Chapter 1-3

Tereton, by Leonas’s estimation, was a city built by people who had never actually been to a city. As a result it had most of the amenities of a big city, and a laughable pretense at a nightlife, but things seemed just a bit off. For one thing the buildings were rather randomly scattered, like tossed dice – houses next to bars next to bookstores.

Leonas had once seen a play in Tereton. The actors went through their lines mechanically, the only emotion being shown by the leads, even then transparently fake and melodramatic. It reminded him of the population of Tereton itself – a bunch of yokels playing at being city folk, and not putting much work into it too.

Hence the city was a halfway measure – brick buildings a few stories high, cobblestone roads that were missing every fourth stone, small crowds wearing the fashion of two years ago. Even the weather got into it today, with light and indecisive clouds

None of this stopped them from doing business there. It was the biggest city in the south Dutchies, after all. Not to mention it had the best appraiser they knew.

“Anj, we just got into Tereton!” Leonas called back into their caravan. Anjanette only responded by tossing an empty ration carton at him and rolling over to continue her nap.

Leonas grumbled and barely managed to maneuver the horses around a group of children playing soccer in the street. He planned on making a short stop in Tereton to sell their stuff, pick up some more goods, and spend a night drinking while futilely hitting on guys. Anjanette would argue, as she usually did, that they should spend some more time in the city. They had the argument many times before, and it almost always resulted in a compromise and spending a few more days there, but they kept doing it for ritual’s sake.

The horses knew these streets by heart, and automatically made their way to Gaviel’s pawn shop. Gaviel was a shifty man, but smart enough to know not to bullshit the two of them. He was great at appraising the value of whatever random trinkets Leonas and Anjanette got, and occasionally buying them for the shop. Leonas had to struggle to think of a time when he didn’t have a smile on his face, always laughing and joking in some sort of offputting way.

He was also quite dead.

“Dead?” Leonas asked.

“Dead,” said the other man, apparently the property owner. He was an officious type who seemed entirely uncomfortable with the store. “Drug overdose. Just a few days ago.”

“I didn’t know he even did drugs,” muttered Anjanette. She looked slightly mournfully at the pawn shop’s boarded-up windows. The pawn shop was one of the only building in Tereton that had the class to be run-down. White paint peeled from the walls, at least one window was usually smashed in, and the small building hid behind a lawn of pale yellow grass. A wooden sign that had once read “GAVIEL’S ONCE-USED TREASURES” but was now a random assortment of paint scraps and letter

“Well, he didn’t exactly go around advertising it,” the owner grumbled. “But hey, we’re having a clearance sale of you want anything.” Putting on his best salesman face, the property owner gestured at the entire inventory of the pawn shop sitting out on the lawn, presided over by a board-looking clerk. Clothes, jewlery, books and magical trinkets were piled up on the lawn haphazardly, with discounted tags slapped onto them. A few bargain hunters milled around listlessly. Most of the stuff was crap, and they knew it.

Leonas shook his head. “Sorry, not interested.”

“Now we have to find someone to appraise this thing,” said Anjanette, pulling out the book John had gave them. She drooled at the thought of some eccentric aristocrat handing over a mountain of gold. “I know jack shit about books, so we need to find out exactly how much we can screw people out of.”

There are times when life seems to take a turn for the unconvincing. When all the tiny gears click into place for just a second, and some astonishing but absolutely vital, life-changing coincidence happens. Call it fate, call it luck, call it a sloppy god. But it happens.

It was one of those precise moments when a pile of books crashed into Anjanette, knocking her down in a storm of paper and hardbacks. “Sorry!” the books said quietly.

Growling, Anjanette pulled a treatise on the history of Draconism off her face. It turns out that the books were not in fact walking and speaking, instead being carried by a small mousy girl. She was huddled into a small and unassuming form, seeming to lean into herself in every direction. Her black hair was twisted into a braid that hung down to her shoulders, making a frightening contrast against her pale skin. The girl wore a hideous robe that might have been fashioned by someone’s embarassing grandmother two centuries ago.

“Watch where you’re going,” Anjanette said, pushing a few more novels off of her.

“S-sorry,” the girl said “Here, I’ll help you up...” She picked a few of the books off Anjanette, grabbing the Ancient book along with them. Pausing in confusion, she opened the book, gaping at it in wonder.

“Hey, give that back,” Anjanette said.

The girl looked up, cheeks crimsom. “Um... is this an Ancient book?”

“Yeah. It’s kind of valuable, so could you please give it back?” Anjanette tensed, reaching for her blade.

The girl ignored Anjanette’s threat, staring at the book as though it were a handsome celebrity. “I’ve never seen a book this old before... hey, please, will you just let me take a look at it? Uh, if you don’t mind, of course. Um... I have a translation book at my inn room. Maybe I could tell you what the book’s about. If that’s okay with you.”

“Give it back.” Anjanette was ready to fight if she needed to. She could certainly take this shrinking violet.

Leonas stepped between the two. The last thing they wanted was a fight in the middle of a market. “We don’t really care what it says, we just want to sell it.”

“But it could be, um, important,” protested the girl. Her eyes gleamed with curiosity. “I mean, if it’s a really important book... you could sell it for more. Yeah. I won’t charge you money or anything. If that’s what you’re worried about.”

Anjanette’s vision turned gold. “Well, why didn’t you say so sooner?”

“Hold on,” said Leonas. “Why are you asking to do this for us? What do you have to gain?”

“Uh.. it’s out of the goodness of my heart?” she offered.

Leonas drew a dagger. “Give it back.”

“Okay, I’m just... curious. Um, I’ve never seen an ancient book before, you know, and I really want to take a look at it, if that’s okay with you,” She looked at Leonas and Anjanette with the eyes of a kicked puppy begging for mercy.

“All right, we’ll let you translate the book if you let me carry it,” said Leonas with a sigh. The girl immediately obliged. “Who are you, by the way?”

“My name is Milly. Er, I collect books... my mom calls me a battle librarian, but that sounds kind of silly, but um, I guess that’s the closest thing I have to a title.”

Anjanette raised an eyebrow. “Who cares about a title? I’m Anjanette, and this is Leonas. Merchants. Pleased to meet you, Milly.”

Milly blushed and slouched over again.

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