Chapter 6: Chapter 6 – I Feared You Once

As of this morning, The Unloved has been loaded onto Patreon, and has chapter 7.  Next week, it should move to three chapters ahead, once the other chapters are edited.

 

Sala worked quickly, and removed each eye from the sac it was protected in. Wolf headed trout relied on keen sight, but could also jump out of the water. The sac allowed them to keep their eyes wet if they were out of water for a few minutes. It also protected their eyes from abrasives that were stirred up while in pursuit of their prey.

"So fresh." Bini said quietly.

"Spear hour ago." Gei said with a grin. Sala nodded.

"Four silver per eye. It's a good price, Gei, and you would have to take it to another herbalist in order to even negotiate a better price." Sala said.

"Good price." Gei asked. "Have fish, bring here?" Bini looked at her quickly.

"You think you can get some more?" She asked while Sala opened the fish's belly. Sala could detect a little disdain in Bini's voice.

"Made trench yes-ter-day." She shrugged. It wasn't her job to persuade them to buy the parts, even if they needed them.

Sala pulled the organs out while she thought about Gei even being able to get one. One should have been impossible, but more?

"Looks like the spear missed the main part of the organs, went through its air bladder, passed the kidney, and out through the side near the anal fin. The kidney, liver, gonad, and intestine is intact. Ten silver." She said again.

"Good price. Salt?" Gei let Bini open the sack.

"Wow. It's so pure." She moved the sack to the scale. "Twelve pounds." Bini looked at Sala. "It's pure salt."

Gei held up three fingers.

"Are you sure? We have to pay five at Lise's, and she sells it basically at cost. We have to buy it, and need it as a necessary supply." Gei held up three fingers again. "Three silver a pound?" Gei nodded.

"Then thirty six for the salt, and eighteen for the fish parts. That's fifty four." Sala said. Bini blushed, as this deal saved them silver, and would make them silver.

"Sala. Fish. Cut here." Gei said.

"Sure." Sala cut off the tail just ahead of the anal fin.

"There. Two people meal. Gift." Gei said. Sala frowned.

"Yes, it would make...Gei?" Gei picked up the silver that Bini counted out, hooked her fingers under the gills, and lifted the remainder. She left the tail behind.

Gei grinned and walked out. Bini looked at the tail, and at Sala.

"We paid her thirty six for the salt, and eighteen silver for those parts. How much is that much fish worth?" Bini asked quietly.

"Fifty silver." Sala said without a thought. Bini paled. She immediately got down on her knees and bowed.

"Forgive me, Ena. Forgive me for my foolish thoughts." Sala patted her little wife's shoulder when she straightened up. She understood why her wife might think poorly of her interactions with Gei, but she should understand something else.

"You know that I can make double what I paid for these parts, right? The same with the herbs. All she ever brought me were high quality, and never brought me anything bad. She always gives up on trying to profit on the poor condition items because she values our relationship more than the silver she needed to survive." Sala said.

"And now she's able to move fast enough to kill a wolf headed trout as it jumps out of the water at her." Sala knelt down beside her. "Be nice, Bini. She never wanted your position." Bini cried a little and nodded.

"I know. I was still jealous. You saved me just like you helped her." Bini said, while Sala sighed.

"Enough tears. Help me to get these items prepared. Once we're done, we'll have fish for supper." Sala was excited. Fish was a luxury item.

Only a few desperate fools would ever go near the vast graveyard known as the ocean.

 

* * *

 

Lise grit her teeth while the Griel clan brats practically raided her stall. They always took what they wanted, and never paid. If she called for the guards, the guards looked the other way.

You are reading story The Unloved at novel35.com

"Hey! Pay?" Gei said as she approached Lise's stall.

"They never pay, Gei." Lise said. Pern sneered.

"Why should we pay? We own this town. You only have a stall because we allow it." He said with obvious disdain.

"King know?"  Gei said, not that she cared one bit. A normal smart person would be fearful of anyone learning he said that. Pern had only disdain, as he truly believed he was of noble birth.  She reached for the closest servant, grabbed his hand, and slowly twisted.  She wanted to be cautious, but her brother was too spoiled to let this pass.

"Argh!" Pern's servant screeched.  He had a new dagger with storm wolf bone inlays, a good quality leather belt, and anything else they set their mind on.  Pern didn't care that they also stole for themselves.

Gei turned his wrist, looked like she didn't put any effort in, but the man tried to fight back with all his might. The sound of bone breaking could be heard as she twisted, and continued until his arm looked unnatural.

"Put back!" She growled and swept the salt bag at another servant who was frozen in shock. That one was sent sprawling on the ground. His chest had collapsed as he was hit by a twenty pound weight swung with enough force to smash a storm wolf into the ground. Gei hated these servants the most as they made her life a living hell, but right now all she could do was to react to the situation. The anger wasn't as bright as it once was.

"Can't you overpower a child?  Guards!" Pern called out. Gei didn't care. As soon as the first one moved, he was sent flying by the same bag of salt, landed at the front of a fence, and went through the wood.

"What the hell are you fools doing? Don't you have weapons?" Pern shouted. Gei watched the remaining two guards pull their swords. Her anger sparked, and she began to growl.

Her eyes started to radiate flame energy to the point that the air around her was heated up, and her skin became lined with flame essence.

"Ena save us. She's a high level elementalist!" The first one screeched in fear.

Gei dreamed of this moment. Sending fear through the ones who hurt her. Making them soil themselves in terror. She held those dreams to her chest while she was whipped, and she thought about many things she could do with power.

Burn them to ashes. Rip their arms off. Break all their bones. All that went out the window as she uprooted a nearby tree, one that might have been twenty years old, and smashed it down on the hapless guards who dared to try to harm her.

"Fear you before." Gei said as she swung the tree and crushed the remaining guard.

The town guards appeared as she turned those two guards for the Griel clan into corpses. They saw the power radiate off her, the flames on her skin, and the way she handled the tree.

The swords in their hands slid quietly back into their sheathes and the guards went back to their duties. They thanked the goddess, Ena, that the elementalist had not noticed them, or chased them down in her rage.

Pern landed on his butt, crying in terror, while Gei scooped up the things he had his servants steal, and put them on Lise's stall counter. He wasn't worth her attention, even if he wore an elementalist's gauntlet. He couldn't use his skills as he was too weak to activate them.

"Lise good?" She asked in concern. Lise nodded, and let out a slow breath. "Sack salt. Fish. Cut?" Gei held up the wolf headed trout.

"Is that...Gei! That-that-that..." List stuttered on the word.

"Fish. Speared morning. Want bite Gei. Dumb." She growled. She set it on the counter, and sprayed it with a bit of her water essence to cleanse it. Lise took another deep breath.

"H-How do you want it cut?" How could she tell this child that the things she just did were not normal? It was obvious that Gei knew it wasn't normal. She crushed the guards who once beat her on the whims of their masters.

"Chop head. Split spine. Ern use skull, teeth." She said, but didn't look sure.

"He probably can. I can drop it off at his shop." Lise said, took a knife under her counter, and sliced the thick meat along the spine. Two long fillets were made.

"Salt fish. Sell. More salt tomorrow." Gei grinned at the merchant's look of shock.

Gei didn't wait, and went off to the gate with a smile on her face. When she got to the gate, her smile disappeared. She walked up to the gate guards, and each of them visibly stiffened.

"Lise mine. Support Griels? Me not happy." Her eyes started to radiate flame elements, which made the guards nod quickly.

"We understand!" One said. "We'll spread the word so you won't have to repeat yourself!" Gei nodded, walked out through the gate and disappeared. Venn looked down at them from the catwalk.

"If this spooks you, don't come on duty tonight. The things we saw last night will curl your hair." He turned.

"Come on, Drom. We're off shift."

 

You can find story with these keywords: The Unloved, Read The Unloved, The Unloved novel, The Unloved book, The Unloved story, The Unloved full, The Unloved Latest Chapter