SIXTH BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES OF FANTASILIA SERIES
𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥. 𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴.
Xanthiene Vivenca has to find allies and legendary objects of po...
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A little more and soon, they're the ones in front of the booth made from the same material used for the walls. There were two uniformed men inside. Xanthy, using the trick June taught her, peered at their trails. Huh. Pixies. How in Umazure did they end up working at the border booths? Then again, like everything else, it wasn't her business.
Xanthy stepped aside, letting Marthiaq take the lead. "Good day, gentlemen," the brownie greeted with his brightest smile. Xanthy had to admit that Marthiaq could be smooth if he wanted to be. "Passage for four, please."
"Drop the polite act," one of the uniformed men rolled his eyes. His pixie features scrunched up against the sun as he tried peering up at Marthiaq. "Five small kalta dryde, each."
Marthiaq raised an eyebrow in mocked disbelief. "Five?" he leaned further into the booth and into the pixies' faces. "Why, yesterday, you told me it was only two."
Sweat shone on the pixie's forehead. His companion had gone quiet beside him, counting versallis by tossing those he counted into a reused can. "N-no, sir," the talking pixie shook his head and wagged a finger in Marthiaq's face. "Five each. Pay up. You're holding the line."
Marthiaq chuckled, slapping the booth's rim as he ducked out. "Of course, hate for that to happen," he shoved his hand into his satchel and rummaged around. "Just a second."
The other pixie started dropping each coin he counted into the can louder than necessary. The talking pixie was focused on Marthiaq, unblinking even against the glaring sunlight. "Any time now, sir," he said with his reedy voice. It reminded Xanthy of a wind instrument she once saw in Alkara.
Marthiaq made a show of patting the sides of his trousers where pockets usually were. He drew a pouch of coins from his belt. "Ah, there we go," he hefted the pouch. "Five kalta dryde each, coming up."
Like the numerous times before, Marthiaq slid a hand over to the collecting pixie's and deposited nothing. As if on cue, Rhys stepped to his right, blocking any view of the transaction from behind. Xanthy kept her head down.
The pixie counting the coins continued making coins clank against each other, getting louder and louder each time. Marthiaq smiled as the other pixie handed the non-existent payment to his companion. ""Welcome to Gligan," he said to Marthiaq.
Marthiaq ducked his head and gave a quick bow. "Glad to be here."
The brownie turned to Xanthy and the others with a look. They didn't need to be told twice. The spell would wear off soon and they needed to be away from the wall by the time the pixies realized they had been bamboozled by the most basic brownie trick ever.
When Xanthy first saw it upon entry to Rabante, she doubted it would work a second time but after seeing it today, she changed her mind. Marthiaq knew his skills and he had, indeed, been using it well.
Xanthy cast her eyes around the space she found herself in. She heard enough from Rhys that Gligan was a territory known for its downward slope. The rest of the city was in the center of the cauldron-like rock formation to which June couldn't help but crack a joke at. It's a city center, he had said. Get it?
