Chapter Fifty Four - Reward

Noah fell asleep just after he heard the dragon roared. He managed to turn and face the bed before collapsing onto it and falling into a deep sleep where he dreamed of his bond and playing in the grass with him.

When he woke up he found Sir Isan had just walked in from the door and found Noah lying with his buttocks in the air. Isan did his best to stop a snicker while Noah stood up quickly fixing himself,

"Sir Isan, is there something I can help you with?"

"I have been asked to escort you to your new home and this gives us some time to catch up privately without anyone else listening in.." Sir Isan picked up some clothes off the table by Noah's bed that had been left by his mother before throwing them at Noah.

He grabbed them and unfurled them to find they were a black tunic along with brown trousers and a belt to hold them up tightly. The tunic had buttons that he could tie up and keep himself looking neat and smart. After putting them on he found his shoes had been left at the bottom of his bed and put them on before following Sir Isan.

"Noah, what happened to Quin? He didn't come back to the tower with you?" Isan asked Noah as they started walking down from the floor they were on to the merchant floors below. There were a few people taking the stairs going by them but they all seemed to be on a mission and didn't even show any signs of hearing Isan's questions.

Knowing that his master was good friends with Sir Isan he replied, "... I left Master Quin for a few months to train and when I got back there were a lot of bodies and the house had been ransacked but he wasn't there. I am going to find him and Sir Joseph told me that I could ask around."

Isan looked at the ground, his brow creasing as they steadily moved down the stairs. Passing floor after floor. "Noah, find a merchant called Eric, he is the only person in the tower other than myself of Henry that I could think Quin would contact but if he isn't here then I have no idea where he has gone off to. When you say there were bodies at the house did you recognise them at all? Did they have any identification on them?"

"No, they all had very basic armour on but if it was Master Quin they had gone against he seemed to have easily handled and dealt with them all. There was one who had trapped themselves into Master Quin's bedroom and tried to escape whoever was chasing them."

"Did any of the men have a silver band on their arms? That is a sign that they have been given permission to be in the Sil zone in the first place. I am going to have to fly out with Hallan as soon as I can and investigate more myself." Isan led them off at the 10th floor from the bottom, the Dragon Keep had much bigger floors closer to the base.

As the entered the 10th floor the ceiling was nearly 10 metres from the ground, in the hall itself was a community of small stalls set up in front of the front of some shops, selling various things from food to herbs and to ointments.

"This is one of the five merchant floors we have. Floors one to five are most of their residencies but the most popular ones have homes above their shops. The Emperor has rewarded you with a whole building to yourself that would normally be used as a shop, use it as you will. Rent it out to someone who only has a standing stall or maybe think of trying to start your own business?"

There was a twinkle in his eye as he said the last part, wondering if Noah would be up for the challenge. One of the agreed things that the commanders had to do was bring out the potential of every possible Heir and Isan wanted Noah to take the throne.

The hall seemed to accommodate around 30 street stalls and have about 22 shops, the centre of the hall let you see that this floor was in the plan of a giant X. They got closer and closer to the centre before Noah spotted an empty shop on the corner of the junction. He took a look at Sir Isan, who nodded and smiled.

They got the shop front and looked into the big window, the floor had recently been cleaned and the room painted in white. Sir Isan took out a key and unlocked the wooden door when they entered the shop Isan asked Noah, "You know how to use magic aura now don't you? Simply press your hand to the symbol on the wall here and push your magic aura into it and it will make the lights work for 30 minutes until you refill it."

The room itself was around 20 metres by 15 metres, at the back of the room another wooden door and on the right side of the room as you came in another door. "Everything has been emptied and cleaned up, the previous Tennant had not been keeping up with his rent so it was obvious he was going to have to clear out. I know this may not what you have been expecting but let's go upstairs first, the downstairs truly is just a shop."

After opening the door on the right Noah could see a dark oak stair set leading them up to a white marble room. The room had a white couch in the middle of the room and behind it a simple painting of the city when it was bustling at it's busiest. The room felt quite empty but it was nearly as big as the downstairs.

Following through from that room was a small hall that led you to a big open bedroom and a bathroom area with a bathtub. Isan let Noah know that the water was all hot pumped fresh from Troopers that were being punished and were having to heat a large vat of water on an upper floor somewhere. The bedroom was just a simple as the living room with a cosy looking single bed pushed against a grey wall.

"So what do you think?" Sir Isan asked.

"Feels like home."