Disturbing the Market

--Gatix--

“Think we can trust him?” I asked Ms. Queen as the door closed behind us.

“I did not detect any strange energies during your conversation,” interjected Nev before Ms. Queen could answer.

“Neither did I, which affirms he's not been in the Order. Magic capacity lessens if you don't use it.”

“Hmm...” I could not help but steal a last glance at the church as we walked away.

“You don't trust him?”

“It's my job to be suspicious.”

“And does this extend to me?”

“There's been too many chances for you to kill me.”

“I'm glad that's your metric for trusting people.” She grinned.

“Only one that ensures survival. So what now?”

“Well, we'd need to figure out whether the whole Order is after me or a subset of them.”

“I guess it wouldn't be as simple as walking up to the palace and asking.”

She shook her head at that. “Even if I could arrange a meeting for us, their mages would figure out my identity within seconds. Those involved in the conspiracy would go into hiding.”

“And revealing yourself here would have a similar effect.”

“Not to mention making it difficult to return in the future.”

“If that's the case, then I know how we can get in touch with Order. Just stand there and look pretty.” I stepped away before she could give a response. She wouldn't be able to help me without exposing herself. Now, who is it going to be? I glanced around the street, noting once again that if you weren't in the business of adventuring, you were supplying those that are. It didn't take me long to decide on my victim: a seller of something that resembled a pink mango. Why him? Simple. He had the biggest crowd.

Squaring my shoulders, I stomped towards the fruit seller. A series of gasps cleared the path to the front of the stall, where a clearly intimidated merchant looked me in the eye. “W... would you like a sisi, sir?” I had to hand it to him; he tried to stay as professional as possible.

“Hmph,” I grunted, picking up one of the fruit before holding it close to my visor. The resemblance to a pink mango was uncanny, and I wondered whether it tasted like strawberries. But that's a question for another day. With a motion as quick as I could move my arm, I threw the fruit onto the ground, pieces of it coloring the series of surprised yelps around me. Ensuring I stayed the center of attention, I snapped my other hand forward and grabbed the merchant around his shirt.

“I... hate... sisi.”

A throw of my arm resulted in a flying yell, but it was the sound of Fang unloading six shells into the stall that broke the crowd out of its trance. A chorus of screaming broke out as everybody rushed away. Forget the women and children, the crowd preferred the philosophy of everybody for themselves. It took only a few seconds for a rapidly growing clearing to form around me.

But that wasn't quite what I wanted. I need to draw some attention.

The best way to do that was to scream at the top of my lungs and lunge towards the closest spectator, spinning him around when I grabbed his collar. “I will eat your soul!” Judging from the stain on his trousers, I would have some flavoring. This increased the volume of the yelling a bit more. “I will raze this village!” I yelled to a second victim, who passed out in my arms. Letting her drop to the ground, I pulled Fang out again and added some more bullets to the air.

“You seem to be enjoying this,” Nev commented.

“Everybody needs a little bit of stress relief.” I picked up a piece of fruit lying by my feet and threw it, the victim giving a yelp as my projectile struck him against the back, but a new movement caught my attention. Drops of metal in a sea of scared spectators signaled the arrival of the guards. “Now, this is going to be fun.”

Taking a step forward spontaneously made me burst out in flames, with both the guards and myself caught off guard. What's all this- Inspecting myself brought the sight of Ms. Queen leaning against a building into view. Her devilish grin told me all I needed to know, and I couldn't help but laugh. Got a taste of the theatrical as well. I turned my attention to the guards. Time to put on a show. A few of the braver ones hesitantly took a step forward, but most were still locked in place.

“H-halt... in the name of His Ma-”

A scream as loud as I could make cut them off while a charge of my own not only filled the air with several more but broke any ideas of ranks they might have had.

***

The guards could do little more than give me some pained knuckles. They started heading for the hills shortly after the second one had a fateful encounter with my fist that resulted in a massive clang, a dented helmet, and a dazed guard.

I wondered whether they'd sent the palace knights next when the first Wolani mage appeared. Following the guards' tradition, he started by shouting some demands. His attention quickly turned to catching his breath as my fists made some demands of their own. His forehead had barely touched the ground before two other mages appeared. I decked the first one with a blow to the nose, but the fight started going south when the second mage summoned something akin to a water whip to douse my flames. I tried to portray my unhappiness by firing Fang, but a third mage knocked me over with a boulder. The fight drew to a close after that. My knees had barely touched the ground before a series of tendrils burst forth and wrapped around them. Unable to fight back, the water whip curled around my neck and slammed me face-first against the ground.

I was tempted to break free and continue my rampage, but I succeeded in my objective to get the Order to appear, so I held back.

“Get ready to secure the cap-”

“No!” That voice was familiar. “I demand you let go of my bodyguard.”

“Who are... are you a noble?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.”

“In a manner of speaking? Please elaborate.”

“You dare feign ignorance in my presence? How rude!”

“I... beg your-”

“Beg all you want, His Majesty will surely hear about this.”

Ham it up, Ms. Queen!

“I am Celci, third daughter to the lord of Tankol and distant cousin to Her Majesty the Queen. While I am not in line for the throne, I am related to nobility, and I demand you treat me as such.”

“I... I must apologize, O' Lordess, I have not heard of you.”

“Much to your displeasure, I'm sure. Now unhand my bodyguard.”

“I am sorry, O' Lordess, but I'm afraid that will not be so simple. Your bodyguard has attacked both several civilians and members of the guard. The law dictates we take him into custody.”

“My bodyguard was defending my honor. I was trying to procure some sisi, a fruit costing a small fortune in my hometown when the merchant made several off-putting regards about my person. My bodyguard saw fit to educate the merchant in the ways of courtesy. The guards appeared to investigate the incident but took one look at my bodyguard and decided to attack.”

“And the attacks on the Order?” I pictured the mage looking at his knocked-out comrade.

“Same as the guards. He attacked first, and my bodyguard defended himself.”

The resulting silence stretched on for a few seconds. “While...” The mage cleared his throat. “While I do not doubt your testimony, I'm afraid the law must be followed.”

“As a lordess of Tankol and relative of the Queen, I must highly protest this action!”

“I am sorry, O' Lordess, but the law of Alakafor is not quite the same as Tankol. We will be taking your bodyguard into custody. He will freed after his case has been heard or a fine has been paid.”

“Do you want me to go through the king? Being related does not mean I have a shortcut to his ear. Requesting an audience could take weeks.”

“In that case, you are free to talk to the head of the Order.”

“The head of the order?” Ms. Queen barked a laugh. “Do you take me for a fool? Arranging a meeting with the Order is difficult as it is, much less one with its head. He's holed up deeper in that infernal castle than the rats who infest the sewers.”

“O' Lordess, I can-”

“Listen here. My stay has expired, and I am due to leave Alakafor in two hours, after which I will travel to Ventalip on a diplomatic mission. If anything were to happen on that mission, it could result in an incident. Now, I'm sure you can understand my enemies would like to use this opportunity as well. The difficulties from such an incident could be quite bothersome.”

“O' Lo-”

“Not only would it reflect badly on Tankol, but in Alakafor as well, considering this is where both of us were heavily inconvenienced.”

“O' Lo-”

“I'm sure the king will be none too impressed at that, now will he...”

A small silence filled the air after that, with the only sound being that of a desperate sigh. “I... I understand, O' Lordess. I would not want to inconvenience your mission any further. But please understand that we are bound by the law. If it will please, you, I will speak with the Head of the Order upon my return and insist your case be heard as quickly as possible.”

“How, pray tell, would you contact me?”

“Cafi here will take you to a local inn where you may rest while arrangements are made. Rest assured, all costs will be covered by the Order. We will send word once arrangements have been made. I estimate this will take about three hours.”

“Three hours?! Did you not understand? If I do not leave in two hours' time, I risk large delays in my mission.”

“I am sorry, O' Lordess, but this is the best I can do. I'm sure the host at your next destination could excuse you being late by at most one day.”

“He will not be happy.” She sighed. “Very well, I will allow myself to be escorted to your inn. But make haste. You know what is at stake.”

“That I will do.” I heard rock and gravel shifting around as I felt myself being raised. The face of a mage slowly came into view ahead of me. At this point, I gave a growl as loud as I could. The shriek given by the mage was most hilarious.

“Gatix, quiet down. You've given me enough trouble as it is.”

I couldn't help but chuckle, I knew Ms. Queen was mentally doing the same as well. “My apologies, my Lordess. I will do my best to behave.”

“See that you do.” I saw somebody in the corner step toward Ms. Queen. Probably that Cafi character.

“You know,” I said to the significantly paler mage. “I'd rather not keep her waiting. Think what I did was bad? Wait until you upset her.”