Another World Read online

“That seems to be a common in every land.” I leaned against a wall.

  “What do you want girl?” Sir Bertrant asked.

  “I need a job.” I kicked the dirt in front of me. “Sageri said everyone has to have a job here. You are the only one with an opening.”

  “What did Sageri tell you about me?” Sir Bertrant asked, petting Big Black.

  “Nothing, other than you don’t have a page.”

  Sir Bertrant gave me a quick glance and the lines around his eyes deepened, making him appear twenty years older. The man was maybe in his early thirties.

  “I’m the laughing stock of the kingdom. You don’t want to be associated with me. Trust me.” Sir Bertrant turned back to Thunder, scratching his face.

  “Maybe, but I’m homeless and desperate. And you could use the help.” I pointed at the stables just in case he had missed all the things I had organized.

  “What do you think, Thunder?” Sir Bertrant asked Big Black.

  “His name is Thunder?” In a strange way, the name was perfect. The horse radiated power, kind of like thunder itself.

  “Oh yes. He informed me when we met, and his brother over there is Lightning.” At the sound of his name, Lightning let out a loud neigh.

  “Wait, what do you mean by ‘he informed you?’ I can believe that they can understand you, but are you implying that the horses can talk?” I looked between Sir Bertrant and the horses in the stables.

  “You have a lot to learn about this world.” Sir Bertrant let out a forced laugh.

  “You are serious? You can talk to horses?” I asked, my voice coming out way too much like a shriek. I couldn’t help it. The surprises just kept coming.

  “It’s more like they speak to me. If they find you worthy, they might communicate with you.”

  I examined the horses and Sir Bertrant together. Funnily enough, it seemed like they had a soothing effect on him. His words were more coherent, and he no longer gave the impression he might topple over at any moment. It was kind of incredible.

  “That is amazing,” I told him, mainly because I couldn’t find any other words with the excitement jumping through me.

  Sir Bertrant turned and gave me a careful, scrutinizing stare. “I have no use for a page.”

  Thunder and Lightning both neighed extremely loud. Thunder even bit Sir Bertrant’s hand.

  “But it seems my companions might have work for you.” Sir Bertrant shook his head at the horses.

  “Yes!” I screamed, and the horses both stomped around their stalls with me.

  “Glad everyone is happy around here. Except me, that is.” Sir Bertrant whined. “What is your name? I can’t be calling you girl around town.”

  “Madison.” I rushed over with my hand extended towards Sir Bertrant.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, backing away from me.

  “Where I come from, people shake hands to close a deal, and when they meet.” I lowered my hand.

  “That’s different, but we don’t do that here. You just touch the tip of your eyebrow with your right hand and nod.” Sir Bertrant demonstrated the gesture, resembling a military salute.

  “I can do that,” I said, then I did my best imitation.

  “Not bad,” Sir Bertrant told me. Thunder neighed and Bertrant nodded. “I agree, she is a quick learner. There might be hope for her yet.”

  “You two do know I’m standing right here,” I told both knight and horse, and both beheld me like I’d grown another head. This was going to take some getting used to.

  “She does have an attitude,” Sir Bertrant told the horse and I had to bite my tongue before yelling at my new boss.

  “What do I call you?” I asked instead.

  “Bertrant. I have no right to be called a Sir anymore,” Sir Bertrant answered, turning to face Thunder.

  “That sounds a little too personal. I think I’ll stick with Sir Bertrant.” We stood there in awkward silence for a few minutes, the situation so uncomfortable that I had to say something to break the tension. “I was going to finish sweeping in here and start cleaning the outside, unless you have something for me to do?”

  “That would be fine,” Sir Bertrant said. “Sageri stopped by and dropped off breakfast already, so you should take a break and come eat first.”

  “How did she know I was here?” Guilt hit me for not telling her where I was going.

  “Sageri is a smart one. She figured this would be the only place you would head in the middle of the night,” Sir Bertrant answered.

  “I’m starving.” My stomach growled in agreement.

  “You also need clothes. You can’t be walking around in those things. Your looks alone are distracting enough. We don’t need curious villagers asking questions.” Sir Bertrant stumbled out of the stable.

  “This is all I have,” I said.

  “I’m sure I have some clothes left from the previous pages you can use,” Sir Bertrant said. “You will need to stop by the market and purchase the stuff you need. In the meantime, tie your hair back. Men don’t walk around with loose hair around here.”

  “Why do I care? I’m a girl,” I told him.

  “Not anymore Madison, you are now a page. Now hurry before the food gets too cold.” Sir Bertrant didn’t slow down as he spoke.

  “Well boys, wish me luck.” I rubbed Thunder’s head. “I have a job.”

  “Good luck!” I froze. There was a voice in my head, and it wasn’t mine.

  “Did you…?” I couldn’t finish my sentence. Thunder just winked at me.

  “Madison! NOW!” Bertrant shouted from outside his stable.

  “Coming!” I yelled back and gave Thunder one last rub.

  Somnium was definitely a different place.

  I ran outside before Sir Bertrant had a heart attack because I wasn’t moving fast enough. For a drunk guy, he had high expectations of others. No complaining from this little girl. I had a job, even if I had no clue what I was supposed to do now. Step one done.

  Sir Bertrant kept his distance from me most of the morning. Every once in a while, he walked by the stable pretending to check on the horses. After a few hours, I asked him what time it was. That was an interesting conversation. Somnium’s time keeping system was different than what I was used to. They relied on the direction of the sun and stars. This was the first time I’d ever wished I’d paid attention in my history classes, especially those lessons on sun clocks.

  It took me a while to understand the concept. To my surprise, Sir Bertrant was a patient instructor. After our short lesson, I found myself thinking of Sageri. Guilt ate at me. I needed to apologize. Sageri was not going to miss me, at least I didn’t think she would. She had potions to make, and patients to feed. If I could make it back to her place early enough, I could at least help her with the deliveries.

  Based on Bertrant’s instructions, he didn’t need me too much. I doubted he would care if I left early. He was a strange one, but Sageri trusted him and believed I would be safe here, so I would trust her. Her confidence in the old drunk was the reason I agreed to take the room in his creepy house. Room and board was part of the page’s fringe packet.

  A few hours after midday, which translated to around three o’clock my time, I headed towards Sageri’s house wearing some lose fitting pants and an ugly printed wool shirt I’d found in the old clothing pile at Bertrant’s house. This really needed to change or I was going to melt to death. Sir Bertrant gave me my first payment, a small bag full of coins. I had no idea how much any of them were worth. My new boss was hopeless, but at least I had Sageri.

  The smell of Sageri’s cooking reached me before I entered the house. The door was unlocked again. I hoped this country had a low crime rate because it seemed like she never locked her door. Maybe people were just that terrified of the witch.

  “Sageri, I’m here,” I yelled as I walked into the house. If Sageri was in the kitchen or the shop, she would’ve never heard me knocking. Announcing myself was a safe way of not getting turned into
a frog by a surprised witch, or an apprentice as the case might be.

  “In the kitchen,” she replied.

  Even knowing there was a doorway in the wall, it took me a minute of using my hands to feel around the wall to find it. The last thing I needed was to knock myself out by trying to walk through the real wall.

  “Hi,” I said when I managed to cross over.

  “Well look at you.” Sageri peeked over her pots.

  “He said yes!” I told her with a toothy grin.

  “I’m sure having you at his house before dawn made an impression,” she said.

  “His horses were starving.” I told Sageri.

  “That pair will never starve.” Sageri started laughing. “They’ve been doing a hunger strike until Sir Bertrant got his act together.”

  “Are you serious?” I asked and walked around her towards her vegetable basket.

  “It was the only way to get him out of the house,” Sageri told me.

  “You knew they could communicate with people?”

  “A lot of things can communicate with people in this kingdom,” Sageri said, passing me a knife. “Most are very picky with whom they talk to. I am guessing Thunder and Lightning decided to talk to you?”

  “Thunder did. Lighting gives me sideway stares,” I admitted.

  “Lightning is the cautious one. He needs to make sure you are trustworthy before he opens up,” Sageri explained. “Sir Bertrant let you come over so early?”

  “I’m only responsible for the horses and I already cleaned the stable. So here I am to help.” I peeled half of a potato as I spoke.

  “In that case, thank you.” Sageri giggled.

  We both worked in a comfortable silence for a while, very unlike my experience around Sir Bertrant.

  “How do you like your clothes?” Sageri asked after a while.

  “They are awful. Sir Bertrant has a pile of them in the page’s room. Most of them don’t fit me well.” Which made me wonder why he was even collecting them to begin with.

  “Now that you are working for him, we need to get you some clothes at the market,” Sageri informed me.

  “That would be great,” I told her and pulled out the bag of coin. “He gave me these, but I have no clue what they are worth.”

  Sageri took the bag and counted all the coins while I chopped veggies.

  Taking a handful of coins, Sageri used her fingers to play with them. “I am impressed. This is very generous. He is paying you the salary of a knight’s apprentice, not just a stable help.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked, more confused than ever. Her explanation was of no help to me.

  “He paid you two hundred Assem,” Sageri started. “Most helpers get paid one hundred if his master is generous. Unfortunately, average household income for most common people in the kingdom is about one hundred and fifty Assem per month.”

  “That is impressive, but is Sir Bertrant rich?” Based on his current residence, that question never crossed my mind.

  “He should be a very wealthy man,” Sageri said.

  “Should be?” That didn’t sound convincing.

  “Sir Bertrant hasn’t taken a job in over a year and has been drinking more than he eats. Let’s just say it is hard to tell at this point, but at least he paid you.” Sageri stared at the ceiling for a minute.

  “Do we have enough money to get clothes, buy food, and maybe cleaning supplies for the house?” I asked Sageri, playing with the coins.

  “Madison, we have enough money to buy you food for a couple of months and enough clothes to fill your closet,” she replied.

  “Let’s not do all that,” I told her cheerfully. “Let’s just get the essentials and go from there.”

  “We can do that. When would you like to go shopping?” Sageri put the coins back in the pouch and handed them to me.

  “Could we do it after we deliver the meals?” I wanted to get this done as quickly as possible but Sageri had commitments first.

  “That is a great plan,” Sageri told me and went back to cooking.

  I was under the false impression Sageri’s list of deliveries had diminished. She had lost some patients but had managed to pick up four more in less than half a day. I had no idea how she managed that. While I had cleaned a stable, Sageri had cured a case of measles, mended a broken leg, and even saved five puppies from drowning. I hoped her powers gave her extra strength, because I was exhausted being around her. I couldn’t imagine how she must feel. At least our deliveries were closer than the ones we did yesterday. Sageri made it a point to introduce me to everyone as Sir Bertrant’s page and a close friend of the shop, which made people a lot more talkative than I thought they would be.

  We made it to the market a little before dusk. According to Sageri, this was the perfect time to shop because most people had gone home to prepare food for their evening meal. At this time of the day, we could get great deals on produce because most vendors would be closing for the evening. I wasn’t too excited to carry pounds of food back to Sir Bertrant’s house. Fortunately, the market had a delivery system for those who could afford it, and Sageri had informed me we were part of that group. Not to mention that it would make a bad impression for Sir Bertrant’s page to be carrying tons of packages back to the house. This world had some strange class system that I really didn’t understand.

  I ordered some fresh produce and was even able to take a few with me for the horses. The friendly vendor promised to have the rest at the house later today. Sageri refused to let me buy any meats, a fact that didn’t bother me after she told me the chickens were slaughtered in front of you to prove they were fresh. My stomach turned at that thought. It definitely wasn’t something I wanted to see today, or any day for that matter. It also made me miss grocery stores.

  Shopping for food was a new experience in this world, only topped by having to buy clothes. I was used to getting clothes from department stores on hangers. In this world, a tailor had to take my measurements. Even my undergarments—a word my grandmother got me saying—had to be custom made. Sageri wanted to order everything, but after analyzing the cost of some of those items, I convinced her that I could do some sewing of my own. I impressed the tailor and he even applauded at the idea of a page that took initiative. He sold me a sewing kit and materials to get started. My goal was to take some of those old clothes Sir Bertrant had at the house and alter them.

  After a few hours of shopping, I was exhausted. At first, I didn’t think the market was that big, but I’d never been more wrong. While the shops all had outdoor stands, they also had indoor displays that went on forever. We talked to every vendor in the town. I was now on a first name basis with iron smiths, sword makers, and horse specialists. A page’s job was serious work. The moment everyone heard I was the new page, they all wanted to be my best friend and demonstrated a new tool just for me. Poor Sir Bertrant was going to kill me when he heard I was using his name in vain.

  The only purchase that made me excited was a bag of seeds. The house did not have a single fruit tree. I wanted to give the horses fresh fruits but did not want to come to the market every day. I almost didn’t buy them, since growing trees would take years. Then, Sageri mentioned she had something that could help me with the process. I just had to stop by her place before heading to Sir Bertrant’s. I figured I could pick up my toothbrush and the paste while I was there.

  The walk back to Sageri’s house was pleasant. She explained all her shopping tricks to me, and we laughed and talked like old friends until she suddenly stopped in front of her house.

  “Madison, I have a basket for you to take.”

  “You made me a basket?” Maybe Sageri had a crystal ball and could read the future.

  “I made it after I stopped by the house this morning,” Sageri said. “Sir Bertrant knew you were in the stables the whole time and hadn’t kicked you out, so I took that as a good omen.”

  “That’s a good way to put it.”

  “Let me go grab it. You he
ad to the kitchen and get some water,” Sageri told me as she ran to the shop.

  A little more confident, I made my way to the kitchen and crossed the barrier with little hesitation. Drinking water was a great idea because I was parched. What am I going to do for dinner today?

  “Make sure to take those two containers on the counter for your dinner,” Sageri told me as she entered the kitchen.

  “Are you a mind reader?” I asked her, glancing over my shoulder at the two containers she had left behind.

  “I wish. It would make this job so much easier,” Sageri said with a giggle. “I just know you won’t have enough time to make food by the time you get back. Here are your other supplies.”

  “Thank you, what are they?” I asked Sageri, inspecting the basket cautiously.

  “I have labeled them all, so I’m glad you speak Somniabunt or we would be in trouble.” Sageri told me.

  “Somniabunt? I speak English,” I said.

  “I have no idea what English is, but this is Somniabunt you are speaking.” Sageri pointed a little bottle at me.

  “Fine, whatever. What’s in the basket?” There was no need to argue with her.

  “Things to clean the house, to clean your clothes, and to make things smell fresh, but most importantly, you have a potion to make your seeds grow.” Sageri crossed her arms over her puffed out chest like a proud mom.

  “Sageri, you could have started with that one,” I told her, pulling the bottle away from her.

  “I like to build up to it.” She put the bottles and potions away. “Just make sure you only put a few drops on the seeds once you plant them.”

  “Will do,” I replied, ready to get started.

  “Are you going to be okay heading back alone?” Sageri asked me. “You have tons of stuff to carry.”

  “Should I be worried I’ll get jumped?” I asked her, my eyes wandering around the kitchen like someone might appear out of thin air.

  “I don’t think jumped means the same to you as it does to me,” Sageri told me.

  Things were definitely getting lost in translation here.

  “Do you have robbers I should be concerned with?” I asked, this time a little slower.