The quartet marched back into the village in high spirits, Ash was having fun with Mildred much to the distain of Alastair and Nina, he was holding his arms out in front fingers touching and the spider was running in circles around his arms and shoulders, sometimes disappearing up one sleeve and appearing from another.

  ‘That’s disturbing’ Said Alastair

  ‘Oh come one uncle Allie, Millie just wants to stretch her legs, she does have eight so there’s extra stretching’

  ‘Please don’t call me Allie’ said Alastair

  ‘Wait till you see this new one’ Ash said holding his arms infront outstretched, Mildred ran out onto one arm and shot a line of thread across to the other hand jumped and swung under the hand, around and over landing on the other hand’

  ‘Good job Millie’ Ash said

  ‘Great were a travelling circus now’ Nina said

  ‘So what’s the plan now?’ Said Lilith ‘crush our enemies? drive them before us, hear the lamentations of their women?

  ‘I’m kind of hungry to be fair’ said Ash ‘ Also how do you know Conan’

  ‘Well I was in your head and whilst that place is a mess you sure love action films’ said Lilith

  ‘What are action films?’ Asked Alastair

  ‘They’re like plays but the play out on a screen’

  ‘Ahh shadow puppets, I’ve seen those’ Alastair said

  ‘Not quite, but I don’t really know how to explain it better’ said Ash

  ‘I can show you’ said Lilith ‘ You just have to let me in your head’

  ‘No, definitely not, you were in Ash’s head and I’m not sure what is Ash and what is damage you have done.’ He said

  ‘Hey, I don’t have brain damage, I mean yes I’ve been hit a lot in the head recently and lost consciousness’ Ash looked thoughtfully and not for the first time questioned his sanity. ‘anyway, my brain is fine, this place is a lot to take in is all’

  ‘Nina, do you mind taking me to the markets I want to see what I can get for our loot, don’t worry it’ll be split four ways’

  ‘Why four ways?’ Asked Alastair suddenly taking in the conversation after looking at the gilded dagger at his side

  ‘Me, you, Nina and Lilith’ said Ash pointing in turn

  ‘Lilith isn’t a part of our group, shes a demon that has hijacked a body and for some reason you are allowing to tag along’ Alastair said

  ‘Well she killed goblins and spiders, im sure that if she wasn’t there id be dead by now and I can say the same for all of you, besides its my looting power and I say we all get a fair share’

  ‘And who put you in charge?’ Alastair said

  ‘Nobody, its just we are using my power to loot and I think we all get a fair share’ replied Ash

  ‘Consort with demons if you want, ive got my own business to be getting on with’ his hand unconsciously went to the golden dagger.

  Mildred appeared from a portal on Ash’s shoulder and stood in her threatening pose, limbs outstretched and fangs bared.

  Alastair turned and left.

  The TOOL system flashed up in the corner.

  Companion Alastair Selmy has left the party

  ‘Was it me or did that come out of nowhere?’ said Ash

  ‘It was rather odd’ said Nina ‘ Best to give him some time to himself, this way to the markets’ Nina gestured the way whilst thoughtfully looking back as Alastair stormed off through the crowd.

  The three made their way to a market which consisted of a square with stalls selling various goods from food to cores.

  ‘Don’t take your core to the stores they are only low level, save it for the established shops that make up the square.

  Ash immediately made his way from stall to stall looking at the various foods, drinks and oddities available. Lilith had followed Ash around until they came to a stall selling alcoholic concoctions and he lost Nina to a book stall fronting the store behind it.

  Ash made his way over to a stall selling cores and quizzed the merchant over the array of cores available, it amazed him that a couple of weeks ago he’d jump at the chance of having magic powers but now turned his nose up at the various common cores, a rat core, a water core, a light core etc.

  He remembered what Nina said about the higher grade cores being in the actual building, he made his way over to look in the window while munching down the rest of his chicken sandy witch.

  The store displayed a vast array of cores of every colour, size and shape, Ash entered the shop to the ring of a bell above the door.

  A little squat man made his way round a table holding boxes which the cores were contained in, they looked like speciality baubles individually housed and Ash thought to himself how expensive it would be to decorate a Christmas tree with the magical orbs.

  ‘How can I help you sir’ said the dwarf.

  ‘Sorry, please call me Ash, I have a core to sell’ he smiled

  ‘Very well set it on the counter and we’ll have a look then’ he said climbing what must’ve been a set of steps on the other side of the desk.

  Ash withdrew the orb from his inventory and lay it gently on the cushion laid across the table.

  ‘Ahh got yourself a rare shadow core I see, mighty handy the storage power is, I got something similar from a runic core’

  ‘I did, howd you know?’ Ash asked

  ‘Pays to know what you can expect from cores if your are going to sell them although nothings guaranteed of course’ he pointed to a sign artfully painted that read ‘We guarantee quality cores not powers’

  The dwarf muttered as he turned over the core in his gloved hands, he put on a pair of spectacles with various interchangeable lenses.

  ‘Well, it’s a spider core, for a common we’d give 5 silver pieces, not too many people are fans of spiders’ he said bringing down another lends ‘uncommon id give you 20 silvers’

  He brought down another lens ‘ Boy where did you get this?’ he said almost dropping the core.

  ‘I looted it from a spider, an Ashen Matriarch I think’ Ash looked up trying to recall.

  ‘Boy you are telling me you took down an Ashen Matriarch spider?’

  ‘Well it was a joint effort’ Ash said, ‘Whats it worth?’

  ‘Its of epic rarity, I don’t carry that kind of coin I’m afraid’ the Dwarf said

  ‘What about a trade?’ asked Ash

  ‘Well Mr Ash was it, what are you in the market for?’ he smiled ‘And the name is Shorn Hammersfall’

  After a half hour of perusing the wares he left the shop one rare core lighter but had gained a number in return.

  He brought up his map on the TOOL system and soon ran into Nina who was in the middle of purchasing a tome of ritualistic magic, he listened to her haggle the merchant down a few coppers before striking a deal,

  The merchant was of the saurian race, his scales glistening a vibrant green and purple in the day light, he spoke with a Mediterranean accent and a slight lisp due to his snake like tongue.

  ‘You are a hard one to barter with my lady, and they call me cold blooded’ he curled his cheeks in what could pass for a smile.

  ‘Don’t be silly Estrin, if you have any further books of interest please keep them back for me.

  ‘Of course Madam Nina, I always keep the best back for you’

  ‘Can I help you sir?’ asked the serpentine man realising that Ash was staring at him.

  Ash didn’t respond, Nina thumped him in the back with her newly bought book.

  ‘This is my friend Ash, Ash this is Estrin, if you need anything book related you speak to him.’

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  ‘You do me too much a kindness Nina, I am but a humble book peddler’ he said

  ‘Ha, I don’t think id ever call you humble’ said Nina ‘You are a prancing peacock if there ever was one’

  ‘I could go for some peacock right now, have you tried the sandy witch from the stall over the market?’ Estrin said. He looked down at Ash ‘Doesn’t talk much does he?’

  ‘Are you joking I can’t shut his mouth normally’ She said.

  ‘I’m guessing I’m his first Saurian, we are fairly rare in this part of the world, my kind prefer the deserts or swamps dependant on the clan.

  ‘I’m sorry for staring, and you do have magnificent colouring as my companion said’ said Ash

  Ash offered out his hand and the reptilian man took his wrist in a strong shake. After a while of talking they made their was back through the market and Ash opened up his portal to his storage space and pulled out an orb that was still yet was spinning inside.

  ‘I bought this for you’ said Ash ‘To say thank you for all your help so far’

  Item: Air Core – rare

  Core containing the power of Air

  ‘You cant just give this to me, do you know what its worth’ She said

  ‘I know its worth less than the times you have saved my life so I consider it a good trade off’ he smiled

  ‘Well this is awkward because I was getting this tome for you, I know that you lack an understanding of how magic is utilised in our world so I thought a primer would be a good place to start.

  Item: Primer of ritualistic magic Vol 1

  A volume explaining the basics of ritualistic magic and its uses

  Would you like to absorb the Volume?

  Yes/No

  Ash mentally chose yes and the knowledge in the book was drawn directly into his brain, like a years’ worth of science classes rolled into one moment.

  ‘Woah’ Said Ash ‘ I know kung fu’

  ‘What’s kung fu’

  ‘It doesn’t matter, I just got a copy of the book but its like its in my head, it happened before with a book that let me learn the language you all talk’

  ‘Is that why you don’t make sense a lot of the time’ she said

  ‘I think that might just be me’ Laughed Ash

  ‘Now having the knowledge is great in theory but were going to have to train you to put that knowledge into practice’

  ‘I get that, its like all the drills Alastair had me running while he was teaching me how to fight, It felt so awkward but after a while the way I was moving made sense.

  ‘Have you heard from Alastair at all?’ Nina asked

  ‘No he’s not within my TOOL systems range, its going to get dark soon so we should meet him back at the inn.

  Alastair had stormed all the way to the keep and into the guards room where Samuel Barriston was sitting with his lackeys around laughing.

  He was leaning back on his chair with his feet on the table, one of the guards was playing a game with a prisoners hand where he was stabbing between the mans fingers at an increasing rate, by the state of the mans hand the game was not going well.

  ‘I told you Stanley, if you don’t hold still ill miss ‘said the guard to the raucous laughter of the others.

  The door burst open and Alastair was standing his silhouette in the door way.

  ‘Alastair, im surprised to see you back so soon’ Barriston said

  ‘Or at all’ He retorted

  ‘Why what ever can you mean’ Barriston said

  ‘Two missions I have been sent on, the first I was knocked unconscious and ended up in a goblin lair, the second I go back to the goblin lair only to be set upon at night by bandits who seemed to know where we were and practically hand delivered to the goblins in that same lair.

  ‘It does seem like you have some misfortune boy, maybe you should save some time and just join the goblins’

  The men all laughed.

  ‘The thing is the mission was successful at the cost of Sallow and Dankworth.’

  ‘Well not the greatest of losses anyway’

  ‘It’s a shame I made it back aswell I guess’ Said Alastair

  ‘Careful boy, have you got some kind of point to make?’

  ‘Just the point of the dagger that you keep holding to my back’ Alastair accused

  ‘Well accusing me of setting you up to die?, cant accept your own ineptitude. And do you have any proof of this spurious claim.

  ‘As a matter of fact I do’ he said pushing the prisoner to one side gripped the arm of the guard and plunging down the gilded dagger through the back of his hand pinning him to the table.

  The man screamed and tried to pull the dagger for his bloodied hand.

  ‘Shut your snivelling mouth’ said Barriston

  The guard reduced his cries to mere whimpers, Barriston stood up and made his way around the table pulling the dagger from the table with a yelp from his subordinate.

  ‘And what pray tell is this’

  ‘I thought you’d remember it seeing as it was a gift from Lord Renwick to you, I found it on one of your men’s corpses, so I was even more surprised to see one of the bandits that ambushed us wielding it before delivering us to the goblins’

  ‘Ha well its amazing you took this long to figure it out, what a dolt you are. I don’t mind telling you I don’t care for you or your pathetic family, you are a stain on my boot best wiped off at the door and I have the backing of Lord Renwick’ Barristan sneered, walking next to Alastair he suddenly struck him in the stomach as a pink/purple glow emanated from his fist, his power pulsing from his clenched fist.

  Alastair was doubled over, in agony as Barristons power fired off every pain receptor in his body. The agony pulsing over him wave after wave.

  ‘Boys, I do believe that young Alastair Selmy here just assaulted a guard of the peace, toss him in the cells’

  Barristan smiled an evil cruel smile showing off his yellowed teeth, breathing next to Alastair’s ear.

  ‘This has been a long time coming boy, you should’ve gotten the message when they took your daddy’s head’

  Alastair struggled but power dampening cuffs had already been placed on him, he was hoisted to his feet and after having his belongings stripped from him he was thrown into a cell.

  ‘Need a hand up lad?’ came a voice

  Alastair looked up into the kindly innkeepers face. ‘Burt?, what are you doing in here?’

  ‘Turns out the Lord did like how popular the inn had become and upped my ‘contribution’ to the guard, I couldn’t pay as id sent the money to my brother so I got stuck in here and given a beating for having ideas above my station’ said Burt glumly

  ‘I’m sorry Burt, are you ok otherwise?’ Alastair asked

  ‘Aye ill live, these puppies bark’s worse than their bite and you don’t own a tavern without having taken a lump or two’ Burt offered a smile.

  The two sat in the cell contemplating their situation in relative silence.

  ‘Right boys, clocking off time’ announced Barristan ‘How about we pay our favourite drinking establishment a visit and from what I hear’ He looked through the bars at Burt ‘There are a few new items on the menu’ He grinned

  ‘Wouldn’t want young Rosie and Elodie coming to any harm sir, not while dearest Daddy is otherwise occupied’ said one of the rank and file

  ‘Oh we’ll be sure to keep them in good company’

  Burt ran against the bars bashing his restraints against the bars.

  ‘You bastards, if you touch so much as one hair on their head’ Burt was stopped, Barristons Pain power pulsing over him.

  ‘You’ll what?, barkeep? Speak up? tell you what, how about we bring Dear Daddy along so he can keep an eye on his girls’

  He wheeled round his men ‘bring the stockade to the inn’.