The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1) (54 page)

We continued on, it looked like it would take us most of the day to walk around the market, and there was so much to see. Jewelry, magick, weapons, and maps, even exotic animal stalls. Daron and Sian joined us as we made our way around, while Citaan and Gredel caught up with friends.

They stopped at a weapons stall next, and the men watched in amusement as the girls enthusiastically studied each piece. Cat was very taken with a sleeve that held throwing blades, while Sian examined an expanding sword with great interest. Daron laughed at her.

'Pixie, I don’t think you need that. You’ve got a sword.'

Both Kassie and Cat began to laugh as they exclaimed, 'Pixie?'

Sian ignored the girls, and gave him her best innocent eyes.

'But this one I can fit in my pocket. It’s practically an accessory.'

He gave her an exasperated look and leaned forward to bargain with the stall owner.

I exchanged a bemused glance with Kass, as Daron paid for the sword Sian wanted. She always excelled at getting men to buy things for her. Though usually it was drinks, not a weapon. I looked back at the throwing sleeve in my hands. The stall owner began to run through its attributes, again.

'Extremely durable, the sleeve is made of dragon skin and will last for eons. The edges of the blades have been touched with elendite and will cut through almost anything. And of course, the throwing blades are charmed to return.'

'Return?'

I’d been distracted by his appearance. I knew he was a goblin from the one Daron had pointed out for us before, but being so close was fascinating. He had the now familiar greenish brown skin, large slanted eyes and triangular ears. His ears had dark brown and cyan stripes and the light hair that ran down the back of his head, disappearing into his shirt, was the same.

The stall owner nodded and seized the sleeve from my hands.

'Observe.'

Alek pulled me back and everyone paused to watch the demonstration. The stall owner strapped the sleeve to his arm and you could see it wasn’t designed for goblins—the sleeve wasn’t big enough to go around his thick forearm. In a competent move, he swept the blades off the sleeve with his free hand and flicked his wrist out. The five blades flew across the market place, high above everyone’s heads, and lodged in a tree trunk. Then he raised his forearm, as though doing a bicep curl, and made a ‘pull’ motion. The sun flickered off the blades as they quivered, then jerked out of the tree and flashed back to the sleeve.

'WOW!' I gaped in astonishment and he laughed.

'Would you like to try?'

I grinned at the others in excitement as he removed the sleeve and strapped it to me. As with everything new, I didn’t exactly ace the first attempt. Instead, I managed to drop a couple of blades and almost gave Daron a good slice on the leg. Everyone laughed at the poor throw, and the stall owner ushered me behind the stall where there was a large open space.

'Why not try a couple more times at the trees over there,' he pointed across the clearing.

'Go on.' I nodded to Alek and the others. 'I’ll catch you up.'

It’s not like it took long when they were self-returning, and I had my purse of coins on me.

'I’ll take care of the price,' Alek pressed a kiss to my forehead then winked at me. 'Don’t take too long with your new toy.'

I smiled at him, chuffed; no one had ever bought me a toy like this before.

They headed off and I made a couple of small attempts and then readied myself for a full distance throw. A strong flick of the wrist saw the five blades soar across the clearing and lodge into two trees. I did my ‘happy dance’ as no one watched and raised my arm.

Three blades whizzed back to my sleeve, but the other two zipped off to the left.

'Shit,' I frowned at the sleeve. 'Better not be a dud.' I hurried in the direction they’d disappeared.

I reached the tent I thought they had hit, but couldn’t see anything, so went to slip between the tents to see if they had managed to go around.

Hope they haven’t hit anyone.

'So you’re the new bit.'

I turned to see who’d snarled that line, and was thrust backward, pinned against a tree. An angry woman a few inches taller than me had me hard against the trunk, an arm across my neck while the other pinned my arm with the sleeve.

Ten guesses who this must be, he could have mentioned she was crazy.

'Hello, Rayna,' I said coolly, while mentally crossing my fingers that I’d remembered her name right.

The brunette blinked in surprise, then curled her lip up in a sneer.

'They said you’re an Elemental. You don’t look like an Elemental, more like a cheap maid from Slemnask.' she spat the words out, the inference obvious.

My rational voice had a field day as I observed her costume. A belt for a skirt and a belt for a top.

'Pot meet kettle,' I replied in a pleasant tone.

'What’d you say?'

Sheesh, she was really working the agro stance. My fingers twitched with the urge to fry her.

Just a little.
That stupid rational voice vetoed the idea.

I sighed.

'Not to worry, it’s an Earth expression.'

'Earth?' her face changed to a cunning look.

'I was told you were fire. Ha. What can Earth do? So you’re pathetic without him, how funny.'

The finger twitch was SO strong right now. I gave a low laugh.

'Trust me
honey
, if I were Earth, you’d be six feet under right now.'

She gaped at my tone and I saw the fear flicker in her eyes as I stared back.

'What’d you say,' she attempted her macho voice, and failed.

Screw this.

I counted to ten slowly in my head. She didn’t let up her grip, but shifted, so I was pinned by my shoulders instead of my neck.

Excellent.

'Ten!'

I smiled nastily at her and slammed my head into her nose.

They felt the flush of pain radiate through Cat’s energy and froze; the three girls stared at each other.

'Where the hell is she?'

'And what’s she doing?'

There was a loud scream of pain and a tall brunette staggered out from between a couple of tents, clutching her face, as blood dripped down her arms.

'Rayna!'

Alek lunged toward the brunette, but stopped short when Cat stepped out. The angry red mark on her forehead and the red stripe across her chest said it all.

'What happened?'

'Your charming ex thought she’d try accosting me. I wasn’t in the mood.'

Cat’s face was dark.

Alek looked astonished, uncertain as to who to help, and Sian felt annoyed. She glanced at the other two and jerked her head toward Cat. They moved to her side.

'You okay?' Sian reached to Cat’s forehead and gently pressed the piece of ice she’d created to the developing bruise.

'Ouch! Yeah I’m fine, I lost a couple of blades.'

'Not to worry, we’ll—'

The brunette interrupted her.

'ALEK. Look what that horrible woman did to me.'

Everyone close flinched at the screech and looked to Alek. He glared at Rayna, furious she would spoil the girls’ first visit to the markets. It’d taken a moment for him to realize what had happened. Now that he had realized, he took great pleasure in ignoring Rayna as he turned to the girls and reached for Cat.

'She surprised me, Alek, and had me pinned. I figured a head butt was better than frying her.'

The annoyance was strong on her face and she frowned at him, appearing to expect some rebuttal.

Alek laughed. He pulled her close and took the ice from Sian’s hand, keeping it in place against her forehead.

'You were very diplomatic. Are you okay?'

'I lost two of the blades.'

Behind them Rayna shrieked louder and louder, insisting on retribution for the "attack". He ignored her.

'What do you mean lost?'

'They zoomed off around the tents, and she caught me by surprise as I was looking for them.'

Ahh. That's how she did it.
Alek removed the ice for a moment and gave Cat’s forehead a gentle kiss.

'Better?' he teased with a soft smile. He gave the ice back to Sian and turned to face Rayna.

'Where are the blades?'

The woman stopped mid shriek to stare at him.

'What?'

'The blades, Rayna, where are they? I know you pulled them around.'

Rayna scowled at him.

'She’s broken my nose. I demand justice.'

'Are you accusing an Elemental of an unprovoked attack? Because if you are, I will summon the Sorceress here to play the reflection for all to see.'

She flushed red and glared at him. There was a long silence as he stared back unmoved.

'How could you do this to me?'

As anger hadn’t worked she tried tears, and burst into loud sobs. No one watching budged, most had witnessed her antics before.

'Now, Rayna. Hand them over.'

He didn’t want to waste anymore time on this.

Rayna stopped sobbing and glared at him, then ripped the two blades out of a pocket and hurled them to the ground before marching off, flinging insults over a shoulder. Those watching began to laugh at the retreating woman, and Alek stooped to grab the blades.

He grinned at Cat. 'Here you go.' And snapped them onto the sleeve. She gave a pleased smile while she admired the sleeve again and then took his hand.

We moved off to look at other stalls, and everyone ignored the minor incident. The ice Sian had given me helped, and the original headache was now a minor throb. I was very relieved the day hadn’t been ruined. Loi and Sabyn had decided to walk with us again, and we headed toward stalls with exotic animals. We froze at one, mesmerized by a large red bird in an ornate cage.

'Is that a Phoenix?'

It looked like it was molting. We stood closer for a better look and jumped in surprise when it squawked at us. It didn’t sound as pretty as it looked.

'Yes,' replied Alek. 'But they’re not a great idea for a pet. You have to keep them away from anything flammable and they make a huge mess of ashes when they do regenerate.'

'And the smell is awful.' Rumal watched the bird, his arms around Kassie. 'It’ll stink the room out for months.'

'I thought that as one of the symbols on your shield, they’d be a favorite?'

I looked at Alek. He shrugged.

'I like them well enough in the wild, but some creatures aren’t meant to be pets.'

We continued around the stalls while the men discreetly pointed out other creatures.