Hunter Or Huntress

Chapter 29: Trade Opportunity

As vulzan retrieved the sturdy-looking box Tom wondered just what goodies might be hiding in there, more magic stuff? He would pay quite a bit for something magic, even if it was just to study. The box was chained around one of Archeon's legs, they clearly didn’t want anybody scampering off with it. The box itself looked quite impressive, it was full metal construction with an elaborate lock.

As Vulzan turned back to Tom pulling a key out which looked very fancy, even if Tom could see it was clearly just a fancy fork key. He could have that thing open in seconds. Unless it was magical?

“Vulzan? Is box magic?”

“You are a clever one aren’t you.”

“Key not very good, something else keep safe”

“You mean besides the very big dragon?” Vulzan answered with a smirk. Yeah, Tom would have to give him that. A dragon was an excellent deterrent system.

Vulzan inserted and turned the key, there was a loud click and he lifted the lid. Tom strained his neck to look inside.

There were quite a few coins inside, mainly gold and silver. There was some folded up cloth, a bit of jewelry, a very nice dagger, and some glass bottles, with very colorful liquid in them.

“Those magic drink?” Damn this language anyway, those looked an awful lot like potions to Tom, the jewelry was familiar too, most of the dragonettes seemed to enjoy some self-decoration, especially the huntresses. Nunuk and Apuma also carried quite a bit.

“Yes Tom, we call them xiisnarni. I have a small selection. Are you familiar with them?”

“Sort of. have healing?” It wasn’t wrong, but hey magic that was awesome.

“Well no sadly, those are always a crowd favorite. I do have one against poisons and the like. Apart from that, I have strength, stamina, fire breathing,”

“Fire breathing” Tom echoed, now it was clearly his turn to be flabbergasted. How would something like that even work? Breathing fire when you weren't fireproof did seem like a bad idea. Were dragonettes fireproof?” “How survive?”

“Yes fire breathing, I’m guessing if you don’t have dragons you don’t have that where you are from. The potion protects you from fire for the duration as well so you don’t get burnt. It only lasts about a minute” Tom turned to look at the massive head hovering above the conversation

“You breathe fire? Just like in the stories”

“Well I don’t, I am of the storm. I breathe lightning obviously” Well fuck. Tom just might need to reconsider the arms program a bit. It seemed like this place had access to substantial firepower already.

“Huh, That is something. Wait, was you breathing lightning yesterday?”

“Why yes, one of them was stupid enough to give me a clear shot” The massive dragon let out a Purr? Tom wasn’t quite sure, it sounded happy though he was definitely smiling.

“Well he has bad day”

“That he did,” Vulzan chimed in seeming eager to continue. “Anywho, I also have this one” He held up a bottle of deep blue liquid “I have never found a buyer for it, but you might just fit the bill. It is allegedly a potion of water breathing, it was given to me by a student who made it as a project not considering nobody would want it. Judging by your escapades though, I would say you might find a use for it.” That certainly seemed useful, Tom had tried diving before but elected not to bring any equipment, well apart from the swim mask, that was useful for many situations.

“How long last?”

“About an hour I think.”

“You think?!” Tom didn’t like the sound of being stuck a hundred meters below and suddenly starting to breathe water.

“It was made by a student and I don't know how much it has been tested, if at all. Besides, it has definitely not been tested on someone like you. I would advise caution” Fair enough but still, there was only one so it wasn't like he could give it a dry run.

“Hmmm… interesting but dangerous to use. What else got?”

“Well I have some nice jewelry, this excellently made dagger, and a shimmering cloak”

“Shimmering?”

“It changes color and texture based on your wishes. Observe” Vulzan donned the fine cloak which looked like a sort of black glitter color at the moment. Kinda like those cheap wizard cloaks, kids got for Halloween. As he put it on it took a moment and it turned to a bright white. The others seemed to gasp, Tom just looked intently, was this the solution to his little camouflage problem?”

“May I try?”

“Certainly. Just wear it on your body and think cloak color out loud to yourself and then picture what you would like”

Tom donned the cloak he did as instructed, and the cloak turned a clear blue. It worked for humans, he could use magic, Oh fuck yeah! He didn’t let his excitement show, just a nice smile and a nod.

“Very clever,” Tom tried again, this time thinking of his camo pattern and the thing responded beautifully. Oh this was amazing, he had adaptive camouflage and formal robes all in one “Can it be resown”

“Well yes, it's just the fabric that is magic. It will remain so” Oh yeah, this was gonna stay here for sure

“Very good, what worth?”

“I would take 250 gold for it” Ouch, that was expensive. Tom wondered just what Nunuk’s sword could do and what it was actually worth.

“Hmmm I like potion of fire breathing, water breathing, cloak, and things Nunuk said. What total?”

“That is quite the shopping list I must say. Let me see, the water breathing I will give you for 20, 80 for the fire, 250 for the cloak, 120 for metals, 75 for other supplies and Nunuk had about 85 in goods to sell. You did do us one hell of a favor yesterday tough. I'll say 400 for the lot. That is an exceedingly generous offer”

Right 400 gold. That sounded like saffron and the bottle of whiskey. “I give you half of saffron, half of curry, and a bottle of whiskey. Throw in some coins from homeland, keep as tokens”

“I say 200 for the spices and 80 for the bottle I would like to see the coins though, that sounds interesting”

Tom got out the handful of coins he had on him and presented them.

“What are they made of? That looks like silver but are those brass?” oh shit yeah that was nickel they didn’t have that. best to just say steel.

“Not silver, steel and yes it’s brass”

“But that is hardly worth anything?”

“Correct, but look so detailed, can’t be faked”

“You base your currency on the fact people can’t make fake coins? I'll give it to you. They look like they were made by a jeweler but why brass and simple steel?”

“Cheap. Gold silver is useful don’t waste on coin”

“That is an interesting take on it” Vulzan was clearly very confused. Tom couldn’t blame him.

“I give some, sell to collector or keep, up to you.”

“Thank you very much but it still doesn't make the total if you want everything. I can leave out the potions and we got a deal”

20 gold for some change, that was one hell of a deal, but he wanted those two potions quite badly. Another bottle would do it. That would leave him with just two left tough. It was clear if he wanted to get proper drunk around he would need homebrew. Unless they had a lot of beer

“What you guys say?" looking back at Apuma and Nunuk. They just seemed shocked. Shit, did he just show them he had brought a ton of money and not told them, whoops?

Apuma finally answered. “That is a very fine cloak, Vulzan is right to ask such an exorbitant price. Even if I think he is underpaying a bit for some of your things, they are for all intents and purposes of another world after all” Apuma did a wink on that last part, Tom took it to mean the cover story was working.

“I throw in rest of curry, that’s it. ” Tom held out his hand, he really didn’t like curry and the dragonettes clearly were not fond of spicy, so why not?

Vulzan stood mulling the offer over for a while clearly doing some math. “alright, deal, but only because of what you did yesterday”

He reached out his hand to shake and Tom took it. Tom had no clue if this was a great deal or not, but he got some interesting things in exchange for some stuff he didn't need. Besides, it didn’t sound like traders came through often. So it wouldn’t hurt if Vulzan decided he needed to return with more cool stuff sooner than planned.

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Sapphire was once again speechless, Tom had just gone up to purchase the most expensive wares Vulzan had as if it was nothing. Sure it wasn’t the kind of money she had never seen before but it was still a lot and he still had quite a bit in those boxes. The two had continued arguing a bit with Vulzan wishing to purchase more of Toms's spices. Tom seemed unwilling to part with them just for gold though. He was clearly holding out for some more interesting things. Or perhaps he wanted to be more sure of what it was worth before selling.

Nunuk had just observed the proceedings, Sapphire still couldn’t believe she had tried to sell her grandmother's sword. That blade had won the keep for her family way back when. Was she trying to show gratitude? Or perhaps she just gambled that Tom would produce something even more valuable with the materials? Or maybe try and by his loyalty in a roundabout way? Whatever it was she wasn’t telling. At least not here.

It would appear that the sudden job of negotiating a trade deal had brought Tom back to reality, he seemed almost back to normal now. Well, as normal as the Human had ever been, whether that was true or just a facade Sapphire couldn’t tell. It was rather likely a facade she thought.

By Sapphire's reckoning. The mood in the keep was one of false joy. Darklings had attacked a trader on route to their keep and the trader had suffered losses. That was a dire thing indeed, they needed traders to come after all. The thought of having darkling so close possibly even on the islands was unnerving, to say the least.

This needed a resolution Vulzan had clarified they were hit before they even reached the island. The resulting running battle had lasted for hours with the attackers coming in and then retreating to rest, then returning again and again. This meant they must have a place to go and rest in between battles that could follow Archeon. Vulzan had feared it would be another dragon of some kind but nothing showed up. He theorized it may be a smaller dragon or something else not willing to risk Archaeon’s wrath. For all of Archeon’s might, there was little he could do against a swarm of darklings and so they had harried them relentlessly.

Vulzan believed they had been after the lockbox apparently trying more than once to get at it but the chains had held. Vulzan did not believe their number to be more than 16 initially with 7 now downed and most of the others likely wounded. They couldn’t attack the keep with numbers like that at least, but they still needed to be found and eliminated. Especially whatever was allowing them to rest while traversing the skies.

For now though, it was time for celebration. They had dead to honor and a trader to welcome. Nunuk even managed to coax Dakota out of bed even if she spent most of the evening just sitting in silence. Vulzan had brought out a cask of ale as a thank you for the rescue. Along with their own stores, it made for more than enough to go around. Of course, Jackalope saw an opportunity to cheer everyone up a bit.

“Hey listen up everybody. I think it is only fair that the first human ace of a battle receives a toast for their deeds. To Tom!”

“To Tom, first human ace” echoed around the room. Despite the rather somber events of the previous day, the room was beginning to get rather merry. Even if Tom looked quite perturbed by the attention.

“Ace?” He asked Sapphire when the room quieted down a little again

“The one who scores the most kills in a battle. You got three, Archeon claimed two and captain Tyborg another two, he was the one with the missing foot” Sapphire grimaced a bit at that last one. Even if it wouldn’t hurt in the air he would at best be hobbling around on a piece of wood for the rest of his life.

“Huh, we have aces back home, they fly fighter planes. Ace is a title you earn by getting five air kills. So if count Vargulf I ace” Tom seemed to chuckle at the realization.

“But you can’t fly?” How did they have aces if they couldn’t fly? unless...

Tom looked around for a bit taking notice of Vulzan and his escorts. “Machines can, We call them planes. Fighter plane is fastest thing in the sky, go faster than sound!” He replied. Sapphire just needed a minute for that one, of course they had figured out how to make flying machines. They could build mechanical dragons for farming by the million, but faster than sound, She didn’t even think sound had a speed? She would need to question him further on that one when it was more private.

“Hey Jackalope, humans have aces too back home.”

“What?!”

“He claims once you kill five in the air you are an ace forever”

“Well, that is quite different?” Jackalope moved down a few seats and sat opposite of the two. “That makes me an ace too, let's be honest even Fengi is by that metric. It doesn't sound very hard to do? What’s the point then?”

“Back home is hard. In air life measured in minutes, everything go so fast. Back in old war was a big battle in the air. Battle of Britain, new pilots lived only about half-hour in air before shot down. They defended home island for months outnumbered, alone. They did it, it was victory.”

“Half an hour?!” Sapphire, jackalope, and Fengi broke out. “That is terrible” Sapphire continued. She couldn’t believe that if he really meant that soldiers were only expected to live half an hour. the table grew a little quiet at that.

“Yes, it was hard battle, leader of Britain say ”Never before, so much owed by so many to so few...” Tom got a little somber for a moment before cheering up again. “but that is old and not here.”

“Yes, you are quite right. Nevertheless, they sound like they deserve a toast. What were they called?”

“RAF, Royal Air Force”

“To the brave warriors of the Royal Air force” Jackalope let out triumphantly, “May they be remembered forevermore” Tom started chuckling a bit at the situation apparently finding it funny? before readying his own glass.

“To the RAF” He went, downing a sizable portion of his drink. “What about your history, got any good battles?”

“I think you need Nunuk for that one, she is the war veteran after all” Jackalope answered.

“She is?” Tom seemed surprised as he looked over to the old Lady.

“She has fought in two, yes, one lasted over a year” Sapphire interjected.

“She was apparently bloody good too. Usually, she doesn't like talking about it too much, perhaps if you get her drunk enough though” Jackalope continued.

“Could probably be arranged” Tom answered like he was actually considering the option. Wait, what was he planning?

“Now that is a good idea” Jackalope turned to look around at the others besides Tom sitting at the table. “Our guest does seem to be quite tough, perhaps we should find out just how tough his belly is?”

“Why am I not surprised this was coming? Jack, he is still weak from that little swim yesterday and he was literally screaming at ghosts through the night” Tom looked down at the table after that last comment, much to Sapphire's dismay.

“Well, ale is medicine for the soul is it not?” Jackalope said grinning, getting up, and walking over to the head table where Nunuk, Apuma, Vulzan, Shiva, and some of the guards were sitting.