Chapter 14: Chapter Fourteen: Insufficient Gold

Jess whistled a little tune as she headed back to Toleron’s Trinkets. She felt as though things were finally starting to head in a positive direction. The warm sun on her skin and comfortable shoes on her feet were a winning combination and she smiled to herself as she walked along. She listened to the satisfying click of the hobnails on the cobblestone and smiled. She’d always liked the sound that heels made on tiled floors as she paced slowly around the perimeter of the classroom. It made it worth the agony of wearing them while standing all day. The tailor had advised that the dress’s simple pattern would mean it would be available in only a few days. More expensive than buying off the rack, she had only scant few coppers in her purse, but so much more satisfying!

As she rounded the corner, she certainly wasn’t prepared for the throng of people blockading the street. She lifted herself onto her tiptoes as she tried to figure out what all the commotion was.

Oh damn, she thought to herself as she saw crowds of onlookers pointing and gossiping. Beyond them, a gaggle of adventurers crowded the entrance to Mike’s shop. They seemed much more excitable than Jess had imagined they would be. She slid through a group of local people to get closer to the store’s entrance, apologising as she moved. The adventurers were certainly worked up about something. Jess fervently hoped that there was some sort of misunderstanding that had led to this. He’s going to be so angry, she thought with a grimace.

As she neared them, it continued to astonish her that she still couldn’t hear a single word they uttered. Communication of some sort was clearly going on though. Arms were continuously thrown in the air and there were odd bursts of laughter that sounded maniacal in the disconcerting silence.

She managed to push past two gents in long red robes that wore bizarre floppy hats to squeeze through the door and into the store itself. Things looked even worse indoors.

Mike was clearly overwhelmed. His fur gleamed with an unhealthy sheen. As though he was damp and… sweaty. He had a feverish look in his eyes. The whites showed at the edges and his movements were jerky like he was a poorly made puppet. It didn’t take him long to realise that Jess had returned, and she was relieved to see that he wasn’t furious at her. She had half expected him to lower his horns and charge at her.

Instead, he yelped, “Make them stop!”

“What? Why?” Jess asked. “This is going great! Look at how popular your shop is!”

“They’re only selling, Lass. I’m out of gold,” he said in a strained voice as he looked at her imploringly. “What do I do?”

“Can’t you just tell them ‘no’?” she asked.

“Ye can’t just turn away Adventurers!” he admonished her, slamming a fist on the countertop. The move seemed to startle Mike more than it did the Adventurer before him who continued to hold out a cloth bag full of unseen items, seemingly oblivious to both Mike’s distress and Jess’s presence.

“Alright, alright, I’m thinking,” she replied, raising a hand to run it through her hair. What to do, what to do?

“Will ye think faster, Lass?” I don’t know how much longer they’ll wait,” pleaded Mike anxiously. His eyes flickered between the adventurer and Jess, as though the stranger might strike like a coiled snake.

What was the phrase he always used? Memories of arguments with her brother surfaced in her mind. He was insufferable when they were teenagers. “Ok! I think I know what you can do,” said Jess, as she hurried beside Mike to stand alongside him behind the counter.

“Out with it then!” he implored her.

“I’m going to need you to trust me though,” she said, looking up at him.

“Don’t exactly have much choice there,” he replied with a snort.

“Ok. I need you to repeat these two words and only these two words,” she said. Mike frowned down at her but nodded his agreement.

“Insufficient gold,” Jess called out, spreading her hands in a magician’s ‘ta-da!’ gesture. Mike’s flat stare told her everything she needed to know about his thoughts on her plan. That’s all I’ve got big guy. She watched as Mike took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment before turning back to the adventurer in front of him.

Through gritted teeth, he repeated Jess’s words. “Insufficient gold.”

For a moment, there was no reaction from the adventurers. Even the individual directly in front of Mike stayed completely still, staring blankly at him in the same disconcerting way that they did. Mike’s glare, focused on Jess, could have wilted plants with its intensity. She gave him a guilty shrug in response.

As though in slow motion, the adventurer raised a hand and jabbed a finger in the direction of an item on one of the shelves behind Mike. The Minotaur took a tentative step back and picked up the brightly coloured bowl. The adventurer nodded and waited expectantly.

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Mike placed the bowl gently on the counter before him and slid it towards the adventurer. “Two gold.”

The coins were handed over by the adventurer without comment.

“Now fist bump him!” Jess hissed, fizzing excitedly. This could even work out even better than she had hoped.

Mike obliged with a puzzled expression, woodenly holding out a balled fist. The adventurer bumped it and then stood motionless with arms lowered by his sides. Jess leaned away from Mike, catching sight of the other adventurers that filled the room. Many of them had also stopped moving, ceasing their aimless milling around and jostling.

“What’s he doing?” whispered Mike under his breath.

“I think… I think he’s talking to the others,” Jess whispered back.

“That a good thing?”

“Not sure yet.”

 Without warning, the adventurer sparked back to life, pivoting on the spot and then retreated from the store, only to be replaced by another quickly. This time, no items were offered. His mail-armoured hand pointed immediately at another object behind Mike, thrusting towards a glass vase.

“Double the price!” Jess ordered in a raised whisper as Mike retrieved the chosen object. Her fingers were thrumming on the counter, both hands dissipating her nervous energy to stop herself from bouncing off the walls like a kid on Christmas morning.

Mike shot her a warning glance, but then hesitated. Jess’s insides froze with anticipation as she watched him side-eye her. His ear flicked as he held the vase in his hands.

“Ten gold,” Mike said, laying the vase on the counter. The words lilted upward at the end, giving the impression that they were more of a question than a statement. The pair watched the adventurer stand in expressionless silence for a moment, before ten gold pieces were retrieved from a pouch on his belt. They were held out in offering and dropped into Mike’s open palm. He pulled his eyes away from the coins and offered his fist.

As the adventurer walked away, he turned to Jess with a distant look in his eyes and whispered, “That was four times more than that vase was worth… and he paid it.”

Jess had no time to answer as the adventurer was quickly replaced by another eager buyer, jabbing their silent request in the air.

The queue seemed endless and it took very little time for Mike’s carefully curated stock to be bought out, the shelves becoming bare, and yet the adventurers didn’t slow down. It didn’t seem to matter what was on offer, so long as they were able to complete the transaction.

Jess ran back and forth from Mike’s storeroom to the shop front, attempting to fill shelves before they could empty completely. She wasn’t sure what would happen if they ran out of objects for the adventurers to buy, but it seemed unlucky to leave it to fate when they were on such a hot streak.

After a while, the reserves of smaller items began to dwindle and Jess became more desperate, resorting to scrounging through the filled barrels of tat to be able to fill the shelves. Anything that could be gathered up and transported with speed was grabbed, whether they were dirty or not, much to Mike’s horror as he watched her load up blunt edged swords and old boots onto his pristine shelves.

“I’m sorry,” Jess wheezed as she shoved a rusting helmet on the shelf. “The storeroom stuff is too heavy for me to lift easily. I can’t unstack the crates,” she explained between panting breaths. Mike’s nostrils continued to flare but whatever complaint he might have had was silenced by another customer requesting the singular old leather boot. Spatters of dried blood were still visible across the laces and toe.

Jess gave a weary smile and tossed the boot to Mike who caught it with a grimace. She stretched out her back as he completed the sale before scurrying away to sift out more items to sell from the opened barrels.

By the looks of the still full store, it was going to be a long day.

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