Mark of the Fool
Chapter 694: The Treacherous Trading Post

“That’s what you want, big man? You‘re asking where the monsters are? Are you crazy, barbarian? We’re set for war with barbarians and beasts of the forest; you think I’m just going to show every greasy foreigner who walks in here a map?” Old Illiana scowled at Alex from across the trading post’s counter.

Women and men, clad in heavy furs with well-used weapons and vicious-looking traps hanging from their belts, glared at Alex and his companions from every corner of the smoky room. Every twitch of their bodies spoke of mistrust and disdain. Hands moved toward weapons, even as curses and prayers were muttered.

Alex heard the words ‘wild beasts’ uttered in an errant whisper, and knew full well they weren’t only referring to Brutus.

‘Bloody rude bastards,’ he thought, as he kept a friendly, sincere smile frozen on his face. The time for battles might come, but not quite yet.

Though, from the daggers shooting from Theresa’s eyes, it seemed she was ready right now. Her hands weren’t far from the hilts of the twinblade.

“I wouldn’t dream of asking you for a map!” Alex grinned with feigned unease. He let out a little laugh, letting his voice crack as he glanced around the room. The odour in the trading post reeked of old oil and tanning furs, as animal hides hung from rough-hewn walls. “I just thought you could…well, that I could be pointed in the right direction. I’m looking for Darkroot Walking Mushrooms, you know the ones that can improve, er—” He looked around conspiratorially. “—‘special energy’?”

“Ugh, another one wanting to make the ‘pervert potion’,” the old woman scowled.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘pervert potion’, I’d more say it’s…well, it’s a potion that helps couples, uh…have fun!” He grinned. “But, nevermind who it’s for or what law abiding people call it. The point is that I’ve got a demand for it, but I’d like to avoid hungry trolls, firbolgs, elves, and other barbarians and beasts. And then there’s the rune-marked to think about; definitely don’t want to run into their kind! Come on, won’t you help me out? And anything we hunt that’s not going into my alchemical cauldron? ‘I’ll sell it here! How’s that?”

“Ten gold coins.”

“Pfeh, you heard me!” The old woman drew a gold coin from her apron with the image of a mountain pressed into one side, and the face of a glowering man on the other. Alex assumed he was the realm’s emperor. “Ten of these, not that useless foreign junk either!”

Alex frowned. “You drive a hard bargain!”

“Better I state my terms now, since I can’t get coin from your corpse when it’s in the belly of a troll later, now can I?”

He sighed dramatically. “Fair point.” With a flick of his wrist, Alex reached into his coin pouch and pulled out ten gold coins, rolling them in his palm. As he did, the gold in the bag—and there was a lot of gold fresh from the currency exchange in the Bank of Generasi—clinked together, briefly catching the light. “Ten gold, was it? Listen, I’ve got clients who could really use some ‘pepping up’, if you know what I mean. Those mushrooms are worth a lot to me and I hope us doing business together’ll be worthwhile to you too.”

Old Illiana paused, her eyes narrowing.

‘Easy coin for me, is what you’re thinking, I bet?’ Alex thought.

Ilianna snatched the coins, her face splitting into a greasy smile. “Well, well, well, why didn’t you open with that, my foreign friend? Turksini’s a lot more open to people who know how to give something to get something. No free rides here; only the strong survive our forest’s dangers. Isn’t that right, boys and girls?”

“Life to Turksini! Life to the Empire!” the trappers cheered, their hard eyes lingering on the coins in Ilianna’s hand.

And subtly, Alex noticed those gazes and the hunger in them.

“Speaking of those dangers.” The old woman gave Alex, Theresa and Brutus a long look. “I’m not sure if a pair of hunters will be safe in the woods with only a hound by their side…even one as frightening as him.” Her gaze fell on Brutus, lingering on his hide. “If you want some true advice, avoid the forest altogether. Or, if you need something for your trouble, go up river and trap beaver for the season. Their pelts sell well enough.”

Alex laughed uncomfortably. “I need something a little more…exotic for my clients. It has to be the mushrooms.”

“Then maybe ask some trappers to guide you?” she offered, nodding toward a group of rough looking men wrapped in furs with vicious blades strapped to their hips.

The young wizard maintained his calm demeanour, smiling politely. “I’m used to working with who I know.”

“Smart, smart. Aaaah, then you will need to be quick and careful.” Illianna looked left and right, before leaning forward. Her voice dropped to the lowest of whispers. “The rune-marked roam the forest in big numbers. They can sense violence in these lands, you know? Or at least that’s what my old mummo used to say. Beasts and cannibals of the wood are striking good, honest trappers, so our brave soldiers’ll be clearing the woods of them soon enough. Nasty things! Blood’ll fill the trees before long, and the rune-marked can taste it. And they come, looking to be in the fight. You’d best move quickly and quietly; avoid beasts, and understand one thing, any blood you draw calls the branded filth to you like moths to flame.”

“And what about local beasts? Are there any we’d need to worry about?”

“Winter wargs are about, and they’ll be hungry. You’re lucky that none of the pointy ears are this far west so late in the season, and that the frost drakes have moved north. But there are the cannibal wendigo from across the ice cap to the north; they’ll claw your body as quick as your mind. Some of those Darkroot Mushrooms you’re so interested in gather in the north, but you’d be better served to avoid that direction. Mmmm, but for the next closest territory for your mushrooms…yes, wargs are the biggest threat. Them, and the firbolgs, trolls and hill giants. The firbolgs have magics you should be wary of, and the trolls have their own sorceries; they fear nothing but flame and acid.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed. Trolls and hill giants weren’t long-lived races; there likely wouldn’t be anyone among them who would’ve been alive three centuries ago. They’d have nothing of any use to share about Kelda or the Hunter that stalked the woods looking for her around here. But the firbolgs? Their kind could live for hundreds of years. They might have elders who are still alive who could have memories that could be useful.

“Trolls and firbolgs…and where do they lair?” Alex asked. “And how do I get my mushrooms?”

“For the mushrooms you'll want to leave by the eastern gate out of town, and take the old woodcutter’s route northwest. After three hours of walking—when you come to a tree that looks like an old withered man—veer somewhat east for an hour. Do not keep going north, not unless you want to be troll food. If you’re good with directions, then you’ll come to a boulder in the shape of an axeblade after another four hours. Veer north again, not south. That’s where the firbolgs tend to be. Oh, and when you get there, if you hear singing, don’t trust it. Those wily old giants have certain illusions that trick travellers into their cauldrons! Beware! But after a day’s travel, you’ll find the territory of your walking mushrooms. ”

Alex bowed his head. “Thank you for the advice and information. I know where we need to go now.”

###

“What a nasty place,” Theresa grumbled, pulling her cloak tight.

A cold wind rustled the trees, eerie creaking drowning all sounds of the huntress’ boots crunching the snow.

She glanced over her shoulder. Through the tree line, Turksini shrank away, slowly disappearing behind bare foliage. “How miserable,” she said. “And did you notice the way they were looking at us? I felt like I’d turned into some giant cockroach in that trading post.”

“The Empire’s got their people thinking that every outsider’s some uncivilised barbarian,” Alex grumbled. “They tolerated us, because we’d be bringing them business, but I think that’s it. I suspect—if we get out of the forest alive, and with goods to trade—they’d take more interest in us, for better and for worse.”

“Ugh, they remind me of Uldar, except on a larger scale,” the huntress grunted, stepping around a scraggly tree lying across the path. Ahead, Brutus padded through the snow, his six eyes methodically scanning the trees. All six ears were perked up. “He told the church all this garbage about the Fool…or maybe someone in the church told everyone else all that garbage about the Fool…and now everyone thinks that you’re nothing but trash to be sacrificed. This place is even worse; they look at all outsiders like trash.”

“Yeah,” Alex grunted. “Let’s just say I think the sooner we get our job done here, the better.” He cursed under his breath. “I just wish the town had been more helpful. If we’d gotten a map of the forest—or better directions besides “walk for some hours then turn at the rocks” then I could probably teleport us pretty close to the firbolgs’ territory. As it is, we’re going to have to walk or fly at least part of the way. I almost wish we’d gone right to the woods and just avoided that place altogether.”

“Hey, we got some directions, which is better than no directions at all, right?” Theresa said.

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” he sighed. “But let’s just hope that the firbolgs are more useful. The Empire’s an enormous place; even if I teleport and search the entire territory, it’s going to take a long time if we don’t have any leads to go on. The firbolgs have to know something, or the elves…or somebody.”

“And the more they know, the better for us,” Theresa agreed, ducking under a low hanging branch. “What’s our next move if we don’t find anything here?”

He sighed. “Something I won’t like.”

She looked at him sharply. “What?”

His sigh sounded like the beginnings of a groan. “Well, you know how I told you that Kelda teleported right into Generasi's library? To research anything that could help her change the Fool’s Mark, or give her clues about the hidden church?”

“Ya,” she said slowly.

“This Empire has its own universities of wizardry, including one that could rival Generasi’s. It’s called the Brightfire University, and supposedly, it’s better than Generasi’s, according to the Empire’s own—very biased—opinion. I figure if Kelda could break into Generasi, then I can break into Brightfire. Hopefully, they’ll have records that could point us in the right direction. It'll be dangerous, but we’ve literally fought across like three hells so…dangerous is kinda relative, I suppose.”

“Yeah, somehow, giants and trolls don’t seem like that big of a deal to me anymore,” Theresa said. “It’s hard to believe I used to be so concerned about wolves and bears back in the Coille. Now the only thing that really shakes me is that First Apostle bastard.”

“Yeaaah,” Alex said. “He was way too tough, way too fast and he threw around way too much power. I hope we’ll be stronger before we meet him again…and let’s hope that he doesn’t decide to go on some training journey that brings him more enlightenment, or something along those lines that make him even stronger.”

Theresa shuddered. “Don’t even joke about that. If he reaches a higher level of enlightenment before I do, I’m going to be pissed…and probably dead.”

“You’re going to be stronger than you were when you last faced him. You already are,” Alex said

The huntress let out a low groan, tapping the hilts of the twinblade. “There’s something I’m missing with my weapon. I thought I’d unlocked all their secrets, but…I don’t know. A while back something big happened while I was sparring with Hart and Grimloch—the same day you figured out teleportation with the Traveller’s power—but I haven’t been able to replicate it.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Sometimes these things take time,” Alex said. “I have faith in you.”

“Yeah, but I need it sooner, not later,” the huntress growled. “With the secret church involved, we’re going to have some hard fights ahead of us, and if we aren’t at full power, then—”

Brutus suddenly growled, the sound rumbling from his chest, his heads whipping around.

The cerberus’ paws gripped the snow.

His tail lashed back and forth.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.

Theresa drew her swords, cocking one ear to the path behind them.

Her expression was death. “We’re being followed.”

Alex smiled. “Finally.”

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