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 Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 6:30 pm
Prologue
In the outskirts of the oasis Castara a dijinni sat in the shadows. He had the darkest blue eyes and skin imaginable. His head was shaved but his face was covered in the traditional markings of a commander, they were a lighter blue that seemed to glow on his skin. He was muscular and handsome with a sharp chin and a narrow almost feline face. He looked almost normal in shape except for the blue tail and being eight feet tall. He wore a black shirt that left his muscular hairy arms bare and able to move freely; he also wore loose fitting pants that helped his movement. He sat in the thick undergrowth of the oasis and was waiting out his prey with his company of forty dijinni. His company had received information that the genies or elementals as the dijinn called them were transporting a special cargo to the academy in Castara, but what this cargo was they did not know. All they knew was that it was very powerful.
The dijinni had been surprised to find that the elementals would be transporting this cargo during the night, when the elementals were at their weakest, making the cargo easy to capture for the dijinn company. The company almost didn’t come for fear of a trap, for even when weak, a genie was much faster and cleverer than an average dijinni. In the end they came so that they wouldn’t miss such an important capture. For the dijinn had bee at war with the elementals for centuries now each trying to gain the upper hand.
A brown dijinni slinked up to the blue dijinni, he was also eight feet tall and had a tail but he was less muscular and slimmer for speed. He said,” Dark Water, a caravan has been spotted coming toward the oasis. We can already feel the immense power coming from the caravan.”
“Good, so it wasn’t a trap. Have you been able to identify which wagon the power is coming from?” Dark Water asked.
“No, I’m afraid the wagon train is to far away to pinpoint the power source the most we can figure is that it is in the center of the train surrounded by other wagons.”
“I will need you to lead the assault once they are in the trees Hard Rock,” Dark Water ordered,” and I will also be taking five other dijinn with me to search the caravan while the elementals are occupied.”
Dark Water listed off the names of the dijinni he wanted and dismissed Hard Rock. Dark Water waited as he watched the moon rise. He did not worry about how Hard Rock would lead the campaign for he had trained Hard Rock himself. Dark Water could hear the company ready itself for battle. As the moon reached its height the first wagon came into sight. The company waited until all the wagons were in view. Then they attacked. Dark Water and his small division snuck around the skirmish toward the caravan. Elementals surged forward toward the charging dijinn ready to defend the caravan at all costs. Colors blurred in the tangle of bodies as the bright colors of the elementals combined with the dark colors of the dijinn. The warriors of the opposing forces clashed, each side refusing to lose to the other, as Dark Water’s patrol slipped by into the caravan.
As they reached the first wagon Dark Water called a halt to issue orders,” Alright we will split up form here, you three,” Dark Water said pointing at three gray dijinn,” search the wagons toward the desert and you two,” pointing to the last two,” search the front of the train by the battle and all of you DISCREETLY look into the wagons. I’ll look in the wagons here, and remember if you’re caught no one is coming to rescue you. So be ready to defend yourselves. Move out!!!”
As the spies headed off in the different directions, Dark Water started to examine the wagons close by. The elementals were smart enough to not color code their wagons on the journey as they would usually do, probably so that any attacking dijinn wouldn’t know what to expect what to expect when they went into one of the wagons. Dark Water went to the nearest wagon and sent his shadows into the wagon to scout for him. They came back reporting a fire genie standing guard in the wagon. Dark Water sent the shadows to quickly take care of the genie and searched the wagon. Finding nothing Dark Water left the body in the wagon and moved on. He did the same to the other wagons and still found nothing. Finally he came to the last wagon in his area. His shadows reported that no one was inside. The guard was probably drawn away to join the fighting, Dark Water thought. He went in.
When he got in, it looked like all the other wagons he had searched. It had many different supplies but it was much roomier than the other wagons and one corner was veiled. Dark Water started walking toward the corner, but a dart flew by him, narrowly missing his head. Dark Water whorled around to face his attacker, she was dressed in yellow the color that marked her as an air elemental. She had a burnoose and veil on of the color and hazel eyes searched him over the veil. He could see a wisp of sandy brown hair protruding out of her burnoose. He noted that she was very short even for her kind’s small stature. Dark Water could not discern anything else about her for her clothes were magically shielded so that he couldn’t harm her with a spell.
Dark Water unsheathed a dagger he had kept hidden in his shirtsleeve. The genie revealed some throwing stars favored by the air people. They watched each other warily and started to circle. Dark Water knew he couldn’t charge her for he knew she would just start up a gale to blow him away from her, but she would have to be fast if she wished to catch him before he went into the shadows. While Dark Water thought about what to do the elemental attacked throwing her deadly stars and sending a burst of wind following them to make them go faster. Dark Water cursed himself for not attacking first and dodged to the right toward the veiled corner. Dark Water knew that if that corner were at all important then she wouldn’t dare throw her stars in that direction for fear of damaging the cargo.
When the genie hesitated Dark Water yelled,” What is the matter air rat, don’t want to harm your precious package?”
Instead of answering the girl darted to the side so that she could aim at Dark Water without hitting the package. She sent out a dart this time instead of her stars. Dark Water had to drop to the ground in order to dodge it this time. The dart flew over his head to embed itself in the wall. Dark Water dissolved himself into the shadows vanishing from sight. The air elemental whipped around and searched the darkness for him but having no luck, for very few had the power to rip a dijinni from its shadows. She must be an initiate, Dark Water thought, or else she would have called on her element by now. As if she had read his mind, her eyes dilated and a breeze stirred in the windowless wagon. Dark Water then heard the treacherous sound of his clothes starting to rustle. Before she could pinpoint his location from the sound, Dark Water lunged at her letting his shadows fall and stabbed her in the back of the leg, barely missing the artery. She screamed in pain and fell to the floor, her pant leg already soaking through. Dark Water lunged again but stopped for there were now three elementals lying on the ground wounded. He knew these were illusions of the air, like a mirage, but he could not see through them to figure out which was the real one.
The three elementals got up and started to circle him; Dark Water backed to the wall so that he could see all three at once. As they approached, the one on the far left limped forward. Sloppy, she doesn’t even realize that the other forms aren’t limping as well, Dark Water thought disgustedly. He watched as the elemental and her counterparts took out their stars and aimed. Dark Water waited until the stars had left their hands then he formed into a shadow and circled them throwing a poison dart at the real genie, all this happened in the blink of an eye. The two illusions vanished once the dart hit the elemental, sending her to the ground. Too bad I forgot to put a dab of poison on the darts. Oh well, time to finish what I started, Dark Water started.
The air elemental looked to be out cold from the paralysis serum that was mandatory in the darts, but just to make sure Dark Water kicked the elemental in the gut, hard. She didn’t even stir. Dark Water, satisfied that the serum had worked, moved toward the veiled corner. He pulled the veil back to reveal a cradle. In it were twin babies the only difference between the children was that one’s hair was flame red the other’s a midnight black almost blue. Dark Water examined them with his power. Both were untrained in any elements or the dark arts; they did indeed have great power and the ability to be trained in either skill. It would be easy to take them and make them forget their genie heritage and train them in the way of the shadows. They just need a little influence in the shadows now in order to turn them, Dark Water thought. He was just able to put a dab of his shadows into the redhead before he was knocked flying into the wall of the wagon. It seemed the elemental had woken up and was back in action.
Dark Water lay stunned against the wall as the elemental limped to the babies. Realizing that she could no longer hold the dijinni off, the elemental ripped open a hole in the air leading to some unknown place and gently placed the babies inside. Dark Water recovered too late and lunged at the genie, for the hole with the babies was almost gone. He ripped her away from the corner wrenching her shoulder in the process just in time to see the portal close. The elemental lay whimpering on the ground trying to crawl away. Dark Water turned murder in his eyes, to face the elemental. Dark Water paused. She would surely know where she had sent the babies, but Dark Water would need a way to transport her without her acting up. Dark Water wondered for a moment, and then smiled maliciously knowing exactly how to cripple her and make her suffer for her stunt. As the dijinni pondered this the elemental watched suspiciously, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to escape capture, but she might be able to make enough noise to warn the others. The elemental readied herself to yell for help but all of a sudden threw back her head and screamed from the unbearable pain bursting from her head.
“Now, now none of that, you might bring unwanted attention to ourselves as we leave,” Dark Water cooed as he sent more shadows to cover her mouth. Dark Water had sent shadows to burrow into her eyes so that she would be blind. He had not tried this himself but he had heard that it was quite painful for the victim from the rumors; it appeared the rumors were true. Excellent, Dark Water thought.
As the elemental writhed on the floor from the pain, the dijinni got ready to leave checking that all his weapons were in place under his shirt. When the elemental stopped moving he assumed she had passed out in the process, but just to make sure she was alive he kick her again in the stomach. The elemental coughed up blood and opened her eyes; it appeared that she had been faking in order to help her chances of escape. Instead of the genie’s hazel eyes looking out, there was only black. The elemental tried to scream again but the shadows over her mouth prevented her from making any sound other than a muffled whisper. Dark Water picked her and up slung her over his shoulder as he prepared to leave. He listened at the door but he couldn’t hear anything outside than the far off sounds of battle.
Dark Water slowly eased himself out of the wagon without making noise. Dark Water softly padded out of the caravan. He was about to round the last wagon when a male elemental dressed in red charged him sending a burst of fire ahead of him that hit Dark Water square in the back. It appeared that the elemental had been sent back to check on the caravan for spies like Dark Water. As Dark Water recovered himself he saw the man’s eyes flick to the elemental on Dark Water’s back. Dark Water knew he would be in for a fight if he wanted to keep the girl and he needed to question her on where she sent the babies. Dark Water quickly tried to disappear into the nearby shadows but the man sent up a tongue of fire to light up the gap and disintegrated the shadows. Dark Water needed to leave before Hard Rock called off the fight and retreated. Dark Water still had all his knives on him so he quickly threw a knife and followed the knife. He charged the elemental behind it catching him off guard.
When the air elemental on Dark Water’s back felt the violent movement underneath her she started to struggle right as Dark Water was about to hit the other elemental throwing Dark Water off balance. Dark Water tumbled down and landed at the other man’s feet. The fire elemental pummeled Dark Water as he lay there, giving him no mercy until Dark Water was black as well as blue. The fire elemental quickly took the girl off Dark Water’s back as the fire lamp over head started to fade. The fire elemental watched as Dark Water disappeared into the shadows. As he turned to leave a shadowy figure seeped from the shadows and pounced on the unsuspecting elemental. The man struggled as he started to suffocate from the shadows covering his mouth but it was no use.
When the elemental’s struggles ceased Dark Water retrieved the girl and vanished in his shadows.
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:20 pm
Chapter 1
Feory
Twelve years later…
“Hey stop that girl! Get out of the way!” the guards yelled as they raced down the market street.
Feory streaked past the customers on the street knocking some down on the purpose to hamper the guards. She had bright red hair and dark green eyes. Everything about her face spelled defiance: the fierce spark in her eye, her stubborn chin, and her long arched nose. Feory came to an alley that connected two streets. Feory raced down the alley thanking her stars that she was a fast runner; Feory had a normal height with long legs and a compact build. If only she could round the corner before the guards saw her go down the alley then they might race right by it. No such luck for the guards saw her running down the alley and gave chase. She heard the guards getting closer to her and ran for all she was worth, turning into a red blur as some pieces of her ragged robe came off as she ran. Feory raced down more alleys that made an intricate web for the guards to get lost in, but no matter which way she turned the guards never lost sight of her. Feory quickly turned down an alley to find the passageway had been boarded over; she was trapped. Feory looked everywhere in the alley for an escape, because if she went back the guards would surely see her, she even tried to jump the fence but it was too high. Maybe I lost the guards and they will run right past. Unfortunately the guards stopped and turned down the alley, taking their time knowing she was trapped.
Just my luck, Feory thought, Of course they’d never lose my trail and then there had to be a fence down this one particular passageway. Feory knowing she was beat stood in the middle of the alley in front of the fence and stared down her pursuers. A soft tap emanating from the fence sent Feory’s heart racing. The three guards came up to her and sneered knowing they had her. The leader reached out to grab her, but Feory ducked and rammed her foot into the guard’s groin. The guard doubled over and the guard on the left raced around him to get at Feory. Feory bent down and grabbed a handful of sand and threw it into the guard’s eyes. Feory raced to the fence whistling and a rope popped over the top just low enough for Feory to reach. The third guard seeing where she was headed for lunged at her just before she could grab the rope. He pulled her back smiling at her efforts to free herself. Feory looked everywhere as he started to try to tie her up. As he was trying to grab her hands to tie them, Feory grabbed a nearby stone and smashed it into the guard’s head. The guard let out a howl of pain, as he fell back stunned. By this time the first guard recovered just in time to see Feory’s red hair disappear over the fence.
On the other side of the fence was a girl at about seventeen with short brown hair in a tight neat bun. She had hard brown eyes that allowed no room for leeway. She wore a rough-sew sensible shirt and short skirt to keep off the heat. She wore worn leather shoes. Her face was very haggard from over work and she had a no nonsense face. She also wore no makeup. She was short and slightly hunched over as if she carried a heavy weight on her back.
“Feory what is wrong with you?!?!?! You know you are supposed to be staying out of trouble!” The girl yelled. “What was so important that you needed to steal and risk potential capture?”
Feory avoided her eyes, trying to think of a good enough excuse knowing there wasn’t any. Feory started to mumble something about food and how they were low.
“That is not an excuse Feory and you know it. You know that when we are low we will go out and perform not STEAL!!!” the girl raged. “What was your real reason for your fruitless venture?”
“It wasn’t fruitless they were hurting the poor thing!” Feory protested. “What did you want me to do leave it there for that merchant to abuse?”
“Wait what thing? What did you steal Feory?”
“Nothing…” The girl glared at Feory, “Fine I’ll show you.” Pulling out the sack that she had hidden in her shirt Feory pulled out a baby desert hawk barely fledged. It was mostly brown with streaks of gold feathers that easily reflected the sunlight. It was still small only as long as wrist to the tips of Feory’s fingers not anywhere near as big as its parents could be, almost as big as a house. The hawk let out a soft cooing and tried to flap out of Feory’s grip savaging her arm with the beginnings of what would soon be long flight feathers, which were sharp as knives.
“I thought we could train it to hunt for us or use as transportation then we wouldn’t always need to buy food or wagons,” said Feory.
“No way, absolutely not. Get rid of that thing immediately, I don’t care how but do it I don’t want to ever see that thing again. Got it?!?!?” At Feory’s nod the girl stalked off leaving Feory in the alley.
“Sorry you had to see that little guy,” Feory apologized, “That was Dunai, she thinks herself caretaker of all us strays and runaways even though she’s not. Sometimes she gets real bossy. I’m not giving you up though, but don’t worry I’ll hide you so that she’ll never find you. At least until you can fly, then you can live on the roof or something. Oh wait I almost forgot I should give you a name shouldn’t I. How about Deseray, huh does that sound good.”
Feory looked down to find that her new charge had fallen asleep during the argument. Feory gently stroked the hawk, laughing softly, and headed home.
Home was giant tower left over from the old palace. It had a high wall surrounding it, which was probably why it had survived the attack five years ago. The tower was made of the same kind of stone gray stone as the wall but the tower was clear of the wall by a good thirty feet. It had several windows but most was small only the two at the top were longer than half the wall. It also had only one real exit built by the original owners; the street rats, or urchins as some were called, had made quite a few others.
Feory approached the wall; since the gate always remained locked Feory followed the wall till she came upon a tree that hung over the wall. Unlike what happened in the alley Feory shimmied up the tree like a monkey and was soon at the top. Feory made sure no one was around, and then tied a rope around the bag that held Deseray and slowly lowered it on the other side of the wall. Upon hitting the ground Deseray started to shriek and bawl, quickly Feory jumped over the wall from the tree, careful not to land on the bird, and tried to quiet her. Unfortunately the hawk did not want to quiet and kept on screeching and started to thrash. Feory realized that she had to act quickly if she wanted to keep Deseray a secret for much longer and quickly snapped the bird’s beak shut with her hand to cut off the noise. The bird started to struggle ravaging Feory’s arms with its sharp feathers, so Feory stuffed the fledgling into its sack and hurried to her room in the tower. Feory rushed up the starts of the tower hearing the sack starting to tear.
Feory’s room was at the very top of the tower because she had been one of the first to discover the abandoned tower after the raid on the city. Feory went up the stairs as fast as she could manage with her bundle trying to keep the fledgling’s wing in the bag as she stuck it through a hole. There were many people going up and down the stairs for the tower held almost all of the cities strays and runaways. Most people went by without as much as a look (people tended to stick to themselves when a friend could be arrested or killed any day), but some of the people that Feory knew when she hit the streets stared questioningly at her. Feory hurried past these people without looking back.
Unfortunately halfway up the tower Feory met Giana who had tried to steal from Flannery, Feory’s roommate, but Feory had stopped her in a quite painful way. “Well well what’s the hurry Feory? Got somewhere to go?” Giana asked eyeing Feory’s struggling package, “or perhaps something to hide?”
Giana was quite tall for her age, about fifteen; she was a foot and a half taller than Feory’s four feet eight. Giana had white blond, waist length hair in a long braid; you could also see green streaks that she had dyed into her hair. She wore a sleeveless shirt and loose pants as well as very expensive, well-worn boots. Giana had long tattoos in the shape of rose vines that extended from her shoulders to her wrists. She also had slate gray eyes that at the moment looked as hard as stone. Giana also wore no makeup.
Feory glared to Giana trying to keep sack still, “What’s it to you what I’m doing? Get out of my way; it’s none of your business.” screamed Feory.
Feory tried to push past Giana but Giana grabbed the bag and ripped a hole in it. Feory pulled away from her and stuffed the hawk back in the bag before she fell out. Feory rushed away from Giana before she could say anything. Giana yelled after her as Feory ran up the stairs to get away. Feory got to the top of the flight and looks back to see that Giana was walking down the stairs eyes questing for something. No doubt Dunai, Feory thought and she rushed up the last few flights to her room.
Finally Feory wearily reached the top floor. There were three sets of doors in front of her as well as two floor to ceiling windows beside the outside doors. On the door to the right was a sign that had a gold coin stuck into it, since none of the tower inhabitance could read they used symbols to claim rooms, that one was Dunai’s room; she was a “respectable” worker with a job as a seamstress. She provided all the clothes for the strays in the tower and made lots of money, hence the coin. The middle door had the sultan’s seal carved into it; this room belonged to Jakum who worked at the palace and was able to give the tower warnings when the sultan decided to raid the tower of its occupants. The last door on the right had a sprig of fire carved into it and a strip of silk that was favored by street performers surrounded it. This was Feory’s and her best friend Flanery’s room; Flanery was a successful street performer that danced in the town square, she had even been invited to dance at the palace recently. The sprig of fire was Feory’s symbol for she was a fire dancer and could eat it as well. Feory hesitated a moment wondering what she was going to tell her bunkmate about the hawk. What if Flanery reacted like Dunai and told her to get rid of it? Feory thrust the thought away knowing that her friend would understand and entered her room.
Feory entered the room and found nobody home, so she set to work making Deseray comfortable. There were two beds, each by a floor-to-ceiling window on a curved wall opposite the door, Feory’s bed was just a pallet on the floor and a thin blanket but her shelves were richly ornamented with red colored glass, sculptures of animals, sprigs of fire in every kind of form, and a small locket with a painting of a woman Feory assumed was her mother. On Flanery’s side she had a real bed with a bed stand and mattress; she also had shelves as well, but hers were filled with books and semiprecious jewels. Flanery’s things were also decorated with silks of all hues; Flanery was very popular and made a lot of money from her performances. There were also some puffy cushions, an icebox, and a stove that Feory and Flannery used when they didn’t want to eat with the other occupants of the tower.
Feory first went to her icebox and collected some smoked meat. She quickly fed the hawk to calm her and started to collect various materials for her bedding. Feory’s first thought had been to put the Deseray’s bed on the roof but since the hawk was only a fledgling and couldn’t fly steadily that was not an option. The hawk needed to be out of sight incase Dunai came but it couldn’t be far away so that Feory could regularly feed her until the hawk was old enough to fend for herself. Then Feory thought of the perfect place to hide Deseray, Feory and Flanery had used it many times themselves. Feory went to the corner of the room and got a chair to stand on. Feory checked outside the door to make sure no one was coming in, and then when she knew it was safe she lifted up a section of the ceiling and slid inside.
The hole in the ceiling was clean and cobweb free showing that the passageway had been used many times. The hole was large enough for Feory to stand in and it had enough room for a large cushion to sit on. Feory had a couple of blankets in here and started to place them in a circular indent on the ground. Feory placed the hawk in the nest of blankets and watched to make sure that she was comfortable. Suddenly the hawk started screeching again and advanced on Feory razor sharp wings out in attack position. Feory backed away quickly trying to get away from the hawk’s dangerous wings. She reached behind her for anything to hold the hawk at bay so she could reach the trap door. Feory felt something soft and fuzzy, and thinking it was a pillow threw it at the hawk. Instead of a pillow a dead mouse flew to the hawk and rebounded off of it. The hawk momentarily confused examined the mouse and quickly ate. Feory started laughing, she had forgotten that hawks needed to be fed more than once, and so Feory went down to the room to retrieve the meat.
Feory grabbed the meat and turned to go back up to the loft, as she and Flannery called it, and almost ran into Flannery. Flannery smirked as she saw Feory try to cover up her surprised look. Flannery had light blue eyes that seemed brighter because of the charcoal around her eyes. She had a small delicate nose, thin arching eyebrows with long lashes, and a soft mouth. She had waist length white blond hair, which she wore in a tight braid. She also wore a strip of silk that wrapped around her chest and cut off above her stomach. Flannery wore long silk pants that puffed out at the bottoms and soft slippers for dancing only. She also wore a fire opal on a leather thong around her neck that glittered with a rainbow of different colors; it was the only thing of her family that she had saved after the old town had been destroyed.
“So what are you up to Feory? I thought you didn’t like the loft since you fell off while sleeping up there,” Flannery teased, “And why so surprised to find me down here, I mean this is my room too.”
“Uhhh, I thought you would still be at the market entertaining,” Feory stammered. I haven’t even thought about how I’m going to explain Deseray, Feory panicked.
“I’m surprised you didn’t hear me come in, you usually know what someone at the bottom of the tower is doing by sound alone.”
“Well I-I-I-I was taking a nap, so that’s why I didn’t hear you,” Feory stammered, ”But I have something to show you. I found her in the desert all alone. She had no place to go so I brought her here.”
“Wait who did you bring here? Feory is this thing another one of your strays?”
“She’s not a stray exactly, I rescued her from…”
“Ahh so you were the one distracting the guards by Obi Lane. What did you take; I mean it had to be pretty special for a merchant to send three royal watch guards after you?” Flannery asked.
“Alright well I was walking down the market just browsing stalls. Well I was checking out this animal and hide stall and I heard a shriek in the building behind it. That must have been the business’s storage building because I could see bags filled with furs and feathers against the far wall. I could also see the merchant’s animals as well. Most were in good condition, I mean he has to sell them doesn’t he, except for some of the really rare animals like a sphinx and this desert hawk. They were both malnourished and I really wanted to help them but there were guards everywhere.
“So I started to shriek and that sent the other animals up in a racket. All the noise, you know, had to draw the guards away and I took the opportunity to rush up to the sphinx and the hawk. Once I released the pair the sphinx charged me with the care of the hawk and quickly escaped by its magic. The hawk was young and half unconscious from lack of food; it didn’t even realize what was happening. I started to panic because the guards were coming back and I had nowhere to go; but I think the sphinx had left me some of its magic because the guards didn’t even look at me. I left the building and I think the magic wore off because all of a sudden the alarm sounded and palace guards started to chase me.
“I ended up getting away with Dunai’s help but she saw the hawk and ordered me to get rid of it. Well I couldn’t just leave it to its own devices, it could hurt people, get captured by another merchant, or something worse. So I had to rescue it and I kept it because I just couldn’t get myself to abandon it. So I kept Deseray and now she’s living in the loft. I promise you won’t have to take care of her at all; I will do everything with her. Just please please let me keep her!!!!!”
Flannery stood there for a moment just thinking. Then a smile split her face and she laughed so hard she started to cry. She almost fell over from the waves of laughter that racked her body.
Finally as the laughter subsided she was able to sputter out, “You idiot! You know I love to go behind Dunai’s back. You didn’t have to come up with such a stupid story to convince me. A sphinx!!!! That cracks me up!!!!”
“But it’s true; I’m not making it up. It really happened!! Why won’t you believe me?”
Flannery lost her control again seeing Feory’s exasperated face and started to laugh again. Finally Feory yelled, “FINE!!!! Believe what you want but I know what happened.”
After Flannery got control of herself again, they started to plan schedules on who would watch Deseray when and who would pay for the food. After they had the schedule and had dealt with another of Deseray’s meals Flannery remembered that she and Feory had received a royal summons. It “invited” them to perform at the banquet tonight. Feory wasn’t excited at the prospect of entertaining nobility. They tended to look at entertainers like slaves ready to do their bidding and to share their bed. Feory shuddered at the thought. Then an idea struck her.
“Hey Flannery, lets go shopping. I mean we both probably need something more presentable than our street gear. And I need more fire powder.” Feory suggested.
“You just want to prepare for fending off the nobles. But I suppose we could do with some new clothes and protection.” Flannery agreed.
“Good and I think we should practice some of those fist fighting moves while we are at it. The last time we attended one of these things one of the nobles left a huge bruise on your arm trying to make you stay.” Feory reminded Flannery.
“No, even if your experience with nobles is bad, mine is not. I refuse to tarnish my reputation being caught carrying weapons,” Flannery sniffed.
“Fine fine, you don’t have to bring weapons; but I’m bringing my dagger as well as some of my flares.”
Feory stalked out of the room, and then timidly returned realizing that Flannery had the coin purse. Feory tended to spend all of the money she had in her possession on the first shiny dagger she saw; well at least if she couldn’t steal it. Flannery was still in her superior mood and ignored Feory, retying her sash as slow possible on purpose knowing Feory was as patience as a starving man at a banquet table. Finally Flannery finished and gave Feory one last glare and walked out of the room. Feory shut the door behind her and as an extra precaution she added a layer of fire powder in front of the door so she would know if someone went in.
Feory caught up to Flannery and soon got her out of her mood with a good joke. They both started to discuss what they would buy at the market. They passed several people on the way down. Some they knew, most they didn’t. New urchins arrived everyday because of the loss of jobs and parents abandoning children they can’t afford. Though there were a lot of people in the tower today because of the rest day, it didn’t escape Feory’s attention that someone was watching them from the top of the flight of stairs. Feory subtly moved Flannery along faster hoping that the watcher was just bored and had nothing to else to stare at. As always though, Feory was wrong about such things as she nonchalantly looked over her shoulder and saws the person following. It was impossible to figure out the follower’s sex because his face was covered by a hood and he wore loose fitting clothes. He was very tall and muscular which Feory could tell from his sleeveless shirt, which suggested the person was male. Unfortunately though many people had taken to lifting crates to help in fighting against the city guards, as they had started arresting people only suspected in crimes but had no proof. Those people tend to be not seen again or seen next at the quarries or some other less than pleasant place.
They reached the entrance area of the tower. It was a big open room with the ceiling about thirty feet above. It had a bunch of tables and cook fires dug into the floor because it doubled as a recreation area and an eating place. Feory quickly dragged Flannery into a nearby closet, shoved her in, and looked out a crack in the door waiting for their pursuer. Flannery started to protest loudly just as the follower came out of the stairs. Feory quickly put her hand over Flannery’s mouth cutting off sound but it seemed to have been too late because the person had turned toward the closet. Feory held her breath as the person took a step in her direction and halted. Feory could make out the person’s thin mouth and crooked nose that looked as if it had been broken and could tell they were male and got ready for a fight. But the man stopped flashed Feory a small smug smile and turned toward the door and left. Feory unsettled by the man’s sudden departure sat in thought. Up until her fingers felt like they were lit up on fire and she started to bleed. Flannery glared at Feory, her bad mood back as she continued to bite down hard on Feory’s hand. Flannery gave her one last grind and released her. She pushed Feory aside and strode right out of the closet. Feory had to run to catch up to her. Flannery threw her a look of disgust and started walking faster.
“Wait! Flannery wait, let me explain. There was this guy following us down the stairs, and being me I got paranoid and thought he was following us.”
“Well, was he?” Flannery demanded.
Feory hesitated not wanting to worry her friend. Flannery overreacted at the silliest things. She decided to go with a half truth.
“I don’t know what he wanted, but he left when he hit the bottom of the stairs.”
Flannery gave up on her mad act and softened. Feory’s paranoia was famous in the tower. It was what kept people from coming to her room when they were out nicking their neighbor’s things. Flannery was always appreciative of her friend’s safe guards on their room because it protected her gems and silks from the thieves in the tower.
“Alright I forgive you from stuffing me in a closet but don’t make a habit of it or you won’t like my reaction.”
Feory nodded and they headed to the tunnel they had dug on the inside of the wall. It was too small for a girl with extra baggage but was perfect for a skinny street rat. They quickly slipped down the dark tunnel and out the exit close to the entrance of the marketplace. Feory quickly looked around remembering her run through it this morning, but Flannery pulled her forward in her rush to get in before the night crowd. Even though it was still early for the more shady businesses and too late for the respectable ones, there were still a lot of people about.
“All right now where to first?” Flannery asked.
“How about we get the powders first? That way I can get my fire powder and you can get some face powder,” Feory suggested.
Flannery agreed and they headed over to the plaza where that stall was located. The plaza was along way away from the tunnel, so by the time they got there the night stalls were up and open. The plaza had a huge fountain in the middle with sculptures of the sister goddesses Alowa and Denesper. These goddesses were patrons over earth and the sky. Alowa was goddess over the sky and she watched over the birds; she also controlled weather. On the other hand Denesper watched over the land and its fruits, and she also especially watched over horses and other beasts of burden. The Alowa sculpture was made out of precious glass so it always had a pair of guards surrounding it just incase someone wished to try and sell it. The Denesper sculpture was made of equally precious sate, a lustrous brown metal that threw off rainbow light at sunset. Most of the stalls that were out at night were rundown and ragged. Except for the ones in the plaza, since the plaza was a popular place the vendors, even the illegal ones, could afford good storage space and quality goods.
To the north end of the plaza were the castle gates, at least the guest’s entrance for rich important people. If a prisoner or tradesmen needed to get in they would have to take the long way through the city to the back entrance. Feory had used this route to rescue a lot of friends that raised a fuss while being dragged through the city to the prison gate. If someone looked beyond the gates not far they would see the great looming shape of the palace. This was the new palace, made after the old one had burned down in the Katanian raid twelve years ago. It had many foreign styles about it because the sultan was trying to be on good terms with the distant countries.
The powder vendor’s name was Jack and he was the best bargainer and the worst cheat. He weighed gold with a faulty scale and added rocks to the bottom of bags to add more weight for less of the product. He was extremely handsome though so if an unwary buyer let down their guard for his pretty face they would soon lose most of their purse. He had wavy tawny colored hair, with a ruggedly firm chin. His nose which had once been as straight as a knife was the only thing that marred his beauty; it was now a crooked line down his face, broken after he had shorted a hot tempered man of grain.
“Ahh my favorite customers,” Jack greeted them as they approached,”What can I do for you today? Some more fire powder for you of course, Feory; but what about you Flannery my shrewdest of all buyers.”
“From any other person being called their favorite customer would be a complement and usually meant I was about to get a discount, but from you I’m not sure that it is not an indication that I may be a bad bargainer. If that is the case then I will probably want to find my face powder else where. Don’t you agree Feory?” Flannery asked.
“Yes, you’re so hard to bargain with Jack. Maybe we should go to another vendor just so that we can get cheaper things without needing to be so vigilant about what we get and how much,” Feory agreed.
“Girls you know I only bargain so hard to keep you on your toes. Why without me you would become soft and out of practice for when you really need it, like when the caravans come. I mean without my help those interlopers would walk right over you,” Jack countered smoothly, not for a second believing their light threat.
“All right Flannery you’re the bargainer, so do as he says and get this practice that we so much need. I’m going to check out the other vendors see if they have anything good.”
“Okay but don’t buy anything illegal, Feory. Do you hear me?” Flannery shouted.
“Yeah, yeah I hear ya. I won’t buy anything that will get me in trouble again,” Feory shouted back and continued down the nearest alley.
Feory wandered the nearby alleys looking for some daggers. She saw stalls selling magic talismans and good luck charms. She even saw new exotic animals like Deseray except these were more dangerous and lethal. Unfortunately she couldn’t find a vendor that sold daggers or flares. You’d think that with all of this illegal stuff there would be something that I needed to buy, Feory thought. What does a girl have to do to find some blades!! Feory thought in frustration after wandering down the seventh alley. Feory was about to turn back when she finally saw a vendor with blades. Feory hurried over to the stall. A quick glance of the vendor’s wares showed that most had magical qualities. Some came when called to them, some gave their wielders better fighting skills, and some even shot energy bolts when commanded. Feory’s eyes wandered over the swords and noticed the other wares on the table. The vendor also sold magical items that actually worked.
The vendor coughed and Feory looked up in to the face of a very old woman. She was a crone so old that you could hardly see her eyes under the wrinkled folds of her skin. Her seamed face held a wary look as she watched Feory. She wore tattered clothes, which was unusual considering the worth of her wares, but she had an expensive amulet around her neck with properties unknown. Feory continued to look over the wares ignoring the crone’s piercing glare. At the end of the counter sat a lamp. It was red with flecks of orange in the metal and the lamp looked as if it was made of liquid metal. As Feory looked at it the dying sun’s rays made it look as if it flickered like the flame the lamp was shaped as.
At the sight of the lamp Feory’s heart started to quicken. Feory tried to move onto the blades farther down but her eyes were drawn unbidden back to the lamp. She didn’t know why but she absolutely had to have that lamp. Feory quickly got a hold of herself so as to appear uninterested in any of the items. Looking up at the crone she didn’t think that she had convinced the vendor of her aloofness.
“Do you have any normal blades or at least something with a magical edge? I can’t afford to have a magic blade malfunction during one of my acts,” Feory tried to sound casual but failed miserably as she heard the tremor in her voice.
The crone chuckled to herself. She obviously suspected what Feory really wanted but was enjoying the sight of Feory trying to sound tactful. “Yes child, of course I have regular blades. What kind of seller would I do if I didn’t have the basic tools? But I think you would probably enjoy a blade like this. I’ve heard of your show and this blade would certainly help. It produces flames along the blade edge and look they even change color on command. Each color has a different trait,” the crone added in a wicked tone, “I might even add that lamp for a small price to the bargain.”
Feory got a hold of herself as she eyed the blade. It certainly would be helpful so long as those other traits weren’t dangerous. She tried to convince herself that the knife was what she really wanted but she knew that it wasn’t. She could care less at that moment what she had to buy to get that lamp but she should have been grateful the vendor hadn’t added more.
“Alright but what would this small price be?” Feory asked.
“Oh nothing unreasonable of course but I would say,” the crone paused watching Feory squirm, “Five hundred ken and not a dinna less.”
“What?!? My good vendor that price is nowhere near reasonable!” Five hundred ken was a poor man’s wages for six months.
“Come now this is a rare blade and quite powerful as well. Not to mention that lovely trinket that I’m throwing in as well.”
Both women stared each other down, waiting for other break down. Unfortunately Feory could feel that it was going to be her. She really wanted that lamp and the blade would be a nice touch to her act. But five hundred kens was a lot of money for just about anything less than buying a horse or camel. Feory was just about to break and accept the price when Flannery walked up behind her.
“Buying something Feory?” She asked glancing at her friends pained expression as well as the vendor’s triumphant one.
“Um sort of, her price is quite high and I’m not sure if I really want it now,” Feory tried to say but it ended coming out as a whine.
“Well how much is the price?”
“Five hundred ken,” Feory said in a small voice, knowing what was coming.
Flannery spent some time examining the blade and listening to the vendor explain its qualities. She tried to start the bargaining process but the crone refused to lower her price at all.
“I’m sorry Feory but that blade is just too expensive,” Flannery said regretfully
“That’s alright but could we at least get that lamp over at the end. I really want it,” Feory whispered discreetly pointing to it.
Flannery looked it over with an experienced eye. It was obviously made with some kind of valuable metal and it looked durable. Despite all of these positive qualities Flannery felt unease about the little lamp. She looked at Feory and her sense of foreboding increased ten fold when she saw the hunger on Feory’s face. She was not for any reason going to buy that lamp. But she couldn’t just refuse to buy it for her friend for no reason. Feory would just come back later with a stolen purse and buy it.
Flannery leaned in toward the crone and quietly talked to her. Feory, unable to hear what was said paced restlessly. She needed that lamp as if it were part of her body. The need scared her but she still needed the lamp. Unfortunately it seemed that Flannery did not want her to have it. As soon as Flannery had looked back after examining the lamp, Feory knew that Flannery wasn’t going to get it.
So when Flannery turned back with a defeated expression Feory wasn’t surprised, “Feory I’m sorry but the lamp is too expensive and she won’t budge on the price at all. I wish I could get it for you but let’s go find a different blade, one less expensive one,” Flannery said.
When she saw Feory look back at the counter of items Flannery grabbed Feory and dragged her away. Feory looked over her shoulder one last time and thought, I will be back for it.
As the pair rounded the corner the vendor chuckled and said, “I know you will."
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Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:19 am
Interesting story. I like it a lot.
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Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 8:21 am
It is quite obvious that you have thought quite a bit about this story, and have it pretty well thought out in your mind. I was once told that the best way to depict an image is to not TELL the reader what is there, but to describe it. For an example...."He had blue marks on his face, the design of a commander's tattoo..."
you could write instead...."deep blue lines were etched into his skin, displaying his role an an important and ruthless commander of the dijinn."
well, something like that. I hope I got my point across. (and spelled everything correctly...)
but you should keep continuing. I would wish to find out what happens and just what that blade that old crone has to sell has to do with the plot...please, continue!!
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