"Ha!" said Micah, "By all means sir! Please!" He gestured to his seat. In the new light of the torch, a droplet of sweat was glistening as it ran down his cheek.
The king swung himself up to the passenger's side as Micah placed his torch in the holster on the side of the wagon near the driver. He flicked the reigns and set his horses off.
"Where to?"
"There's a sanctuary not terribly far ahead. Even I don't like to be alone at this hour of the night, " he said scratching his chin, "Speaking of which, what's your reason for risking it out this late?"
Micah cleared his throat and gave a nervous chuckle.
"Oh, you know... Inventory. I get caught up checking things at the end of the day. What did you say? The day gets away from you?"
"Mmhmm, so is the life of a traveling peddler, I would imagine."
Micah cleared his throat again.
"I'm surprised you remember me so well sir. I wouldn't expect for the Savior King to know my name."
He smiled and put his hand on his shoulder.
"How could I forget the famous Micah Tafferty? Charismatic peddler to the masses! Many know your name, I'm just another fan."
Micah gave a stilted laugh.
"Please, your highness I-"
"No no, you deserve the praise! You have goods no one else has, with a reach no one else possesses. I'd be a fool not to know who you are."
Micah was giving a bashful smile looking at the road.
"...Well, I... Thank you, sir. I'm flattered."
"I mean, aren't you the one who makes that glass root elixir? It cures all kinds of things! Gives you a spring in your step. They say it makes an old man feel like a young man half his age!"
Micah smiled.
"Sure do. My slogan is 'It makes forty feel like twenty and twenty feel like ten. Take it too much younger and you'll be in the playpen.'"
Orion chuckled as he reached for something in his pocket. He pulled out a bottle marked Tafferty's Glass Root Elixir. Micah's eyes widened as he watched him turn it over in his hands.
"Yeah, this stuff... I'm pretty sure no one else sells it."
The king stared at it a while in silence. Micah kept his eyes on the road. He felt his ears growing hot.
"You know its probably because it's so hard to come by glass root, " the king said, "I've looked around and the only place within my borders to get it is high up in the Sheemitai Mountains."
Orion looked directly at his driver who still had his eyes on the road.
"And frankly, I'm not sure how anyone would get up there without a serious trek with no small amount of dangerous and strenuous climbing..."
Micah's face was like stone. The king looked back at the bottle.
"And the sheer amount of it that would need to be brought down regularly... it just doesn't seem economically viable."
They were both quiet with just the sound of the horses clomping and the rumbling of the carriage between them.
YOU ARE READING
The Cinders of Dezu
AdventureDezu is a world where average people become legends. But it is haunted by a story that turns legends into ashes. Cairo and Julian just graduated and they've got their whole life ahead of them. But before college and all that adulting they have to do...
