“What’s that?” I asked.

  “Very few of the brothers live underground. Most have lives in the city and appear as typical citizens with ordinary jobs and lives.”

  “Ok, but why is that important?”

  “If the word started spreading that the goblins might be preparing for a siege with the intention of tens of thousands of them tunneling under the city and coming up through exiting tunnels, that could give the majority of our members something to think about since many of those tunnels would come up into their homes or places of business.”

  “Where would this news need to come from?”

  “From either you or the Duke. You two appear to be the most credible sources in the city right now.”

  I looked surprised. “Me?”

  “You continue to undervalue your impact. Yes, between your work with the street children, the battle at the harbor, the battle at Park Pond, the rescuing of school kids, which has grown into dozens at this point, and the magic you worked with the elves and the old park tree, has made you a bit of a local legend.”

  “But that wasn’t just all me,” I argued.

  He waved that off. “I am not putting you on a pedestal. I am just telling you what others think. So this story, which is probably a true plan of the goblins anyway, needs to come from you or the Duke for it to take root.”

  “Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

  “The sooner the better.” He said.

  “I know. It was my idea.” I reminded him.

  “That the brotherhood has been discussing below since the Deathlight.” He clarified.

  I sighed. “Fine, point scored. You had the idea earlier. Too bad I was the one to bring it up.”

  He smiled. “And I had the solution.”

  I shook my head. “As I said before, I can’t hope to outwit you.”

  “True.” He said.

  “And now, on to what we are both expectantly awaiting.” He said with excitement.

  The Gray Master rose and walked over to his locked chest. He withdrew an odd-looking key, placed it in the lock, and did not turn it. It sat there for several seconds, and then the lid opened on its own.

  As the lid opened, a rich purple and white fabric adorned with dozens of gems rose out of the chest and hovered before me in the air.

  I stared, open-jawed, as the first emperor’s royal robes, the inauguration, and judgment robes, hovered before me.

  “It is magnificent,” I said quietly.

  “Of course I am!” Came the arrogant reply in a voice that rumbled about in my head. It was not the soothing touch of a musical Bella, but the coarse rasping of a nasally and tinny voice that caused me to wince and take a step back.

  “It’s sentient?” I asked, alarmed.

  “HE is sentient and HE can hear you.” It replied with indignant emphasis. “Still, it was nobly said,” the robe admitted.

  I turned to the Gray Master and saw that he was trying to look surprised but failing miserably. A look of hope rested on his features.

  “Please, Patron. Take this robe and let’s make our exchange.” He urged.

  There was certainly more going on here than meets the eye. I needed to play this cool.

  “First, I must say that should I accept this raiment, I would not be taking it but holding it only for one who is more worthy. It is not for me to take or own such a legendary piece of history.”

  The robe turned to face me as if someone was wearing it. “I have not had such courtesy in many centuries. I think that I will grant you my favor. You are permitted to free me from this peasant. Immediately if you please.” It insisted in its irritating tone.

  The Gray Master looked truly hopeful.

  I began to see this robe as a constant and persistent nagging force that would likely drive someone mad. “How did you come by this noble garment?” I asked the Gray Master.

  “It had been locked away in a chest like this one by a predecessor of mine more than two centuries ago. There is no record of how he came by it. A greedy underling of mine a few weeks ago got access to the secret vault on an errand and, despite the many warning signs, opened its chest and was driven mad by their dialogue. A constant dialogue over many, many days. I have had it secured safely in this magical chest for its protection from other unworthy hands.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  The robe turned to the Gray Master. “You, I tolerate. Your underling was a flea, a vermin. But you kept your word and brought me to one that might have the wit to get me to one worthy. It has been so very, very long. I must fulfill my duty.” Its voice rose and octave. “I must! I must! I must!”

  Bella appeared, gently folded the robe, and placed it back in the chest while the Gray Master and I held our hands uselessly over our ears. Its voice was telepathic. But it hurt so much, I didn’t know what else to do.

  I nearly summoned my staff to somehow silence it. But Bella saved the day.

  “While it is in the box, it cannot hear you, and you cannot hear it.” She nodded to me, eyed the Gray Master, and walked out the door she had never opened when she suddenly appeared at our sides.

  The Gray Master took a seat. He cleared his voice. “So, we have a deal, right?”

  I stared long at him.

  “Oh, come on. You can pry the gems out of the thing if you don’t want to keep it. Believe me, I thought about that more than a few times.”

  “It is the Imperial Robe of Ascension. The Robe of Judgment. The Robe of Atonement.”

  “The Robe of Cackling Cacophony.” He offered.

  “Regardless, you can’t just pry out the gems and be done with it,” I exclaimed.

  “Ha! You’ll take it. I knew you would.” And he chuckled to himself. “I knew you would.”

  I sighed. “Yes, of course. But the chest comes with it.”

  He chuckled again. “Of course. I wouldn’t dare take it out again.” He paused. “Do you want the key?”

  I actually thought about that and dropped my shoulders. “Yes, I’d better take the key too.”

  He held it out to me. “Last chance.”

  “Just give it to me before I think more about this and make you take it back with you,” I said with a resigned sigh.

  “Not a chance. It’s you or the bay this time. I reached my limit.” He said with a grin.

  “We are coming into hard times, and a little defensive magic wouldn’t hurt any of us,” I said. “Use your ring well.”

  He shook his head. “No, it's more than that. You like me. You actually have fallen for my wit and charm.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself. It's not you, it's that orange vest. It has grown on me, and I wouldn’t want your blood to stain its precious material.”

  He laughed. “You want the vest? I’ll give it to you as a present.” He offered.

  “Not on your life,” I said without hesitating.

  He laughed again. “You remind me of-” and his face went stony. It became immediately awkward in the room.

  He bowed to me stiffly. “I thank you, Patron Istari, and my offer to teach you some useful skills still stands. They might come in handy before the week’s through.”

  I did have open slots for skill and spell points, but had intended to use them on runes and spells such as Scorching Light. But I was tempted.

  “How long would it take?” I asked.

  “The First Trap skills, the first level ones, would take maybe half an hour or an hour under my instruction. I am actually a grandmaster, and that gives me some real benefits when instructing. The Find/Arm/Remove All Traps is a Fifth Trap skill, and that would take several hours. But at five skill points, it gives you a higher level awareness of all seven types of traps. It is a cheaper cost, deeper knowledge, but few have that kind of reserve skill waiting to be tapped.”

  I walked him to the door. “Thank you for your offer. I will strongly consider them.”

  “Please do.”

  We said our farewells, and he departed. His bodyguards waited for him patiently outside the store and escorted him back to wherever he called home. Somehow, I doubted that those two were his only protection. And with the addition of that powerful ring, I was certain of it.

  Bella, please put the chest in the vault. I’ll figure out what to do with it in the morning. I patted the inner pocket I had placed the key into to ensure it was still there.

  I had once again made it all the way upstairs for a much-needed rest, and this time I actually opened my door before Bella said, I’m sorry, Gwydion, but the Archmage’s Majordomo is asking for you downstairs.

  Please show him to our showing room one. I’ll be right down. I replied, trying to stay in a good mood.

  I was honored by the visit, but somehow I didn’t think it was a social call, not after closing hours at any rate. But I was wrong. It was indeed a social call.

  “It’s a pleasure to see you again, young patron.” The Majordomo said as he rose and met me halfway across the floor of the showing room.

  “It is my honor to have you in my shop, Majordomo,” I replied, noticing some changes to the room’s appearance that Bella had made since the Gray Master had visited.

  Which was a few minutes ago.

  Instead of a back wall with a couple of paintings, a stained glass window appeared in a shallow alcove. It was quite pretty, and it was backlit as if from bright night orbs, which I knew was an illusion, since we were all suffering Twilight.

  “Please, we are in private. You shall call me Isaac, and I shall call you Gwydion.” He said, shaking my hand warmly.

  “I’m not sure I would be comfortable doing that, master, in private or otherwise.”

  He laughed. “We could use titles if you prefer. But I am not a master, I am a grandmaster. A treble grandmaster in point of fact.” He paused for effect. “Not unlike your treble patron title, eh?”

  The Majordomo stood up proudly and stated, “I am Lord Isaac Pendragon, Majordomo of the Archmage’s Tower, Grandmaster of Elemental Magics, Grandmaster of Enchantments, Grandmaster of Alchemies, Master of Summoning, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of History, Master Taxidermist, and one-time adept Cleric of the Holy Orders- and I tell you, that last one is a story we can share when we have more time and more sociable surroundings.” He added with a wide smile. “And if you want to be proper, I have a number of awards and titles that you can also recite.” He paused. “Now, do you wish to properly greet me each time you address me, young patron? Or will you settle for Isaac?” He gave me a stern look that eventually turned into another wide smile that had us both laughing.”

  “I defer to your wisdom and courtesy, Isaac,” I said, bowing to him. I noticed that His robes rustled as he moved and I could see they were of extremely fine quality. He wore the gray robe of elementalists, with a gold brocade representing his mastery of summoning magic. His inner robes, a bit of a hybrid between a long tunic and a cassock, were made of enchanter’s yellow and a dark purple-blue of the alchemists.

  “That’s better. Let’s sit. I have been on my feet all day, and my legs hurt. I know I look like a man of fifty, but I am triple that age.”

  “Perhaps sixty,” I observed with my hand on my chin, adopting a scholarly pose. “And don’t you mean treble that age, Isaac?”

  “The cheek!” He declared with an even wider smile. “So like your father. He is a good man and a friend with a quiet sense of humor. I admit I have not spent much time with him these past months. I must remedy that.”

  I knew that my father mingled with many powerful men and women across the course of his work as Royal Librarian at the university here in Keelwell, but he never mentioned a friendship with the Majordomo. But then dad wouldn’t have. He was humble in that way, and also trusted to keep the secrets and confidence of his colleagues.

  “What brings you here this evening, Isaac?” I asked.

  “To welcome your new shoppe and to give you gifts according to your station from the archmage himself.” He flourished his right hand high and lifted a cloth bag with his left hand from the inside of his robes.”

  “You forgot Master Magician,” I added, commenting on his theatrics.

  “I dabble in the sleight of hand, it is true. But one does not list pickpocket and lock picker to his list of laudable titles in rarefied circles, my boy.”

  “I can see how that could set the wrong impression among the rich and powerful,” I admitted with a smirk.

  “As a younger adventurer, I learned a wide range of skills outside of the, ahem, conventions of mage work.”

  It made me reconsider the Gray Master’s offer. Those skills might just be more helpful than I had considered.

  He passed to me the small bag, and I opened it, untying the drawstring, which had a beautiful and intricate knot. It was easily undone, but quite something to behold.