The Enchantments: Book 3 - The Key of Sorcen

Chapter 24: Mercenaries

Simeneon lay against the cool earth allowing the events of the day to fill her with wonder. The only problem with finding out about the clue to the finding of the artifact, she had come to realize was you could never really act upon its information right away. She settled herself down knowing her time would come, she just hoped it wouldn't take so long before the excitement of the discovery faded.

Dreams of finding all the keys in that short of time past her by a long while ago and she started seeing things in a whole different light. There were occasions she wished everything was finished, but that only made the pressure that much greater.

'One search at a time was her motto,' and she tried her best to live by that.

"Penny for your thoughts," Giles said softly from the other side of the fire his face looking sweaty from the glow of the flames.

Simeneon let out a small chirp and jumped. "You scared me!" She said in a shaky voice.

"I'm really sorry, you seemed lost in thought, and I tried to be as quiet as I could." He took the initiative and sat down opposite her.

She stared at him as he adjusted his seating to his taste. When he finally had it the way he wanted he peered up and saw the uncertain look on her face.

"What's the matter?" He asked.

Simeneon kept her sight on him waiting for the nerve to ask the question she'd been dying to ask him for ages. She knew if she didn't the mistrust she had for him would fester and keep growing. Finally, after a couple of uneasy minutes, she grew the nerve.

"Who are you Giles, you're not Macnish's assistant, are you? You're smarter than that." She shot forth.

Giles looked shocked, his arms went rigid and his face turned to stone. "What did you say?" He squeaked.

"You heard me," she said as her voice rose ever so slightly. "Nobody with the brains that you have would ever stay that long with that idiot. So tell me who you really are?"

Giles shuffled uncomfortably unable to take his eyes from this girl. "Uh... I don't know what you mean."

Simeneon shot to her feet. "I've never told you before that I went into the past, somehow you found out about that, a simple guides assistant are not privy to that sort of information. You've known who I am from the start...now... who are you!"

Giles felt the blood rush from his face as the enormity of what this little girl had said sank in. "You're a lot smarter then Macnish gives you credit for." He said with a slight smile.

"I'm a lot smarter then you thought I was." She said.

"Oh I thought of you as very smart, if there was one person that I knew could see right through me, it was you. Macnish underestimated you, I didn't" he shifted slightly on the ground, "So what is it you want to know?" He asked.

"Why are you Macnish's little errand boy?" She asked

He rubbed the stubble on his face trying to think of a response. He stepped over to her side of the fire and sat her down before he joined her on the other side.

"What I'm going to tell you is between us and us alone, do I make myself clear? He asked sternly, his eyes wandering around the encampment checking out where the others were.

Simeneon sensed what he was about to tell her went deeper than she thought but she nodded reluctantly.

"A few years ago, "he started, "this man you know as Macnish was part of something he should never have been part of. Now you might be thinking he did something illegal, well he didn't. He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. You know how absentminded and arrogant he is. Well, one day while he was showing a group of tourists from Canada a particularly beautiful artifact in the rainforest to the south, they came across a group of mercenaries loading stolen treasures from a village into their boat. They had tied the villagers up in the houses and when they had returned to town they were going to sell the relics through a network of dealers called the black-market. Now some of these artifacts were worthless to these men but they were priceless to the villagers, but as you can tell, they didn't care. The tourists were shocked to find all the villagers tied up and these men stealing the treasures, but they were trapped and they knew it. That is, all but Macnish. Now unfortunately for him, he thought these men were doing nothing wrong and began to help them. Well, they wanted nothing to do with the man and instantly pulled their guns. The tourists tried in vain to get back into the jungle but it was Macnish that held them back and said everything was going to be all right. They were furious and began yelling and screaming at him. Macnish started back in on them saying they were just ungrateful and they were now on their own. So they decided to escape by themselves. When one of them tried, the mercenaries rounded them up and tied them up with the rest of the villagers. All that is but Macnish again, he had to their surprise grabbed the treasures from the boat when they were busy with the tourists and escaped into the forest. Well needless to say they were just a little angry. They chased after him but Macnish had escaped leaving the tourists to fend for themselves. Macnish took the treasures and traveling only at night he made it back to the big city where he returned the artifacts to the New Zealand government for a hefty finders fee. He was considered a hero for returning everything and the story he told the papers was beyond anything even you or I could ever make up. So when the government found out that the mercenaries had placed a bounty on the man, they sent for me and told me I had to protect the idiot. Let me tell you it hasn't been easy, everyone that comes in contact with the man has to be checked out, and that's how I came into knowing everything about you."