Xep spent a lot of time quickly reading through all the books in the exhaustive library in the home of Sardonios. Unfortunately she did not see anything in any of the books that could offer a shred of hope in solving their problem. None of the magical books spoke of the stone circles as being portals in any capacity. This shocked and made Xep a bit depressed but she continued to pour through the books in the hopes that she could find something that could provide inside.
In the meantime, Trillian spent his time tracking down his contacts in the hopes he could figure the time and location of where the next goblin market was going to be held it had been a long time since he had gotten to go to one. After his beloved passed away, he stopped trying to go to the things that reminded him of his old ways and the old world, located across the veil. However, now that he had Paige and Xep, he was excited once more and could almost practically taste the upcoming reunion. He wanted to hear the strange, otherworldly music that the traveling bards played in the center of the playa. He wanted to eat the sun-kissed foods the vendors proffered to everyone, tempting them with their warm, buttery sunflower breads, or their soup, or the freshly killed and cooked meats spiced with concoctions that could not be found in most grocery stores or restaurants.
One contact lead him to another. His first contact, a homeless man who went by the name of Speck, and sat at the corner of Burnside and second street, told him that he had no idea of what he was talking about. Twenty two dollars refreshed his memory and Speck told him that he knew a guy that juggled near the Saturday Market at the fountain who had heard the latest and greatest date. Trillian grumbled and patiently waited two days until the market was in full swing. Around two thirty in the afternoon, he met up with the juggler who agreed to tell him that the market was indeed on its way through the Pacific Northwest but wanted to keep attendees on the low count this term. Trillian sighed and flashed his medallion at the juggler, who recognized the symbols carved on it, and caved in on the exact location. Feeling a bit bad about what he threatened the juggler with, Trillian dumped another twenty dollars into the small, black top hat that the guy had set up in front of him. The juggler flashed a untrusting grin at Trillian before turning away to continue amazing and dazzling the hordes of people who started swarming around him.
Trillian smiled, he was pleased that his tracking skills still had their mojo and paid off. Finally, after a week of searching dates and locations, he had what he wanted. He knew the location of the next goblin market. And true to their predictions, it was going to be held close to Portland. Actually, as long as they could find a car or scrape together some means of proper transportation, they could be at the market within an hour or two. Apparently the market was set up for awhile in the woods near a town called Kelso, that was directly off of the highway called Interstate five.
“Looks like we are all set,” Trillian smiled at Paige when they met up at the Roxy. “Only problem is that we will need a car to get there. It is close, and apparently, the market will be there for awhile. Seems like the traders want to take as much time as they can up here this time around. I wonder if it has anything to do with the coneol being pumped into the air. This could be a very good trip, if we can get there. First things first, however, and we do need transportation.”
Paige leaned into him and hooked her arm around his arm and leaned her head on his bicep, “Leave the transportation details to me. I have a few friends who I can hit up for cars. I am sure that as long as we promise not to damage the car and keep it on a full tank for when we return it, one of them will let me borrow it for a few days.”
Trillian smiled back, “Tell your friends that we are even willing to toss in a good car wash. Hopefully that will cinch the deal.”
“Oh, totally,” Paige said sneaking a french fry off his plate. She dipped it in a mixture of ketchup, mustard, and mayo before slowly pushing it between her lips and eating it. “I think, Trill, that we have a deal. You go ahead and tell the others what we are planning and I will see if I can get the car.”
They kissed lightly on the lips. Paige grabbed her bag and sauntered off to find her friends. As it were a Saturday, she knew that many of them would be down by the waterfront, hanging around or drumming or practicing their fire spinning for all the people flooding the area around the Saturday Marketplace. She hummed as she made her way down the busy sidewalks and even took a slight detour to see what goods were being sold at the Saturday Market. There were many people at the Saturday Market, there was even a cacophony of sounds and sights that flooded her mind. She inhaled deeply and reveled in the insanity that was the market place. People were hawking all sorts of interesting hand made goods. She perused a booth that was selling delicate and hand made jewelry that incorporated beads and stones in intricate patterns and designs. She saw two people making music from custom band saws. Paige even saw many of her friends wandering around, as they also looked at all the goodies being offered. She waved and smiled as she rejoined her community of friends.
After an hour of playing around with poi and laughing and drumming, Paige finally got down to business. “Hey Serena,” she called out to a buxum blonde that was spinning a set of blue and red practice poi with fuzzy balls at their ends, “Come here. I need to ask you a favor.”
“What up sweetie,” Serena said as she moved over to Paige, while she still flung her poi in circles.
“Can I borrow your car tomorrow? I know it is short notice and all but I got this gig that I need to do and I want to take my new friends to see me dance. Trill’s never seen me dance and I would love to dazzle him with the flames. I promise not to wreak it or go faster than sixty, and I promise to keep the tank full of gas and I will even personally give it a bath once we are back in town. I will wash it by hand and not use one of those automated thingies.”
Serena stopped spinning and frowned, “I dunno Paige. My car is a total junker but I do need it for work and everything. Where do you plan on going anyways?”
“Kelso. And come on, you know I am totally good for this. Look, I am even promising to keep it clean and we both know that that is something I hate to do. And it is just for a single day so come on? I will have it back to you before monday morning,” Paige pleaded and batted her eyelashes. “Please, please, please say yes,” she repeated over and over like a mantra in her head.
Serena fiddled with her poi as she contemplated the request, “Okay. Fine. Cuteness for the win. Go ahead and take the car.” She pulled a set of car keys out from her pocket. There was a plastic molded doll hanging off the chain, and a few small plastic plaques that read “You suck and that is sad” and “I am spoiled, just look at my car”. “Just promise me that you will get it back to me tomorrow night. I do not want to lose my job at the salon, it sucks but it does pay the rent.”
“Yay,” Paige said, hopping up off the grass and giving Serena a huge hug that almost bowled the two girls over. “I promise to treat it better than myself. Nothing is going to go wrong with the car, I promise. Thank you thank you thank you.” She grabbed the keys and took off in the direction of where Serena parked her car in a tall parking garage that was nearby.
The others were gathered around a map when she got back. She triumphantly held the keys up in the air and coughed, “Ahem, did someone call for personal transportation?”
They looked up and Trillian smiled. “Oh goodie, I always wanted my own personal chauffeur. I see your friends could not resist that charm you have.”
“Of course not, they love me,” she teased. “Okay, deal is that we have it for tomorrow only. And we need to keep it gassed up and clean. When we get it back in town I will have to wash it, of course the rest of you are welcome to help me do that too. But yes, our little road trip is on. I take it that you three have been gathered around the map to figure out the logistics of getting there?”
“Yes,” Xep said, “it is somewhere nearby the city but out in the wilderness. I am sure that they have magic barriers up to protect the sound from escaping, otherwise the city police system would get called in to investigate. I figure we go in, look around, barter for anything that looks useful and then leave. Hopefully we can find some thing good for relatively little cost. Sardonios has offered to make a few random concoctions with his alchemy skills that we could use to barter in exchange so that we do not get swindled completely out of our money.”
“Awesome,” Paige said. “It is getting late and I need to get my gear ready for my show. I will leave you guys to figure out the rest of the details. It is time for me to make some money doing what I do best. Toodles.”
**************
It was early morning and it was dark outside. Sardonios watched as Xep and Trillian loaded up the car with various bags and boxes. Their plan was to go in with some potions and books and attempt to use that as bartering trade for anything that looked like a suitable way to block the coneol from escaping further into the atmosphere. Trillian and Sardonios would peddle the items, while Xep would go off on her own to see if she could gather information and intelligence from the traveling market on the fissures. She was almost sure that the tribe of people had to have some information on the disturbances and that they were willing to sell it or trade it for some of the things she could tell them in return. Paige decided that it would be in her best interests to stick close to Trillian but she also figured that she could spin some fire or locate other spinners at the market as well. Trillian was not sure that there would be anyone for her to share tricks with but Paige reminded him that oddball festivals such as traveling markets always offered something for the local fire spinner. “Look at the phenomena called Burning Man,” she winked at Trillian,” “That attracts almost one hundred thousand people a year into that small space and I know, from having attended it a few years back, that a good chunk of those attendees are fire spinners or people seeking mentors to become one. There is never just one fire spinner in any location. There is always at least two or more.”
Trillian packed one more item in the trunk of the car, it was a long slender, cylinder tube. “What is in the tube,” Xep asked, pointing to the case.
“A little insurance policy. Most goblin markets have a rule that no weapons can be carried on site. It is rather standard procedure and it keeps a lot of the riff-raff from coming in and causing trouble. However, I am not that trusting so I am bringing my sword with us. Do not worry, I do not plan on using it unless we really need to. No one will notice this either. I have had a lot of good charms put over this baby so what most people will see is just a long slim pool cue case. They will think the sword is a pool cue itself and will wave it off. I have taken this baby around to many situations and have never had to use it once.”
Xep was wary about bringing a weapon with them but allowed the gesture to slide, “As you say so. I hope that we will not need it there at all.”
Trillian nodded as he closed the truck. It clanged down with a bang and soon after, they were off and on the road, heading to the location that Trillian’s contacts. Paige napped almost the entire way there. She had been up and out almost all night long. The rest of the group kept talking light and to a minimum. Not much was said about the fissures or what was about to come.
Sardonios turned off the highway and found himself on a small two lane highway. They almost missed their turn off onto the four eight oh nine logging road because it was just a dusty dirt trail. Paige winced as the car went over a few potholes. She hoped that they were not damaging anything underneath the car. “That is all I need, to spend the next few of my hard earned monies from dancing fixing Serena’s car. ”
“I am sure everything will be fine. Now keep your eyes on the road,” Sardonios said, “I would like to avoid hitting any more of those huge holes.”
After another hour of driving, as the sun was finally peaking out from behind the clouds, they heard a noise coming from off in the distance. Smoke could also be seen rising up over the tall evergreen trees. The energy in the car was electric as everyone held their breath and hoped that they could pass through the gates of the goblin market without any issues.
Two huge black painted old fashioned school busses parked in a v-shape at the front entrance to the market. Two men stood in front of the busses, holding what appeared to be gun like weapons of some sort. One of them gestured for Sardonios to stop the car and roll down their window.
“What be your business here,” he said with a strange accent. Xep looked the person over and saw that he wore tightly woven leather pants and a jacket. A faded black t-shirt with a print that was so badly worn off showed just barely underneath the jacket. He wore a leather thong around his neck that had large canine teeth hanging from it. Xep got the impression that the people they were dealing with were like herself and Trillian, members of a past troupe of traveling gypsies that were trapped on this side of the veil. She hoped that none of them could detect her presence inside the body.
“We are here to trade, barter and maybe tell some stories or dance. We have come far to visit the market and would like to be given permission to pass through.”
The men snorted words at one another that were strangely familiar and yet foreign to Xep. She leaned over to the front seat and whispered at Trillian, “If this does not work, what do we do next?”
“It will work, just give it time. Relax,” he said turning his head around in the seat. “It will work.”
The two continued to speak and click at one another. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the two stepped aside and waved them on through.
“Welcome to the Market. Rules are on the board to your right. Obey them and there will not be any problems. Break them and be judged harshly.”
