Ch.25 Again?

A few weeks had passed since Elric brought his mother Clara back to his keep on Foust Kingdom. By now she had settled into her new life there, and spent most of her time reading books about Foust Kingdom and the continent of Fargo. Even though she had lived on Fargo for over a decade, she knew little about it or its History. During her reading she learned that there were little to no magic users on Fargo, with only one notable guild that practice healing magic. She could not find any records of hedge witches in Foust Kingdom, nore the surrounding kingdoms.

Although Elric had gone back to Dragon City, Princess Aalis continued to live in the dragon's keep. She would spend most of her time there when not receiving lessons for her tutors or the one day a week she spent with her father in the throne room. King Foust wanted her to learn how to properly hold court and settle disputes, by seeing it done, just incase he where to become ill or otherwise be unable to attend to his duties.

Elric would come check on his mother and princess Aslis once or twice a week as his tight schedule allowed. Elric spent his time in court dealing with the redistribution of lands and tittles after Ethel had found many of the so called nobles of the kingdom to not be very noble in their actions. Because she had came from a humble background, spending most of her life as a farmer, Ethel would not stand for any mistreatment of the lower class.

The two of them striped any noble found to be stealing from or mistreating the peasants that worked their land. Elric would then give the land and a title to any of the new knights he was training. Most of his new knights where not of noble birth, but where enlisted soldiers that had proven their loyalty to him and the kingdom in the last year.

Elric would spend the timer he was not in court or spending with his mother and Princess Aalis helping his generals train the new recruits, so he knew most of the outstanding ones. Part of his restructuring of Ash Kingdom was for the knights in in training you travel in groups of ten along with a fully trained knight conducting Patrols of the main roads, often referred to as the King's Road roadway.

Ethel had also established a Merchant's Guild under Eric's orders. This guild help to establish common prices for goods across the kingdom, and a system of fairly pricing transportation services for the merchants based upon distance difficulty in danger of the trip. The Merchant's Guild also provided a place where traveling merchants good hire mercenaries or off duty knights to act as escorts for their caravans. These efforts made the roads of Ash Kingdom the safest on all of Fargo, with little to no bandit presents.

One one Friday, the third one if counting from the time Elric had gone back to Dragon City after making sure his mother got settled into his keep in Foust, he as particularly busy dealing with the trade agreement with a neighboring Kingdom had sent word to Princess Aalis that he we had to postpone his weekly visit by a day or two. Because this was normally the day Elric came to see her she did not having lessons schedule for the day with her instructors, thus causing her to grow bored rather quickly. With nothing better to do she said that she would go shopping in the merchant area of the Foust capital city for a gift for Elric. He was always buying her things and thought she would surprise him by getting him something for once.

Princess Aalis had asked Ciara to go with her, but her "mother-in-law" had said she just found an old book that talked about the basics of alchemy and potion-making that was said to be an all but lost art in this day and age. Ciara wanted to study the old book to see if she could learn how to make some of the "lost" potions. While witches had their own source of magic within there bodies and blood, it was not as of it was an endless supply, they would grow weak an tied if overused and take a few days to recover their power back after the rest.

Potions head various effects, everything from the simple one to help you sleep or stay awake to ones uses as a form of Medicine. However one if the ones said to be lost to time could help recover magical energy quickly or grant someone not born with it naturally a small amount of magical power temporarily. It was Clara's hope the old but may contain this lost recipe or others thought to be lost so she declined to go with Aalis shopping.

Seeing that Ciara had other things on her mind princess Aalis took along her personal maid telling her that she could take the day off, and that she would buy her lunch on one if the many shops. After eating a meal of meats and veggies that where imported from Vash at high cost to the restaurant and only offered to V.I.P., patrons such as the princess, that could afford the sky high price, the two of them started shopping.

Being that it was two young girls that had access to considerable funds, at least the princess, the first stop was a candy shop called Jennifer's Candy Palace. The two girls bought several large bags of gummy dwarfs a specialty of the shop, and a bag of sugar stars. Thanks to the new trade agreement between Foust and Ash Kingdoms sugar stars, apples, and potash were now widely available in Foust Kingdom.

Pricecess Aslis and her maid then set off searching the various shops for a gift for Elric. She had thought about getting him a new outfit made, but without knowing his measurements it was not possible. They spent three hours looking without finding anything that Princess Aalis though Elric would like. However she did manage to overhear a few people talking about a new shop that just opened in Dragon City that sold imported dwarven made goods. In fact Elric had wanted to go check the place out himself but did not have time to do so. If Princess Aalis knew this she may have just gone there first. With most of the day spent already the two girls had to move quickly if they wanted to make it to the shop before it closed.

Because the princess almost always had a carriage on standby to take her to Dragon City she was able to leave shortly after her, and her maid got back to Foust Castle. Princess Aalis had one if the guards report to her father, King Foust, that she was going to Dragon City and that she would make Elric and Blaze bring her back along with dinner. She knew her father had a likeing for the cooking if a particular one of Elric's kitchen staff. Princess Aalis figured that if there was a chance of getting his cooking again, her father would not stop her from going.

King Foust did however send word to Elric that she was on the way along with a few hidden knights that followed her for protection, that even she did not know about, only King Foust, Odis, Elric, and Ethel knew about them. This was something that Elric and her father did in secret after she was kidnapped. The hidden knights had already stopped her from being kidnapped again on one of her "alone" trips to Dragon Kingdom.

Princess Aalis got to the import shop around an hour before it closed for the day with her personal maid in tow. It took her all of seven minutes to find what she thought was the perfect gift. It was a mechanical doll of sorts dressed in a maid's outfit. It used a mixture of gears and darven magic to be able to move on its own and was able to follow simple instructions. It could make beds, serve drinks, do some light cleaning, and even make a few different meals.

Princess Aalis did not like Elric having another woman in his bedchamber, even if it was just a maid that served him drinks and made sure he woke up on time. This doll could take care of his need for a personal maid or butler without her insisting that he have a male attendant. The doll was one of only two the shop manage to acquire, and had an extremely high price six hundred gold coins. This price the dolls well out of the reach of all but a few, as even most nobles would have a hard time spending that amount on a single item, equal to the average pay one might receive as a knight in half a year. However Aalis was a Crowned Princess of a large kingdom, her allowance was five hundred coins a month, and she normally only used a few silver to buy candy or a dozen gold at most on dresses.

Even after today's shopping spree, Princess Aalis currently had fifteen hundred gold coins on her. Princess Aalis had her maid track town a sales representative of the shop so she could buy the maid doll and the matching buttler one, as the price had prevented either from selling yet, and she figured that she would buy herself the other one.

A young darven man in a fine leather pair of overalls and a white cotton shirt walked over towards the princess, following behind her maid. When He got within twenty steps of her he stopped, and bowed saying, "Welcome to Sid's Darven Imports, I am Bronze Hammer grade smith Gunther, How might I be of service to young miss?"

"I am thinking of buying this maid doll and or butler doll, is there a difference in them beyond the male and female appearance?"

"You have a good eye young miss, they are slightly different, the maid doll is strictly a servant type doll, and as the description card says it is capable of household chores and some limited cooking and geared towards serving a male master. The butler is however was designed with a young miss such as yourself in mind and therefore had the combat abilities of a slightly higher than average Swordsman rank fighter, along with the standard ability of doing housework, but can not cook." There where other advanced and more adult functions the dolls were capable of, but seeing has how it was a young miss in front of him, Gunther thought it best not to mention such things to her, the full range of abilities, and understood commands were listed in a guide that came with the dolls anyway.

"Ok, Good. I will take both, one to serve my future husband and one for my own use, you do accept Foustain Gold coins as payment I assume, If not I can always go exchange them for the Coinage of Ash Kingdom. I would prefer not to do so as doing so might tip off my husband to the purchase, and I want it to be a surprise for him when he goes to escort me back home later."

"Excuse me young miss, buy are you aware that theses two dolls are the most expensive two items in this shop and cost 600 gold coins each, while additional power cells or crystals are 10 gold coins each?"

"Yes is there a problem or did you not hear me as you have yet to answer whether or not I have to go exchange my coins or not?"

"My apologies, young miss, let me go fetch the floor manager as the total amount of the sell is over what my position is allowed. The type of coin is not an issue at all, we gladly accept any of the surrounding kingdom's coins as well, in fact this in the norm of most shops in this city. Gunther then bowed as he left to find the floor manager. a few minutes later he returned with the floor manager when was dressed in the same fine leather overalls but had on a red shirt underneath.

The floor manager was more than eager to help Princess Aalis with the sale, if he had recognized her he would have been even more eager to help. However the shop had only just opened and they were not natives of Fargo,causing them to not know the appearance of any of the local royals, he only knew she was filthy rich. The manager took time to make sure the dolls were packed carefully, and delivered out to Princess Aalis carriage. If the staff was from Fargo and not the continent of Gagaree, they would have immediately recognized the royal emblem of Foust on it. Right now the floor manager could only think of the promotion he would probably be getting for selling the two dolls at once, he might even be made a vice manager he thought.

This sell drew a lot of attention due to the amount of gold that was spent by a little girl. A few of the customers also recognized the girl and knew she was the Crown Princess of Foust and future Queen of Ash Kingdom, to bad none of them bothered to tell the store's staff. One of the eyes the sell drew belonged to the shops current manager, a vile little imp of a man. This had more to do with his personality than size, even though he was half dwarf. He was always looking for a get rich quick opportunity and had no problems with bending or breaking a few laws for the sake of gold.

Seeing a small girl that was only attended my a maid spend so much gold gave him the idea to try and kidnap her for a ransom. If she could spend like that at her age, her family must be made of money he thought. The little imp ordered a few of the shops guards to corner Princess Aalis and her maid and forced her into a back room. The guards told her that the shop's manager wanted to thank her for the sell so as not to alarm her. Sadly for the money hungry manager the six hidden knights noticed everything. For now they knew that she was in no real danger as they could easily deal with the guards of the shop that were not even as strong as a shield bearer. One of the hidden knights went to report to Elric anyway, as he might want to deal with the shop personally. With five dedicated knights keeping a close eye on her nothing was going to happen to her. Not to mention that of the current customers in the shop one third were members of the Ash Kingdom army that knew very well who their future queen was and would not hesitate to turn the shop into a bloodbath should she let out even a tiny scream.

The knight quickly made his way to the throne room to report to Elric. Seeing one of the knights he personally ordered to protect Aalis in secret enter the throne room Elric said, "What happened now?"

"Princess Aalis manage to get herself and her personal maid kidnaped again Your Majesty, But she is in no danger whatsoever as the other five protectors are watching over her while hidden. It looks like the manager of a shop she is visiting noticed the amount of money she spent and had thoughts of getting rich quick by ransoming her for a high price back to her family."

"What Idiot Shop has a manager that does not recognize her as my bride to be?"

"It is that new dwarf import shop here in Dragon City, your majesty, should we go ahead and deal with them or would you like to take care of them personally?"

" I will go myself, I have need of a target to test my new magical powers on anyway, wooden dummies don't bleed or scream in pain after all, And i have wanted an excuse to visit the shop anyway. Looks like i get to test my magic and shop for free at the same time. Lead the way. Normally Elric would bring Blaze along for such things, but she had just laid down for a nap after eating a boatload of fish and he did not want to wake her up for something even one of the hidden knights could handle alone.

After reaching the shop still in his royal robes and crown, Elric burst through the shop's doors saying, "Did all you you little ore for brains hit yourselfs in the head with a hammer this morning of something? How can none of you recognize the future queen of the very kingdom that allowed you to set up shop in its capital city? As for all of you, I know that you were just wanting to see Blaze have Dwarf for dinner, but she is sleeping off a boatload of fish, so I will be the one providing the fireworks tonight. You can all stick around and watch the show as thanks for not taking away all my fun by dealing with this place in defence of your queen to be, however be sure to pay for whatever you can to buy after I'm done as there is about to be a change of ownership."

"You in the red shirt where is that boss of yours and My woman?"

The floor manager could only point to the doors leading to the back room as he was to scared to talk. Elric walked over slowly to the doors, when he got to them two of the knights protecting Aalis knelt down and opened the doors while saying, "Have fun Your Majesty, the little one is the boss by the way, the princess has only been held in this room until now with no harm coming to her, she was even given a few snacks. I think this is not the first time the lil imp has pulled this seeing as to how he is treating her.

Walking through the Doors Elric said, "Yo ore face I guess You have No idea who you tried to kidnap, well you are about to learn the hard way I guess."

Elric then Flicked his wrist while chanting, "Gravity reversal- invisible chains." Elric had yet to reach a point to where he could cast magic without some sort of chant, but had gotten to where he could cast most spells with a short chant, normally just the name of the spell or first line of the chant, instead of having to say the full incantation. This spell caused the shop manager to be flipped upside down and held in the air as if held in place by iron chains, it was a form of gravity magic often used to capture prisoners by the members of House Pendragon.

"Let me go, Let me go, I am the son of a powerful magiteck tinkerer. If you stop now I won't tell my father."

"So you think you can get away just by threatening me with your father. You truly are stupid, I am Elric Vellen, King of Ash Kingdom, you know the one that you are IN now. She just happens to be my bride to be and Crown Princess of Foust Kingdom. I became king after I feed the third prince and son of the former king to my dragon one piece at a time right in front of the old king."

"King bow to my father and his magiteck dolls, let me down or else.."

**PAHH PaHHH Pahh**

Elric slapped the little shop manager three time across the face. "Lord you must have rocks for brains, I am no normal king if you could not tell, for one there is currently a fire breathing dragon sleeping in a room off my bedchambers, second that is real magic holding you up there by the way, so unless daddy is a member of House Martocs a house of Elvan witches, do you really think a descendent of House Pendragon would even bother with him?"

"Ddddaargon, you really have a dragon, I was told that was just a myth by the other shop keepers."

"Nope, Blaze is very real, she ate the last guy who kidnap me, guess you are lucky she had fish for dinner tonight. Oh by the way I was never in any danger, my maid over there is the best assassin on Fargo, and attest six knights are standing on the other side of that door."

"You knew your father and I had hidden knights watching you all this time dear?"

"No, it took my maid almost three hours of our shopping trip to find them. If she were my old maid I would have no idea. I hired Lexxy after the third prince used an assassin to kidnap me. I figured that who better to protect me from an assassin than an assassin, even dad does not know about her. Yours and Daddy's men are quite good, thank you for coming to save me though husband."

"Ok, girls you might want to steep outside, I don't think the two of you are going to watch me deal with this little half dwarf. Why don't you go have the castle kitchen make something we can take to your father, King Foust for dinner, I might be here for a while."

After Princess Aalis and Lexxy left the back room, "Elric said now where were we, Ah yes that part. Aqua Whips-Death of ten thousand lashes."

**CRACK, Crack cRacK CRACK**

After just four of the ten thousand lashes the shop managers cloths were in tatters barely hanging on as he screamed for mercy that would never come. When the hundredth slash landed Elric stepped out to order his knights to round up an imprison the staff of the shop so that they could be dealt with later. He also ordered them to take everything in the shop to the castle vault, anything he did not want would be sold off by an store that operated under the crowns order at some point.

With over seven thousand slashes left to go Elric got board and used his magic to form a throne chair for him to sit in and relax. At this point the half dwarf's screams could be heard in the surrounding shops, good thing it was about closing time for most of them. By the six thousandth slash it was pointless to continue as he nothing was left of the little imp of a shop manager.

Elric left the now empty shop after burning what was left of the shop manager to ashes, going to the castle to pick up Princess Aalis, Lexxy, and wake Blaze to see if she wanted to go to Foust Kingdom for the night as well. Lexxy and the six knights that acted as hidden guards rode back in Aalis' carriage while she and Elric rode on Blaze. Once they got to Foust castle Elric and Blaze whent to see his mother, while Princess Aalis took the still warm dinner to her father. Blaze was fast enough to make the trip before the food could even get cold.

After Elric told his mother about his "magic practice", he gave Blaze a few more fish and the two went to join King Foust, and Aalis for dinner. When dinner was over Aalis gave him his gift. She told him the doll was his new personal maid, and that she did not ever want to see another woman in his bedchamber before she was crown queen. She also showed him the butler doll that she got herself to him. The dolls were easy to set up thanks to the quick start guide on the outside of the crate they had been placed in. Elric figured out that he could use his own magic power to recharge them instead of needing to use replacement power crystals with the help of Ciara.

Elric and Blaze spent the night in the keep as it was getting late. The next morning he asked his mother if she would like to open a magic shop or witches caldron were the import store had been. This would give her something to do with her time he thought. Ciara who had just finished reading the old book she found wanted to test some to the potion recipes she found in it, thought his idea would give her a great place to do so. A week later Ciara's Caldren opened for business. It was a potion and magical item shop,with the top floor serving as a place one could request Ciara to cast certain spells. She would also teach basic runes allowed to be used by hedge witches by the Houses as well for certain price. Her shop was under the direct protection of the crown and operated as an official business of the Kingdom.

Ciara gained the attention of House Pendragon by opening the only magic shop on Fargo. She used this contact to report the island her son had found full of Sea Heart Grass and the awakening of Elric's powers. as she had followed the rules of the house and Elric had also found a valuable resource, both were listed as full members of the main branch and also granted an exception to never have to seal their powers even if marrying outside of the clan. This showed just how valuable the island covered in Sea Heart Grass was to House Pendragon. Ciara was only asked to never teach any real spells of sell tomes in her shop and was given the nod to place the crest of House Pendragon on the shop as a way of indicating that it operated under the blessings and protection of the House. She was also able to find out some of what happened on Tera after she and Elric escaped. For now she did not tell Elric any of the news she found out, and wondered if she would ever go back to her branch family's villa again.