Book 3: Chapter 13 (1/2)

“What? The price rose again?”

Alice and Mr. Skelly turned their heads. A woman was standing in front of a cart of fruit and other miscellaneous food goods. Across from her, there was a fat, bald man with a jet-black goatee and nearly closed eyes that looked like mini crescents. Behind him, there was a convoy of wagons with two horses per wagon. Alice wrinkled her nose at the smell of horse manure lingering in the air.

The merchant smiled at the woman and rubbed his hands together. “Yes, I do apologize. The empress has raised our taxes, taking nearly half of our earnings. The other half is spent on hiring an armed escort to traverse these lands. With the rising taxes, bandits are more abundant, and it really is quite dangerous to make a trip this deep into the wilderness. If we’re not careful, we can even be assaulted by dragons. I hope you understand our plight; we really can’t afford to sell these for any less. Truly, our empress is a demon lord.”

Alice’s head snapped towards the merchant. “Did he just say demon lord?” she whispered to Mr. Skelly.

“I’m pretty sure he did,” Mr. Skelly said and nodded. He nodded again, slowly this time. “Yes, he did. That’s the kind of lead we need.” He grabbed Alice’s wrist and pulled her along, marching towards the merchant with his chest puffed out.

The merchant’s eyes widened at the sight, and he took several steps backwards, stumbling and hitting the wagon behind him with his back as he fell over. He pointed at Mr. Skelly with a trembling hand. “S-skeleton! G-guards!”

Mr. Skelly grinned and waved at the man as armored men poured out of the wagon. “Hi.”

“This is a guest,” the woman, who was speaking with the merchant, said as she held out her arms, stopping the guards in their tracks. “He won’t hurt you.” She paused and added in a mutter, “I think.”

Alice pointed at the armor that one of the guards was wearing. “Can I purchase a suit of armor like that?” she asked, glancing at Mr. Skelly. It was a perfect fit for his frame, well, as perfect as a suit of armor meant for a fleshy human could fit on a skeleton.

The merchant wiped away a bead of sweat from his brow with a handkerchief he pulled out of his front pocket. He dabbed at his pale cheeks before taking in a deep breath, his upper body shying away from Mr. Skelly as he stood up. “Armor, yes, armor can be sold,” he said as he folded his damp handkerchief and stuffed it away. “One set for seventy shillings.”

“A what?” Alice asked. She reached into the pouch by her waist and pulled out a gold coin. “How about this?”

The merchant’s crescent eyes lit up, but before he could take the coin away, the fruit-buying woman stopped him. “Can I see that?” the woman asked Alice. She received the coin in her palm and grasped it while closing her eyes. A moment passed as she moved her arm up and down. “It’s worth about a hundred shillings,” she said, opening her eyes and handing the coin back to Alice.

“Oh,” Alice said, nodding at the lady. “Thanks.” She held the coin out to the merchant. “I’d like to buy a full set of armor; you can keep the change as long as you answer some of my questions.”