Thread: Family Rivalries (Alexander and rwinrich)

Mullo's pace was frantic as he tried to stuff all the items in his stall away, as the carriage and its accompanying horsemen drew ever nearer, while Burton kept at his own, fist balling up and waiting for the challenge. Neither got what they were expecting, however, when the carriage came to a stop half a block away. Of course, Mullo thought, as his senses started to return to him, how would the king have known about his secret anyways? It was not as though he were trying to sell Mayavra's possessions, he had simply... obtained and stored them. When the girl approached his stall, Burton was as awestruck by her as the rest of the crowd. When he leaned in to take a closer look at her, he nearly fell off his stool, and it was a long way up, the chair being about four times his height. When his hands caught the edge of the table, and he was able to steady himself, he found that he was staring right at her chest, and there was plenty of it to get lost in. With a breath, he tried to compose himself, leaning back onto the chair to give her all the room she needed to inspect his curiosities. It was easier to size up the girl if he had more to analyze than just her breasts, anyways. The carriage was a giveaway of where she belonged, but no peasant or worker could claim this girl's fashion. The dress she wore looked like something that could feed a tailor for a year, and if she had money, Burton first thought of how he might win his own share of it. That's a specific, powerful instrument you're handling there. It's use is in rituals, not to kill. He took it from her, blade first, to give an example. Normally that would be a dangerous idea, but with this piece, he could have grabbed it nearly anywhere and not hurt himself by much. An excellent tool for a priest or a hermit, who might not safely know their way around a real weapon. Well, not to kill people. They say it works quite well against the supernatural. To give a demonstration, he lit a candle laying off to the side of the stall on its stick, though it shed no real light at this time of day. The flame could barely be seen, but the wick blackened, and licking his two fingers, he snuffed it out just as quickly as he lit it. A small stream of smoke poured forth, and he waved the dagger through it. All at once, the smoke stopped rising, and instead fell onto the wooden table, as if it were solid, dissipating only when it hit the surface. You're from the palace, right? Have you been haunted by any of the king's ghosts? Part of him hoped that she was, actually, at least by Mayavra particularly, if only for the sake of Mullo. He handed the blade back to the girl, offering the handle end to her, holding it just as he had grabbed it away, in case any guards were watching and might take offense to him pointing a blade at her. Ghosts don't much like blood, of course. They haven't got any of their own anymore, and they're much more interested in your tears and your soul. A drop might help ward them off. The thing was hers now, whether she was willing to pay for it or not. The king probably wouldn't like Burton selling anything that's had the princess's blood upon it, no matter how cleanly he might wipe it off. Once he had placed it back in her hands, though, he realized the mistake of letting on that he sold weapons, even this fake one, to the royal family.