Page 8

eight

Morai

T he mana stone spat them out and onto an identical platform. Morai kept her eyes shut until the dizziness dissipated. Opening her eyes, she found Neoni throwing up in a bucket that was provided for such an occasion. Apparently, many people threw up on their first time. Morai was grateful she didn’t. But that didn’t stop her from feeling queasy. From what she could see, they were in the city of Krandol. She’d been here before on an assignment, but this was her first time seeing it from the teleportation platform. A few people glanced their way but paid them no mind.

“Okay, first order of business we should find a carriage that can take us to…” Morai paused, “...where are we going from here again?” Neoni held up a finger, her head still in the bucket.

“Wait, who died and made you the leader?” Luka asked.

“Could you please step out of the platform?” a man she assumed was the one who manned the teleportation device said. He was holding the same device that Kirnon was.

“Yes, sorry,” Morai said, stepping off the platform. The man’s eyes were red which was a giveaway that he was a vampire, but he was probably mixed with something else. He didn’t have the elven grace that Kirnon did, that and the fact his bushy hair was in a bun and had one braid hanging loose with a trinket in it. A telltale sign that he belonged to a dwarven family. Usually, the trinket told which dwarven family a dwarf belonged to, but Morai couldn’t tell. She turned her attention to Luka.

“First off, I should be the leader, since I’m the one who actually brought someone with information,” she said, giving Tanen a meaningful look. Tanen only grinned and winked at her.

“That doesn’t mean you should lead the team,” Luka said. Morai glared at him, but he only shrugged.

“Fine, Fida, would you like to lead? You’ve worked with a party before.”

“Sure, I don’t mind,” Fida said. “But I’m not good at this leading stuff.”

“Then I’ll do it,” Luka said. Morai frowned at him.

“No, you’re not. I’m the one who needs the money most.”

“And I’m the one who broke the elixir so shouldn’t I be the leader to take responsibility?”

“Are you serious?”

“We are to head to Braken which would take us two days or so by carriage,” Neoni said, done with throwing up she’d pulled out a map from her bulging bag and was looking at it.

“Kirnon gave us a dimension bag, I could put some of your stuff in there,” Tanen said to Neoni.

“He gave us that, for the feather and whatever else we may find in the forest,” Luka said.

“I’m sure it’d be fine. As long as we take our stuff out afterwards,” Tanen said. Morai narrowed her eyes at him, watching as Neoni ducked her head trying to hide a blush. Oh, this is most definitely not happening. She sighed.

“Are we going to go find a carriage or not?” she asked, leading the way into the city.

The city of Krandol was among the largest and was known as the home of the merchant guilds. Though merchant guilds are scattered everywhere in the kingdom, the first one was started in Krandol. The marketplace was bustling with activity since it was still early in the morning, moving to midday.

“Since it takes two days to get to Braken, we can reserve a carriage and get some supplies. What do you think?” Morai asked. Glancing back, she caught Luka’s eyes and turned back around. She still wasn’t sure how she was going to handle being with him for such a long period of time. This would be the first time they’d been together for this long.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea. I heard there’s a new blacksmith in the city that I’d like to check out,” Fida said.

“Yes, and I would like to meet with the information guild here to see if they have anything new,” Neoni said. Morai nodded as they neared the place to reserve a carriage. She walked right past the carriages that ran with mana stones, and those that were pulled by horses. Mana stones were expensive, and the only people who could afford to use mana drawn carriages were the wealthy. Mana stones came in different categories especially those for everyday use like providing light for the city. Those were not as expensive because they were readily available, but when it came to other uses, like drawing a carriage, it started to get expensive. It was the same thing with the horses. Horses were rare creatures, and the cost to ride one might be the same or slightly lower than the mana stone ones. She stopped at a carriage drawn by two large scaly lizards, with a stout horn protruding from their foreheads.

“Why did we skip the horses?” Tanen asked, looking awed at the creatures. Morai frowned; surely, he’d seen a horse drawn carriage since he’s gone on so many guild quests.

“Stop acting like you’ve never seen a horse before,” Luka chided.

“Yes, but they’re still eye-catching,” Tanen said, holding out a hand for the horse to sniff.

“May I be of help,” the carriage manager asked. He was an older man that looked like he should be retiring instead of working.

“Yes, we'd like to reserve a carriage,” Morai said, fishing in her bag to take out some coins.

“And you’ll like the horse drawn one, yes?”

“Huh…” Morai paused, glancing back at the horse. Tanen was stroking its mane.

“Just out of curiosity, how much will it be?”“500 gold coins.”

“500?”

“Gold coins?” both Luka and Morai said. Tanen dropped his hand and stepped away from the horse.

“How much for the mana carriages?” The old man hesitated, he probably wasn’t sure they’d be paying, but said, “A thousand gold coins.”

“Lizards it is, how much for an hour’s ride?” Morai said.

“100 silver coins per person, and if you have luggage, it would be 10 copper coins.” Morai cringed, which meant the price he’d given them for the horse was just for one person? Who would spend such an amount just to ride? Then again, the wealthy did so she couldn’t really complain now, could she?

“Thank you, we’ll be back in an hour?” Morai asked, glancing at her friends who all nodded. The group went their separate ways, Fida going to the blacksmith, Neoni went to the information guild with Tanen following her. Morai wanted to see what kind of foods they had in the market. The last time she’d been here was a while ago, so maybe they had something new.

“Why are you following me?” she asked Luka who shrugged.

“I have nothing else to do.”

“You’re telling me in this whole city, you can’t find something better to do?”

“Yes.” Morai put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

“Fine then, be my carrier.” She'd give him so much stuff to carry he’d wish he’d left her alone.

“It would be an honor,” Luka said with a mock bow. With a huff Morai went on her way, with Luka trailing behind her.