Gold Weaver | ✓

sieben

SIEBEN

The guards came bombarding in.

I was too shocked to speak, so rather than doing just that, I let them see 'my work' for themselves.

They stared at the large coil of gold.

The one who'd been guarding my door throughout the night was finally awake. He stood at the front of the group of men. "Get the King."

A good ten minutes later, with everyone gawking at me like I was some kind of alien, I heard the prominent voice of the King.

He came through the door, commanding the room to look at him without any words. In the middle, he stood still, looking around at his men and then at me.

"Is this some kind of joke?" He asked, staring around at us some more, before the smallest of the guards stepped aside and motioned to the floor.

The King's eyes swept over him before coming to land where he'd pointed.

He stood still for many moments before reaching towards it. He picked it up from the ground, turning it in his hands several times.

His eyes slowly climbed over to me.

"You did this?"

"Me and my magic friend," I said, trying to play it off as a joke.

He didn't even seem like he'd heard me. Rather than answer, he continued to stare at the gold string in his hand. He tugged at the end and stepped back as the entire thing unravelled across the floor. We all watched until it reached the very end.

"You can live."

Gee, thanks.

"Does this mean I can leave now?"

He turned to me. "You will stay here for a little while longer," he said, almost just think out loud. "I want to see what else you can turn into gold."

"I've done my part in our deal," I said.

"What did you want again?" He asked, clicking his fingers impatiently.

A voice spoke up from his side. "Marriage to a lord or duke."

"Actually—"

"We can surely settle that."

"I would like to change my—"

"Take her things to the West Wing. The room in the tower."

He was out of the door, the burly men following in a trail behind him before I could say anything to his face. So, I settled talking to myself.

"— reward."

.  .  .

The West Wing tower ended up being a room not so dissimilar from my old room. That is, besides the large bed in place of the baby-sized one from before and a sofa not far away from that. I noticed a small chair in the corner, cushioned and a deep but faded red.