06. You Get What You Pay For (Vaye)¶
The Eyewall’s rumble faded as Vaye entered one of the signature double archways that led down to the sobração, the network of tunnels and caves beneath Thelenza’s streets. Like all such entrances, the stonework was sculpted to resemble the delicate curves of an ear. Vaye supposed that made her the wax. The top of the inner arch was shiny and smooth from generations of Cantereians who had reached up and stroked it for luck, but she kept her hands to herself. Good way to catch a skin disease, touching that thing.
At the bottom of the dark stairwell, Vaye emerged into a broad thoroughfare. The cavern was brightly lit by dozens of oil lamps hanging from the stalactites, although their mates on the floor had been flattened. Cantereians bustled past, parcels bouncing on their backs or carts bumping along the stone walkways as they carried out the business of their Sarmalan employers. Vaye received a few glances as she joined the throng, Anashi being rare in any setting, but the Cantereians were mostly too busy to focus on her.
Vaye wasn’t fond of crowds or confined spaces, but something about the sobração put her at ease. The Cantereians were shoddy and malnourished, but they hummed to themselves, their voices somehow combining into a single harmonious tone. Unlike the cacophony of the city above, the sobração sounded somehow natural, akin to the laughter of a brook or the sighing of the wind through the trees.
She came to a dank vertical crack in the wall of the cavern, barely wide enough for her shoulders, and sidled through like a cockroach, glad she wasn’t wearing her pack. She chuckled at the thought of Belosveka attempting to squeeze through it. That would require quite a bit of grease. It had never been clear how much Belosveka knew about the Tashiya, but the woman had certainly not forgotten about it like Vaye had hoped she would. Although the coins jingling in Vaye’s purse proved that she had gotten the best of their exchange, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the big Dzharian had somehow manipulated her.
The crack spat her out into a long, dim cavern filled with steam and smelling strongly of sulfur and mildew, a few sputtering braziers generating ruddy, inadequate light. Along one wall, a row of narrow spouts emitted streams of hot water into shallow stone basins, part of the vast hydro-volcanic system that also powered the Eyewall. Next to the basins, workers scrubbed away at piles of laundry, several Anashi families among them. Laundry was one of the few acceptable trades for Vaye’s people, and had provided employment for her mother in Edeweri. After departing from Belosveka’s compound, Vaye had briefly considered seeking work down here, but hadn’t been able to bring herself to spend her days in such stifling conditions. She preferred being desperately poor above ground to being slightly less poor below.
Fihro and Musab were right where she expected, slouching against a wall and rolling dice with a few younger Cantereian miscreants. The place was so unpleasant that the law seldom bothered them, and the steam provided cover for their illicit transactions. They were like fleas living in the safety of a giant armpit, but at least it kept them out of her way.
Fihro glanced up as she emerged from the steam, his unctuous grin diminishing slightly. He sniffed, nudging Musab. “Suddenly smells worse in here, eh?” Musab gave a confused chuckle as he covertly sniffed his own shirt.
“I’d like to buy some nownow,” Vaye said.
“Yeah?” He straightened and spat on the ground. “With what? I told you—”
“Actually, I’ll take all of it,” she interrupted, echoing Belosveka’s words. She opened her palm and flashed the aurei, warily eyeing the crowd of curious urchins who stood on their tiptoes to see what she was holding. “You said seven for the ball, right?”
“Where did you get that?” Fihro whispered, his eyes wide.
She savored his look of envy and confusion. “Do you want it or not?”
The Cantereian’s confusion visibly turned to greed. Even Musab was licking his lips now, although it was possible he just wanted the salt. “The price has gone up,” Fihro said. “Ten aurei.”
Vaye sighed dramatically and turned to leave. “Fine. I’ll take my money elsewhere.”
“Wait!” Fihro said, grabbing her sleeve. She looked down at his hand disdainfully until he let go. “Wait. Okay, eight.”
“Seven,” she said, holding her closed fist in the air. “Like you told me before.”
Fihro was almost quivering, confirmation enough that he was still ripping her off. He held out his hand for the money and she moved back a step. “The nownow,” she said pointedly.
Eyes locked on her closed fist, he nodded to Musab, who pulled out the baggie and handed it over. She confirmed that it was the right bag before finally giving Fihro the gold. “I would say it was a pleasure doing business with you but, well…” she shrugged.
She slipped back into the cloud of steam, barely managing to keep from laughing out loud. She hadn’t felt so confident in ages, like she could go anywhere. Wealth was a kind of intoxication she could definitely get used to.
Beta Readers: Click the that appears beside any paragraph to leave a comment. You're already signed in — no extra account needed.
Your comments are private — only you and the author can see them, and you can edit or delete them at any time.