Apex Magazine Issue 69 by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Apex Publications
Published: 2015-02-28T05:00:00+00:00

ED GRABIANOWSKI is a freelance writer from Buffalo, NY. He writes for io9 & HowStuffWorks, among other sites and magazines. His fiction has appeared in Black Static and Shanna Germain’s Geek Love anthology.

The Topaz Marquise

Fran Wilde

The man waiting outside my studio three days before the new year was dark with travel, his cloak ragged and mud–stained. The gray hollows around his eyes and beneath his cheekbones proclaimed his business. Even so, I feared I would be robbed before our exchange ended.

“What are you selling?” I held the heavy brass key in my hand like a weapon, refusing to unlock the studio door. Beyond the thin wooden barrier, a rough amethyst the size and texture of a shelled walnut waited on my cutting tray to be improved. The man before me could never enter that room.

“A gem,” he said. His accent put a flat country note to the ‘e.’ A fleck of spit remained on his lip, white foam against cracked red flesh. “From the Valley.”

I held out my free hand. The wretched man placed into it a large wad of linen. Still, I doubted his claim. Valley gems were plentiful in rumor and rare in reality. A good jeweler learned to trace a gem’s origin before he made a purchase he couldn’t profit from later. I owned my shop and the studio above it, in a tower within the city walls. I wasn’t about to make a bad buy.

I peeled the linen back, the gray of its outer layer revealing a white underside. Within the nest of fabric lay a large yellow topaz, cut in the old style.

“My dear man,” I said. “This is no Valley gem. It’s neither ruby nor sapphire, diamond nor emerald. This is topaz or citrine. And, worse, it doesn’t sing. I’m told Valley gems sing.” But I kept hold of the stone, and the man noticed.

“Two gold graeli,” he said. “The topaz will sing for the right jeweler.”

I flipped my hand over, fingers curled around the topaz and its wrapping. Made as if to hand it back to him. “Not interested.” I reached the brass key towards my studio door.

“Thirty silver.” His voice broke.

“I will give you twenty,” I said. The man was desperate. I was certain I could cut the old topaz into three more popular shapes and sell each for that much, or more.

My day was starting off fine, and when Lise, my assistant, arrived, it would get better still. I pocketed the topaz and drew a purse from my sleeve. The man’s fingers shook the coins together as I counted them out.

What a marvelous stone. I imagined it transformed to a brooch or a ring. A pair of drop earrings. Glittering in the perfect setting: bezel or clutch, wrap or pin…

The man was staring at me, as if awaiting a response.

“You shouldn’t linger,” I said quickly and waved him away. “The local sheriff comes around often.”

As the man shuffled down the narrow stairs to the street outside my shop, I unlocked the studio, closed the door carefully behind me, then hurried to my workbench.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.