We ran out into the streets, Corra leading the pack. The drab, buildings of the back alleys in Grustenburg quickly melting away into the clean, and bright buildings of the town square.
"Why are we going to the town square? Aren't magic items illegal?"
Corra looked back at him, her fox ears on the top of her head waving in the wind like flaps of paper, "We're gonna be taking a slight… detour."
"To where?"
"You'll see."
We turned the next corner and walked into the library that sat at the edge of town. As we walked in, the smell of paper bombarded my nostrils, flooding my head and keeping me from thinking straight.
"Books." I muttered.
"What did you say Julian?" Alice had turned to me, her eyes full of beauty and wonder.
"Nothing, it's just the smell of paper and ink that always messed with my senses."
Rico turned around, "Your senses?"
"You do know absolutely nothing, don't you Rico?"
"What?"
Alice sighed, "Rico, Julian is a lacertia, meaning he has an extremely powerful nose."
"Oh, I get it…. Kinda"
Alice and I facepalmed, "Just… Forget it Rico. Just forget it."
The library was quite large. The wooden bookshelves stretched all the way to the stained glass ceiling, all chalked full of books. It was truly quite a spectacle. We walked up to the front desk to the right of the room, an old lady sat at the counter, a quill dipped in ink between her fingertips.
"I'm here for an... appointment." Corra whispered, putting emphasis on the word appointment.
The old lady looked up, adjusting her silver glasses, the frames were slightly bent, "What did you say dear? If you're looking for that bakery, it's next door."
Corra leaned in closer, "I said, I'm here for an appointment."
The old lady furrowed her brow and got up from the desk, "Come with me then!" She crowed, "He'll be right with you."
We followed her down a large hall behind the desk, it looked like it led down to a second part of the library. As we followed her down the library, the smell of paper and ink got less and less powerful.
"Alright," We had stopped in the middle of the hall, the old lady pointing in to one of the bricks on the wall, as I looked closer, it seemed to be off coloured, "This is our stop dear." She gargled.
Rico leaned in and whispered in Corra's ear, "corra, why have we stopped?"
She pressed her fingers to the tip of his beak, "Shhh. Just watch. You'll see."
I watched as the lady pressed the bottom of her cane to the strange brick, pushing it into the wall.
"Here you go dear!" She croaked, "Jack's Magic Shoppe is on the second floor. Happy buying!"
I watched as the bricks started to move back into the wall, creating a spiral staircase that led down, candles lighting the walls beside them.
Alice did a little whistle, "Wow! Impressive!"
"Come on, hurry up." Corra was already heading down the stairs, her boots making a clip clop noise as they hit the brick steps. Alice soon followed suit, then Rico, and then me. As I turned down the spiralling steps, the smell of body odor and ale drowned me, as if someone was holding my head underneath the sea.
Finally, we had reached the bottom of the steps, my leather shoes touching down on what felt like a mossy stone brick path. Ahead was a big stone door, an unknown language had been inscribed on the door.
Corra walked towards the door, in the dim candlelight, she looked more dead than alive, almost like a wandering spirit, "We just need to pass through the festival to get to Jack's."
"The festival?"
Corra opened the door, to reveal a massive marketplace, bustling with people and energy. The so called festival was more like a marketplace, different stores and stands were scattered around the labyrinth of alleys, each vendor selling an assortment of goods that varied from bread to shrunken heads.
Corra started trudging ahead, her face as hard as stone, "Try not to get lost," She mumbled, "Also, don't buy anything. You don't know where they've been."
"Alright," Rico said, "But there's a lot of great stuff here! It's haunting me! You sure I can't buy just one thing?"
Great stuff? Yeah right. I sooner die before buying any of the garbage that was for sale in this filthy marketplace. Like, who'd want to buy a loaf of bread made by a filthy hag who probably hasn't bathed in years? Disgusting. I watched as Rico and Alice ran around the marketplace, checking out all of the junk that they could waste their precious cash on. I was about to go and tell them to knock it off when Corra spoke up.
"Leave them Julian," Her cold eyes seemed to freeze me all the way down to my toes, "If they want to go waste their money and get seperated in the process, all the power to them."
"Fine. Who is this Jack, anyways?"
"He's a client that we used to take jobs from, until he opened up his own shop down here, 'been thriving ever since."
"And, that old lady—"
"Beatrice"
"Right, Beatrice said he was on the second floor, so is there a whole other marketplace underneath us?"
"If you call Jack's shop a marketplace, then yes."
"Wait, so just how big is this shop?"
She laughed, "Oh you'll find out… You'll find out."
As we walked through the streets, passing by the yelling dealers and crowds of people, I noticed something. They were all creatara, not a single human was in sight amidst the mass of buyers and sellers.
"You've probably figured it out by now," Corra muttered, her back turned to me, "This place is a somewhat safe space for all creatara, no humans have ever or will ever come down here. While some come down here once in a while to escape the brutality and harshness of the outside world, others choose to live their lives down here, living in hotels or out on the streets."
"I see. So, does Ray know this place exists considering Rico didn't?"
"He's the one who showed it to me." She blushed but it immediatly faded as her face became even more solemn than before.
We had finally reached the end of the marketplace, a lone tavern had stood at the end of the last alley. It was made of rotting oak wood, moss and dead vines had made its way up the support beams that came up along the sides of the building, and a sign was hanging from the roof, the paint scratched off.
"Here it is," Corra rasped, "The stairs to downstairs are in here."
Rico and Alice ran up behind us, panting, "You guys!" They said in unison, "What's going on? Why have we stopped?"
"Maybe if you hadn't ran off you would know!" I barked.
"Sorry," Alice sassed, "But look! I found this adorable little book!" She took out what looked like a picture book that she had hidden using magic, it's sky blue cover had a graphic of a sheep with big bulging eyes on it, "Isn't it wonderful! And look!"
She opened the book, the spine making a clicking noise. I watched as a scratched voice played from it like a record, "Hello! I'm Chubby Charlie! Won't you play with me?" Alice mouthed the words as they came out, giggling with glee.
I rolled my eyes, "Whatever makes you happy Alice."
I turned to ask Corra if we could go inside, but she was gone. I ushered the others inside as I opened the disgusting mossy door, the rusty hinges making an ominous creaking noise. As I stepped into the room, I realized just what a dump the place really was. Only a few people sat in the tavern, moping at the rotting tables, they looked like they were forced to come, not here to have a good time. As I walked around, searching for Corra, I realized just how unstable the whole place was, not only did the beams supporting the roof look like they were rotted, even the entire ceiling looked like it might collapse.
I turned to Rico and Alice, I could tell they were thinking the same, "Let's find Corra so we can get out of here, alright?"
We walked towards the bartender, our boots making a disgusting splorch noise as the soft wood almost melded to our feet.
"Is there anything I can do for you fellas? We have a special today on ale, buy two, get one half price." The bartender coughed, his long dirty hair swishing into his face, blocking his vision.
"Yes," I replied, "I'm looking for a girl. She's mixed, she's got knives on her belt, and she's probably punched you in the face."
The bartender rubbed the bruise on his cheek, "How'd you know?"
"She punches everyone!" Rico chimed.
"Well, I do believe I've seen your friend around here. Try checking around back." He pointed behind him to a hall that led down towards the restrooms.
An uneasiness settled on me as we walked towards the corridor, the water—or at least I hoped it was water—from the ceiling dripping onto my head, making me even more tense. The corridor was just like the rest of the building… revolting. Moss grew on the decaying walls, and the floor felt like it might collapse at any second. Corra was at the end of the hall, leaning against the wall, it looked like the wall was about to give out and devour her.
"Took you long enough," she grumbled.
"Corra, where's the stairs to the second floor?" Alice asked.
"Stairs?" She chuckled, "We don't use stairs here."
Corra stomped twice on the rotting ground, and the rotting wood began to vibrate, it felt like a mini earthquake was about to begin.
"I'll see you on the other side." She laughed as the ground swallowed her whole, closing around her body.
"The hell?" I blurted.
Rico looked too shocked to move, "What… just happened?"
Alice walked over to where Corra was standing, still clutching her newly purchased book, "It looks like she—" She stomped on the ground and sunk into the floor as well.
Rico kneeled on the floor like the absolute wimp he was, "No! It got Alice too!" He looked at me, "Julian! What do we do?"
I grabbed Rico by the collar and shoved him over to where the floor had eaten the girls and sure enough, it ate him as well, no stomping needed. Now it was just me left, I trudged over to the area where the floor would pull me down, took a deep breath, and stomped twice. I felt the wet wood encase me as I was pulled underground, taking the wind from my chest. With each tense breath I panicked as I was pulled lower and lower as I felt darkness trap me. But then in an instant, I was in a dark corridor, Rico, Corra, and Alice in front of me.
Corra held out her hand to help me up but I refused, using the wall to balance myself as I pulled myself upwards. We were in a large stone corridor, only lit by a single lantern that hung from the ceiling.
Corra walked over to the large steel door that was on the other end of the hall, "Jack's store should be just on the other side." She pointed to a sign that hung above her that read, "Jack's Magic Shoppe".
We were about to let ourselves inside when Corra held her hand in front of me, blocking my path
"Just wait," She grumbled, "Before we go in I need to establish something." She pointed to Rico and Alice, "Especially for those two."
Rico jumped beside me, "Alright just hurry up Corra! I wanna go inside!" I could tell he was getting anxious because of how he was pacing the room, jumping from side to side as he fidgeted with the feathers on his head.
"So, what I wanted to establish is this," She paused and then yelled at Rico, "Don't. Touch. Anything."
"Why?"
"Just… Don't."
Corra pushed open the door, and the overpowering smell of tobacco flooded my senses, like a dam that had burst. It was a massive room, about thirty feet tall and eighty feet wide. The room was lined with many metal shelves that each held different items, each one with a quaint price tag on the top. The floor was made of a polished mahogany wood that had been scratched and scuffed from what looked like the metal shelves.
Corra outstretched her hands like she was giving an invisible person a hug, "Jack!" She exclaimed, "How's it 'goin?"
I whirled to see a wooden counter at the back of the store, an Ursa sitting at it. He was wearing a vest and tie that had been ripped and torn, a neat dark blue fedora sat on top of his furry head, the brim's gold trim shining in the candlelight.
"Ah! It's been awhile Corra!" He said as we approached him, the cigar in his mouth switching from side to side between his lips, "Can I interest you in anything?"
We were at the counter now, well at least Corra and I were. Alice and Rico had wandered off again. I swear, one day those two are going to get it and they're going to regret acting so foolishly.
I took a deep breath in, steadying my breathing and distracting myself from the horrible stink of tobacco radiating off of Jack's fur, "So Jack," I continued, trying to keep a straight face as I felt my lungs light on fire, "Corra told us that you had some of the magic items that we need. Am I correct in saying this?"
"Indeed you are, what kind of job are you taking up?"
Corra stared into Jack's eyes menacingly, "Jack, it's a big one. I can't spare you the details, but we're heading to Zleigh."
Jack let off a big belly laugh, his cigar falling out of his mouth, "Taking on the big one, eh? I don't blame 'ya! That oughta pay a hefty amount!"
Corra winked, "It will, provided that we get out alive. So, what do you recommend?"
Jack pulled out a large crate full of stuff from under the counter and set it down with a thump, "Any of this interest you?" Corra turned over the crate, spilling the contents. She shuffled through everything and singled out a few items, some magic dust, potions, and what looked like a weird purple gem.
"How much?" She asked, I could tell Corra was ready to barter, she had a look of tenacity in her eyes and she leaned closer towards Jack as she said it, her tail brushing against the floor.
Jack smiled back, "Fifty, no more, no less."
"Yeah right." She scoffed, "I'll do thirty."
"Thirty five."
"Hey guys! What's up? Oh—" Rico had walked up. He tried to wesel his way inside but my gaze stopped him dead in his tracks.
As we chatted—primarily Zleigh—I noticed Corra walk down the aisle towards us, the crate of magic items was in her hands and a crooked smile had made itself across her face. It wasn't a happy smile, it looked like she had just had the pleasure of beating someone into a pulp.
"Hey guys!" She called, "Guess how much we paid for the supplies we needed?"
"Forty gold?"
She held up a leather bag, the inside jingled with the familiar sound of gold, silver and copper pieces, "Fifteen." She winked, "What did I tell you guys? Now, let's go. We've still got some work to be done back home."
"Alright, I'll still never know how you do it Corra." Rico crowed.
"Maybe someday I'll teach you my persuasion technique, but not today. Now come." She started to walk down the aisle towards the door.
As we started to take our leave, I heard the faint sound of footsteps make its way towards the big steel door, I can't explain it, but at that moment I felt the sudden urge to hide.
"Get down!"
Corra followed suit and hid behind one of the shelves, but Alice and Rico were still clueless, they turned to me with an expression that was like they were saying, "What dude? Come on, you're slowing us down." I leapt towards them as the door creaked open, hitting the ground with a graceful roll as we just managed to hide behind a stack of crates as the figure walked in.
"Jack, the usual." A feeling of unease settled on me as I heard that voice, it was familiar but distant at the same time, like someone I didn't know was calling my name.
I tried to remember the voice, I had heard it recently but I couldn't put my finger on it, like something was fogging my memory. But then, as the figure walked by the stack of crates we were hidden behind, a familiar smell snuck it's way towards my nostrils, the smell of wine and spices.
I blinked and all of a sudden I was back in the basement of that mossy tavern, I had rushed in and taken out a bunch of the Wisps, but my body had taken some serious hits and was struggling to stand, my legs giving way under my weight.
The man had laughed, his hands sparking with purple energy as I positioned myself, trying to keep myself conscious.
"You utter fool." He had chuckled, his yellow scarf almost glowing in the dim candlelight, "You think you can show up alone and expect to take us down? We're the Wisps my boy, not some random gang of street thugs."
laughed, coughing up blood in the process, "Is that supposed to scare me? Come on now, it'll take more than that to frighten me."
His hand was crackling with power now, purple energy shooting off of his fingertips like streamers, "So be it."
I rolled to the side as a blast of lightning arched beside me, just barely grazing my body and hitting the back wall with a boom, causing a massive explosion.
I clutched my side where the lightning had grazed me, I could feel the raw flesh between my fingers, the charred bits of skin flaking off as I brushed my bloody hand across the wound.
Shit, I'm not sure how long I can dodge for. I gotta find some way to escape so I can buy some time for the others to come assist me.
That's when I got the brilliant idea to climb to the rafters and wait it out up there, I just needed a distraction. Something that would cover my tracks to make them think I escaped. I slid the flat side of my blade across my cloak, cleaning the blood off of it's silver blade. I wiped the blood off of my cheek, and taunted Grey, flipping two of my fingers forward in one motion.
"Another one?" Greyson had laughed, "Very well, if it's death you want I'll have no trouble in bringing it."
Another shot of lightning gracefully arched off of his hands towards me, but this time I didn't dodge, I stood there, my blade in front of me ready to strike. As the blast grew closer, I swung downwards with my sword, Sister Jasmine's face smiling back at me through the emerald on the hilt. As I slashed my sword through the air, the burst of electricity hit the flat side of my blade, bouncing it diagonally in front of my feet, creating a massive explosion and filling the room with a cloud of dust.
Great, the perfect distraction.
I immediately leapt to the stone brick wall, using my tail to assist me as I climbed, I only had around half a minute before the dust would settle and my position would be given away. Particles of dirt hit my eyes as I climbed, each one feeling like a little needle that was poking my pupils, trying to pull me down and stop me from reaching my goal. As the smell of dust burnt my nostrils, I felt my gloved hand touch one of the rafters. As I pulled myself up, I could hear the gang cursing underneath me.
"Where'd he go?"
"Did he run off?"
I lay on the rafters, trying to steady my breathing, I didn't feel like I was going to pass out, but I was close.
Just a few more minutes, they'll be here soon.
After what seemed like an eternity, Corra had come to assist me, but it looked like we were still going to have some troubles. As I watched her jump down from the rafters, I felt darkness start to overtake my body. As my eyes grew heavy, I wanted to get up and help, but not even the screams of my comrades could rouse me, I was already asleep.