When I left the castle this morning it was still dark. I had slept little, not feeling that tired, and eventually some time around 4 o'clock had given in, got up, splashed water on my face, thrown a change of clothes into my pack and made my way to the stables. None of the grooms were awake or present, and I'd been forced to try and saddle one of the horses myself. Luckily my efforts had woken one of the stable boys and he had completed the job for me.
Leaving the castle behind I rode down the West road, past the Northern gate to the city and past the Rebma Road and then turned North into the Forest of Arden. As I rode I could feel the resistance of the shadow veils weakening to the point I felt comfortable in manipulating shadow. I rode for most of the day picking up a mixture of gold and silver coins, and small gems as I rode. As evening approached I located an Inn and booked myself a room. It wasn't that I needed the rest, but the horse did.
When I rode into the ranch this morning the owner didn't know what to make of things, but a hefty payment in cash secured stabling for my horse for a couple of days. Having called a cab my next stop was the local Toyota dealership to replace my 4x4 that I'd left in shadow. They were most taken aback when I tried to pay in cash, but when my credit card was refused they had no choice. Transport acquired I made my way to the bank and deposited the remainder of the cash into my account. I also arranged to have a substantial amount of the gold coins assayed with the proceeds being used to clear my existing credit card balance. In the mean time I arranged for a second credit card which would allow me to complete my shopping.
By the time I got back to the condo it was mid-afternoon. There was a stack of mail on the side and the answer machine was chock full. Thankfully my cleaner was still coming in regularly otherwise I hate to think what state the refrigerator would have been in. Several of the messages were from her, regarding payment of wages, so I dealt with that first. I then arranged to meet Michael and Brian for dinner to resolve what was going to be an extended absence from Mizzurian. I then set to sorting my snail mail. Thankfully there were only 5 letters that needed any sort of response and 3 of those I'd effectively dealt with at the bank earlier. This just left a letter from Choi Lee and a services bill, the latter resolved with a telephone call. Next on the list was my email but I fancied a swim.
Now whilst my balcony wasn't overlooked, the pool being on the side of the house was. This meant I needed to be aware of my neighbour's movements before swimming naked. Now if I'd been home the last month and if I hadn't been preoccupied I'd have remembered to check, but I didn't. I 'd actually been in the pool for several minutes before I realized I was being watched. The two of them were trying to watch and film me covertly but failing miserably, the usual problem associated with teenagers. I swam a couple more lengths whilst I considered what to do.
Climbing out the pool on the side furthest from the fence I walked around the pool, until I was adjacent to the fence, the fence effectively blocking me from their view. As I expected they couldn't miss the shot and opened the window so that they could track my movements. This was of course what I wanted them to do. I took a couple of quick steps and vaulted onto the fence, using the momentum gained to vault onto the window ledge. This sent them flying backwards into the room allowing me to grab the window, open it fully and drop through. As they scrambled to get out of the way, I stepped in and relieved the smaller of the pair of the camera.. "Are your parents in?". The other one shook his head. "How about your sister?". This time he nodded. "Well I suggest you lock your door then".
The shorter of the two now found his tounge, "What are you going to do with us?"
"We're going to play a little game. If you do well you get to keep your assets, if you don't then you'll wake up naked in the middle of China Town. Oh and if you try to run for it I'll add your sister to the list just to make your life more interesting."
The taller of the two moved to the door. He hesitated then turned the lock. I flipped the camera into rewind. "Now then lets see if you've got the equipment to play. Strip".
I left the way I'd arrived about an hour later, with an interesting camcorder tape, which I placed in the safe. Neither of them had been any good, but then what do you expect of 17 year olds. The problem was that I now had an itch that needed scratching properly.
I got about half way through my emails before I got thoroughly fed up and returned to the pool. I'd swum several lengths before the heads re-appeared at the window, although without the camera this time. I suggested they join me. A couple of minutes later I head the clatter of a ladder on the fence and the start of an argument. His sister wanted to know what was going on. A couple of minutes later and they were standing by the pool side towels in hand. "Lose the trunks or you're not coming in". They looked at one another then complied. I swam over to them. A figure then appeared over the fence. It was Brad's sister Marcie. "You can either join us or go back inside but I have a severe dislike of voyeurs". I had expected her to retreat, but she climbed over. The two boys went red and limp. She pulled off her T-shirt and stepped out of her jeans. I noted the way Patrick was watching her and the fact that he was becoming aroused again. She undid her bra and slipped out of the thong she was wearing. She seemed more than aware of the effect she was having on Patrick. It was now her brothers turn to go off the deep end. I told him he had two choices he could either climb back over the fence or he could stay. If he stayed then he had to shut up and accept that his sister made her own decisions.
By the time I got in the shower about an hour and a half later the three of them were pretty tired, and my need to have my itch scratched had declined somewhat. I dressed for dinner and told them to let themselves out, with the proviso that if anything went missing I'd be less than happy and the consequences would be more than interesting. I left a $50 on the side and told them to order takeout if they were hungry. They were to be gone by the time I returned and there was to be no mess.
Dinner was an interesting affair, with a mixture of relief at my reappearance and then consternation and anger at my bowing out of the scene for an indeterminate period. Since this would have a significant impact on the schedule for the latest game release, and therefore the Company's profitability I arranged to make a cash injection in exchange for an increased share allocation. After all I still need the income from the share dividend to be able to maintain payments on the condo. We finished earlier than I expected and I toyed with the idea of going to the Purple Dragon but didn't really feel in the mood. For some reason dealing with the remainder of my emails seemed to be a pressing matter.
Surprisingly the condo was both empty and tidy when I returned. Over dinner it had occurred to me that there were a few other things I needed to sort out before I returned to Amber. Firstly I was going to need an attorney to manage my financial affairs whilst I was absent. It was too late to make call now so I dropped Mary Echart an email with a view to phoning her in the morning. Next on the list was going to be some sort of odd-job man. I set myself a reminder to speak to Lou Li in the morning. Lastly, and this was a long shot, I somehow needed to ensure that the next game release was a major success. Now I knew the Pattern could be used to influence probability, after all that was how I'd acquired the gold, silver, gems, and cash, but these were all short term immediate events. What I needed was a long term manipulation, something that would take several weeks to come to fruition. I could only try.
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