“Here’s your pay for the day.  Because of how the Young Master is, you’ll be paid after each lesson, so that you won’t be short changed if you choose to quit,” Seamus said, handing Harou three gold coins.

Harou accepted the coins with a short bow, and tucked them into his belt bag.  Three gold coins was a very generous pay to receive daily.  His soldier’s pay had been roughly one gold coin a week.  These people were definitely quite rich!

“Do you need anything else from me today?” Harou asked.

Seamus shook his head.

“No, there’s no expectations of you other than lessons.  Perhaps the Young Master will want afternoon lessons as well as morning lessons at some point, but I doubt you’re a miracle worker.”

Harou chuckled and shrugged.  He pulled himself up on his crutch and began the hobble down the hill.

The lycan found cold sandwiches and an assortment of fruit and vegetables awaiting him back at the guardhouse.  He puzzled over the food as he ate it.  Was the maid doing this of her own accord, or were the masters of this house just that generous?  Harou kind of doubted a sword instructor would abandon this post if it included free food, but who knows?  Maybe they were just more spoiled here than he was used to.

After lunch, he rested for a while, thinking about the goblin market and what he might find there.  Of course, he hoped someone there would have or know of a cure for the venom that hobbled him, but there were so many other things that could be discovered in a place like that.

All manner of unusual creatures and non-human races would visit such a place for rare or magical merchandise.  Part of him looked forward to seeing what variety of people he might see.

When the ache in Harou’s leg subsided to its normal level, Harou forced himself off the bed with a groan.  He grabbed his pay and headed, slowly, into town.

The lycan explored the darker, seedier side of town, greasing palms and listening to rumors.

“You want a rare cure for something?  Um, have you tried the temple?”

“Rare goods?  I can’t afford such things, so I wouldn’t know.”

“Magic?  No, why would you ask me about that?  I’m no mage.”

“I heard the mage tower studies artifacts.  Is that the kind of rare, magical item you’re looking for?”

“I’ve heard of a sort of black market that deals in rare and unusual goods, but I’ve never been there myself.  I’m already in too much trouble with the law.”

“I heard there’s a place where the non-humans set up a market like ours, but you don’t want to go there!  You’d be eaten by monsters for sure, with that bum leg of yours!”

Harou took a break to have a snack from a street stall nearby.  He sat on a nearby bench to rest his leg.  Walking around was really taxing.  He’d never realized before how much he took his legs and stamina for granted.  He was a soldier, he could push through pain, but this venom was beyond what he was used to suffering with.

He watched people walk for a while as he ate grilled meat off a wooden skewer.  It was well-seasoned with local spices, and Harou found himself quite enjoying the flavor combination.  It was different from home, but good.

Dotted among the crowd of humans wandering the market were a few of their allied races.  He saw a few elves, and a few more dwarves, and a surprisingly high volume of gnomes.  After reflecting, Harou supposed that made sense.  This city was known for its gadgetry, which was very much in a gnome’s wheelhouse.

Harou wondered if he should buy a pocket watch for his brother-in-law.  The duke

“Excuse me, young pup,” a voice called out behind him.

Harou froze.  Someone knew what he was?  That was unusual, even for other non-humans.  Unless someone saw a lycan shift, there wasn’t much indication that they weren’t a normal human, especially in Harou’s case since his hair was simply red-streaked brown.  Even amber eyes were not unheard of in humans, since a light enough brown could appear as such.  He slowly turned around, eyeing the cloaked figure behind him with great caution.  No features were visible beneath the heavy brown cloak, the hood pulled all the way forward.  The most Harou could make out was a flash of pointed teeth when the figure spoke.

“If you’re looking for rare goods, the goblin market is your best bet.”

Harou nodded warily and said, “Yes, I’ve been trying to find it.”

“Excellent.  Come this way,” the stranger said.

Harou’s eyes narrowed and he shook his head and crossed his arms.

“No.  Why should I trust you?” he asked bluntly.  The stranger laughed.

“You’re wise to be wary, young pup.  But I’m your only lead.  Follow me or not, your choice.”  The stranger turned and began walking off.

“Only if you tell me how you knew I was looking for something too rare to find in a regular market,” Harou insisted.

The stranger paused and looked over his shoulder.  Harou couldn’t see his expression with his face still obscured by the hood of his cloak.

“The goblin market has many spies who wander the world, keeping an eye out for customers.  Some of them are able to detect things with other senses than their eyes, though.  Some can even detect… poisons…” the stranger said ominously, before turning and striding off.

Harou hesitated, and put his hands on his weapons to make sure they were still in place.  He made a mental check of the knives he had hidden for emergencies.  When he was sure he could defend himself, he hurried after the cloaked stranger, unsurprised to see they had waited for him after rounding a corner.  Harou wasn’t sure if that was suspicious, or if the stranger was just an eager salesman at the goblin market.

He felt a bit of annoyance that the stranger had bluffed leaving him behind.  Even if he’d been inclined to sprint after him like a child promised candy, he was in no condition to do so.  He fixed his expression to a steely neutral, except for a ferocity in his amber eyes that he wasn’t skilled enough of an actor to mask.

The lycan wove through the crowd, trailing after the stranger.  It didn’t seem like they were going anywhere specific.  The route just meandered through the normal marketplace and alleyways around it.

As they walked, Harou reflected on the city, and couldn’t help but compare it to the small coastal town where he was raised.  Here, the buildings ranged in height from single- or two-story homes and shops like he was used to, to soaring five- and six-story, if not more, inns and apartment buildings.  From some of the buildings, he imagined one would even be able to see over the city’s massive walls.  The main street was wide enough for four horse-drawn carriages, though it seemed frowned upon for carriages or carts to pull up alongside each other like that since it blocked foot traffic.  Some side streets were wide enough for two carts, but most were only wide enough for one.  Many buildings had alleyways between them, usually just wide enough for two men his size to walk shoulder to shoulder, but many of them were so narrow Harou had to turn sideways to pass through.  The alleys connected between buildings like a maze in some parts of the city, like the way they were walking now.

Here in the city, humans lived alongside their allied races, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings.  Even some neutral races could be found here, like the elemental races, djinn, sylphs, naiads and oreads.  That was very different from his hometown, where all the inhabitants were human, or secretly lycans.  He’d never even seen any arcoudans or gatans in the area, though his father said some had occasionally passed through the town when he and Harou’s mother were young.  Harou’s hometown also only had buildings two-stories tall, except the town hall which had three.  The main street was wide enough for two carriages to pass, and side streets wide enough for one.  Buildings were laid out so there weren’t really alleyways, with connected walls in each block between side streets.

Everything in the city was built with stone, as well, which differed from the stone foundation and wooden walls of his hometown.  He kind of missed the warmth and smell of wooden walls.  The stone walls of the city made everything cold.  Maybe it was partially an illusion, but it seemed many of the residents also felt the same way.  The fireplaces at the inns were all larger than what he was used to, and it seemed every bedroom in these stone houses had their own fireplaces.  Harou had noticed the humidity clung to the stones, making the walls feel slick and clammy, which further contributed to the sensation of the buildings being cold.  Rooms with fireplaces were blessedly immune to the dampness, which Harou was sure was the biggest reason to have one in every bedroom.