Tamora Pierce owns the entire universe of this story, all the characters,
the world they live on and the very air they use to sustain life. Only the
vague plot and dialog I have attributed to TP's characters in this tale
belongs to me. I freely give my permission for Tamora Pierce to use any or
all of the plot/story/dialog/concept if she so desires in any way she
desires.
Blame all lousy spelling and grammar on the California Education System. Thank the Lord for spell checkers.
Chapter 24
Tris entered the library wiping water off the cover of the inventory book.
"Ha, another Pudge puddle." Laughed Briar.
Tris glared at him, "Shut up."
Sitting in a chair Tris started thumbing through the book.
"According to this they managed to hide just over 500 barrels of wine and other drink in that cavern, that is over 26000 gallons."
"It also says that the caverns were used for generations to store anything that the owners didn't want to sell or throw away. It lists crates of books, furniture, suits of armor, weapons some old custom made carriages for the older noble lines, paintings and crate after crate marked unknown."
"Let's bring Sandry up to date."
"Building the telepathic bond the three contacted the fourth."
"Sandry, guess what we found?"
"Now don't start that, no guessing games."
"First could you send a message to Winding Circle and see if Lark, Rosethorn, Frostpine, Niko and Crane would like to come to the party tomorrow? Also I think it might be a good if you were to declare a holiday for Circle Four and the school for the day in order to prevent any resentment."
"Consider it done, In fact I'll go myself, I need to get out of the office before I forget what fresh air is."
"Good, this is what we found in the cave." And they proceeded to bring Sandry up to date on everything except the money chest, saving the surprise for tomorrow.
"Twenty six thousand gallons of wine?"
"And ale, brandy, other assorted drinks." answered Tris.
"What about Bordeaux's body." Sandry asked.
"When we get the barrels moved out of the way we will bring him out and give him a proper internment." Briar said, "I don't think there is any hurry at this date."
"What are you hiding?" asked Sandry, "I can feel you're hiding something from me."
"Let's just say that we have a small surprise for you and the Duke."
"We can have a treasure hunt every week in that cavern for years." Said Daja.
"Very well, if you are going to be that way, I'll head out to Winding Circle, talk to you later. Bye"
"Bye until tomorrow." And the three came out of the telepathic bond.
"First things first, lets get Juleo some help and move the barrels into the front storage areas, then we can start having the older stuff moved to the from back caves to the front cave and see what is there." Daja commented.
"Tris," She kept reading, "Tris."
"What?"
Briar pointed to the door, Tris looked at the doorway, a small grey cloud with blue eyes was peeking around the corner.
Chime swooped into sight attacking Pudge, the weather sprite fled, throwing miniature lightings at Chime, being immune to lighting Chime ignored them.
"Never mind them, it's just a game they play. Neither one can really effect the other." Tris told Briar and Daja.
The sound of Chime's battle cry faded down the hall.
"Tris went back to the book, "Do we have a vault room here in the manor."
"I don't know, we will have to ask Alfred." Said Daja.
Tris stood and rolled her head on her neck, "Briar, you ward the room, I'm going to clean my office then I think I'll take a nap, I'm tired." And she left the room.
Briar got his mage kit and started warding he room, Daja carried the dishes out to the card in the hall, Briar finished the ward and they closed the doors to the library and locked them.
"I'm going out to the gardens and see what's going on."
When Briar opened the door he did not notice Pudge rushing out the door above his head with Chime right behind. Briar headed towards the gardens, Pudge flew to the greenhouse and squeezed through an air vent into the glass building. Chime swooped up to the vent and clinging to the vent frame with her head sticking through into the greenhouse chimed draconic curses after her fleeing foe. It sounded a lot like wind chimes in a hurricane. Chime finally gave up and flew off to find someone else to play with.
In the greenhouse, Pudge floated to the peak of the glass ceiling and peered around, there were two gardeners working with the plants, spotting movement among the seedlings Pudge floated slowly over them. Looking down he spotted a large rat eating the seedlings, he floated down just behind the rat, POP, POP, POP, three miniature lighting bolts hit the rat. The rat jumped two feet straight up and landed running, disappearing in a streak of grey. Pudge bounced up and down in the air, his version of a giggle. He went back on the prowl.
The preparations for the party continued.
That evening Briar, as was his custom, ate dinner in the common room with the staff, guards and the other retainers who worked at Green Acres, Daja usually worked through the dinner hour and ate at the manor kitchen later. Tris ate when the hunger got strong enough to pull her nose out of a book. The cooking staff had given up trying to set a regular time for meals.
Eating in the common room gave Briar a chance to discuss the next days work schedule and hear complaints from the workers, with the telepathic bond decisions could be made quickly. On the wall of the common room was a chart of all the jobs that the workers did and every workers name was on a wooden nameplate hanging on the chart to show where he was working. These nameplates were moved as the workers moved from one job to another. What became obvious to everyone, when the first changes were made, was the fact that here, through hard work, a person could rise in status.
Briar stood and clapped his hands, when he had everyone's attention he said, "The Duke, Countess Sandry and others will be here tomorrow morning, anyone who wants to go to Summersea for the day can use Green Acres horses and wagons, leave them at Circle Four. The cooks have been working all day getting ready for the party, and they also get the day off. We will all cook our own breakfasts tomorrow or skip breakfast and get fat at the party."
"Ok, done, get to your rest, or whatever, I'm out of here." And Briar headed for the manor.
Roaming the estate grounds, Briar checked with Daja at the forge, and then went for a last look at the gardens, heading back past the greenhouse he heard a faint pop, pop, pop and peering around he could not determine where it came from. With a shrug of his shoulders, he went to bed.
When Briar finished his morning bath, he went to the kitchen and found Tris already there eating her breakfast, "Morning Tris," mugph, she replied, not fully alert yet, he opened the cold cabinet and pulled out a couple of eggs, bacon and a pitcher of milk. Checking Tris's glass he refilled it and cooked scrambled eggs and bacon for his breakfast, putting his plate on the table he grabbed a couple of muffins from the bread storage cabinet, Tris already had butter and jam on the table. Filling his glass with milk he replaced the milk in the cold cabinet and sat to eat.
Finishing their breakfast Tris picked up the dishes and took them to the sink, as she started washing them Briar replaced the butter and jam in the cold cabinet, he then grabbed a cloth and started drying the dishes.
"Daja up yet?"
"Yes, she was finishing her dishes when I came in." replied Tris.
"I smell meat cooking."
"That's where Daja went, some guards and staff came in early and took a whole beef and asked Daja to help get the coals going for the cookout. They set up outside of the forge and have a open pit fire going with the beef on a spit cooking, the head cook said she had a cooking sauce that would make it melt in you mouth."
Briar shook his head, "So the head cook, on her day off, is cooking for fun."
"I mentioned that and she said it got her out of the kitchen."
"Any idea when Sandry is due?
"They're on the way, should be here soon."
Briar and Daja went outside and walked to the area near the forge where the cooks were working, several tables has been set up by using planks and sawhorses, several temporary cold cabinets were arrange around the area where the party food was stored until everyone arrived.
Briar walked over to the head cook, "Julia, how long will it take to cook that much meat?"
"It will be ready by noon."
"The Duke is on his way, it smells good."
"We will be ready for him."
"Not much of a day off for you," Briar commented.
"I love to cook."
He grinned at her, "Have fun." And wandered over to where Bud and Juleo was setting up the barrels from the cave.
A faint whistle sounded, Briar turned to the front gate, a guard was waving, "Riders arriving."
Blame all lousy spelling and grammar on the California Education System. Thank the Lord for spell checkers.
Chapter 24
Tris entered the library wiping water off the cover of the inventory book.
"Ha, another Pudge puddle." Laughed Briar.
Tris glared at him, "Shut up."
Sitting in a chair Tris started thumbing through the book.
"According to this they managed to hide just over 500 barrels of wine and other drink in that cavern, that is over 26000 gallons."
"It also says that the caverns were used for generations to store anything that the owners didn't want to sell or throw away. It lists crates of books, furniture, suits of armor, weapons some old custom made carriages for the older noble lines, paintings and crate after crate marked unknown."
"Let's bring Sandry up to date."
"Building the telepathic bond the three contacted the fourth."
"Sandry, guess what we found?"
"Now don't start that, no guessing games."
"First could you send a message to Winding Circle and see if Lark, Rosethorn, Frostpine, Niko and Crane would like to come to the party tomorrow? Also I think it might be a good if you were to declare a holiday for Circle Four and the school for the day in order to prevent any resentment."
"Consider it done, In fact I'll go myself, I need to get out of the office before I forget what fresh air is."
"Good, this is what we found in the cave." And they proceeded to bring Sandry up to date on everything except the money chest, saving the surprise for tomorrow.
"Twenty six thousand gallons of wine?"
"And ale, brandy, other assorted drinks." answered Tris.
"What about Bordeaux's body." Sandry asked.
"When we get the barrels moved out of the way we will bring him out and give him a proper internment." Briar said, "I don't think there is any hurry at this date."
"What are you hiding?" asked Sandry, "I can feel you're hiding something from me."
"Let's just say that we have a small surprise for you and the Duke."
"We can have a treasure hunt every week in that cavern for years." Said Daja.
"Very well, if you are going to be that way, I'll head out to Winding Circle, talk to you later. Bye"
"Bye until tomorrow." And the three came out of the telepathic bond.
"First things first, lets get Juleo some help and move the barrels into the front storage areas, then we can start having the older stuff moved to the from back caves to the front cave and see what is there." Daja commented.
"Tris," She kept reading, "Tris."
"What?"
Briar pointed to the door, Tris looked at the doorway, a small grey cloud with blue eyes was peeking around the corner.
Chime swooped into sight attacking Pudge, the weather sprite fled, throwing miniature lightings at Chime, being immune to lighting Chime ignored them.
"Never mind them, it's just a game they play. Neither one can really effect the other." Tris told Briar and Daja.
The sound of Chime's battle cry faded down the hall.
"Tris went back to the book, "Do we have a vault room here in the manor."
"I don't know, we will have to ask Alfred." Said Daja.
Tris stood and rolled her head on her neck, "Briar, you ward the room, I'm going to clean my office then I think I'll take a nap, I'm tired." And she left the room.
Briar got his mage kit and started warding he room, Daja carried the dishes out to the card in the hall, Briar finished the ward and they closed the doors to the library and locked them.
"I'm going out to the gardens and see what's going on."
When Briar opened the door he did not notice Pudge rushing out the door above his head with Chime right behind. Briar headed towards the gardens, Pudge flew to the greenhouse and squeezed through an air vent into the glass building. Chime swooped up to the vent and clinging to the vent frame with her head sticking through into the greenhouse chimed draconic curses after her fleeing foe. It sounded a lot like wind chimes in a hurricane. Chime finally gave up and flew off to find someone else to play with.
In the greenhouse, Pudge floated to the peak of the glass ceiling and peered around, there were two gardeners working with the plants, spotting movement among the seedlings Pudge floated slowly over them. Looking down he spotted a large rat eating the seedlings, he floated down just behind the rat, POP, POP, POP, three miniature lighting bolts hit the rat. The rat jumped two feet straight up and landed running, disappearing in a streak of grey. Pudge bounced up and down in the air, his version of a giggle. He went back on the prowl.
The preparations for the party continued.
That evening Briar, as was his custom, ate dinner in the common room with the staff, guards and the other retainers who worked at Green Acres, Daja usually worked through the dinner hour and ate at the manor kitchen later. Tris ate when the hunger got strong enough to pull her nose out of a book. The cooking staff had given up trying to set a regular time for meals.
Eating in the common room gave Briar a chance to discuss the next days work schedule and hear complaints from the workers, with the telepathic bond decisions could be made quickly. On the wall of the common room was a chart of all the jobs that the workers did and every workers name was on a wooden nameplate hanging on the chart to show where he was working. These nameplates were moved as the workers moved from one job to another. What became obvious to everyone, when the first changes were made, was the fact that here, through hard work, a person could rise in status.
Briar stood and clapped his hands, when he had everyone's attention he said, "The Duke, Countess Sandry and others will be here tomorrow morning, anyone who wants to go to Summersea for the day can use Green Acres horses and wagons, leave them at Circle Four. The cooks have been working all day getting ready for the party, and they also get the day off. We will all cook our own breakfasts tomorrow or skip breakfast and get fat at the party."
"Ok, done, get to your rest, or whatever, I'm out of here." And Briar headed for the manor.
Roaming the estate grounds, Briar checked with Daja at the forge, and then went for a last look at the gardens, heading back past the greenhouse he heard a faint pop, pop, pop and peering around he could not determine where it came from. With a shrug of his shoulders, he went to bed.
When Briar finished his morning bath, he went to the kitchen and found Tris already there eating her breakfast, "Morning Tris," mugph, she replied, not fully alert yet, he opened the cold cabinet and pulled out a couple of eggs, bacon and a pitcher of milk. Checking Tris's glass he refilled it and cooked scrambled eggs and bacon for his breakfast, putting his plate on the table he grabbed a couple of muffins from the bread storage cabinet, Tris already had butter and jam on the table. Filling his glass with milk he replaced the milk in the cold cabinet and sat to eat.
Finishing their breakfast Tris picked up the dishes and took them to the sink, as she started washing them Briar replaced the butter and jam in the cold cabinet, he then grabbed a cloth and started drying the dishes.
"Daja up yet?"
"Yes, she was finishing her dishes when I came in." replied Tris.
"I smell meat cooking."
"That's where Daja went, some guards and staff came in early and took a whole beef and asked Daja to help get the coals going for the cookout. They set up outside of the forge and have a open pit fire going with the beef on a spit cooking, the head cook said she had a cooking sauce that would make it melt in you mouth."
Briar shook his head, "So the head cook, on her day off, is cooking for fun."
"I mentioned that and she said it got her out of the kitchen."
"Any idea when Sandry is due?
"They're on the way, should be here soon."
Briar and Daja went outside and walked to the area near the forge where the cooks were working, several tables has been set up by using planks and sawhorses, several temporary cold cabinets were arrange around the area where the party food was stored until everyone arrived.
Briar walked over to the head cook, "Julia, how long will it take to cook that much meat?"
"It will be ready by noon."
"The Duke is on his way, it smells good."
"We will be ready for him."
"Not much of a day off for you," Briar commented.
"I love to cook."
He grinned at her, "Have fun." And wandered over to where Bud and Juleo was setting up the barrels from the cave.
A faint whistle sounded, Briar turned to the front gate, a guard was waving, "Riders arriving."