Kaden and Sara left by Portal with a Centurion at their side, and emerged in Omnor near a narrow tunnel that led deep into the volcano. Anyone new had to be vetted before entering the Underground Market, to prove they actually had something of value to sell to Brokers. All in all, a good way to ensure the rarest items made their way to the Market.
Duggarn pointed them toward the entrance. “I’ll go in on my own. I’m about to start a Trade War with the third largest company in Omnor and I don’t want it coming down on you. Don’t expect the Brokers to be able to fix everything overnight. Most of the time you explain what you’re after and they get it for you over the course of a few days or weeks. Pay a guide, it’s a damned necessity for your level.”
Kaden shook his hand and swung Skully over his shoulder. Trinity remained deep in his soul, and Sara had comanded her pet ghost to retreat into a ring. Kaden had left all the weapons back in the Necroisium, because they were far too legal and normal for The Underground Market, but he’d head back Trade-Rite Salvage later.
The tunnel stretched downward as people shuffled forward, until it was Kaden and Sara’s turn. The tunnels ended in a solid black portal with two level ninety guards and a bored looking woman in black robes. “State-cher-business.”
Kaden pulled the tube of Mana Dust, and Sara did the same. “Looking for a buyer for this. More importantly, I’m searching for an extremely rare spellbook. Probably the only one of its kind in existence. It holds the—”
“Save it for the brokers, buddy.” She waved them through. “I hate everyone and everything right now. Why can’t we have another elder god breakout?”
Kaden took Sara’s hand and stepped through the portal—into a bazaar so crowded the only way to move forward was to wait for the person in front of him to move. If he hadn’t had [Mind Speech] there wouldn’t have been a way to speak.
And then there was the ceiling. The Underground Market was built in the heart of a volcano. The ceiling, hundreds of feet up, was molten lava. The floor was solid black stone that thrummed under Kaden’s feet like the heartbeat of a slumbering god. Every twenty feet stood a tent or a shack, or a ramshackle set of crates with a cloth banner over the middle. And that was the first floor of the market. At intervals, platforms of stone soared through the air to bring travellers to floating platforms that housed grandiose structures that would mock anything in Omnor as petty. Towers upon towers, and above them, shapes that Kaden couldn’t make out against the glow of the magma. It almost looked like islands in the glowing red sky.
*Look sharp, pickpocket* Sara sent.
Kaden kept everything in Inventory, except for a handful of coppers specifically for pickpockets. But he wasn’t prepared for the pickpocket to be a Beast. A small Monkey who glowed with white light.
This beast cannot be tamed. Reason: Soul-Bound.
[Lunar Monkey]
Lunar monkeys have been empowered with Lunar mana, meaning that the troop as a whole can project illusions. These illusions were meant to protect the troop, but now they serve to disguise—
Kaden dismissed the [Identify], activating [Moment of Speed] as he slapped his hand down on his other thigh. And came up gripping another [Lunar Monkey]. It bit down on his thumb until Kaden shoved the thumb deeper, using [Fortress of Stone] to ignore the pain. “What do we have here?”
The monkey dissapated into light as Kaden spoke.
“Gotcha!” Sara lunged, pinning down a young man. “I’m not one to break bones, not without a warning. But this is your only warning.”
But instead of being frightened, the man’s face transformed with delight. “Welcome to the Underground Market, Sara Scylla. My uncle sent me to find someone with perception in need of a guide. You have come to buy and sell, no?”
He had a skill that projected his voice in the din of the market.
“Yes.” Sara looked to Kaden.
He trusted her judgement.
“Tell me why I’d need a guide.” Sara crossed her arms and her Horror immitated the gesture behind her back.
“Because you do not even know that blocking the entrance is a crime against the market, and there is only one punishment. You will not like it! Come!” He gestured for Sara to follow, and Kaden took her hand.
The young man dragged them through the crowd, using something that looked suspiciously like [Shield Bash] to move people out of the way. They tracked through rows and rows of shops, until suddenly the man turned sideways and pulled Sara after him into a tent.
If the market was like being crushed, the sudden lack of people made Kaden feel vulnerable. The inside was not a tent, but a fine business with inlaid wooden floors and hammered copper ceilings.
An older man sat cross-legged at a low table in the center, with women and men surrounding him. Dozens of messenger birds hopped around him.
“Veny, you bring a customer!” He called out, and clapped once. “Scylla, a name I haven’t heard for a decade. Birch. Lots of Birches in the world. What brings you to the Underground Market? Not what lie you told the screeners. I am Vanya Udon. We Udons are the best Guides in the Market. My sons and daughters know every buyer and update twice a day.”
Kaden took out his tube of Mana Dust. “This was to get us in. I’ll sell it, but what I’m really looking for is a spellbook. A unique spellbook, one of a kind. There are no other copies, and I know it was brought here to sell. If it’s been sold, I’m buying information on who bought it. We have an introduction to Digus Bikus.”
“I’m here to feed anyone who gets in our way to a Cosmic Horror.” Sara produced her own tube of Mana Dust.
“Oh, my.” The old man leaped up and came to take the tube. “What he’s got is street trash. This…not to make it hard sell on my services, but you’ll be dead the moment it’s known what you had. You could dilute this a dozen times and it would be more powerful than what he’s got.”
Sara didn’t comment on the drugs. “What’s it going to cost?”
“One gold for one day, or five gold for the duration of your stay, no matter how long.” Vanya Udon seemed awfully confident it was a good deal.
*Can you negotiate lower?* Kaden asked.
*Unlikely. Odds are we only need his services two days. But if something goes wrong and it takes longer?*
Kaden debated. There was no guideline. “I’ll pay you one gold for today and make the call on the other four gold before I leave the market. Deal?”
“A negotiator! You pay two gold today and make the call on the other three before you leave. If you only need my services two day, lucky you. If you realized you made a terrible mistake not trusting Uncle Vanya, you pay before you leave.”
“Done.” Kaden actiavated the [Authority of Vichor] to assign the debt.
This minor debt does not need to be reviewed.
Spend wisely.
“You will wait. You will have tea, while we find out who will suffer the trash mana dust, and who will be rewarded with the most pure samples in a decade. I will send a messenger to Diggus’s island to let him know you are here for an audience.” Vanya spoke to the young man who brought them in. “Veny, you have done well. Go back to the entrance and work until lunch. Karthik, Pua, Chan, run the streets and make sure we know who is buying. Varda?”
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“Mana Dust.” The woman said. “Six major dealers, Karthik will handle them. Two minor dealers, Pua can’t show his face there for a month, Chan will handle them. Let Pua check the stalls.”
Vanya turned back on them. “Did you not hear? Tea! It has been decided by the Master, he will have tea with you.”
“Sara loves tea.” He knew it because she’d drank it again even after she knew what tea tasted like. “She can have mine, too.”
The old man gaped. “It was not an ask. And what do you have to do? You are excited. You are at the market! But your task is to wait. Any fool can find a corner stall to trade with. The wise woman knows the right buyer gives the best price. So the Master says, and so you will.”
*Please don’t make a scene,* Sara sent.
Kaden followed a pair of young boys in gold robes to a side room, where a pile of pillows surrounded an actual fire-pit. No arrangement resulted in a comfortable place to sit, until he followed Sara’s example and sat on the floor, leaning back on the pillows.
The same boys brought in a gold frame with glass globes in different levels, and then a teen girl come in to light incense sticks in the corners. After a moment, she returned wearing a heavy leather shoulder pauldron that extended to her fist. And clutching her arm was a miniature golden drake. It leaped from the girl to sit before the highest globe, and exhaled on the sphere. The water began to boil—and mana gushed out to change what had been an odd stack of glass and metal into a machine stamped in the image of a dragon. A dragon whose breath steamed, and the steam dripped down into a metal cage filled with tea leaves.
The resulting liquid glowed golden as it drained down along the image of outstretched wings, and then through one sphere after another, at last following the curve of a spine, where it dripped into a teapot.
Kaden kept trying to use [Identify]. And then it hit him. This wasn’t a drake. This was a [Dragon], which like Tempus, refused to allow him to [Identify] it. “Where did you get an actual [Dragon]?”
“Lord Suridev owns this house. We work for him, serving for his honor,” the teen replied. “It is his decision to have tea with some guests. It is good luck to have the favor of a dragon. It is dangerous to anger one. Enjoy your tea.”
She poured it into wide, deep cups—cups that should not have been full with the limited amount of tea, and a small one on the perch of the golden dragon.
Kaden sat transfixed, completely frozen by the presence of the [Dragon]. [Beast Soul] resonated with the extreme power the beast gave off. Sea Dragon Oceanus was huge. This Beast was no larger than the [FalCrow] but exuded an aura of power like a solar storm. Normally, Kaden felt like [Beast Soul] gave him a window into beasts. This time, he couldn’t help it working the other way, as the [Dragon] stared straight into his Soul.
Kaden didn’t move.
Didn’t breathe.
Until the dragon looked down, staring at Kaden’s cup of tea.
He sipped it, letting it burn his tongue. It tasted like liquid rest. Like sleeping in the shade on a summer day. Like the memory of warmth on a cold winter’s night. It made the cold of the dragon’s mind not burn as it looked them over.
Sara sat, crying into her cup of tea, slow drips that were no doubt dilluting the tea.
The dragon, too, noticed, and with a shimmer of golden mana, the tear drops changed, becoming swirls of cream that moved, forming shapes that changed.
With every sip Kaden took, the tea changed. He never liked tea, and he had a passing relationship with the coffee the [Priests] at the Saint’s Hall had given orphans to let them work harder. This was like drinking liquid sunlight.
The Dragon’s presence relaxed, like it had measured them, and was now content.
“Oceanus is the sea dragon. Tempus is the time dragon. You’re the sun dragon. Is there a dragon for every mana type?” Kaden hadn’t meant to speak, but the tea made him so relaxed the questions just flowed.
Suridev leaped from his perch, landing lightly on the tile. His claws clicked as he approached. The slightest nod, the twitch of his tail, and [Beast Soul] interpreted as *Of course there are dragons for every type. There are also dragons who are not the embodiment of mana, though personally I don’t think those are really dragons, just large lizards. The word dragon, it has to mean something, you know? You can’t just apply it to any reptile with magic.*
Tail speech was very efficient.
Kaden wouldn’t dream of touching the Sun Dragon. Well, he might dream of it, but he wouldn’t do it. If [Identify] was offensive, [Taming] would get him killed and touching him might cost a finger. Then again, fingers would grow back. Any man could brag about having ten fingers, but not every man could say they touched a [Dragon].
Suridev let out a low growl as though it had anticipated Kaden’s thoughts.
“Trinity would love to meet you. Or she might try and kill you,” Kaden said. “She’s a TriTerror, so she’s long on bravery and short on common sense.”
The small trill from Suridev accompanied a ripple of golden mana that was in essence, *TriTerror? Stop making up Beasts to try and impress me. You’re not getting a scale that way.*
Kaden summoned her from his soul.
And his jaw dropped as the TriTerror bowed, looking away with the two mobile heads, and lowering its blind one to touch the floor.
The small chirp Suridev gave out wasn’t speech, it was pure delight! The Sun Dragon spread its wings and reared up to look Trinity over, then circled her, sniffing the claws and the tail, and checking over each of her heads.
Suridev looked at Trinity’s blind head over and over lifting her gums to show the dagger teeth and then showing off his own, then rapped on the armored head, trying to scratch it with claws, then dismissed the serpentine head with a scoff.
Without Kaden prompting, Trinity’s [Poisonous Razor Scales] activated, eliciting another growl that was *Not bad for a new kid. Not bad. You’re not a dragon, but not bad at all.*
Without warning, Trinity scrambled up and dashed out of the room, raising shouts of alarm. Kaden tried to leap up—and found himself pinned to the floor by a single foot of a dragon a fourth of his size. Suridev glanced downward and whistled. *Lie down before you hurt yourself. Or I hurt you. Someone could get hurt, probably not gonna be me or Trinity.*
A moment later, Trinity returned, dragging a shield. And a slab of meat she tossed into the fire on top of the shield. For the next couple minutes, she nosed the horde with her serpent head and turned it with the bone head.
At last, Trinity flipped it out onto the floor, one side charred and black, the other bubbling juices. She nosed it toward Suridev. Then turned away.
The sun dragon turned its head side to side to look at the offering, then, in a show of ferocity, horked it down, shaking its dragon head side to side as it swallowed the slab of meat in a single go.
A slab of meat larger than the dragon, which definitely looked bloated and sleepy. It stumbled over and drank from Sara’s tea cup with a forked tongue, then burped. [Beast Soul] struggled to interpret it, but eventually came up with *That hit the spot. A little powdered rainbow on that would really kick it up a notch. I want the [Recipe] for that.*
“Sorry,” Kaden said. “Her cooking skill isn’t high enough for [Recipes] yet. Also that’s not really a [Recipe], it has to—”
He stopped as the [Dragon] starred at him with a weight of authority that said if a creature of pure mana said it was a recipe, it damn well was.
Trinity has gained a new [Recipe] (Charred Meat).
Trinity has shared a [Recipe].
His TriTerror glowed for just a moment, an odd mix of solar orange and her natural red. Then she yawned and curled up as though it was a completely natural thing to do.
“Kaden?” Sara asked softly. “What—what did I miss? Did you see visions in your tea, too?”
“Trinity made a meal for a friend.” Kaden said.
Sara took a sip of her tea. And another, then drained the entire cup, licking the rim. “What did you do to this? It’s delicious.”
Fast as lightning, Suridev spun, whipping the mug out of Sara’s hand with its tail. The mug shattered on the floor, but the Dragon bounded to Sara, rearing up to sniff at her and look into each eye, and sniffing over her. Then let out a chirp. *Probably nothing to worry about. Nothing to see here. Forget it ever happened. No, really. Forget*
A wave of power washed over Kaden, who shook his head. It felt like the motivation chamber in ShadowVale, when the Sisters tried to drug him. “What happened to Sara?”
*Forget*. The dragon growled.
“What just happened?” Kaden demanded.
*FORGET.* This time, the air rippled.
Your skill with Resist Amnesia has increased.
Your skill with Resist Amnesia has increased.
Your skill with Resist Amnesia has increased.
Kaden crossed his arms and tried to glare at a creature fifty times as powerful as him. “That’s not going to work.” He’d never known Dragons could sulk, but it did.
“What’s not going to work?” Sara asked, putting a hand on his arm.
*FORGET*. The dragon growled.
Your skill with Resist Amnesia has increased.
You are now immune to: Amnesia.
The long groan that escaped Suridev took forever to translate. *She drank after me. Technically I drank after her but she drank after me after her. Looks fine to me. Forget it ever happened?*
Kaden used [Identify] on Sara, who couldn’t help giggling.
“Stop that! It always tingles. At least learn to control where it tingles.” She focused on Kaden. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Don’t be rude to our host. He could charbroil us.”
*What she said. Are you listening to the female? You should listen.* Suridev added with a hiss.
Kaden was about to argue, when a bell rang. Vanya Udo stood in the doorway, and bowed. “Lord Suridev, honored guests. I have the results you asked for. Broker Diggus Bikus will meet with you tomorrow. Your mana dust, on the other hand, represents a problem.”
“No one wants to buy it,” Sara said. “It’s gods-damned poison.”
Vanya shook his head. “Not the trash tube. The pure one; we have four brokers looking to acquire it. And while you might think to favor Diggus, if he does not have what you seek or cannot get it, you’ll be forced to deal with one of the other three.”
Kaden didn’t need Sara to draw a chart. Chance could conspire against him to land the item—or information—in the hands of an enemy. An enemy they chose.