The Death of Chaos by L. E. Modesitt Jr. Read Free Book Online

tastefully, that it was a special piece.”
    She nodded again. “How much would such a piece cost? Done to the same standards as the table?”
    “Do you want a matching desk chair?”
    “Yes.”
    “Fifty golds. Forty for the desk and ten for the chair.”
    “How much of a deposit?” she asked.
    “Nothing.”
    “You are so rich that you need no deposit?”
    “No, madame.” I bowed again. “If I take your deposit, then I must accept your advice, because you already own the work, or part of it. I would prefer to do the best I can. If it does not suit you, you are under no obligation.”
    “So idealistic, Master Lerris. And so young.” She laughed, but it was not an unkind laugh.
    “Practical, madame. If you did not like the work, with your wealth, you could easily reclaim your deposit. And,” I added, “I have found I can sell whatever I can make.”
    “I like you, young fellow. But please do not call me madame. My name is Antona.” She waited.
    “I beg your indulgence, Lady Antona, but I am relatively new to Kyphrien and have not had the pleasure of knowing of you.”
    “I’m sure you will hear sooner or later. Don’t believe everything you hear. Only half of it is true. I will not tell you which half.” She turned toward the door, then paused. “When could I expect this piece to be completed?”
    I frowned. “Normally, for something like that, about a season.” I held up a hand. “It doesn’t take that long in workmanship, but if you want it to weather well and not have the wood split later, I need to let parts of the joints and any curving set for a while. Also, I have already been obligated to…spend some time I had not planned on, so this might take a bit longer. If that bothers you…”
    “No. As you pointed out, I have not paid you yet. It’s a fair bargain.” Antona stepped back from the table after taking another look at the inlay work. “The grain angles are very delicate.” She paused. “Would you mind if I paid you a visit to see how things are going in some several eight-days from now?”
    “Not at all.” I held the door for her and waited in the yard while she climbed into the carriage.
    Then I went back to the shop and drew up a rough plan for the desk, sketching out what I had in mind, while those details we had discussed were still fresh. I also wrote down the price—higher than I thought necessary, but I had learned that everything seemed to take longer and cost more. I wasn’t in the business just for artistry. I was learning that I did have to buy, not only wood, but such things as food, feed for Gairloch and the old mare, and more than I would have liked for the mounts of Krystal’s guards, although Krystal paid for most of their feed and some of the food. She would have paid more, but I didn’t feel right about asking her.
    After completing my quick rough plan, I put both the sketch and the estimates in the folder for commissions—thin, but growing—and went back to working on Hensil’s chairs.
    I’d gotten the one rough-finished, and had the backs of the next two done. That left five more. The grooved spokes were still the hardest. After I finished bending the backs of the next two with my too-few clamps and they were setting, I could go back to the time-consuming work of the spokes and the diamond backplates with the inlaid initial H .
    As usual, I didn’t get as far along as I would have liked, since I was working on the fourth chair back when I looked up at a faint sound.
    “So? What did you want?” Tamra stood in the doorway to the shop. “It couldn’t have been that important, or you would have tracked me down. I was only out in the market.”
    “How was I to know?” I set aside the clamps, wiping my forehead on my upper arm, only half-annoyed that she’d shielded her approach to catch me unawares. I was more worried about the chairs. Doing the backs was, like everything, going to take longer than I had planned.
    “You could have looked—with your