrew it from his Inventory. He closed the box and they finished the transaction. The courier smiled as he put the bag of coins, both delivery forms, both boxes, and the fountain pen into his satchel.

Isaac watched intently as the boxes seemed to just slide into nothingness. “Handy things aren’t they?” The courier commented, noticing Isaac’s gaze.

“Yeah. I need one.” Isaac replied.

“Yes.” Lenna affirmed.

The courier chuckled and went to leave. “It has been a pleasure Lord Wexler, Lady V’Nova. I, Elequin Ter’Tra, will return post haste.” He then vanished in a blur of speed. The wall returned to normal as soon as he was gone.

“Nothing had your name on it.” Isaac commented once he was gone.

Lenna stared at the wall that once held a door. “No. It did not.”