Chapter 10

Andrew wandered around the market for a time, looking at the wares the merchants had on display. Something about the scene was bothering him though, like an itch he couldn’t scratch. He wasn’t sure what it was, but something about this market kept niggling at the back of his mind. He looked around, studying the stands and stalls, ticking off what he could see for sale. Food being the main product sold here of course. Clothing, small housewares, and minor tools off in their own little corners. Then it finally struck him, there were no weapons or armor dealers in the open market. He felt a sense of relief once he figured this oddity out. Now the question was, were there other markets that had them for sale, or was it just shops. He began to move around the edges of the market, looking for anything that would prove or disprove his observation. He had not taken the time to explore any of the side streets leading off in all directions other than the alley he used to get there. He noticed that one roadway, a central city road was wider and busier than most of the others. “That looks promising,” he thought. He could see the top of the central keep in the distance since this road was wide and straight. He started down the edge of the road to avoid getting run over by carts and people moving back and forth along it. He studied the signs over the doors and noticed stores for items he had not even considered while on the road. In most cases, he would not have been able to carry the extra weight most of the gear represented. He had walked up the road towards the old city center for several blocks when he spotted a sign with a bow on it. It was an odd sign though. The bow was crossed with a sword over a shield showing a green tree emblazoned in the background on it. He went up to the door and saw several folks inside through the glass window. The window had metal bars across it to keep intruders from breaking in and the door was heavy wood with metal banding to reinforce it. He grasped the handle and the heavy door opened easily, but slowly from its heavy mass and he stepped inside. “Now that is some door,” he thought. The shop was well lit by lanterns hanging for the overhead support beams. He noted that the light source was all glow stones. Just by looking at the stones, he could see that Ledger had not made these. They were much larger and produced a yellow-white light that didn’t quite matched the sun’s light.

He looked at the person behind the counter and his jaw dropped at what he saw. It was a woman in her middle thirties at a guess, or so she looked, flame-red wavy hair he could tell that ran in thick waves down her back. Her features were sharp-looking, Her cheekbones high and sharp, with bright green eyes that seemed to be drawn up and back to sharp points. She was overly well endowed in the chest and had a smile that lit the room without the lamps help. She saw the look Andrew had and giggled at it. She was used to the reaction she caused when a new customer came in and saw her for the first time. On closer inspection, he could see that her eyes seemed almost cat-like. The pupils were not perfectly round like most folks but seemed to be vertical slits, like a cat’s eyes. As she turned her head, they even had flashes of light reflected in them like a cat’s.

“Close your mouth kid, you’re making a draft,” she said with a chuckle. Her voice was low pitched yet carried over and undertones that made his heart shiver, and tingles run up and down his spine. He had to fight down another reaction that would prove embarrassing if he allowed it to get out of control. He shook himself and turned away, his face hot with embarrassment. Now he looked around the shop and saw weapons of most sorts. Swords, daggers, knives. Another wall had blunt weapons and staves of various sizes and lengths. The back wall had a dozen different types and sizes of bows hanging on hooks. Several barrels had arrows in them. Each barrel a different length and head type. He knew he only had four arrows left in his quiver that he had left home with, so he figured he might be able to buy a few to restock.

One set of racks held new shields and bucklers. His old buckler was small and not in the best of shape. He saw one on the lower rack that was slightly larger and brand new from the look. It was of a dark wood, made from heavy slats an inch thick. Each slat was cut, fitted and smoothed to three-inches-wide. The rim was not iron by the color, maybe steel, making it much stronger than iron. It was newly crafted, it didn’t have any of the nicks and scratches a used buckler would have had. He didn’t touch it, but turned and looked at the woman and asked, “How much,” he gestured at the buckler.

The woman glanced at what he was referring to. “The little one goes for ten plat royals.” She saw his face fall and knew she had lost that sale. “The wood and leather bucklers go for much less.” She pointed at the other rack to the left. It had wood-rimmed leather shields. These, being lighter, were much cheaper. They also would not last long under rough conditions.

Andrew studied the shields, not happy at the cost or durability. He walked over to the barrels of arrows and searched for the type his hunting bow could safely use. He found the length and the tip he needed and pulled out a dozen. He held them up and looked at the redhead. She had continued to watch him closely. “Those are one gold royal per dozen.” She saw his relief at that pronouncement.

He went to the counter and pulled out the coin pouch that had his coins and pulled out a single gold royal. She accepted it then asked, “So kid, where are you headed?” She eyed him up and down, her eyes almost seemed to dig into his soul, he felt a shiver run up his spine from the searching looks. Worse, they almost seemed to have a faint green glow tinting them from within, from the reflected light. He looked away and forced his mind to ignore the effects she was having on him.

Andrew didn’t answer right away. Too many eyes and ears that didn’t need to know his destination. “Just heading west for some mountain hunting.” He slid the arrows into his quiver and re-seated it on his back, over his left shoulder.

“Well,” she snorted, “I can tell you that the arrows you just bought are for the smaller game only. Up in those hills, you will not be finding smaller game animals, “ she said. She leaned on the counter, giving him a show of her endowments and that just went to fluster him all the more.

“I never said what I was hunting now, did I,” he replied, struggling to meeting her gaze, while fighting the sexual urges his body kept sending him.

She could see he wasn’t going to give her a straight answer and let the matter drop. Her eyes lit when she spotted the pommel of Bloodrend and asked what kind of sword he used. “That pommel looks familiar. What is it, and who made it,” she asked, her voice taking on a tone that bore into his mind, causing even more blood to rush south. He fought it and won for the moment.

He figured answering this question was fairly safe. He swallowed and continued fighting the effect she was having on him, he answered her. “It is a one-handed medium long sword. Very sharp and very well balanced. As too who made it, I have no idea. It has been with my family for generations.”

“May I see it, please,” she asked hopefully. She wanted to see the pommel more closely than the blade itself. She had seen drawings and heard stories handed down within her family. This pommel looked like one of the drawings she had studied during her training as a weapons smith.

Andrew looked around the shop, nobody seemed to be taking an undue interest in him so he drew it and carefully laid Bloodrend on the counter. He did not remove his hand from the pommel.

“May I see the pommel, I am more interested in that than the blade,” she asked, her eyes wide with excitement. If this was the sword from her family stories, this would be a major find in clearing up a few family mysteries.

Andrew moved his hand down to the gem just above the blade, keeping contact at all times. “Bloodrend, she may wish to touch you, can she do so safely?” Andrew asked the sword.

“So long as you remain in contact and allow it, then she may touch me,” It replied in his mind. Andrew thought he heard what sounded like real concern in its voice. “She is odd Master, different.”

“Miss, you can touch the weapon so long as I remain holding it and allow it,” he informed her. Her look told him she thought he was being overly protective. “Miss, if you tried to hold this weapon without my consent and protection, you would be dead in seconds.”

“Why? Is it enchanted in some manner?” she asked, her excitement visibly growing.

Andrew wasn’t sure if he could reveal a secret like this to a stranger. “Master, you can tell her everything, it can’t do any harm now,” said the sword. “Her ancestors came from elsewhere as well. She is a remnant of a race not of this world.”

“Very well,” he thought back to it. “This sword is called Bloodrend. It is a relic from another age and world. When it was constructed, a living soul was incorporated into it to give it the power it has. This weapon is alive and is made to destroy what it calls the undead.”

He could see she wasn’t convinced by the look in her eyes. “Yes, I know, it’s hard to believe, but it has shown me some of its past. It was not pleasant viewing if you value peaceful sleep.” He sighed, “Go ahead, place your hand on the pommel, but not the blade. I don’t want to have to explain why you suddenly dropped dead from having all the blood sucked from your body.”

Now she was very skeptical. “How can a sword suck the blood out of a living person?” she wanted to know.

“From how he explained it, yes, it is a he, he was made to kill beings that fed on living blood. It would destroy them in the same manner that it killed its victims.” Andrew pulled Bloodrend away from the counter and put him away. He couldn’t chance her being killed by the sword, even by accident.

“Hey, I didn’t get...” she started to protest, her green eyes suddenly blazing in anger.

Andrew stopped her before she could protest further with a raised hand. “And I’m not taking a chance with your life on a bad guess on your part,” he retorted. His anger had finally overridden the effect of pure lust she seemed to project at him. He figured she knew what she did and used it to get her way from unsuspecting men and woman around her.

“I wasn’t going...” she tried to explain.

He stopped her protestations again, this time with a hard look, “I said no, and that is final. I will not take the chance on human stupidity. I can see you don’t believe me and you wanted to prove me wrong. I will not allow you to commit suicide to try to prove me wrong.” Andrew turned to leave the store, only to find the door blocked by four of the men that had been standing around. Andrew looked at them in disbelief. “Oh you have got to be kidding me,” he snarled. The apparent leader of the group grinned at him. He set his feet in a guard position, hand on sword, ready to draw and swing in a few seconds should the need arise, and feared it would.

“Hand the sword over kid. Also, any coin you have will be welcome,” said one of the men. “The sword will go in the collection of our employer and you in the sewers to rot if you don’t hand it over.”

Andrew was no longer in a good mood. Events of the last few days had pushed him to the limit of his patience and he wasn’t in the mood to deal peaceably with fools and idiots. “I guess I’ll have to prove my point, won’t I,” he said to the room in general.

“No point to prove kid, now hand it over and be on your way,” said another of the men. The men had all drawn short swords now and seemed ready to attack.

Andrew glanced back at the woman behind the counter. She saw his glance and shook her head no. “No,” Andrew thought, “She wasn’t part of this robbery attempt. They had come to rob the store, only to see what they thought was a richer target.” He glanced back at her and said, “Well lady, you may just get to see what I was warning you about.”

He pulled Bloodrend out and the sword giggled in excitement. “Oh master, these idiots just want to die so badly, don’t they?” Andrew could almost feel the sword shivering in excitement at the chance to feed.

“No Bloodrend, they are just stupid and greedy as far as human men go,” he said out loud. Andrew took one step forward and touched the tip of the blade to the chest of the nearest man before he could back away. The man gasped, his eyes going wide, his skin rapidly turning a pallid white as all his blood was quickly removed from his body. In five seconds, the body dropped to the floor and lay still. “Anybody else wanting to die today?” he asked, his voice flat and cold. They looked at the body, a sickly white that no human body should ever be and backed away. The remaining men stepped away from the door and moved around the edge of the shelves to get as far away as they could. When Andrew started to move towards them. Andrew pulled a gold coin, making sure it wasn’t a royal and tossed it to the woman, “Sorry about the mess,” he said and walked to the door and pushed it open exiting back into the street as soon as there was wide enough gap to slip through. Andrew made his way back to the market then the Rusty Shovel keeping himself on high alert in case the others tried to follow and ambush him. None did, so he figured they had decided it wasn’t worth the effort to die to try and rob him. Even though he was away from the store, he could still feel her bright green eyes on the back of his head until he was back in the southern market.