Wars and Wealth - Bargains with Exiled Fae

Chapter 13

David stood in the shower for a long time, letting the water cleanse him of the blood and dirt from the cave. His torso and back were covered in dark purple and blue bruises and small lacerations. His shoulder and collarbone ached with movement but he grit his teeth and suppressed the pain.

There was a sturdy bar on the wall for handicap accessibility and he

When he got out, there was a thin robe waiting for him on the door and he simply sat on the bed, mind racing though possibilities.

The huntsmen were an elite team of soldiers that had worked with him for several years, most holding the rank of Second Lieutenant or above. They were each highly skilled in the ways of war in all environments but what made them truly unique was their knowledge of the fae.

While there was little known about the fae in general, the Huntsmen had access to all the stored knowledge in the imperial archives about the fae and were the team responsible for hunting down any that managed to cross into the mortal realm.

The team consisted of sixteen soldiers, one for each of the providences, plus eight others that acted as a fast reaction force. In normal times, they blended in with the rest of the regular army and could be deployed for any number of special operations withing the empire or the front lines. If a fae was ever detected, they would be dispatched in force.

In his lifetime, they had only been called upon four times.  Three where isolated incidents were a fae beast has wandered through a rift in reality, appearing in a forest or other odd location.

 There was no rhyme or reason to those appearances, and they had never been able to find a gate or track the rift back to the fae forests.

The other time was when he had rescued Nyx.

If there is a gate here, then the huntsmen will need a base of operation. If it had come through the gate, then perhaps the guardians had failed in their mission within the fae realm.

There was a knock at the door, and David answered to find a man dressed in a suit.

“Gary, I presume.”

“Mr. Harlow suggested that you might need some basic clothes before we set out. I had to guess at your size.” Gary said without much care. He handed David a bag and said, “I will wait in the car.”

David looked into the bag and just shook his head. It only had a pair of basic boxer underwear and a pair of sweatpants and matching sweatshirt. It would be enough for now.

David changed and grabbed his phone and wallet before heading out to join Gary. They drove to a discount suit store and Gary handed the clerk a card.

“One suit, off the rack, anything that is under 300 dret.”

David smirked. 300 dret would get him two suits off this rack, but in the capital, his dress uniform would have cost over 800 dret. While that wasn’t much by comparison to what many of the rich citizenry wore on a daily basis, it was still notable at just how little Steven thought of him.

David pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

“Mayor Hadley. I need a personal assistant. Think you can find me someone trustworthy?”

“No, Mayor. Gender doesn’t matter for this post. Just whoever is most versed in business and local customs. I want efficiency over anything else.”

“Great, send them to…, Gary, where are we?”

Gary frowned and replied, “Discount Suits, on 95th street.”

“Thank you. Yes, Mayor. Have your person meet me as soon as possible at Discount Suits on 95th St. Yes, mayor, you understand my situation quite well.”

When he hung up, David looked at Gary, “I am sure you have other things to attend to today. If you leave me the address for the banquet I will be along when I am ready.”

“But… you don’t have a car…”

“I am sure your town has taxi’s, right?”

“Well, yes… but they are not free.” Gary said, eyeing David in his baggy suit pants and suit.

David smirked, “Oh, I am sure I can manage. But if you are so worried about it, you are welcome to leave money for the fare.”

Gary considered for a moment before pulling out his phone. “Your device, it has the speed pay app?”

“Of course. Every phone in the empire has it.” David said sarcastically. Did this man really think he was an idiot who lived under a rock? Well, he had been living under the mountain, which was made of rock… so perhaps the notion wasn’t too far fetched.

A moment later, his phone dinged with a notice of 50 dret transferred.

“Thank you, Gary. I suppose I will see you later tonight.” David said and turned back to the store clerk.”

“Umm, right. Well let me see what we have in your size sir!” the clerk said politely as he looked perplexed at the exchange between the two men.

 After Gary left, David looked at the clerk and asked directly, “I am guessing you don’t carry Grunfeld.”

The clerk smiled with good humor. “No, sir. This is a discount store. While I do carry a few models that are in the 1000 dret range, most of my stock will run 150 to 300 dret.”

“There is a tailor in town who does carry Grunfeld’s but he is a master tailor and each suit is custom fitted, which takes at least three days. Mr. Brooks would never let a suit leave his store that wasn’t personally fitted to the wearer.”

“I am impressed there is a master tailor here.”

“We are a small town, but there are enough business people around to keep him employed. Though true be told, Mr. Brooks does own this store as well.”

“How about this. Give this Mr. Brooks a call. Tell him there is a client waiting for him here.”

“You want Mr. Brooks to come here? Now?”

“Yes please.”