Rufian turned to face me, still holding onto the bar maid. “What’s the matter, comrade?” he asked, his voice a bit slurred and mischievous. “We’ll only be a few minutes!”
I narrowed my eyes at him, pulling him aside so we could speak privately. I waved down the maiden with a friendly smile, and she blushed as she peeled away. “What the hell are you doing?” I whispered under my breath, irked. “We’re on a mission, and you’re flirting with a bartender?”
Rufian chuckled, taking a step closer to me so that our backs could face the girl patiently waiting for his company. “Relax, young hero. I’m just having a bit of fun! What is a few mere minutes compared to an eternity?”
“What?!”
“I’d be a fool not to comply.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “Rufian, have you been drinking?”
“Of course not.” The flushed look on his face said otherwise.
“We don’t have an eternity, we have days, Rufian, days! In case you have forgotten, we don’t have any time to spend on debauchery!”
He closed his eyes and leaned back, his grin stretching wider. “You may leave without me if you like.”
“Are you seriously forfeiting this mission to get laid?!” I grunted through my teeth quietly.
“Patience is all I ask. But, if you are overeager, you may fetch the feather on your own. There’s the door, and across the street is a vendor of mystical artifacts. Enjoy.”
“No, Rufian, wait!” I begged, watching as he took his prize and escorted her to the lavatory down the cabin room, where they could have at it within the company of a sink and a urinal in their stall suite.
Perfect.
I sighed exasperatedly, running my fingers through my hair. Thinking I spoke too damn soon about questioning Rufian’s judgment calls, I considered my options. Wait like a gullible shrimp at the bar counter, or take matters into my own hands.
Fuck it. I wasn’t about to waste precious time.
I made my way to the small shop across the street, the sign overhead flickering in gold bold lettering. Antatha’s Mystical Emporium. For some reason the outside of her storefront wasn’t booming with fae, and when I stepped inside, I noticed that the inside of the shop was just as empty. From people. When it came to magic knick knacks, the store was capped to the brim. It looked like a magic bomb exploded in this place.
My eyes browsed through the shelves, scanning over the array of vials, trinkets, spell scrolls, and fur. There were jars filled with glittering dust, armor of all shapes and sizes, and even a few dusty old books with mysterious symbols etched onto their leather-bound covers. A faint scent of lavender and sandalwood filled the air as my senses continued to gravitate further into the store. But while I walked through an aisle between two tall wooden shelves, I heard the floor creak behind me, and I pivoted around to see that I wasn’t alone.
I turned to see a woman, who I assumed was Antatha, standing behind the counter. She was tall, with long thin white hair and frowning green eyes. She had an aura to her that made me ask myself how the hell I hadn’t felt her sooner, the gray woman’s energy rendering me still. This merchant was the first fae I’d seen with fine wrinkles, her age making her appear ever wiser.
I fell cotton-mouthed when I tried to croak a word to her, until she fed me a friendly smile that instantly put me at ease. “I don’t get too many young folks in my shop,” she said, inching closer to me. It was then I noticed she had a limp and a hunch, her long frail fingers glossing over her wooden table for support. “Name’s Antatha. How may I be of service to you, traveler?”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Hey,” I said nervously. “My name is Syodas, and I’m looking for a particular feather.”
“Well, I have feathers of all kinds. Let me show you my collection.” She vanished into a back room for a short few seconds before shimmying over to the table with a medium sized metal box in her hands. The merchant fae snapped the locks and popped the lid open, my eyes growing huge at her prizes. The three tiered drawer to her box stretched further as I took a spot across from her, leaning in to see her beautiful display.
There were so many of them that I lost count. Each one was more colorful than the last, with intricate designs and patterns. The merchant fae watched me closely as my eyes glossed over each feather, admiring their beauty.
Without her saying a word, I knew she wouldn’t let me study them closely and pick them up. But I couldn’t help it, they weren’t like the feathers I’d seen from the birds back home. The vibrant hues of red, green, and blue were so intense that they almost seemed to glow.
“That’s a Pecugon feather, one of the biggest birds in Mavriel,” Antatha said, noticing I was paying a special one more attention than the rest. It looked like a peacock feather but the geometry was less graceful, being more on the boxy side. “You may touch it if you like.”
I stuttered. “Seriously?”
She nodded amused.
My fingers shook as I reached out to touch one of the feathers, and I was instantly shocked from an electrical current. I snapped my hand back, not expecting that reaction. Antatha got a kick out of it, though. While the feather was soft and velvety to the touch, it packed a punch.
“My apologies for using your gullibility against you, but I couldn’t help myself,” she tittered. “I’m surprised you haven’t crossed paths with a Pecugon. They are some deadly but beautiful looking creatures.”
“Shit, if one feather could do that, I’m afraid to see what the entire bird could do.”
“Oh, since we were young, we were told to flee at the sight of them. I collect their feathers because I am a creature enthusiast, but I have never been brave enough to face one head-on.”
My curiosity piqued, I asked her more about these Pecugons. She went on to tell me tales of their size and strength, their razor-sharp talons and beaks that could slice through flesh like butter. Their wings were said to span wider than a man's outstretched arms, and their eyes glinted with intelligence that could rival a human's.
“We have other dangers in the wild as any nation I suppose, but I’d always believed that Mavriel had the deadliest of animals to challenge our alertness.”
“How often are you challenged, Antatha?” I asked, breaking the ice with her.
“Plenty. Don’t you notice my store is empty?”
I chuckled nervously, scratching the back of my head. “Hey, I didn’t want to say anything.”
She beamed. “How very thoughtful of you, but I don’t offend easily. The reason I don’t have many visitors is because I am cursed.”
“Cursed? How?”
“Let’s just say bad things follow bad people.”
“Are you saying that you’re a terrible person, Antatha?”
