Dance of the Gods

The next day began smoothly. Veronica got ready in the morning and had breakfast with everyone.

After they ate their fill, Veronica helped with the cleaning and washing of dishes. Then she looked at her watch, it was only fifteen past seven so there was a bit of time before the residents wake and order breakfast.

She was about to sit down and read a bit, when Sofie approached her.

"Don't sit, we have to get a few things from the market." She leaned in a bit closer and spoke in a whisper. "Also, I will show you the black market too."

With a dejected sigh she stood back up, but it was all a pretense. Inside she was feeling very excited.

'Hell Yes! I will finally get to see the black market!... Wonder what interesting items are being sold at a place like that. Will it be full of criminals, or maybe its just a name that got stuck to it?'

With a lot of curiosity, she and Sofie made their way to the carriage stop. There they stood with the rest of the people and waited for the public carriage.

It was a tuesday morning, but there were a lot more people, than the last time they went to the market. As Veronica looked at each of the passengers she also noticed something else... All of them seemed really unhappy.

Some even had boards on them, with writings that from her angle were impossible to read. Veronica looked up and saw Sofie looking around curiously as well.

'So she has no idea what this is either. Which means I can't ask her... Amazing...'

She could've also asked one of the sign carriers, but the carriage was already approaching... And they all looked really unfriendly.

Sofie and Veronica went onto the nearly full carriage. They couldn't even sit because of how many people were on. Most of them also carried signs, some were quiet dirty too, which meant they came from either near or from the Dirt District.

The carriage went on a bit more slowly, because of the high number of passengers. Luckily the suffocating atmosphere only lasted for about ten minutes. When the carriage neared the Court District, nearly everyone got off of it.

Veronica and Sofie quickly sat down and stared speechlessly outside. There were a lot of people, multiple dozens. They were all protesting in front of the Courthouse.

'So this was the protest that James talked about... Not as many as I thought, but I have a feeling that their number will grow exponentially...'

They were all shouting things like 'Higher Wages!' or 'Less Hours of Work!' and also 'Better Healthcare!' They didn't say anything that out of the ordinary, but their signs were a bit more threatening.

One of them read – 'More Pay or Less Factories!' it also depicted a burning factory building below it. Another one showed a bunch of beheaded people with the line – 'Death to the Aristocrats!' The person who held that sign got quickly taken away by the police.

Strangely enough they only intervened when a sign or shout was a straight threat. If it was up to interpretation they didn't do anything. Some even looked compassionate towards the protesters.

While staring at the police Sofie bumped her shoulder, then pointed towards something outside. Veronica looked and saw two people in civilian clothes standing near the protesters. She looked at Sofie with a questioning look, in response she leaned in and whispered in her ear.

"Those two are part of the Lawbringers." Was all she said. As the carriage moved on she caught a glimpse of the two individuals again. She didn't see anything particular, but as she touched her watch a bit of wariness passed over her.

When they were a bit farther away, Veronica got comfortable enough to ask Sofie a few questions.

"Who are the Lawbringers?" Sofie looked at her a bit strangely for a moment, then realized that Suze hadn't taught her about them yet.

"You should probably ask my mother for more details. It's not the best to talk about the supernatural stuff in public." She was about to turn away, but when Sofie saw Veronica's sad expression she continued.

"Okay, fine I tell you, just don't make that weird sad face... *sigh* The Lawbringers are much like the Unbroken, except they have a much bigger foothold within the Free Cities. They control most of the Mediator path, they also know the rituals and ingredients for a few others."

Veronica smiled at her appreciatively, which made Sofie turn away with a small blush. It was quiet funny how bad she was at socializing.

The rest of the journey was spent in silence. When they got to the market, Veronica stopped to bask in its cozy magnificence again. There were fewer people than the last time, but it was still packed.

They fought their way through the other customers and sellers, quickly gathering everything from the normal market. Every now and then Veronica checked her watch and giggled a bit... It was great to have a sense of time again.

It was already past 9 am when they finally gathered everything. Which meant it was time to go and see the black market!

With Sofie in the lead they approached a pretty badly maintained building. Above the door a sign read – Black and White Tavern.

As they went towards the entrance Veronica whispered to Sofie, "A bit on the nose with the name." Next to her Sofie hid her face and made a small giggling sound, it was very cute, but sadly quiet hard to achieve... She rarely ever laughed.

Sofie didn't deign to answer her remark and just opened the run down door. The inside wasn't much better, than the outside. The room was kind of small, it held a bar where multiple people were pretended to be drinking.

One look from Veronica and she could tell that these were actually the bouncers of the black market. Sofie approached the barkeep, then said to him, "Mix black and white and you get gray, the ugliest color."

The man nodded at her and pressed a button under the counter. On the far wall a secret passage opened, revealing a staircase leading down. Without saying anything Sofie marched on ahead and a bit reluctantly Veronica followed.

As they went down Veronica was curious, "What's wrong with the color gray?"

Without looking back Sofie answered, "It is the mediator paths color. And who has full control over that path?"

The question was rhetorical and the answer obvious. The secret phrase was a spit in the face of the Lawbringers, the biggest secret organization inside the borders of the Free Cities.

They continued going down into the basement. It was quite a long staircase, it took even more time to arrive downstairs then in the Miles Inn. But it all made sense once she saw the size of the place.

It was gigantic to say the least. The roof was about twenty or so meters above her and the rest of the room went on for probably hundred. Large pillars kept the place from caving in, but all of them had some weird carvings on them. She immediately recognized the language as ancient rener, which meant that there was some magic involved too.

The ground was covered by a bunch of wooden booths, with displays holding strange looking items. As Sofie lead the way, Veronica stared at everything with interest.

There seemed to be no order of what could or couldn't be sold. One person had multiple different revolvers on display, each more beautifully made than the rest. Another was selling some strange green and turquoise dust, which Veronica quickly realized was highly explosive.

'This place is very dangerous... No wonder its called a black market, all of this should be illegal!... Well, they probably are... But people shouldn't be able to sell them so openly!'

They went around the place collecting a few materials. Veronica was appalled, when she saw how much the small ritual ingredients' cost was.

Dusk Flower, 1 gelt per flower... Nightly Lily Root, 5 eura per gram... Burned Oak Seed, 3 eura per seed... The prices were outrageous and they had to buy dozens of each.

As they walked around and spent horrible amounts of money, Sofie showed which quarter contained what kind of items.

The black market was made up of four main parts. One held mundane weaponry, another held ascended materials, the next ascended items and the last ascended main ingredients.

They went through each store, but neither the Choking Vine Body or the Roaming Pointer Fin were sold. It seemed she had to wait with her ascension a bit longer.

When they had gathered everything, it was time to leave. But as they approached the staircase a familiar drunk person bumped into them.

Drunk McLean muttered an apology, then was about to move on, when he noticed Veronica. The same smile he showed before came out again and it was as disgusting as the last time.

In a deep rasping voice he said, "The world rumbles and crumbles in its wake..." Suddenly his expression changed, when McLean looked at Veronica he became confused.

"What did you do?! Its Gone! Where did it go?! Why aren't you there?... What made you disappear?... All my hard work! Just for you to become invisible?!" He was shouting, which made everyone stare at the three of them.

With a quick move Sofie began dragging Veronica away. Behind them the old drunkard was still shouting his nonsense.

As they moved up the stairs Veronica felt a small buzz in her pocket. She took out her watch and stared at it. Suddenly it buzzed again. A bit reluctantly she opened it and looked at the watch face.

On it was a simple sentence written – 'Divination attempts 1. Status: Secure. Attempt made by: Drunk McLean.'

The message was short and simple, but held more meaning then she was prepared for.

'I was right! This rose watch did have other purposes!... It can tell if someone is trying to make divinations about me, as well as block them... What a very convenient and beautiful trinket you are!'

Without another word Sofie and Veronica left the market, then got on a carriage and went home.