Asher Converse's Arc

Chapter 9 of 30

A week after the bells went up, the door swung open and Chalam walked in. The wizard was Asher's partner in this fight, the one who first led him to the grove and the sleeping god buried under it. Chalam's blue robe hung open at the chest. In his hand he held a new staff, pale wood banded with green. The crowd went quiet. The dryads had made it. Asher had waited for this. "They finished it," Chalam said. He set the staff on the bar. "Yew and ash. It won't crack. Not like the last." His voice stayed flat. "The dryads owed me. Now the debt runs the other way." Asher ran a thumb along the wood. It was smooth and cool. "The boy can stand near a binding now?" "He can." Chalam's jaw tightened. "But the staff cost us the grove's last strong wood. They have none left to sell. None to spare." Tucker set down a brass mug and leaned in. "So we can't buy timber off the trees anymore." He said it plain, the way he said everything. "That's a problem, partner." Asher had meant to grow this place. Save the drink coin, fill the till, then buy lumber and push out the walls. A bigger room. More men. The favored house for wandering fighters and magic users. That plan needed wood, and the wood had just run dry. "Then we buy from the town," Asher said. Chalam shook his head. "The gate is Ajax's. He holds the debt papers. He sets the price on anything hauled through." He tapped the bar. "He knows what we do here. He'll bleed us on every plank." Asher looked at the full room. The mirror threw lamplight across brass and faces. Coin sat locked in the box behind him. He had the money. He did not have a way to spend it that Ajax couldn't tax to nothing. He made his choice. "We don't expand yet," he said. "We hold. The staff matters more than benches." Tucker raised a brow. "You. Not spending." "I'm spending it on the fight," Asher said. "A cracked staff got us here. This one keeps the boy alive and Chalam sharp." He slid the coin box under the bar with his boot. "The room stays small. It stays full. That's enough for now." Chalam picked up the staff and tested its weight. For the first time his face eased. "Good," he said. "This one will not crack or break. More powerful.”