CHAPTER THREE: TOM

For two weeks, they stayed with the Ralads, resting and preparing themselves for the long journey ahead. Their journey to the City of the Rats.

As they left Raladin, they companions were all fit and ready to go, but after two weeks of moving west to where the fabled city lied, they became footsore and weary, with no food and no water left, and it didn't help that they were travelling down a depressing road with plains of thorns either side of them and all they could see up ahead was thorns. Even worse than that, was they were weary of Grey Guards and even more dangerous, Thaegan's children who would no doubt know about their mother's death.

'What's that up ahead?' asked Morio, breaking the silence, and pointing to a glimmer of white on the side of the road.

It turned out to be a sign post reading:

TOM
Everything for the Traveller

'Hmm, it must be some sort of shop.' said a thoughtful Jarred.

'What's a shop?' asked a curious Morio.

Jasmine turned and looked at Morio in surprise.

'Who don't know what a shop is?' exclaimed Jasmine.

'Jasmine, Morio has spent most of his life in the Forests of Silence...'

'Only since he was six.' argued Jasmine. 'I knew what a shop was when I was that age!'

'Yes, I admit that is odd, but -'

'Can you two stop talking as though I not here?' demanded Morio. 'So what is a shop?'

'It's a place for buying and selling things, such as food and clothes.' explained Jarred.

'I don't get it.' said Morio.

'What's there to get?' asked Jasmine as they began to head towards the shop.

'Food grows on trees and in the ground and you get water from a stream. And everything else is found, given to you or made.' said a confused Morio. 'So why do you need a shop? Is it there for people who are too lazy to find things themselves?'

'What are you on about?' asked a confused Jasmine.

Jarred then spent the rest of the journey to Tom's trying to explain to Morio the importance of a shop. It wasn't as easy as it seemed.

'I hope this Tom sells something for sore feet,' grumbled Jasmine as the store came into view.

'Well, he does say that he has everything for travellers, so I would be surprised if he doesn't.' said Jarred. 'But we'll have to choose only what we really need. We don't have any money to waste.'

Morio cocked his head to one side. He still didn't understand the concept of money. He got even more curious when they stopped outside the shop and looked in through the window.

'Wow, he sure has a lot of stuff. I don't even know what some of this stuff is!' said Jasmine. 'Hey look, "Free gift for every customer",' she read off a sign, before looking eagerly at her father.

'Well, might as well go in,' muttered Jarred, leading the way into the shop. Jasmine practically ran in, while Morio followed a little more hesitantly.

A bell fastened to the door tinkled as they entered the shop, but no-one came forward to greet them. They looked around, blinking in the gloom. The crowded room seemed very dim after the bright sunlight outside. Narrow corridors ran between shelved that rose from the floor to the low ceiling. The shelves were crammed with goods. At the far end was a dusty counter cluttered with account books, a set of scales, and what looked like a money tin.

'Welcome to Tom's store,' said a tall, lean man with a hat on the back of his head as he walked into the room. 'What can Tom show you? And better yet, what can Tom sell you?'

'We need a good length of strong rope.' said Jarred, while Jasmine and Morio looked around. He swore that he heard Morio whisper, 'Strange.' a few times.

Tom disappeared for a moment, before coming back with a coil of rope.

'This is Tom's best rope.' he said. 'Light and very strong. Three silver coins, and it is yours.'

'Three silver coins!' exclaimed Jarred. 'That's robbery!'

'Not robbery, my friend, but business,' Tom said calmly. 'For where else will you find a rope like this?'

Holding one end of the rope, he threw the rest upwards with a flick of his wrist. The rope uncoiled like a snake and wound itself tightly around one of the ceiling rafters. Tom pulled at it, to show its strength, then flicked his wrist again, and the rope unwrapped itself from the rafter and dropped back into his hands, winding itself up into a neat coil as it fell.

'Trickery,' growled Jarred, while Morio looked at it suspiciously. Only Jasmine seemed impressed with it.

'We'll take it!' she exclaimed.

'What?' yelled Jarred, before she stole his money bag. 'Oi! Jasmine!'

Jasmine fished out three silver coins.

'So that's money?' said Morio, looking curiously into the money bag.

'Uh huh,' said Jasmine, handing the coins to Tom.

'I don't see anything special about them.' muttered Morio.

Tom, having heard Morio's comment, looked over at him curiously, before turning his attention, back to Jasmine and the annoyed Jarred.

'Is there anything else Tom can show you? No obligation to buy.'

'Everything!' exclaimed an excited Jasmine.

'You are your mother's daughter,' muttered Jarred, before walking over and sitting down next to Morio. 'I think we'll be here a while.' He told the boy.

'Why is she so fascinated with the shop?' asked Morio. 'I can't see anything spectacular about it.'

Jarred only shrugged and watched as Tom showed Jasmine everything in his shop. For an hour Jarred and Morio sat, before Tom had finally showed them everything.

'So,' said Tom. 'Tom has shown you. Now, what can he sell you?'

'Um,' said Jasmine.

'We'll take the no bake bread and that stuff that makes any water safe to drink.' said Jarred, walking over to the counter. 'Seeing as that's all we can afford.' He took his money bag off Jasmine.

At that moment, the door opened and in the doorway stood a tall, strong man wearing rough, but clean garments, with longish black hair and black beard. Around his forehead was a strange golden, metal band. Jarred gave a little gasp, and turned away when the man looked at him as he enter the threshold. He nodded briefly to Jasmine, and frowned slightly at Morio, taking in his appearance. Before taking a length of self-coiling rope from a shelf and went over to the dusty counter.

'How much?' he asked Tom.

'One silver coin for you, good sir.' answered Tom.

Jasmine went to open her mouth to protest, since he had charged them, three solver coins, when Morio grabbed her shoulder and shook his head, before pointing to the counter where the man had drawn the secret sign of the Resistance. This man was clearly a member.

The Resistance man, throw Tom a sliver coin, before casually, removing the mark.

'I have heard rumours of strange happenings at the Lake of Tears, and indeed all through the territory across the stream,' the stranger said carelessly, as he turned to go. 'I have heard that Thaegan is no more.'

Jarred, Jasmine and Morio exchanged a look. Had word really spread that quickly?

'Indeed?' said Tom smoothly. 'I cannot tell you. I am but a poor shopkeeper, and know nothing of these things. The thorns by the road, I understand, are as wild as ever.'

'The thorns are not the result of sorcery, but of a hundred years of poverty and neglect.' snorted the stranger. 'The Del King's thorns, I call them, as do many others.' The man said, before leaving the shop.

'Who was that?' Jarred asked Tom the moment the stranger was gone.

'No names are mentioned in Tom's shop but Tom's own, sir.' Tom answered calmly. 'It is better so, in these hard times.' He put a jar of fire-making beads and a pipe that blew bubbles of light into their pile of goods. 'Take these, no extra charge.'

'Why?' asked Morio.

'Tom is always happy to help a traveller - as you have seen.'

'Very well,' said Jarred, handing over the appropriate amount of money.

'It has been a pleasure to serve you,' said Tom.

'Hey, what about our free gift!' said Jasmine.

'Jasmine! Don't be rude!' scolded Jarred. 'He has already given us -'

'Ah, of course.' smiled Tom, handing Jasmine a small, flat tin box.

'What is it?' asked Jasmine.

'Water Eaters. The instructions are on the back.'

'Thank you,' said Jarred, before ushering Morio and Jasmine out of the shop, encase Jasmine wanted to try and buy something else.

When they arrived outside, they watched as the Resistance man rode off down the road on a horse.

'Wow, just look at him go,' muttered Jarred. 'If we had horses our journey would go a lot faster.'

'Tom has horses.'

The companions looked towards the shop door and saw Tom leaning against the door frame.

'Well, they're not really horses, but they are a fast ride and a fair price.' continued Tom, leading them around the back of his shop where they saw three strange creatures grazing. They were roughly the same size as horses, but they had long necks, very small heads with narrow, drooping ears, and only three legs - one thick one at the front and two thinner ones at the back.

'Muddlets,' said Tom happily, when he saw that they didn't know what they were.

'Are they fast?' asked Jarred as Morio and Jasmine went over to the strange creatures.

'Muddlets run as fast as the wind blows and they are far stronger than any horse.' said Tom. 'Plus they are good listeners too. Just yell "Brix" when you want them to go and "Snuff" when you want them to stop.'

'Hmm,' said Jarred, walking over and inspecting them. 'How much do you want?'

'Let's say, eighteen gold coins.'

'What? I don't have anywhere near that much!' exclaimed Jarred.

'Even if we gave back all that stuff we bought off you, we wouldn't be able to afford them.' said Jasmine.

'Then I'm afraid -'

'Wait!' said Morio, digging into one of his pockets. 'Will you trade this for the muddlets?' He poured two handfuls of gold coins into Tom's hand.

'I can't believe it! Where did you get all that money from?' asked a shocked Jasmine.

'That is money? I thought it was silver?' said a bored Morio.

'Eighteen gold it is,' said Jarred, taking the extra money out of Tom's hand and putting it in his own money bag, knowing that Morio couldn't care less.

He then climbed onto one of the muddlets looking a little uneasy.

'Now, one more thing.' said Tom, I have not asked where you are going, for I do not want to know, but I am going to give you a piece of advice. About half an hour from here you will come to a place where the road divides. Take the left path, no matter how tempted you may be to do otherwise.'

'Thanks Tom.' said Jasmine as they began to rid towards the City of the Rats.

-THE PRINCE OF DELTORA-

'I hate to say it, but Tom was right!' laughed Morio as they rode quickly through the beautiful terrain. 'We'll get there very fast on these guys!'

'Where did you get that many gold coins from anyway?' asked Jarred.

'I told you before. Living in the forest I get all kinds of things from the Grey Guards.' answered Morio. 'Most of the time it would be those gold things you call money. It's also where I got two of my daggers from.'

'Where did you get the third?'' asked Jasmine.

'I had it on me when I arrived in the forest,' shrugged Morio. 'Hey, there's the fork, Tom spoke of.'

In the middle of the fork was a sign with the right leading to the Broad River and the left leading to Miller's Rise.

'Apparently, the City of the Rats isn't that big and stands alone on the bend of the Broad River,' said Jarred, looking thoughtfully down the right road.

'You don't know much about it, do you?' asked Morio, looking over at Jarred.

'All I know is that it is a walled city that appears to be completely deserted.' answered Jarred. 'Many have seen it from the outside, but it is unknown if anyone has seen inside its walls.' He then turned his muddlet down the right path, followed by Jasmine.

'What are you two doing? Tom said to stay on the left path!' said Morio.

'From what we know, this is the path we want. It leads to the City of the Rats. Besides, Tom didn't know that we were going to the city.' shrugged Jasmine, before taking off with Jarred, leaving Morio to catch up.

When they were half way along the road, the muddlets suddenly became all excited and began to struggle against their reins. The companions all yelled "Snuff" to make them stop, but they were unsuccessful. The muddlets ended kicking them off and they fell painfully and forcefully to the ground, knocking them unconscious.


Azaelia Silmarwen facebook page: link on profile
Written: 18 January 2012

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