Weekly Writing – January 14 2023

“I have to say,” said the illustrious figure sitting across the desk from him, “I didn’t expect this level of…intense suspicion from the Chosen One.”
“It isn’t suspicion,” he lied, spinning the ballpoint pen atop his thumb with practised ease. “It’s prudence. You’re asking me to accompany you on an unproven means of transportation-”
“Portals are considered to be quite safe and reliable in my realm.”
“-on an expedition of unknown duration, during which you’ve already admitted I might face considerable risk of bodily harm-”
“Of course, anyone would lay down their life to protect the Chosen One. But there is always the chance that-”
“-and for which you wish to promise me payment of…nothing.”
“The gratitude of the Golden Realm is hardly nothing. Kings may empty their coffers, nobles will bow before you in the streets. Your name will be regarded with-”
“Perhaps things are different in the ‘Golden Realm’, but here, only an idiot would undertake a lengthy and dangerous job for the promise that they ‘may’ be paid. No – if you want to whisk me through your portal, away from my employment and into potential danger for a considerable length of time, we’re going to sit here first and arrange a contract with far less exploitative terms.”
The stranger- the wizard, supposedly- conveyed well, I never through every silent means available to him. A bristling of his long white beard, a tremendous working of his equally white and bristling brows, a static popping in the air around him not unlike standing near a power substation. He might truly have been what he claimed to be.
But, if so, then he could surely whisk up a pile of gold or some other payment suitable for a lawyer under retainer. If not, he was just going to have to huff back into his swirling portal alone and find some other rube to save his glorious kingdom.