A Tale Of Queens

Swords and Spies

It had been a tedious couple of weeks.

Nevertheless, Dimtu was very proud of himself. His men were dedicated and so far, most of the swords were complete. As per instructions from the Queen, they would be delivered to Vileytna's house immediately they were ready.

He heaved a sigh of relief when the announcement for the feast in a week's time was made. All this ceaseless labour would soon come to an end.

Although he was grateful for the work, it was exhausting to perpetually be on your toes, scrutinizing so many people at the same time and making sure the swords were molded to perfection. Coupled with the fact that he had to carry this heavy burden of keeping the Queen's secret as well as dodging Ifenda's unrelenting questions, he was only too happy to be done with it.

He was lucky to have found men that agreed to be tight-lipped about the whole process. But then again, was there anything that money could not buy?

Three days before the feast, the swords would be waiting for Queen Sa-Alti at the house.

****

Admittedly, his employer's suspicions were not unfounded after all.

When he was first presented with the instruction to apply to work for Dimtu all of a sudden, Nevri was very upset. He'd assumed that this was once again, one of Halleldi's episodes after coming across the blacksmith. Each time his boss crossed paths with his former friend, he would be in a terrible mood for days on end, making erratic decisions for as long as they lasted.

Normally, Nevri was experienced in finding ways to distract him. But this time, Halleldi insisted that he go and spy on Dimtu's forge, citing his unusually large order as too suspicious. Because Nevri primarily worked at the back and had never attended to Dimtu before, it was a given that he should be the one to go because he would not be easily recognizable.

Nevri hated this. Although he had some experience in blacksmithing, he was convinced that his efforts would be all for naught. That Dimtu had nothing to hide. Or at least, nothing of importance.

Well, he stood to be corrected.

The first thing he noticed on getting to the forge was that the pay was good. Too good to be true. Surely, there had to be a catch. And he was right.

Before the work commenced, Dimtu called for their attention and waited till he had all their ears. He went on to announce the real reason why he was paying them so heavily. One; they were going to make swords. And two; not a word of what they were doing was to leave the building. He heavily implied that if any information leaked, then everyone present would pay the price. And casually slipped in the fact that the person who was funding this project was very powerful and could make them all disappear at will.

Nobody was willing to call his bluff because they were quite convinced that whoever could afford to commission this number of swords could make the life of any whistle-blower hell. Besides, the money was good. Was gossip going to feed their families?

All the men, including Nevri who was about to burst with excitement, agreed to the conditions. Each man was assigned to make two swords and soon, the work began.

Every single day after work, Nevri made it a point of duty to give detailed accounts of the goings-on at the forge. He mentioned all the that things he saw, heard and did. He also mentioned the wealthy looking foreigner who often came to watch them at work. He mentioned their daily progress. But he conveniently excluded the amount of money they were being paid. From his point of view, it was none of his boss' business.

Halleldi was ecstatic and he lapped up the information he did get like a hungry dog.

Sometimes, Nevri thought his boss was a maniac. He was so obsessed with Dimtu that one would think that he was in love with him and not his wife. But it made him happy, so who cared? That he was also indirectly getting paid to spy was just a nice bonus.

It was a win-win for him.