Cloaking Device

Princess Arianelle of Tarmard pays a secret visit to a magic shop.

Arianelle

By Eddie Davis

© 2015

 

 

            

1.

Cloaking Device

 

The door to Gee Macstus’ arcane store opened suddenly, causing the elderly wizard to abruptly pop out of one of his frequent catnaps.  His long pipe fell from his mouth and bounced off the counter, much to his embarrassment.

A brown cloaked figure shuffled into the establishment, his or her identity hidden beneath the hooded garment.

“I’ll be with you in just a moment,”   he mumbled while groping for his pipe (which had rolled onto the floor).

The customer did not respond but softly approached the counter.   He could tell his guest was elven, for only they could move so silently.   Of course his ears were not as good as they once were, so maybe he was mistaken.

“Sorry about that,” he said as he pulled himself up from the floor, “I’m always dropping my pipe.    Now, what can I do for you?”

The figure stood there for a hesitant moment, and then, very reluctantly lowered the hood.

Gee gasped, taking a step back and was immediately regretful of such a reaction.

She was frowning, but that did nothing to hamper her rather unorthodox beauty.    He knew at once who she was, for the girl had inherited a full dose of her mother’s dark elven albinism.  

“Princess Arianelle…. I assume?”   It was a foolish question, for who else could it be?    She wasn’t too happy to verify what they both knew had to be obvious, but the girl nodded once.

“Your Majesty, how you honor me with your patronage.    To what do I owe this great honor?”

Her red eyes glowed a bit menacingly, though Gee knew that it was merely a sign of strong emotion in a drow that caused the glow.   Of course, Princess Arianelle was less than half dark elf.    You couldn’t really tell, though, for little of her father’s race was evident in the tall young woman.

Arianelle brushed back her long silvery white hair, glancing both ways in the empty shop to verify what she was about to say was heard by none but the proprietor.

“I was never here, understood?    I will pay for your forgetfulness, and promise the potential for future purchases as long as you tell nobody, and I mean NOBODY, that I was here.   Do we have clarity in this?”

Gee at once felt a cold chill go up his back.   It was more than just nervousness; it was a sense of a pricey sale of some secret needful thing.

“Yes of course, Your Majesty!   You will have perfect compliance from me.”

“Good.”   She leaned in closer and got right to the point, “I want a ring --- a magic ring that will change my appearance for as long as I wear it.”

It was a tough order these days, for magic was more difficult and powerful rings (or any magic item) were rare and quite expensive.

“Ah… well, it certainly can be done, but it won’t be cheap, I’m afraid.”

“How much?”  she asked, still frowning.

“I’m afraid it would cost at least 500 gold pieces.”  He cringed, expecting an annoyed reaction.   She merely sighed.

“Alright… I will pay 1,000 pieces of gold for the ring and your silence.”

He was so stunned that he nearly lost his pipe again.   It took him a moment to regain his composure, so he did not try to hide it from her.

“That is most generous, Your Majesty.    I must inform you, however, that these types of rings are not nearly as common as they once were.      Unfortunately, they no longer work as well as in the days of my youth.    Back in those days one could appear as a different race or the opposite sex.    You could be taller or shorter, fat or skinny - they were greatly favored by thieves and assassins.   Now they are not that powerful.”

The Princess growled a bit under her breath as her frown deepened. “So what DO they do now, wizard?”

“Well, they only make rather conservative alterations to your appearance, but they will not change features, shape or size, they only change the coloring of hair, eyes and skin.     Sadly, even these alterations must be only slightly different than what you actually look like.”

“For example?    What would one of these rings do for me?”

“Your Majesty, your hair might be changed to a pure silver or white, or -maybe- a pale, pale blonde.     Your lovely white skin could be changed to match that of a human albino - a pinkish white rather than your own pure white.      Now your eyes we could change to a pale blue.”

“Why only pale blue, wizard?”   she demanded.

“Because the ring only modifies slightly what you have to start with.     Humans and surface elves who have albinism have clear or blue eyes, so this would be the most we could change them.     It is the same way with your skin - human and surface elves’ albinism is quite a bit different than drow albinism.”

She snorted, “How well I know that!    I was so unlucky to have inherited it completely from my mother.”

“Your mother is quite beautiful, Your Highness.    I have heard that drow traits usually dominate in those of mixed heritage...   But of course you have inherited her loveliness.”

Arianelle sneered. “Don’t try to patronize me, alright?     I know the truth.     So can you obtain one of these rings and how long would I have to wait before I could wear it?”

Gee calculated it for a few moments. “I have people here in Westmark that can take an existing ring and enchant it.    It would be tomorrow evening at the earliest before I could deliver it to you.”

The Princess continued frowning, but nodded. “If that is the best that you can do, then I have no other option, do I?”

Gee did not know how best to reply to her, so he just wrote the details down on a piece of parchment.

“May I ask Her Highness why she needs such a ring as this?”   He knew this would annoy her, but his curiosity was too great.

Arianelle’s eyes flared. “You may NOT ask such a question!    My reasons are my own and that is all that you need to know, wizard.”

“I don’t mean to pry into your private business, Your Highness, but I thought that if I knew what your reason was, then perhaps I could offer further help.”

The girl leaned in close to him, seething with fury, which she seemed to just barely keep in check.

“I don’t like the Hutcaiah, wizard!    I don’t like the race and I especially don’t like their nobility.   Perhaps I am preparing a disguise so I can go and assassinate the Hutcaiah King.    Or maybe I will slit the neck of his c**k-sure heir when he begins his fosterage with King Eleazar tomorrow.    Perhaps I intend to spy on them and report back to my grandfather.     Or maybe I wish to run away from my parents and prevent them from finding me.     Any could be the reason, or maybe none of these reasons.”

Gee shifted nervously, for he had been a subject of the Hutcaiah King before he fled east with his family.     The Princess seemed to feel his uneasiness.

“Is something wrong, wizard?    Your first name sounds like a Hutcaiah name and you have their type of cold squinty eyes.    Yet I see you are human.     You were from their empire, weren’t you?”

“We fled from their tyranny.”

“But that could have merely been a ruse to more easily fit in here.   The city is crawling with Hutcaiah spies, and you have a Hutcaiah name and ‘fled from their tyranny’.    Are you a spy, wizard?”

The pipe fell from his mouth again as he swore his loyalty to King Eleazar.    The Princess accepted it, but did not try to conceal her growing contempt for him.

“You can trust me, Your Highness,”   he assured her.

“I’d say that trusting you would be quite foolish.    I will pay you half of the money for the ring now and the other half when the ring is on my finger and I am satisfied with it.”

“That sounds fair.”

“Of course it is fair!”  she snapped angrily, “It is much fairer than I could have been.     I could have them throw you in jail and I would have seized all of your property and possessions, then used the ring that I want as a ransom for release of your stuff.     Instead I come offering you twice the price of the ring and pay half in advance.    But don’t take me for a stupid child.    You had better walk the straight and narrow road, wizard.    If I find that you are giving information to Hutcaiah spies, it will be your head.”

Though she was young, Gee could see that Princess Arianelle was quite serious.    Such beauty, yet such seething anger, he thought as he bowed respectfully to her.

“I understand, Your Highness.”

“I hope so, wizard, because I do not like Hutcaiah at all, and spies are especially disgusting to me.    Here are 500 gold coins as a down payment on the ring.   Tomorrow evening, I will return for the ring and it had best be here.”  She flung a heavy pouch in front of him.

“I promise I will deliver, Your Majesty,”   he groveled, for she seemed almost ready to kill him.

“You certainly will, wizard.     Now, there is one last item that I need.”

“Yes?”

“There are Practical Magic hair combs that can change the length of hair when worn overnight, to any length the wearer desires.    They are very popular, I am told, with prostitutes and actresses.    Do you have such a comb here?”

Gee quickly raced to a shelf and returned with an ivory comb. “Here, Your Majesty, with my compliments.”

“I do not take without paying, wizard.”

“Take it as an assurance of my complete compliance with your terms.”   He bowed respectfully, holding the comb in the palm of his hand.

“Very well, but do not think this means that I trust you.   Remember what I said!”  She snatched up the comb, flung her hood over her head and stormed out of the shop, slamming the door as she went.

“Whew!”   Gee spoke aloud to himself, “She is certainly not a trusting soul.”

For a fleeting instant, he debated taking the news to one of the numerous Hutcaiah spies that he knew of throughout the city, for they would pay well for the news, or to his trouble-making brother Yin-Mose, for Yin’s group of wizards would be even more enthusiastic about the news, but the Princess’ burning red eyes caused a chill to go down his spine, so instead he picked up the list he had made of what she had ordered and hurried off to do her bidding.

Reviews

[Elina]

"...he mumbled as he groped for his pipe." While we do eventually learn who "he" is when you mention that "he" is reaching for the dropped pipe, you might clarify that this is Gee Macstus.
"...for whom else could it be?" You can change "whom" to "who."
"Gee did not know how to reply the best to her..." Perhaps change this to something like "Gee did not know how best to reply..."

Golly! What a fiery thing Princess Arianelle is! I am intrigued...and cannot wait to read further.

[Dhaye]

I will be really scared when I see a creature like the princess with flared eyes. Lol
So, she will have a different appearance on the next chapter...

Nice starting chapter.

[Eddie Davis]

Thanks, Dhaye, I appreciate your time.