by Eric Vall
The little silver dragon nodded, split into two dragons, and fluttered out the window toward Hatra.
I knew the Crimson Dragon would probably roll her eyes at my messenger, but at least she would know we were fine. And Ruslan would send me a response since Valerra wouldn’t.
With that taken care of, I quickly polished off my plate and pushed my chair back. It was time to head to the bazaar and see how everything was going.
A ruler’s work was never done.
I strolled out into the sunshine and took my dragon form. A quick glance told me none of my party was in House Onca’s courtyard, so I leapt into the sky and flapped my wings to take me to the temple. As I flew over the city, I saw dozens of people carting their goods to the bazaar, and I smiled as I watched them easily pull their carts down the stone pathways I’d built yesterday.
A handful of Demi-Humans took notice of my shadow as I passed over, and they looked up and waved. I could hear them cry out “Lord Dragon,” and a few children shrieked and laughed as they pointed up at me.
I waved back to them as well as I could with my foreleg before I resumed my course to the temple.
It seemed the people of Tikal were getting used to their dragon guardian.
When I finally reached the center of the city, I had to land carefully at the fountain so I didn’t crush any of the people waiting to get inside the bazaar. As I shifted back to my human size, I was amazed at the growing crowd. There had to be over a hundred people already gathered to enter the temple, and they came from all the Houses. I saw lions, cheetahs, jaguars, and humans intermingling like they had always been friends, and although the sight brought a smile to my face, I started to wonder if I was going to make it through the expanding throng.
Thankfully, some people quickly took notice of me, and they gasped and murmured as they cleared a path.
“Lord Dragon,” they called and bowed to me as I passed, and I nodded to them in kind while I made my way to the temple entrance, where Nike was checking vendors in.
“Need any help?” I asked him.
“Good morning to you, too, brother.” He smirked.
“I might have slept in a little this morning,” I chuckled before I gestured around us. “But it looks like you have everything under control.”
“Yes,” he replied as he directed a vendor to a table. “I’m just making sure anyone who is selling things gets to the right area.”
“What do you mean?” I wondered.
“Well, I didn’t want them to split up by House on their own, so I put all the food people together, crops people together, and other things like that,” Nike explained and glanced over at me. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, that’s brilliant,” I agreed with a grin. “Easiest way to integrate the Houses in this situation, I think.”
“Thank you,” Nike said and lifted his chin high. “I want our mission to be successful for you, the princess, and Rahma.”
“You’re a good man, Nike.” I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I’m going to go explore a bit. Holler if you need me.”
Nike nodded and returned his attention to the line at the door.
I walked into the Palenque Temple and wandered with the crowd as they filed from table to table. The vast room had been filled with stalls and booths from wall to wall, but I stopped at the first table and saw some bison meat packages the cheetahs were selling from House Jubatus. They’d wrapped the chunks of meat in the same material that made up their loin cloths and then tied the bundles together with some kind of rope. I thought there would be flies and all kinds of insects flying around the raw meat, but surprisingly there were none, and I wondered if magic was involved.
This realm never ceased to amaze me.
As I looked away from the bison meat packages, I noticed Lady Imani strolled the area behind the table with her hands behind her. Then she caught my eye and gave me a slight nod.
“Great idea with the bison, Lord Evan,” Imani commended. “We found some emus further out than the bison too, so we will be adding some of that meat and maybe eggs soon as well. They are quite delicious when cooked.”
“That’s fantastic,” I said with a smile. “Maybe I’ll join you for an omelet.”
“A what, my lord?” Imani’s smile faltered.
“Never mind,” I chuckled and dipped my head in approval, then moved on to the next table.
Two lion Demi-Humans had smaller animals like lizards and snakes to sell. The meats were skewered and cooked then wrapped in palm leaves from House Oel, and I was glad they switched out the bejeweled wrappings for something that blended in with the rest of the goods. Even the lions looked a little less flashy than normal. Both lions wore unadorned gold robes and no shoes, the male wore no earrings or beads in his mane, and the female only wore a simple gold chain necklace instead of the typical gaudy pendants.
I continued past the empty table that I figured was for House Onca’s meat, since we’d decided to wait for the river curse to be cured before selling any meat from the jungle. The meats I’d had for breakfast had been caught and prepared days ago, so they were deemed safe enough, but any new hunting parties were put on hold until further notice. The jaguars had plenty of other fruits and wares to trade or sell for now, and once we got the water problem solved, they would be able to hunt multiple animals to sell at future bazaars.
“Welcome, Lord Dragon,” a female cheetah Demi-Human greeted me.
“Hello.” I smiled as I studied her booth.
Her table was filled with crops from House Jubatus, and they were spread out for display and tied in bundles for sale. There were small bunches of some kind of grain, some bluestem grass, and feathery herbs. The cheetahs had also bundled together several different types of flowers to sell, and the bright yellow, gold, and orange blooms smelled sweet like candy. House Jubatus would likely have more options after a couple rounds of harvesting their newly healed fields, but they’d brought a decent selection today.
“These are quite beautiful,” I told the female cheetah with a nod to the wildflowers.
“Then take some, Lord Dragon,” she said as she picked up a bundle and held them out to me.
“No, no,” I chuckled, “these are for you to sell.”
“I insist.” She shook her head and held the flowers out to me. “For the princess and your other beautiful companions. As a thank you for what you have done for all of Tikal.”
Well, when she put it like that, it would be rude to refuse the gift, right? Besides, I knew Alyona and the other women would love the colorful flowers.
“Thank you,” I told the cheetah with a smile, and I took the bundle from her hand. “This is very kind, and I’m sure the princess will greatly appreciate the gesture.”
The female Demi-Human grinned from ear to ear, and her tail waved happily behind her.
With the wildflowers in hand, I moved on to House Oel’s crops table, and the aged Wekesa was proudly gesturing to each option on the table as he spoke to the Demi-Humans in front of me.
“These are freshly picked apples and figs from our trees.” He pointed at each fruit as he flitted around his table. “And over here, we have some fresh squash and tomatoes. Oh, and here are some different herbs like thyme, sage, and mint leaves.”
The crowd of Demi-Humans nodded and murmured in awe, and then Wekesa caught sight of me in the back, so I offered him a broad grin.
“Wekesa, these look great!” I gestured to the wide array on the lion’s table.
“Thank you, Lord Evan,” Wekesa replied with a bow. “And please, tell the dryad sisters thank you again as well. We couldn’t have done this without them. Or you.”
“I will pass along your praise,” I promised. “I know the girls will love to hear it.”
Wekesa smiled but then his attention was pulled away by one of the other customers, so I walked a little further and reached House Onca’s crops. Even though the jungle climate wasn’t great for a true garden or farming area, it did work well fo
r their fruits. I saw baskets of the blue pear-shaped fruit that I’d devoured at several breakfast meals, and I also noticed some of the fruit that looked like oranges except for the purple flesh inside.
“Would you like a fruit on the house, Lord Evan?” someone asked, and I recognized the vendor as one of the jaguar Demi-Humans I’d healed in the infirmary.
“No, thank you.” I smiled. “Glad to see you’re feeling better, though.”
“I am grateful,” he answered with a reverent bow.
I waved and walked on to what appeared to be the miscellaneous section of the bazaar. Instead of several of the smaller tables, there was one long table full of blankets, clothes, tools, bowls, and many other handmade items. Demi-Humans and humans of all the Houses were standing near their individual products and hawking them to each of the citizens who walked by.
The cheetahs had used various grasses to make some kind of window covering, like big, stiff curtains, and they’d also woven the grasses into baskets. They also sold the lotion and balms made from the cottonwood resin that Chax had been so excited about, and they’d even used my plan to turn the bison skins into other products like blankets. The skins were large but surprisingly soft to the touch, and I remembered how House Oel’s buildings were made of some kind of hides. I wondered how they cured the animal skins so fast, but I stowed the question away for later as I wandered down the long table.
The jaguars of House Onca had taken bamboo from the jungle and made a large variety of items. There were some pieces of bamboo carved into tools and some made into dishes and eating utensils.
The lions didn’t have much to add on this table, which made sense since we’d spent most of the week preparing their crops and herbs, but the lions did have a large presence at the last table. They’d used their easy water access to make a bunch of drinks, from their infamous cactus juice to jugs of water, so the Demi-Humans were certainly leaving their mark on the bazaar.
I stepped over to a lion behind the table, and I watched as he mixed a drink like an old-school bartender from Earth.
“Can I get one of those things you’re mixing?” I asked, but I had to practically shout over the noise of the bazaar all around me.
“Yeah, of course!” the lion answered as he dumped the drink into a bamboo cup and passed it to his customer. “You want apple, cactus, or prickly pear?”
“I’ll take the prickly pear,” I decided after a moment of thought.
“Coming right up!” my new bartender called. Then he turned back to his fruits and started chopping up a prickly pear.
While he worked on my drink, I turned back to the crowd, and I saw little lions playing with little cheetahs, and little cheetahs playing with little jaguars. It was a good sign for our integration project. Even their parents were having civil conversations together while their children played, and I saw a group of cheetahs laughing uproariously at something a lion Demi-Human said. The sight was quite a difference from everyone gripping tightly onto their spears when they got too close to each other’s territory lines, and I was hopeful that these civil gatherings would lead to regular behavior for all the Houses.
We still had some work to do, but I was proud of what we had accomplished in Tikal so far.
“Here you go, sir,” the lion bartender yelled behind me.
“Thank you.” I shifted my wildflowers into my left hand and held the cup up to him with my right. Then I took a sip, and it tasted almost like a smoothie. Bits of fresh fruit were mixed into the cool beverage, and I smacked my lips after I’d swallowed my first gulp. This shit was good.
“Did you get the prickly pear?” someone asked. “I don’t know how they made it, but damn it’s good!”
I turned to the male voice behind me, and I saw a young, maybe teenage, cheetah Demi-Human gesturing to my drink.
“Yeah, it is good,” I laughed. “Have you tried anything else?”
“Well, I’m not allowed to try the cactus juice yet,” he huffed and rolled his eyes up toward the ceiling. “But I heard it’s really good, and I like the cactus mix thing!”
“And you’re enjoying the whole bazaar thing, right?” I asked, since I figured I could get some local opinions while we chatted.
“Yeah, man!” The young Demi-Human grinned and gestured out to the crowd. “It’s cool to see what the other Houses can do. I’ve been pretty bored with just hanging out with the same people over and over, you know?”
“I get that.” I nodded and took another sip of my smoothie-drink.
“Lord Evan, I’m so sorry!” an adult female cheetah suddenly gushed as she rushed toward us.
“For what?” I wondered. “We were just talking about the drinks. Nobody is in trouble here.”
“Oh, shit,” the kid mumbled, and his eyes went wide. “I didn’t know you were Lord Evan!”
“Language!” his mom scolded before she turned back to me. “I’m sorry, sir. He doesn’t know anything about talking to nobles.”
“He’s been a big help, ma’am,” I assured her. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Man, this is so cool!” the teenager exclaimed, and a broad grin broke out across his face. “None of my friends are going to believe I talked to the Dragon Lord! You’re pretty awesome, you know.”
The Demi-Human’s mother made a strangled noise, forced a smile, and steered her son toward the door as she mumbled in his ear.
I guess some people still needed to adjust to a noble who wasn’t a dick.
The kid had gotten me thinking, though, about how good the products that each House had brought were. Maybe they’d be worth trading with other cities or tribes. I was sure not many other places could boast the bamboo tools, the bison skins and meat, the smoothies, or even the cottonwood lotions, but I’d bet they were interested in having them.
And I knew just who to talk to about getting in on the trades near here.
I looked around the crowd for some fiery orange hair and the scent of a recent campfire, and I finally found Ravi looking at the animal skin blankets, so I tucked the wildflowers behind my back and strode over to her.
“Hey there,” I murmured in her ear and smirked when she jumped. “Can I borrow you?”
“Oh! Of course.” She nodded and followed me to one of the quieter areas of the room. “What’s up?”
“First,” I said as I pulled three wildflowers from the bundle behind my back, “these are for you.”
“Lord Evan,” the phoenix breathed with wide eyes, and she tentatively took the orange and yellow flowers. “They’re beautiful.”
“Just like you.” I winked.
Ravi blushed and clutched the blooms to her chest. “Thank you. I will cherish these.”
“You’re welcome.” I grinned. “Now, I wanted to talk to you about something else.”
“What is it, my lord?” Ravi asked as she delicately sniffed her vibrant flowers.
“Well, I was looking at all the different stuff people made here, and I was thinking they might be interested in getting involved with trade like we started in Hatra.” I cocked my head to the side. “What do you think?”
“I think that’s a great idea!” the phoenix exclaimed, and a broad grin stretched across her face. “It would give them a chance to reconnect with everyone, plus get even more goods they can’t get right now. So, what can I do to help?”
“Well, I was hoping you’d talk to your father about getting Tikal on a trade line that the phoenix tribe knows,” I answered. “Do you think he’d be willing to do that?”
“Oh, of course.” She nodded vigorously. “We could run the Blue route, and that would open up a few different groups to trade with … ”
Ravi trailed off as she started working the paths out in her head. She knew the desert pretty well, too, so I wasn’t surprised she wanted to have some ideas planned out before she spoke with her father.
“Well, you guys get that sorted out, and just let me know,” I interrupted her mumbling. “I’ll talk to the House leaders about it
once you talk to Fiyero.”
“Okay,” Ravi said with another nod. She was barely paying attention to me now that she had a job to do.
I left Ravi to her musings and returned to wandering the bazaar, but I’d barely started making another round of the tables when I felt a claw drag from my shoulder blade down to my lower back.
“I suppose congratulations are in order,” Aaliyah purred in my ear.
“You like the bazaar?” I asked as I turned to face her, but then I froze when I saw what she wore.
Aaliyah was dressed in some kind of animal skin dress. It wrapped around one shoulder and barely covered the opposite breast as it flowed down over her hips and cut off just below her womanhood.
“Wow.” I took a sharp breath as I studied her sculpted body in the revealing dress.
“Oh, I’m definitely enjoying your… bazaar.” She smirked as she watched my gaze travel down the length of her outfit. “I even got a new dress from the cheetahs. Do you like it?”
“I am enjoying the dress as well,” I murmured, and I knew my arousal had turned my trousers into a tent. Then I pulled a single golden flower from my remaining bundle and offered it to the lioness. “Here. A beautiful flower for a beautiful woman.”
The lioness blinked in surprise as she took the delicate flower and sniffed its petals.
“Thank you, and I’m glad you approve of the dress,” Aaliyah replied as she ran her tongue over her lips and smirked at me. “Now, if only we knew how to celebrate.”
“I have a couple ideas in mind,” I growled as I grabbed her hand and pulled her to a door at the back of the temple. I wasn’t sure, but I hoped it was a supply closet or something. I wasn’t picky, but I had to fuck the lioness right now.
Praise the gods, the room was an old cleaning supply closet. The shelves were full of dusty rags, and a broom leaned against the wall.
Perfect.
I shoved the broom against the door handle and forced it into the jamb on the opposite side of the door. Then I tossed my remaining wildflowers onto a nearby shelf before I turned back to my captive lioness.
“No interruptions,” I grumbled.
