The Angel of Elydria (The Dawn Mirror Chronicles Book 1) (8 page)

They wandered around the nighttime marketplace between the glowing lamps of pale blue and misty green until they spotted a shop with an assortment of different clothing displayed in the warmly lit windows. With a sinking sense of disappointment, Penny saw that she could not read the shop’s display sign.

“Hey! Your spell is already broken! The sign’s still in their language,” Penny said as she pushed the door open and heard the tiny silver bell overhead tinkle.

“The spell only functions with spoken communication,” Hector explained.

The problem was forgotten as Penny found herself confronted with several specimens of opulent and striking clothing. Delighted, she browsed through what might have passed off as costumes from a fantastical film and set about admiring flowing silk gowns and parasols until Hector reminded her that they were impractical. The shopkeeper, a curvy woman with ginger-blonde hair and a pair of spectacles, rushed over after seeing Penny’s excitement and ushered her around the shop, prattling on. Penny spotted a sophisticated blue traveling jacket with intricate gold embroidery in the back of the store.

“Oh, this
is
a fine item, right here! It’s made of the finest filth-resistant, damp-resistant and stain-resistant material―and if you buy it with the other display items, you’ll get a discount!”

Penny smiled as she admired the accompanying items: a white ruffled blouse, a blue skirt that fell to just above the knee, and black leggings. The shopkeeper asked her if she wanted to try it on and she agreed with a tiny nod. With a wave of a pair of enchanted silver scissors, the entire outfit was swapped with Penny’s clothes. The saleswoman flourished the scissors about to help expand and tighten the material in different places until it reached a comfortable fit.

Penny looked herself over with a shy grin. “I’ll take it!”

Penny picked out a pair of boots and Hector selected a new shirt, a sensible green vest, and a pair of trousers. He milled about the shop, grabbing a few more items here and there and talking in a low voice to the shopkeeper. He found a set of satchels that had been enchanted so that the things placed inside were stored at a faraway location, which meant they could carry as much as they wanted and it would weigh next to nothing. They approached the register with their bags, wearing the new sets of clothes.

“Your total comes to three topaz, and one amethyst Yuebell, sir. We take transfer slips, as well,” the bespectacled woman recited with a bit of cheer as she tallied the price up, using her enchanted scissors as a pen. Penny was enthralled as Hector produced a small sack from his pocket and plucked out a handful of little round stones, each no bigger than a marble. He counted out the correct amount and handed it to the shopkeeper, who gave a toothy smile and thanked them. Penny sauntered out of the store, enjoying the feel of her new clothes and the small relief of fitting in with the crowd that came with them.

“So those little jewels are the money of this world?” she questioned.

“Obviously,” Hector replied with a hint of arrogance. “The color indicates the value. I discovered before that you can combine similar types of a lower value. The stones will draw together and change color. Tapping on it will also break them apart, see?” He showed Penny a handful of the brilliant stones. Tiny star-like points of light swam within the jewels, like fireflies trapped in a jar. Hector pulled a single blue stone out of the sack and rapped the top with his finger. It shivered a little before springing apart into five yellow pieces. Penny watched in wonderment as he squeezed them back together before pocketing the Yuebells and resuming their walk.

They passed through another poorly lit alley where vendors watched them go by with hungry eyes, silently begging them to buy something from their carts. Penny could see more of the amphibian-like men crouched in groups in many of the alleyways.

“I think we passed a tavern a while back. This way,” Hector said as he tugged Penny away from a cart covered with painted animal skulls and flickering candles. The man keeping shop had long pointy ears and cast Hector a dark look as they rounded the corner onto a wider and busier street. Steam-powered vehicles clanked by beside carts drawn by exotic beasts of burden.

They soon located the tavern Hector had mentioned. Hector explained that his glasses had been enchanted to allow him to read text from other languages and translated the sign post, identifying that the tavern was called
The Dancing Dragon
. Inside, a few grimy lanterns shone through the dimness and guests chatted amongst themselves. Every so often a peal of raucous laughter would rise up from the corner booth like a wave and die down again. Penny watched a tall woman with long chestnut hair and a small scar on the left side of her face wipe down glasses behind the bar while eyeing the crowd like a hawk. The wall behind her was filled with bottles of every shape and color. A faint, warbling tune whined out of a phonograph-like object at the end of the bar.

They managed to pick out meals that seemed remotely familiar from the menu, and the bartender brought them their food with the same cold unflinching look on her face. Penny was pleased with the quality of the meal; it was reminiscent of a pot pie, but full of vegetables she’d never seen or tasted and an unrecognizable meat. She did not care to know what kind of animal it had come from and went on eating, forcing herself to think of something else. Hector finished eating, pulled out a thick strip of paper from his pocket and spread it out on the bar top in front of them. Penny leaned over in the dim light and saw that it was a map.

“I picked this up at the tailor’s,” he told her before she could ask. “It’s a map of this world.”

Penny gazed with a furrowed brow at the map, running her fingers over the creases and studying the unfamiliar territories with interest.

“It’s called Elydria,” Hector read the spindly text aloud.

“El-ee-dree-ahh,” Penny repeated, testing the word out.

“I believe we are currently right―” Hector tapped his slender finger to a tiny dot on a continent on the right of the map, “―here…just north of the river that separates this country from the Nation of Elves. In the town of Dewthorne.”

“Now, the most astute plan of action is to find as much information about Elydria as we can. We need to know how things like magic, energy, economy, culture, and politics work here. Perhaps their knowledge of other worlds is extensive. Our predicament may even be commonplace here. Knowledge is invariably the most important factor of success―and I must admit that I am rather delighted for the opportunity to closely study yet another world and lear―”

“Okay, okay. Got it. So where do we get information?” Penny asked, snapping him out of his effervescent state. She resented him for being so ecstatic about their situation, and then remembered he most likely had no one to miss back on Earth.

“A library, of course,” Hector said with the same smile he used when explaining a new concept in class. “And since there isn’t a sufficient source of public literature in this town, according to my shop-keeping informant, we need to go from here―” he walked his fingers from the dot that was Dewthorne on the map across a painted forest, town, and river to a star at the top of the continent, “―to the capital. That’s where we’ll supposedly find a massive library simply brimming with books just waiting to be read. I’m certain we will find a solution to our problem there.”

Penny thought about it for a while. A few inches on the map were sure to be long, arduous miles of dangerous and untamed territory. “It’s a fair idea, in theory, I suppose. I’m not sure about this, Professor. But I’ll trust you on this.”

“Just Hector, if you don’t mind,” he said stiffly as he counted out several Yuebells in his palm and set them on the bar next to their empty plates.

Collecting their bags, Hector consulted with the bartender about lodgings and then led Penny up to their assigned room. Inside was a single bed, and after an awkward silence broken only by some throat clearing and false starts from Hector, he managed to say he would be happy to sleep on the floor.

Penny retreated to the bathroom. After double checking that the door was locked, she took a long, hot bath, emerging in a cloud of steam and feeling much cleaner, but somehow more worried than ever. She was careful to avoid Hector’s gaze as she scurried into the bed and burrowed under the covers. An overwhelming sense of exhaustion had taken hold over her body, but something prevented Penny from finding sleep. After about twenty minutes she saw the light fade from the room and listened to the muffled sounds of Hector curling up on the floor in a corner of the room. Penny sighed to herself.

The reality of her situation began to solidify in her mind, bringing a gripping feeling of nausea that refused to ease. Penny thought of her mother and her face screwed up as she suppressed a whimper. Thoughts of her warm quilt at home, her stack of unfinished books, and the smell of banana muffins in her kitchen exacerbated the spinning in her head to a state of acute discomfort.

How am I going to get through this? I can’t. I’m not cut out for this; I’m not strong enough. Things like this shouldn’t happen to people like me.

Anxiety fought to keep her awake and alert, but her eyelids grew heavier. The sounds of the night and Hector’s soft breathing seemed farther away. In a half-conscious desire for comfort, her shaking fingers grasped the tiny silver pendant she had taken from her mother’s store. Last night seemed like years ago. Penny drifted away, and for a few quiet hours, left behind the turmoil of feeling lost somewhere under Elydrian skies.

T
he peculiar town came to life again the next morning, and as Penny ventured into the marketplace alongside Hector, she had to admit that Dewthorne was far less intimidating than it had seemed at night.

In the center of the town were a collection of stalls and a row of shops, all sporting a splendid array of goods. Penny and Hector bought some fresh glazed rolls to chew on while they wandered through the crowded aisles in search of useful goods to take with them on what promised to be a long and uncomfortable journey. Hector purchased medicines, cooking utensils, and blankets, as well as several other practical finds, such as bandages and a small knife for cooking. Nearby, a group of musical performers played a jangling tambourine, reedy pipes, and a huge, twisting horn that sang aloud in a melancholy voice. Captivated by their sound, Penny slipped away from Hector as he haggled with an irritable-looking man selling talismans.

“Mom would love it here,” Penny said to herself as a dragon swooped overhead, landed, and went about inspecting some pottery.

Stepping under the shade of the canopies, Penny discovered an object so peculiar and beguiling that it startled her just to behold it. Laid out in a corner of the square on a dirty blanket, a man wearing a fancy turban and a shining sash over his face sat before a collection of wondrous stones, each in a different pearly, iridescent color. They appeared to be filled with vein-like cracks and fibers, and sparkled and hummed. She gathered up enough courage to speak to the man, feeling her usual awkwardness with strangers return.

“Erm, excuse me, sir―what is this stuff?” she asked, pointing at the cluster of stones. The man’s expression grew skeptical, as if he were trying to tell whether she was joking or not.

“Do you not know raw magic clusters when you see them, Little Miss? Or are you trying to imply something about the quality of my merchandise?” his accented voice purred.

Penny frowned and lowered her head. “No, no…that’s not what I meant,” she shrugged. “I’m just―I’m not from around here.”

“Indeed,” the man replied with a nasty tone that said he did not believe her. “Anyway, it’s fifty diamond Yuebells for the large clusters just there―and they’re of excellent quality, I promise you that.”

“
Fifty?
Isn’t that a bit high?” Penny asked in awe.

The man seemed to be losing his patience. “Times are hard, Little Miss. Magic is growing scarcer by the day. The people continue to live wasteful lives, in spite of the shortage. But I expect a
foreigner
wouldn’t know that,” he said with a raspy laugh.

Not knowing how to react to this, she shrugged and walked away to a bench to puzzle over this strange form of magic. The air was rife with the crispness of early autumn, balancing out the sun’s heat.

Penny’s rest was interrupted by vague noises of excitement in the center of the square. A man with an entourage was making his way through a crowd gathering around a wooden platform. At the same time, someone else appeared to be pushing in the opposite direction, leaving a trail of disgruntled people. The cause of the commotion emerged and Penny’s jaw dropped. His cape and top hat made him easily recognizable as the magician she had met in the coffee shop.