Chapter 31

Well, it wasn’t quite a riot; it was more an issue of congestion.

At first, most people who came to look at the stall didn’t believe the crystals were real. Then one of Hetty’s regular buyers came over to say hello. “Hey, what’s going on Hetty? Why do you have a stall?”

“Hi Arthur, stock clearance. The boss says I have to get rid of this lot,” she said as she waved her hand at the stack of crates behind her. Ricky had hired the tiny second stall space just so they could stack the boxes in it.

“What have you got in the boxes?” Arthur asked her with interest. He hadn’t read the sign hanging from the counter board.

“The usual, Quaz crystals. Boss wants a rotak a bag, or you can have a box of twenty for a nahs. ($90). The limit is three boxes per buyer. You interested?” she grinned at him as she enjoyed the shocked look.

She then poured out a bag of crystals into the tray she had in front of her. They sparked as they hit the metal tray. The different lengths and single 1cm cubed crystals shimmered in the morning light. The bottom ones had dimmed a little at the loss of energy, but they were still highly charged.

Arthur went to touch them, but Hetty slapped his hand away. “They are charged, Arthur. Touch that many, and you will be blown onto your arse,” she warned him.

He bent closer and could see from experience that they were excellent quality Crystals. But then, Hetty only sold excellent quality crystals. “What’s going on Hetty? Why has he changed the price and the limit?” he asked in annoyance. He had only picked up a half shipment a few weeks ago.

“Hey boss, Arthur purchased a half box off me recently, can we cut him a deal?” Hetty asked Ricky who was sitting on a stack of boxes behind the counter, waiting for the trading to get serious. He knew it wouldn’t take long.

“Sure, tell him to buy a box, and I’ll chuck in the second for free,” Ricky replied and went back to eating the roasted and salted nuts from the bag he held as if he had nothing better to do.

Ricky and the girls were dressed more like well-to-do merchants. The outfits were similar to what they wore when they came to town. While these outfits were quality, they weren’t as gaudy, being plain coloured. Hetty had agreed to change into a pantsuit that matched the girls,’ only hers was black with a white shirt.

Arthur licked his lips. He had the coin and a buyer if he was quick. He glanced at the small hill of boxes and knew the price, in general, was going to dip drastically once they were all on the market. “Done,” he croaked and fished the coins out of his pouch to pay.

Ricky dropped two boxes on the counter of the stall, making it bounce. “Each bag has anti-theft. Place your hand on both boxes, and until you sell them or use them, they are yours and will return to you if stolen.”

Arthur did as he was told and felt a tingle as he did. “I’ll need to come back for the second box,” he stated.

“No worries,” Ricky said and placed his finger over the box and wiggled his finger as if writing. Arthur’s name appeared burnt into the box’s lid. “Come back and get it before lunch as I don’t think we will be here much longer than that.”

Arthur nodded and grabbed the other box and rushed off with it. He knew he would be back within the hour. With luck, he may even be able to buy two more boxes.

“Two down, two hundred and forty-eight to go,” Ricky said and grinned at Hetty.

Several men who had been watching and listening then approached. Not long after that, it was three lines of business since Ronan had stayed home to look after the dragons.

It was surprising how many of the common folk could come up with a rotak to buy a bag. Ricky knew that for most of then the crystals were going to be used to fix a lot of items that they and their extended family had, that needed them. Some would try to sell the crystals on, but that wasn’t his problem.

Ricky was quite sure that by tonight most people would know that there were a lot of crystals to be had in Spirit City.

Trouble came about two hours later.

After the first hour, Ricky had popped back to the cavern with the empty boxes from selling single bags, and he transported another two hundred and fifty boxes to his fast dwindling pile. He had even brought Ronan back with him to help the girls.

Trade was brisk, and the lines were still long. It was the length of the lines that had become the problem. Other stall owners had complained. It seemed that a lot of people had decided that a rotak a bag or a nahs for a box of the crystals, was just too good of a bargain to forgo.

Ricky had nearly laughed his socks off when he heard one man telling another that Queen Angeni sure knew how to make this birthday memorable with such a gift to her people. Others agreed that it was a fine gift. Even if they had to pay for it, the price was more than acceptable. In the past, the Queens had controlled the sale of Quaz crystals.

At other moments, Ricky had been saddened to hear the stories of the commoners who had gone without this or that commodity. Mostly it was electricity or lighting because they hadn’t been able to afford new crystals. Some of them where even pooling their money so they could share a bag between several families.

Four Queen’s Guards hustled and pushed to the front of the line. Ricky was breaking open another box to put the bags on the counter for the girls when he heard someone say loudly, “Who is in charge here?”

He went to say ‘Me’ when Hetty answered, “I am, Officer, is there a problem?”

“You are disturbing the peace and making a nuisance of yourself. The other stall owners have complained. You are to close up and disperse this crowd,” he boomed.

Hetty looked at him and then the crowd. She yelled, “Hey, you lot! Do you want me to shut up shop or keep selling?”

The crowd responded, “Sell, sell, sell.”

“Well, Officer, are you going to try to tell them to go away? I’ll get lynched if I close up shop while I still have crystals to sell.” She waved at the stack of boxes behind her.

The lines had bunched up when they realised the Officer and his men wanted Hetty to stop selling them the crystals. An angry mummer was rising. The Officer wasn’t used to people back-chatting him, and he moved to grab Hetty.