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The Mysterious Merchant (16) : Almadel has visited Destiny City to take part in the Star Festival for several years now, and he has been very vocal about the importance of this ritual of his. Every year, he arrives with treasures, and usually a bit of trouble, too.

This year, he isn’t there at all.

On the same hill where he usually peddles his wares, there are no tables. No barrier. No merchant.

There is only an odd pulse of energy broadcasting its presence fixed to a single sidewalk sign, too ornate to belong in front of the expected coffee or sandwich shop, set on a patch of even ground. The dark wood had a gilded frame and on the sign, elegantly scrawled in fancy, iridescent ink: ‘Now Hiring: Emergency Part Time Assistance. Looking for fearless, battle-savvy exterminators. Please arrive promptly, Friday June 21st, 10 PM. Will reward HANDSOMELY.’


Myth had been looking forward to this year’s Star Festival. She still had Almadel’s business card tucked away in her Wonder, kept safe against a time when she might need to call on him. But he always seemed to show up during the Star Festival and she’d made a stop at Starbucks to grab a couple of hot teas on her way to the hill where she knew Almadel liked to hold court. She didn’t really have anything to trade this time, but had hope that she could perhaps coax some low grade tea out of the odd merchant in exchange for, well, some tea.

Though edging on creepy as hell, Myth liked the merchant and had looked forward to a chance for another conversation. One lover of antiques to another. Only, as she got to the top of the hill, she found… nothing. No wares, no tables. No Almadel. Feeling dismayed, she stalked the area, wondering if he’d changed venues, but no. Nothing. Setting the cardboard cup holder down, she took one of the teas and sipped at it, thinking hard. She’d noticed the sign and felt an odd energy coming from it. Finally, curiosity won out and she wandered over. Mouth moving silently as she read, she got to the part about handsome rewards and began to curse. Loudly. Creatively. For a few moments, turning the air blue kept her from worrying about her sort-of-but-not-really friend.

“The ******** have you gotten into, Almadel?” she muttered. She rather suspected that he’d gone out to loot someone’s old home and misjudged any ancient security set in place. She’d warned him! She’d told him to be careful and now he was asking for emergency extermination assistance! Son of a <********>. At least, she assumed it was him somehow asking for help using the sign. Given this was his hill, it was only logical.

Angrily slugging back the rest of her tea, she set the cup meant for Almadel near the sign. She didn’t know if he was aware of what was going on here or not. But if he was, she wanted him to know she was good and worried. And that there would be a great many I Told You Sos once he was out of whatever trouble he’d gotten himself into.

Finally, Myth calmed herself down enough to re-read the sign and make a note about the date and time. She felt a twinge of amusement at that. Only Almadel would schedule his own rescue.

“The hell have you gotten up to out there?” Battle savvy exterminators sounded super serious. She wasn’t sure if she counted as that, but she was a knight and not entirely helpless. She was also petty as ******** and wanted to be there to make sure Almadel got at least one I Told You So directly to his face. Then she could retry the whole Tea for Tea idea.

After a moment, she sighed and decided to give it up for now. She tossed her empty cup into the nearest trash can before moving to take one last look at the sign. It was only then that she noticed that a little rainbow star charm had fallen into the nearby grass. Probably from someone who’d come up earlier and lost it. Well, it was hers now. Pocketing the thing, she headed back down the hill.

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