"And what business do you have for me mister Greem the merchant"?
Rumi asked slowly taking his time and making it seem like he isn't interested.
The closer Greem got the more his outline morphed into the visage of a blonde Terran with a bowled haircut like friar John from Robin Coat.
His green eyes and button nose made him look almost beautiful.
But he ended up with a baby face and big cheeks.
"Protection oh wise mage I must reach Aug to see my ill mother for the last time" Greem replied and bent down low enough for his stomach fat to move to his sides.
His lie was as apparent as his stomach but it didn't stop Rumi from considering taking a down payment.
"Consider yourself protected now off with you" Alia scowled and spat on the floor.
A bit of blood could be seen mixed in with the saliva.
"Please oh great mages of the west, this humble one begs of you to consider my insignificant life"! he went from bowing to prostrating.
The roars of Oskana and Ham sound closer, they are amplified as they bounce off the walls.
I smell urine and find that Greem and Leen have soiled themselves.
"Can you not see that we are already under contract"? he replied pointing at us.
What Rumi said might sound like a rejection to some but an opportunity for another.
Confirming they are indeed the fabled mages his heart skips two beats.
That and indigestion made him release a foul smelling odor.
"Name your price"! Greem was confident his life was worth more than four runts.
Rumi held up four fingers.
"I have Four hundred mana stones in my saddle across the way".
Greem pointed towards the light ahead while still on his knees.
"You must be a lame" Rumi replied with fake pity in his eyes.
"My stones are real oh gre-"
"Four thousand" Rumi said cutting off his high pitched squeeling and rising to his feet slowly.
He stood over six feet a whole head higher than Greem.
Greems blonde hair had tossled and is pointed in all directions due to the excessive prostrating and new found love for running.
His mouth opened and closed repeatedly as if he is having a stroke.
"Just use the final payment you were going to pay your guards" Rumi chuckled.
He didn't know if Greem had guards but no merchant dressed in fine silk would go anywhere unaccompanied.
"But of course oh wise and immaculate one".
Greem replied with a voice full of sincerity while his face dropped to the ground to hide the pained expression.
"Not like this" Leen muttered as she backed into the wall.
She couldn't understand what was being said, but she had got the general idea.
She could still remember her mother as she sold off the Olim staying in the families tavern to a mob of Terran hunters who had their prey 'stolen' by them.
"They were going to take them anyway my love, we only made stones from it" her mother said to her.
The fear in their eyes was the same as she could see now in Yuits face letting her know her suspicions aren't unfounded.
Her eyes fell on the mixed race child who kept turning his head around as if expecting something.
There is no fear, he is no different in this situation than he is cutting up slugs or drinking water from a well.
Leens trust in the two mages in front of her has been irrevocably broken, in it's place a desperation was born.
The oval shaped boy with the wide nose became her only hope for survival.
Little did she know I had a enough fear to match a thousand of her.
Yuit grit his teeth so hard they nearly cracked as the man went underneath his clothes and offered a thick sack of mana stones.
Only Fooya and I remain unfazed.
Fooyas parents worked at the mines in the Village.
She lived in the barn of a farmer who charged them one mana stone a month.
She was exposed to labor early on and knows the price of flesh well.
"Well then 'Greem the Merchant' it seems I am now employed by you until I get my payment in full or until you renege on your deal and I kill you".
"I only have one rule do what I say or die".
"Do you understand me"? Rumi asked slowly making sure the merchant knew what he is getting into.
"Yes oh magnificent one"!
"You will not regret this, my family will forever be in your debt"!
Rumi placed the bag in his robes and opened his hand back up while Greem continued to shower praises.
Greem hesitated for only a moment before handing another smaller pouch as well.
Rumi kneeled down and got face to face with him.
"You will want to start thinking with your head not your pocket".
"Because believe me when I say your in a pile of once in a lifetime Um shit".
"Good news is that it can't get wo-".
He stopped talking when he heard the screams and hysteria that he thought ran past us get louder.
"We should run" I said to Yuit and the others taking steps away from the sounds.
"Run"?
"Dragon-kin are behind us" Yuit muttered not taking his eyes away from the direction the sounds are coming from.
After a moment a low rhythmic hum could be heard.
I recognized it instantly and began running.
Rumis eyes widened.
"Run"!
He grabbed Greem by the collar bringing him to his feet while turning around and moving towards the light.
"What the fuck" Alia cursed as she ran after Rumi.
"Wait oh magnificent one"! Greem said after stumbling again.
He ran behind us in the same direction not wanting to deal with whatever drove an immortal mage to flee.
As soon as we cross into the light we are greeted by the unexpected sight of two dragon-kin chained by druids on either side of us.
To the right Oskanas four legs are chained down along with three hooks in each wing.
His grey scales dropping all around the druids as the chains dig in.
His square face was contorted into a visage of rage and frustration.
I counted nearly ten druids holding him down and more coming down from the side of the mountain.
The gap is fifty yards wide with plenty of room.
It looked big with humans but it suddenly felt tight.
To the left a large beast with red scales and a neck half as long as its body is surrounded and being backed towards us.
Every time it tries to fly away a new chain with a sharp sickle like hook gets added to its body.
The wings are attached to its arms making it a prime target for the druids as she couldn't retract them like Oskana.
They would try and roar but every time they did a hook would be thrown in their mouths pulling out teeth.
I remembered the druids strength and shuddered.
The sounds from behind us are getting louder and as the screams fade they are replaced by a humming I once heard on a galley.
Rumi began to chuckle slowly at first and then into a full blown laugh.
"Whats so funny"? Alia asked as she looked around the 'T' we are cornered in.
"Surely it can't get worse than this" he replied.
A horn blew off in the distance and soon druids began falling from the mountain side above.
They came out in a swarm.
"Psssshhh" I spit out and began to laugh right along with him.
We looked like mad men smiling and laughing in a pit of death.
'What is so funny'? Ava asked waking from her slumber.
I sighed and relaxed my shoulders taking long deep breaths.
Rolling my wrists as I grip my blades tight I chose to go west.
The path where the long necked beast was being brought down.
'Comedic timing' I replied while taking steps in that direction.
Rumi seems to have the same idea as me and begins to move as well.
"Run for your life, do not look back"! Alia said following after us.
All the weapons they have are drawn.
Greem behind us shut his eyes and runs for dear life praying the druids don't consider him a threat.
The beast is being backed up against the wall to my left so I went left aiming right for it.
'Why are you going towards it'! Ava screamed in my head.
I don't have time to tell her that the druids to the right are more dangerous than the beast.
Jumping over the head of the encirclement I land and roll.
A druid suddenly sees a body in front of him.
Without hesitation he slashed horizontally with a two handed sword
He had to let go of the chain and I was already in the air again.
When my feet touched the membrane pulses of mana kept me balanced on the beasts wings that are being stretched out and brought down.
The encirclement tightens as the beast cranes it's head back to look at me.
We make eye contact.
Opening it's wide pterodactyl like mouth its head snakes out quickly in my direction.