Bond Breakers

Search in Darkness

It turned out that Tia, Khumo and Kaijan were willing to help. Even more so because she had stood up for them. Merran suggested they divide the rows of the Festiva between them to search for the Vendor. While answers might have been more important to Kaijan, it wasn't any less of a concern for her. The Gift-stones were powerful, and in the hands of aggrieved Sulphites or even brave Aradian's... Merran didn't even let the thought enter her mind.

While the islands co-existed in peace. There were fanatics like Shakur who, it was plain to see hadn't let go of the past. Then there was Siva, Aradian's didn't forget what the Sulphites had done to them, what the cost was. And if a leader of one of Aradia's pivotal cities still thought like that, she imagined there were others that shared his views, that would enjoy using the Sulphite's weapon against them.

She went over the thoughts in her mind while she stepped down the row furthest from Disc's. Tia had set off down the middle and Khumo and Kaijan had eventually ventured towards the one on the right, after offering to take the one she now crept through.

Glancing around nervously, she now understood why their offer had sounded more like an order. The last row had been crudely carved into the rocky crevice; the sharp-edged cliffs blocking out most of the flickering moonlight and turning the row into creeping shadows that appeared to move of their own volition.

Vendors shouted out their wares around her, but where the other rows were well lit and crowded, there was hardly any clients here, and most of them stuck to the shadows, scuttling around in the fog filled passage like they didn't want to be seen.

"You want a taste of pleasure?"

Merran sidestepped the vendor and didn't bother replying. She knew if she said anything to one, the rest would descend on her like vultures. And she didn't need that. Not when the vendors here were showing enough flesh to make her uncomfortable. She didn't think it had anything to do with the nakedness, it was the way they moved, it was sexual and predatory. She hurried on, passing stores hidden in the nooks and crannies of the cliff, lit with glowing orbs of striking colours. She picked out jewellery with flecks of Gift-stones in them. It wouldn't be potent, but those fragments could cause unimaginable damage. There was a contortionist under a red shade, her limbs twisted in horrific ways, chains piercing her body in ways that made her look like a human marionette. A store that advertised the sale of Forcian body parts, jarred eyes, ears, and teeth sitting creepily under a green shade while a woman shouted out the benefits of each.

There was no sign of the vendor she was searching for. She was nearing the end of the row when a short woman appeared out of the swirls of fog blocking her path. Sulphite, it was her first thought. Fear calling aged rivalries. The old prejudice was gone. Mostly. Aradian's live among Sulphites, sharing everything equally, Erya ruled a free and equal society. However, something told Merran that this dark alleyway did not commission that same outlook. This row was separate, it was its own little slice of paradise — or hell, it depended on your preference. In her case it repulsed her, not the acts, not the hunger that drove these performers, or the crazed look in their eyes, but how they were often forced into it, having no choice but to let others use and abuse their bodies.

But it would never stop. Not when there was a market for it. When people tiptoed into this row and paid for the guilty pleasure, the dangerous weapons, or the remnants of the great beasts.

"You doesn't belong here."

The broken Aradian wasn't remotely funny. Not with the slitted snake-like eyes and waxy skin that was aged like ancient paper.

"I was just passing through,' Merran managed to keep her voice steady.

Old Snake-eyes clicked her fingers and two red skinned bare-barrelled chested men appeared out of the fog. "I think not little pretty, you do good in one of my rooms."