Ascended

I landed in front of Felge.

Part of that was to get his attention, the other part was to make an impression.

“Felge, I need to talk to you.”

The Merchant's guards shifted as I stepped close enough to touch the older man.

I glared at them and they looked at Felge for direction. I hoped he'd do the right thing and call them off. I held their gaze until their employer waved for them to back up. I was enjoying people being able to see my eyes again.

“What can I do for you Bokor Byler?” Felge’s voice was musical as he smiled wide.

“I had an interesting discussion with Fyga.” I lowered my voice. “I don't care what other contraband you might have, but I have to confiscate purifying crystals that she sold you.”

Felge touched my arm and guided me away from the waiting caravan. “I'm not sure what you're talking about, but saying such things can hurt a law-abiding citizen’s reputation.”

“I don’t have time to argue with you.” I leveled my gaze at him. “This caravan is going to leave soon, but the Hunters are coming specifically for those crystals to destroy them and anyone who has come into contact with them.” I looked over at the rest of the people. “I don’t know if this is more than you gave Fyga for the crystals, but I’d imagine that this is a lot more than you’d get from the Hunters when they show up to destroy the contraband.”

He bristled, but looked into the bag, then glared at me. I could see the wheels turning as he was thinking. I really didn’t care what he was thinking, I just needed him to hurry.

“Look.” I closed the bag, “If you don’t want it, then I can have you pulled out of the line and kept here until I have time to search your wagons for any contraband I can find. And because I’m kind of new at this, I might find a lot of stuff that I don’t recognize.” I decided to play into the fact that I was young. Based on what Fyga had said, I had a feeling that they all could tell. “So…” I looked up at Gili.

Felge snatched the bag away from me, “There’s no need for that.” He searched my face, “This is a bounty for the crystals I found?”

“Works for me.” I nodded at his wagons, “But I need you to hurry, the Zombies could be here soon and if I don’t have the crystal by…”

“They’re right over here.” Felge walked over to his lead wagon and disappeared inside. I heard some noises and assumed that he was opening a secret compartment somewhere. He came back out with the same bag and handed it to me. He looked over at the rest of the crowd, then back at me, “Always a pleasure to help the Bokor.”

I looked in the bag and saw three crystals, each about the size of an apple. I tied off the bag and threw it over my shoulder. “This is all of them?”

“That's all that I found.” He spread his hands and I wondered if that was the truth. There had been three barrels that had been brewing, but I didn’t know if that meant that there had only been one crystal in each barrel or if there had been more. I should have thought to ask Fyga how many she’d sold him, but I doubted I’d see her again for a while.

I just nodded, then headed back up on the roof. I had already wasted too much time and Master James was going to be inside the mines already and was probably wondering where I was.

I stopped at the house we were staying in and opened the door. Val pulled out her sword and took a defensive stance in front of Eveth.

“I got the crystals.” I threw the bag at her, “How’s she doing?”

Val caught the bag and looked over at the young blonde. “She’s still unconscious.” The former Wrangler had concern on her face. “How long is the transition supposed to take?”

I shrugged, “We were out for a few hours, for her, I don’t know.” I nodded at the small pile that Val had made on the floor, “Packing?”

“Master James told me that he was inspecting the mine, then he would be back to load her up in a wagon.”The redhead looked at the door, “Has there been any Zombies?”

I shrugged, “There hasn’t been an alarm, but since they’re probably coming from the mine, I doubt that they’re going to raise the alarm.” I nodded at the unconscious woman, “Just keep an eye on her and be ready if Master James and I can’t find a way to seal them off.”

“Good luck.” Val walked over to the door as I walked out.

I turned and nodded at her, but she stayed in the door as I ran towards the mine. At least I knew that there was going to be someone else between the Zombies and the people. I just hoped that I’d be able to find a way to keep the Zombies from coming out this way at all.