Ellis and Mary continued in silence the rest of the way until they reached Byles’ shop. It was a modest building, and, like many others in this part of town, it was built upon an older building’s foundation. It stood two stories tall, with a ramshackle roof and a fenced in area out back. There was a makeshift stable and a flattened area where wagons and carts from the main road could swing by easily to load and offload their goods.

Byles was outside on the front porch talking with a man in fine dress. When he saw Ellis and Mary approach, Byles quickly finished his business and ushered the man away.

“There you are—” He paused, looking behind them. “Is it just you two?”

“Yeah,” Mary said.

Byles coughed doubtfully into his palm.

“I see…Well, allow me to show you around.”

Byles guided the two of them into the shop. Despite its outside appearance, the shop was made up of one large room with a very tall ceiling— over twenty feet high. There rose from the floor dozens of tall shelves and bookcases. Long wooden tables sat near the entranceway, each displaying a myriad of items for sale. In the far corner, behind a division of hanging cloth, were wooden poles that were each adorned with dresses, coats and other clothing of unusual style and color. There was also a second floor, if you could call it that. A narrow staircase rose to meet a balcony that ran along the inside perimeter of the room. It was barely wide enough for two people to stand on, and the wall space was covered in shelving that overflowed with papers, tools, cloth, silverware, and everything in between. In the corner opposite the clothing section was a wall of weapon stands that was, to Ellis’ dismay, mostly empty.

“Mornin’ Mister Byles.”

The voice came from a young man who had suddenly appeared from the clothing corner. He finished adjusting a large fur coat that was on display, then made his way over. When he saw Ellis and Mary up close, he gave them a curious look. The two of them eyed him back.

On closer inspection, the young man seemed like he might have been Ellis’ age, judging from his voice, though he looked a few years older. He was sinewy and his skin was weathered and dark from working in the sun. His hair was dark brown and tied back behind his head. For some reason, though Ellis couldn’t tell why, the man seemed familiar.

“Ah, Ellis, Mary, this is Torren.”

“Ellis. Mary. Welcome to Byles’ shop.”

“Nice to meet you,” Mary said politely.

“Byles, are they looking for anything in particular?”

“What? Oh, no. These two are—”

“We’re new employees!”

“You are!?” the young man said in shock.

Byles gave a surprised look at the two of them.

Ellis raised his eyebrows.

Mary returned a smile.

“Yes…,” Byles began. “These two are my new hires. They’ll be starting today.”

“I don’t understand, Byles, surely they don’t need to work?”

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It took Mary and Ellis a few moments to understand what he meant by those words.

They had intended to lie about their true objective — to pretend they were new employees— but they hadn’t thought to change their appearance. They had become so accustomed to the clothing they had bought after their trip to Edge, that they had forgotten how high it’s quality truly was. Not only that, but between Ellis’ weapons and Mary’s cleanliness, the two of them could no longer pass as serfs or peasantry.

Mary fumbled, trying to find her words.

“Well…uh…”

“We’re settling a debt,” Ellis said suddenly.

Torren looked at him; confused, but not distrusting.

“A debt?”

“Our father owes Mister Byles a debt, and he has sent us to settle it with labor.”

“Ah, yes!” Byles said, jumping in, “They are here to settle their father’s debt.”

“So, you two are siblings?”

Mary’s face became red.

“W-well—”

“Yup!” Ellis announced as he threw his arm over her shoulder.

“Anyway,” Byles said as he shoved Mary forward, “Torren, please show Mary around. She will be following you today, spare no expense in teaching her.”

Byles smiled greedily at Ellis and Mary, enticed by the notion of free labor.

Mary muttered under her breath as she followed Torren to the far corner of the room.

“Now, as for you…” Byles said, turning to Ellis and tapping his chin.

“What about me?”

Byles snapped his finger.

“I know!”

Byles led Ellis through the store, passed Mary and Torren, and out the back door. In the backyard of the shop was a flattened area that had boot-prints and wheel tracks running across the ground. There were a few voices coming from the other side of a stack of empty wooden crates.

Three men were standing there, working to unload crates from a covered wagon: a large man who appeared to be in his forties with a shaved head and large, sausage-like fingers; a man in his mid-twenties with a sturdy frame, unshaved face and a missing hand; and a man about the same age as the first, who was scrawny with a scarred face and dark black hair flecked with silver.

“Harold, Jerg, Lester! Listen up!”

The three men stopped to turn toward Byles.

“This here is Ellis. Starting today, he’ll be helping you load and unload the inventory.”

“Oh? Will he now?” the scrawny man said with a vicious grin.

The one-handed man squatted low and placed the wooden crate he was carrying on the ground near the others. He brushed off his pants and held out his good hand.

“I’m Jerg. Pleasure to meet you, Ellis.”

Ellis shook the man’s hand; it was firm and strong, like his uncle’s.

“Sure you don’t wanna give him the other hand?”

The scrawny man cackled to himself, that is until the large man punched him in the arm and nearly knocked him over.

“Harold! You want me to drop this? Idiot.”

The larger man pouted in response and shook his head.

“That is Harold,” Jerg told Ellis. “He fell off a carriage when he was small. He can’t speak very well, but he understands you.”

Harold smiled widely with childlike excitement and nodded his head. The scrawnier man rolled his shoulder and readjusted himself.

“I wouldn’t be so sure.”

“And that is Lester,” Jerg said. “Don’t let his fowl manners and bad attitude fool you. He is actually a pain in the ass.”

Lester sucked his teeth at Jerg as he passed by, heading back to the carriage to grab another crate.

“I can see you are all well acquainted,” Byles chimed in. “I will leave you to it then.”

With that, he clapped his hands and turned to leave.

“Wait! What do I do?”

“Do as they say, Ellis!” Byles called back while waving his hand in the air.

And with that, he was gone, leaving Ellis alone in the yard with the three strange men.