I wanted to tell the jeweler not to lose hope, that Arthur was alive and we were on a mission to make sure Excalibur would be placed back in his hands. But since I was unable to do this, I settled for something else.
“Here.” I dug a handful of ONC currency pieces out of my backpack and placed them on the table. “This ought to cover whatever that knight took.”
The elderly vendor’s mint green eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Miss, that is far too much money.”
“Consider it an investment,” I said. I looked around at the jewelry. “You can expand your business. You have some lovely product. You said these stones have special properties?”
“Yes, yes,” the man nodded fervently. “This is Jacobee stone. It is only found in certain regions, like the Canyon of Geene, and it is very difficult to
