Chapter 71
Please Leave
Brewer’s Reputation: 569.
Dream Cutter Stone Shard Quest: 14,698/15,000.
A white feather, large as a canoe, drifted through the wilderness. Thrush, Abigail, and I watched it lazily float between throbbing cocoons. The feather drew near, floating above the ground the way that leaves sometimes do, or the way that water striders slip. Seemingly untouched by the early winter air, a man dressed in an open vest and with no shoes poured himself a glass of what might have been tea from a steaming kettle. He raised the glass to us and caught a ray of sun in the amber liquid. He smiled and drank. When the feather came to a stop, the man disembarked, and I discovered he was barefoot.
“I guess I can say I’ve been expecting you,” I said.
The man’s chuckles came off good-natured. “Good day. You are speaking with Perage Vich, Fable rank Weapons Collector.”
“Good day,” said Abigail.
4 figures emerged from the wilderness behind Perage. Perage gestured to each one as they came into the sunlight. “May I introduce Lady Tais You, Myth rank Tongue Whip; Noble Bartu, Myth rank Linguist; Klick Hedel, Myth Rank Warlord; Fieef Eleventoes, Myth Rank Demon Hunter; and-”
“-Grafth U’ld…rank Oblivion.”
But Grafth’s voice was disembodied. Perage only smiled. Thrush eyed the ground. The blackest shadow slid over the clearing. It stopped before us and stood akimbo.
“Ah! The mighty Thrush,” said Grafth. “A pleasure to see you again. Our steeds will rest in the distance until our business with you is accomplished.”
“Pardon the intrusion through your barrier,” said Perage. “We’ve no time for knocking. I shall prepare refreshments and light fare so that we may relax our bellies and get through brass tacks.”
“You want something from me,” I said. “Just come out and say it.”
“Drink and fare.”
In less than an hour, we were crammed in my cabin around the table. Grafth was mixed into the shadows. Our guests sat on 5 gallon barrels. Exquisite confections were piled in several dishes. There was meat rolled in pickled leaves, square confections, emerald honey cake, and-
“-what’s this one?” said Thrush on picking up a round encrusted ball.
“Fried molten chocolate,” said Perage.
Thrush swung his legs and purred as he ate. Our guests could not tear their eyes off of him–except Lady Tais You who possessed no eyes.
Abigail popped the cork off an ale of hers and placed it on the table. Perage divided the beer in half-glasses for all. Grafth’s shadow hand slid up the wood of the table and knocked the beer onto the floor, but it never splashed.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Get on with it,”said Lady Tais You. Her tongue slithered.
“Here we are!” said Perage. “In the presence of Hawkin Ballow, the champion title holder of the Oude Brewer’s Competitive. Your ethereal beers have created a splash and wave in the world of brewing and ethereal planes.”
“Due to events out of my control.”
“Nevertheless, we are quite familiar with ethereal planes; each of us own quite a few. We employ Dream Cutters.”
“I’m sorry; why are you here?”
“How quickly does it take for you to access one of your ethereal beers?”
“Blink of an eye, why?”
“Because it takes a lot longer using our current methods. We find it quite annoying. Since we’re all between pressing quests at the moment, we decided to spend some time to save time. Understand?”
“How can I help you?”
“We’d like to purchase empty ethereal planes from you.”
“Listen, I can’t say that I appreciate you trespassing. I’m going to decline. Please leave.”
Lady Tais You slapped the table. “This is why I don’t like you, Perage…letting him talk to us like that, just make him do it.”
Noble Bartu spoke in a language of Ss and THs with rolling warbles performed in the throat. Lady Tais You returned the language like she was spitting needles from her mouth. Noble Bartu began gesturing to Thrush as he spoke. Lady Tais You had been visibly upset until that point. After a shift in Noble Bartu’s tone that sounded quite like a warning, she crossed her arms, grunted, and chewed her tongue.
“Proceed,” said Noble Bartu.
“Hear us out,” said Perage. “Leaving you alone is a good idea, am I right? We’ll leave, understand? That’s what you want?”
“Thank you.”
“Before we go, we need those ethereal planes. Now, I want you to hear me. At our rank, we’re not here to coerce you.”
Thrush cocked his head.
“Oh, is it you we’re negotiating with?” said Perage. “You’re a Merchant?”
“I am,” said Thrush.
“Then let’s negotiate. I have something you want; you have something we want.”
“There’s nothing I need from you.”
Perage held up a finger in front of a wide, good-natured smile. “There is something you need from us. You need us to leave you alone. So here’s my offer. In exchange for ethereal planes for each of us, we’ll leave. Simple deal, don’t you think?”
“The hell? That’s not fair.”
“Albeit true, it doesn’t matter. That is our offer.”
“If I brew these beers for you, you’ll leave?”
“See how easy it is?”
“One ethereal plane for each of you?”
“We need the master beer and several lifetimes worth of both the beer and ingredients. We’ll be employing Planes Cutter brewers for the next few centuries at least.”
“Dellia Lucerne warned me not to lose master beers to ethereal planes. I have to keep each master beer safe and sound.”
“We will be the only ones who have access to our ethereal kingdoms. Your possession of a master beer will not be tolerated.”
“Hawkin doesn’t let anyone near his master beers,” said Abigail.
“He lets himself near them,” said Perage, “and that’s exactly what we won’t tolerate.”
“Absolutely not,” I said. “I think we’re done here.”
“Hawkin is unwilling to continue negotiating,” said Thrush. “Negotiation is closed.”
Fieef laughed long and loud. At last, he clutched his belly and said, “Never have I ever been so disrespected!”
Grafth’s voice came from all corners of the cabin. “This is…amusing.”
“We’re done here,” I said. “Please leave.”
I got up and left the cabin. I took deep breaths and beelined for the trail to the sea. Soft footsteps padded up behind me. Abigail slipped her arm through mine.
“Hey,” she said. “We’re in this together. I’ve got your back.”