Magic and Gold

19: Loyalty

A man stepped out from around the corner with rounded goggles on. "Oh, hello, hello. It's you, Alix. Always a pleasure. Come in."

The room was stacked up in tall piles of mostly junk. This was a treasure trove of useless items, but Galeron always said that one man's trash is another man's treasure. Stacks of furniture went up to the ceiling in leaning towers. There were chairs, tables, random pipes, blankets and tablecloths in my line of sight. "What can I do for you today, young man?"

"Can't a boy just want to get out of the cold?" I teased.

"A boy can, but not you. You always know what you want." Galeron tinkered with some tiny contraption, hammering with his tiny hammer.

"What are you making?" I asked, peering at his contraption suspiciously.

He held up his mess. "What does it look like I'm making?"

"Um...a piece of junk using metal you've welded, nailed, and tied together?" I guessed.

He laughed heartily. "I like you boy. You're blunt. You're honest. At this point, that's pretty much what I'm making."

I peered around his stacks of furniture and other random things. "Got anything new? Anything good?"

"I bought a shipment of ribbons just for you. They're on the back counter." He waggled his finger towards the back counter.

"You know how much I like looking pretty." I laughed, shuffling to the back counter. I picked through the box. "You've got some nice ones. Thank you. Codie will love them." I picked out some pieces, wrapping them around my knuckles. "But I didn't just come here to tie ribbons in my hair."

"I assumed," Galeron said, placing his hammer on the table. "What can I help you with?"

"People come in here all the time and gossip. What do you know about the princess?" I asked, jumping onto a table and sat cross legged.

"Don't you work with her, boy?" Galeron chuckled. "You know far more about her than I do."

"I need to know about her situation now. I haven't been back to the palace since the attempt at the royals' lives. It didn't seem quite safe, and...honestly? I was ashamed. I couldn't face her, because I couldn't save her family."

"You could go back now. I'd assume you wouldn't run into her, considering her position," he offered.

I shook my head quickly, picking at a thread in my pants. "No. I don't think it's safe there with Lord Ralphus either. I have a feeling that some of the other guards were only too happy to share exactly how friendly I was with the princess." I felt my face grow hot, and I tried to keep from blushing. I looked in a nearby mirror covered in a coating of dust and saw my cheeks were red.

Galeron started rummaging for something on a shelf, so he did not see my face. "I'll trade you. That's how I get my information. An answer for an answer. I'll tell you what I've heard if you answer a question for me."

"Okay," I said hesitantly. Galeron would not hold back with his question, but I owed him a lot for being a friend to me throughout the years. I would have answered any question he posed without a trade.

"I've heard a lot of things about Princess Guinevere. Queen, actually. She has such a princess disposition, so sweet that it's hard to think of her as a queen," he started.

"I agree. She'll always be my princess," I said.

He gave me a look. "What do you already know?"

"Nothing, except for the harsh rules Lord Ralphus has set in place. And Guin hasn't been seen since the wedding." I gulped, drumming my fingers against the wood beneath me.