Two weeks after the Reliant arrived in Prudence Harbor, Sallina stood beneath a sail-cloth canopy held up by four poles. In front of her was a table piled high with pelts. This table and the canopy were her market stall. Every day for the last two weeks, she and Garibaldi had set up the market stall together, here at the edge of Prudence City's Lower Market Square.
The square was only a short walk from the wharf to which the Reliant was tied. But Sallina and Garibaldi had to carry the table and the furs up to the square every day, and the sail-cloth and the poles as well, and set up the canopy, and stand there all day trying to sell Sallina's pelts. At the end of the day, they had to take the canopy down again, and carry everything back to the ship.
Sallina found all this to be hard work.
Today, like every other day she had spent in the square, it was hot. It was mid-day, and the sun blazed upon the gray stones of the square in front of her. The air rippled in the heat. All around the edges of the square were market stalls like her own, each with a canopy of cloth. In the shade of the canopy were tables covered with things for sale, things like watermelon, silk skirts, cheese, wine, olives, shellfish from the sea, incense, copper pots, jewelry, paper, ink, glass cups, glazed clay plates, and blocks of ice.
At the center of the square was a large fountain spraying water high in the air and surrounded by a large paddling pool. Children played all day in the pool. They were happy about the hot weather. They could paddle and swim around the fountains and in the bathing pools of the city all day long. The water in the fountains and pools came down from the mountains behind the city, traveling in pipes under the streets. The water was always fresh and cool, and there was plenty of it.
If there was one thing that Sallina liked about Prudence City, it was the parks and fountains. And the second thing was that there were people of all different sorts: fair-skinned, dark-skinned, tall, short, blonde, red-haired, black-haired. She thought it would be a fun place to grow up.
Well, it would be a fun place to grow up, so long as you were not a slave. Sallina had never met slaves before, or believed that such a thing as slavery really existed. But she believed it now, because there were plenty of slaves in Prudence City.
A slave is a person who belongs to someone in the same way that a pet dog belongs to someone.
You could tell who was a slave and who was not because the laws of Independence Island required all slaves to wear a thin, iron torque around their necks. She saw a slave and his master walking past her stall right now. The slave was a tall young man with red hair. He wore an iron torque around his neck. He walked beside a shorter, dark-skinned man with no torque. They laughed together at a joke. The master stopped and bought two apples from a fruit-seller. He let his slave pick one of the apples, and kept the other for himself. They walked out of the square eating their apples and talking.
Owning a human slave was like owning a dog, only humans were much smarter than dogs. Her father had a pet dog named Molly. He loved Molly. Molly loved him. Molly had a good life working for her father.
But there were cruel dog-owners as well as kind ones. Degory Priest on the farm next door to Sallina's was a cruel dog-owner. He used to beat his dogs whenever he was in a bad mood, which was most of the time. There were cruel slave-owners as well as kind ones. Twice in two weeks, Sallina had seen people hit their slaves in the market square. Nobody did anything to stop it.
To be fair, every now and then her father gave Molly a good slap. He had slapped Molly when she killed Sallina's kitten, and he had hit Molly with a horse-crop when she got into the chicken coop and killed two of the hens. Seeing someone hit their slave once might not be enough reason to decide that they were cruel.
If it was okay for animals to be slaves, why not people?
Sallina was sure that nobody wanted to be a slave. But if nobody wanted to be a slave, how come there were so many of them? After thinking about this question for a while, she decided that there were plenty of slaves for the same reason that there were plenty of pet dogs. The children of slaves must be slaves also, just as any puppies Molly might have would belong to her father. If a child grew up as a slave, perhaps they would think there was nothing wrong with being a slave.
Sallina shook her head. No matter what anyone said: she knew for sure that she did not want to be a slave. She wanted to own herself.
She looked at the table piled with pelts in front of her. The pelts were beautiful and shiny and soft. But she had not sold any of them in the entire two weeks she had been at the market. Not a single one. Many people had offered to buy them, but not for the price she was asking. She refused to sell a mink pelt for two gold pieces when she had paid three for it. Where was the profit in that? She would be losing money.
Today was especially hot. Women walked around with parasols to shade them from the sun (a parasol is like an umbrella). Men wore hats with wide brims or walked around with their chests bare and flexed their muscles trying to look strong and handsome. Sallina was not particularly impressed with any of these fellows, because none of them had arms like Garibaldi's, and there was something more graceful in the way Garibaldi moved. She never felt that Garibaldi was showing off. In fact, she was not sure he even knew that women liked his muscles.
"Good morning," Garibaldi said. He stood beside her. "I hope I'm not late."
"Not at all," Sallina said. She kissed him on the cheek. He smiled at her. She hugged him for moment and let him go. It was so hot that being next to Garibaldi made her sweat even more than she had been sweating already. She tried not to be too sweaty when she stood at her market stall. She thought sweat made her look nervous, and people would not buy from someone nervous.
"Any luck?" Garibaldi said.
Sallina shook her head. "You know, I think it's hotter today than ever before. Will you watch the furs while I go and see Nerboculus?"
"Of course," Garibaldi said. He sat down on the stool behind the table.
Sallina walked out into the sun. She lifted up her hair and tucked it beneath the cotton hat she had bought when the weather turned hot. She walked past the fountain and the laughing children to a stall with a bright blue canopy. There were many things that were a marvel to Sallina in the boxes on the tables beneath the blue canopy. There were egg-sized stones that shone with a bright light. These were expensive, but she would love to give one to her grandmother, so her grandmother could sew at night when the candle-light was too dim for her old eyes to see. The man who sold the shining stones wore a hat with crescent moons and stars upon it. His name was Nerboculus, or so he said. Sallina was not sure anyone would name their child Nerboculus.
Nerboculus had a long white beard, even though he was young. He told Sallina that he was a Wizard. But Sallina doubted he was a real wizard. She was not sure she even believed in real wizards, at all, and if there were such people, she was pretty sure that Nerboculus was not one of them.
But she liked him anyway. He was always cheerful and relaxed.
Another thing Nerboculus sold, along with "love potions", "concentration tobacco", and "smart tea", were glass tubes with a silver line in the center that went up and down, depending upon how hot it was. Nerboculus called these thermometers.
"Good afternoon, Sallina," Nerboculus said.
"Good afternoon, Nerboculus. How hot is it today?"
Nerboculus handed her one of his thermometers. She looked at it. There were little black lines next to the moving silver line. She counted the black lines until she came to the one next to the end of the silver line.
"Thirty-three," she said, and looked up from the thermometer.
"Yes," Nerboculus said, "In my three years here, it has never been this hot."
Sallina gave the thermometer back to him, shook her head, and turned around to look at the square. "I came here to sell furs, and it's the hottest weather in three years. Nobody wants to think about getting a fur coat. If only I had brought ice. The ice-sellers are making lots of money."
"I am as sorry about it as you are," Nerboculus said, "If you sold your furs, you would have money, and I would sell you a shining stone and a thermometer."
Sallina turned around and laughed. "Maybe, Nerboculus. Maybe."
"I tell you what," he said, "Suppose I can send you a customer who's willing to buy furs at your asking price. I can do that you know." He tapped his hat and wiggled his fingers around. "Magic."
"Of course you can," Sallina said.
Nerboculus frowned. "Do you doubt my powers, young lady?"
"Of course I do. If I believed every man who told me they had special powers, I'd think the world was full of wizards. But it isn't."
Nerboculus nodded. "I like you, because you are so clever, even when you are cruel."
"You were making me an offer," Sallina said, "Let me hear it."
Nerboculus put his thermometer in a long box with a velvet lining. "If I can send someone over to you today who will buy twenty pelts, then you will buy a thermometer from me." He tapped the box. "This one is the one you like. It's ten guineas."
"You sold one of those for fifteen yesterday," she said.
"I know. But I like you."
"There's no way you can get someone to buy my fur on a day like this," Sallina said, "No way."
Nerboculus held out his hand to Sallina. "Is it a deal?"
Sallina rolled her eyes. It was so hot. It was time to go for a swim in the park. "Okay," she said, and shook Nerboculus's hand.
An hour later, Sallina returned to her stall much refreshed from a swim in the park. She carried in her hands two glasses of lemonade with ice. She was expecting to find Garibaldi there alone, but Baat was with him. He and Baat were sharpening Baat's sword with a whetstone and oil. This was something they had been doing for several days, ever since Dan had told them that Baat's sword was of such fine metal that it could be sharpened until it would cut through a piece of silk floating in the air.
So far, they had failed to cut any type of material floating in air, let alone silk, which was the strongest material you could buy. Sallina assured them that Dan was just playing a joke upon them. No blade could cut through floating silk. But they kept trying.
Sallina did not want to discourage Baat and Garibaldi from sharpening the sword. Sharpening the sword was better than what they were doing a few days ago, which was playing rock, paper, scissor. After Sallina taught Baat how to play, Baat thought he could learn to play it better than Garibaldi. Garibaldi disagreed. They played for days until Garibaldi bet Baat one guinea that Baat could not win five hundred and fifty out of a thousand games. Baat agreed. They stood under Sallina's canopy and played a thousand games one after another. People walking by stared at the two young men acting so strangely, and Sallina worried that Baat and Garibaldi were frightening people away from her stall. But she did not ask Baat and Garibaldi to stop playing, because she had not sold any furs even before they had started playing, so who could say whether or not their playing made any difference? And anyway, she had a feeling that, if she asked Baat and Garibaldi to stop, they would go away and play somewhere else, and she'd be lonely. In the end, Baat won only four hundred and seventy-six games out of the thousand. He paid Garibaldi one guinea, and agreed that Garibaldi was right: the game was one of chance. Within minutes, they were sharpening Baat's sword.
And so Sallina stood near Baat and Garibaldi with her two glasses of lemonade, wondering what to do. One glass been for her, and the other for Garibaldi.
Garibaldi and Baat looked up from their work. Garibaldi smiled at her.
"Would you like a glass of lemonade?" Sallina said.
"Yes please," Garibaldi said.
"None for you?" Baat said.
Sallina handed one glass to Baat, took a sip from the other, and gave it to Garibaldi.
"Thank you," they said, and drank their lemonades in one long draught each.
"Ah! So good," Baat said, "I get more." He picked up the glasses and left for the lemonade stand.
Baat seemed to have plenty of money in his purse, and he was always ready to spend it upon whatever any of them wanted. Even if his purse was full of gold, Sallina was sure he would run out soon, unless he had a lot more in his chest.
Garibaldi held up the sword and wiped it with a cotton cloth. It flashed and sparkled. The blade was about as long as Garibaldi's arm, curving slightly, and sharpened on the outer edge. The hilt was bound with leather and protected by a small circle of metal at the base of the blade.
"No luck selling furs," Garibaldi said.
"Did you try?"
"I sat here looking honest."
Sallina stepped closer to him. Garibaldi held the sword out to one side so Sallina would not cut herself on it. Sallina paid no attention to the sword. She reached up and ran her hands through Garibaldi's hair. His hair damp with sweat. Even in the shade of the canopy it was hot.
"Well, you are honest," she said.
He nodded. "Baat tells me he went all the way up to the mountains this morning, and the air is much cooler up there. We should go up some day. He said it was beautiful."
Sallina stepped back and held her chin with one hand. "He really does get around."
"He likes to walk," Garibaldi said. He put the sword on the table and tucked it under some furs. The hilt stuck out so Baat would know where it was. Baat liked to carry the sword everywhere with him, either strapped to his back or hanging from his belt.
Garibaldi stood up and stretched his arms. Sallina watched him.
"Is he just exploring, do you think?" Sallina said.
Garibaldi bent over and touched his toes. "Dan thinks he's looking for something."
"Really? Like what?"
"I don't know. I heard Dan talking to the Captain. They were talking quietly, and I didn't want them to know I had heard."
Sallina crouched beside him and looked at his face between his legs. "Really?"
He raised one eyebrow, only, because he was upside down, the eyebrow went downwards. His face looked strange upside down. He smiled, only his smile was upside down. She laughed. "You look funny."
Garibaldi stood up and put one foot on the stool. He called all this bending over and putting his leg on things stretching, and he did it at least once a day. He said it felt good.
Sallina looked across the square. Two women, one old and one young, were talking to Nerboculus. Nerboculus pointed to her stall. The older woman looked towards Sallina. Soon after, the two women crossed the square towards her.
The older woman was a full head taller than the younger one. Her hair was tied up in a bun under a broad hat, held in place by pins. With one hand the younger woman held a parasol high up above the older woman's head. She had to reach up to do so. In the other hand the younger woman held a bag with a long loaf of bread sticking out, and many other things filling it up inside.
As they came closer, Sallina saw that the young woman wore an iron torque around her neck. Her skin was dark and clear. Here eyes were narrow and delicate. She was no older than Sallina, probably younger, and she was shorter than Sallina. She held her head high and level as she walked. She neither smiled nor frowned. She wore a cotton smock and leather sandals.
The older woman's face was white, and her lips were red. She wore a long dress made of silk with bright patterns on it. The sun shone upon her face, and Sallina saw that the white of her skin was white makeup, and the red on her lips was lipstick. When the sun shone in the older woman's eyes, she gave the younger woman a sharp look, reached out, and pulled the parasol closer.
"Pay attention!" she said.
The younger woman moved the parasol over. The expression upon her face did not change.
Moments later, the two women were standing in front of Sallina's table. The older woman looked at Sallina, frowned, and looked at the furs. She picked one up, a snow-rabbit pelt, and put put it close to her nose. She sniffed it, and frowned again. She picked up a mink pelt and brushed it against her cheek. She did not frown. Sallina saw that some of the woman's white makeup rubbed off onto the black fur. Should she say something to her? Probably not. If she made the woman embarrassed, the woman might change her mind and decide not to buy any fur.
The woman picked up another mink pelt, and another. The younger woman let the parasol rest upon the ground. Both women stood in the shade of Sallina's canopy. The young woman put the bag down on the ground as well, and stretched her fingers. Sallina smiled at her, but the young woman did not see her smile. The young woman was looking down at her hands instead, opening and closing them.
"How much for the mink pelts?" the older woman said.
"Five guineas each," Sallina said.
The woman nodded and picked up another. "They are fine. Some of the best I have ever seen."
Garibaldi stopped stretching and put his hands on the table.
Sallina smiled. "Thank you for saying so."
"Nerboculus says you are honest. If you're honest, tell me how much you paid for them."
Sallina frowned, and then tried to smile. "Well..."
The woman turned away. "Come on Chimeg," she said. The younger woman picked up the bag and lifted the parasol.
"I paid three guineas each for them," Sallina said, and wondered why she had done so.
The older woman came back to Sallina's table. "That's better," she said. "Well then, most of these fools," and she waved her hand behind her to indicate the rest of the people in the square, "have forgotten the winter, but I have not."
Sallina nodded. "I am glad to hear that."
Chimeg put the bag and the parasol down.
"I will buy twenty of them for eighty guineas," the older woman said.
Sallina's heart began to beat faster. Her tongue felt thick in her mouth. What should she do now? Ask for more money, or just say yes? Nerboculus had done it! He had sent someone to buy furs? How had he done it? Was she caught up in some kind of spell?
Out of the corner of her eye, Sallina saw that Garibaldi was looking at her. If she said yes, she would make twenty gold pieces profit. Well, ten, because she would have to buy that thermometer from Nerboculus, but a thermometer was something she could sell somewhere else, maybe for more than ten gold pieces.
"I agree," she said, and held out her hand to shake upon the deal.
The woman looked at Sallina's hand and lifted her chin a little. "I'll pay for them now, there is no need to shake. Chimeg, hold out your arms."
Chimeg held out her arms. The older woman chose twenty pelts from the pile, one after the other, and gave them to Chimeg.
"Now, give them to me," she said, and Chimeg obeyed.
"Take eighty guineas from my purse."
Chimeg reached into the bag. She took out a leather purse, opened it, and started counting out eighty gold pieces onto the table.
"Come on, girl, hurry up, we haven't got all day," the older woman said.
There was a crash on the paving stones behind Sallina. She turned and saw Baat standing with two glasses of lemonade. A third glass had fallen to the ground and shattered at his feet. He was staring at Chimeg.
Chimeg looked up and saw Baat. She dropped three gold pieces on the table. One of them rolled off the table edge and onto the ground. The older woman gathered the furs up in one arm and slapped Chimeg on the face with the other.
"Clumsy fool!"
Baat put the glasses down on the table, saw the hilt of his sword sticking out from under the wolf pelts, and reached for it. Garibaldi grabbed Baat's wrist and held it firmly. The two young men looked at one another. Baat nodded. Garibaldi let go. Baat stepped back and put his hands behind his back.
Chimeg picked up the gold piece on the ground and put it one the table. She started to count again, but the older woman pushed her aside. "I'll do it."
The older woman gave the furs to Chimeg and started counting through the gold. Her fingers moved quickly. Chimeg kept her head down and stared at the pile of mink pelts in her arms. The older woman counted. Garibaldi and Sallina looked from one woman to the other, and at Baat.
Chimeg looked up. Her eyes were wide. Her mouth was open, with its corners drawn downwards. Her lips were trembling. Baat took one step forward. Chimeg looked down at the pelts.
"There," the older woman said, "If you want something done, do it yourself." She pushed a pile of gold pieces across the table towards Sallina. "Eighty guineas. Please count them yourself."
Sallina hesitated. She leaned over the pieces and counted them as quickly as she could with her fingers. There were eighty-one. She looked up at the older woman. "I count eighty-one."
The older woman smiled. "Nerboculus was right. You are honest. Yes, there are eighty-one. You can have the one extra, for saving me the trouble of haggling with you over the price."
"Thank you," Sallina said, "I accept."
The older woman put her purse back in the bag, picked the bag up, and the parasol, and said to Chimeg, "Come on, girl." She looked at Chimeg's face. "What has gotten into you?"
Chimeg looked up. "I am sorry Mistress Diamara, I am so hot."
Diamara smiled. "Well then. Walk with me, and I will hold the parasol over both of us."
Diamara walked out into the sunlight carrying the bag and the parasol. Chimeg went beside her with the furs in her hands. When they were twenty steps away, she looked over her shoulder, just once, at Baat. Then they turned a corner and were gone.
"Well," Garibaldi said, "That was one rich woman. She handed over eighty-one guineas just like that."
Sallina turned to Baat. "Who is the younger woman? Who is Chimeg?"
Baat drew his sword out from under the wolf pelts and slid it into the scabbard across his back. He used one hand to guide the blade into the scabbard mouth.
"Her name Altachimeg."
Baat turned away from them, walked out from under the canopy, and hurried after the two woman.
"Wait a minute!" Sallina said, but Baat ignored her.
"Should I follow him?" Garibaldi said.
Sallina watched Baat disappear around the corner. "No, go back to the ship and tell Dan or the Captain what happened. This is trouble. This is what Dan was talking about."
Garibaldi stared after Baat.
"Yes," he said, "I think it is."
Sallina looked at Nerboculus. He bowed to her from the shade of his blue canopy.
"And don't forget to tell them about Nerboculus. He sent them here."
"I will," Garibaldi said.