"I told you they look like foxes"
"Yeah... But this is weird. I would never have believed you without seeing you. C'mon, let's tell the sergeant."
The two Inari were quickly surrounded by a band of warriors. They raised there arms, and the leader of the warriors asked them a couple of questions. They seemed not to understand, so he gave them a sign to follow. But one of the Inari traders took a piece of paper from his pocket, and tagged it to the priest. He could clearly understand their next question, even though the language seemed somewhat unfamiliar.
"We are just travelling merchants!"
"Then why are you crossing our lands, instead of trading in your own countries?
"We are looking for exotic goods."
"I fear you are wrong then. We only have normal trade goods"
"That is just what we are looking for, any trade goods coming from far away countries are welcome"
"Far away, you say. Then where are you coming from?"
"From the east, far across the ocean. Further away than the jesters, if you know them."
"If you come from the east, you know we trade with them. If you are just as interested in fur and obsidian as they are, then we have what you need. But what is it that you can offer us?"
The two merchants removed the giant scrolls they had been carrying on their backs and rolled them out on the ground. Then they took brush and inkstone, and wrote a sign on it. With a large cloud of smoke, countless goods appeared.
There were barrels with drinks, sacks of rice, colorful clothes of superior quality, iron knifes and daggers, jewelry, crafts, and also stacks of more of those weird paper things
"Those... Grains," asked the priest, "they look like the things our farmers grow, but harder, and smaller. Can you eat it?"
"You first have to cook them in water before eating them."
"Hmm. I guess we could bring you to the Xolitl, he'll be interested. Follow."
The two merchants let their goods disappear back into the scroll, then followed the leader.
He brought them to the temple, and before they were there, a crowd of curious people was following.
The warriors lead the traders trough some twisty corridors, sometimes halting them, going forward in a strange jumping pattern, pushing a stone or a statue, and then letting the traders come trough.
"Are your markets always that hidden?"
The priest started laughing
"I'm not leading you to our market. You have to see our Xolithl, our leader, he who walks between us and our god"
The merchants talked amongst each other : "Jackpot"
They were brought into a study, with small windows looking over the better part of the town, and a tall, strong man is standing behind a table.
He talks a few words with the priest, who tells the trader he will translate.
"Axayacoloc-Xochitl welcomes you to the City of Rain. He says he is interested in trading, and would like you to show what goods you have with you"
The traders once again unpack their goods. The priests start examining the goods, smell the drink, feel the cloth...
"We see you have strange, and possibly valuable goods for us. Now tell us, what is it exactly that we can give you in return? These clothes, food and drinks are interesting, as is the shiny rock weaponry."
"This is not rock, it's metal my lord. It is vastly superior to any rock"
"It looks like the shiny rocks our miners tend to find, yet that is too rough to work with. A skilled shiny rock crafter could teach us a lot."
"The secret how to bring iron into the form desired is very valueable, and in fact, I do not know how it is done. We will send notice to our lords at home, so they may negotiate wether or not this secret can be entrusted to you, and for what price. For now, please take one of those daggers as a gift, so you can test how superior this is to rock"
"It looks like my club, so I know how superior it is. But I'll gladly take your gift, and because of your bravery, I will reward you with the rank of Warrior of the Jaguar."
He hands the merchants two capes, made from jaguar pelt and decorated with small gems and teeth.
The merchants eyes widen to the extreme, examining the pelt
"Do you have more of those furs? It doesn't have to be decorated with gems, no need, but we would love to take them in return for our tradegoods."
"We have many more furs than we need, but those jaguar furs are not for trade. It would be a shame to see one who is not worthy walking around in jaguar fur. Other than that, all animals we kill have furs you can buy."
The merchants look disappointed.
"We will have a look at them then"
The priest gives a sign to one of the warriors, and the warrior runs off. He comes back with a pile of furs, all from various animals, and some furs are from panthers - but none of those jaguars.
The traders appraise them, and talk a bit amongst each other
"How many of those can you sell me for all of the tradegoods you see here?"
"We can give you two hundred big furs for all of it, or six hundred small ones - but we don't need the paper or the jewels. We also have gems which you might be interested in, they have no use for us but the occasional encrusting of our temple."
"Oh, you don't need those papers? Please, let me demonstrate why you "do" need them"
One of the merchants takes a cup from his goods, and throws it on the ground shattering it
he then takes one of the spells, sais "Release" and the paper burns away. The cup starts to repair itself, and is as good as new
"And that's just one of many uses, we have others in our sortiment too"
"Well, let me tell you this. When I break a cup, I make a new one. It costs me nothing but a rock, manpower and time, all of which we have enough of. Then why would I pay so much for the lazy way of ding it? Work rewards you with strength and statisfaction, none of which you can read from a piece of paper."
"Hmph, you are the boss. Only the normal goods then, we will take the big furs."
"That's okay. Well, before you go, the road is long and dangerous, and someone might think you stole those capes. I'll let an escort come with you, at least till Jester City, and if your Boats That Travel Seas can carry more, I would like to send a diplomat along."
"Err, sure, why not, thank you. We should get going soon then, the way is long"
"And now", the old man said, "I shall tell you the tale of Onituatl, the hero that gave its name to this village. Onituatl was a man of great courage, and no man could stand before him and live. He did not enjoy slaughter, yet he enjoyed fight, and one year, he was leading his army to great victories again. Waiting for him was the beautifil and brave Xenntal, who he loved more than anything else. She should have come with him, was it not that their third child was just born a few hours before and she still needed to rest."
"Happily, he returned to his home after months of fighting, eager to see his home and son. But when he came home, he did not found his family as he had hoped for. He found his village burnt and looted, and terrified, he started running to where his house once was. The moment he saw the face of his beloved girl, pale and without life, he cried for the first time in his life. And his army cried with him, as they all lost their family, and all of them were full of rage and anger for those who had commited such a vile deed, attacking a city when there were only kids and elders. They swore the oath that day, that as long as they had blood in their veins, they would hunt those responsible, and they would not rest ere all of them had fallen under their blades. And that same day, they departed."
"Onituatl was not eager anymore, his whole hearth filled with nothing but anger. And anger might be more dangerous than eagerness, it is food for the spirit and the body, and thus his army marched for twenty-seven weeks, without ever sleeping or eating, for Quanitzin helped them, and their anger drove them."
"It was after those weeks that they came upon a fortress, made of the strongest of stone, impossible to take, with hundreds of thousands of warriors ready to fight them, while they were only five hundred. And yet they fought."
"They climbed the walls with their bare hands, they made their stand on the walls, and while arrows and spears were raining upon them, they fought. Each man fought with twice his strenght, and each killed a hundred man, yet there were to many. One by one, they fell. There rage had let them fight with the skill and the power of the jaguar, their senses those of the eagle, but still, they fell. All but Onituatl fell, and he spoke the words: "Might the Sky Serpent of Quanitzin strike fear in your hearts!" and he jumped off the wall, because he didn't want to be captured alive, and he broke his neck. But the vile creatures that had looted the village had claimed the power of life and death, and they raised Onituatl to do their biddings, and they raised their own fallen warriors from the death, and they laughed at the Cuahuatl and their puny god, who couldn't resurrect them nor kill their adversaries. And that whas when they first heard it. Thud. The sound of wings, far away, yet powerful, and it came closer. Thud. And the Flying Serpent of Quanitzl raise above the walls, its wingspan a hundred feet, and it spitted fire, and its bite was poison, and it murdered all those who claimed to have power over life and death. And it will do so forevermore."
Thud.
Thud.
The people round the fire, the animals in the forest, the fish in the river, the trees around the village they all knew what was happening. Thud. Someone had claimed the power of life and death. Thud. Someone had to die.
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Topic: Battle of the Gods II (an RP thread) - Second Edition (Read 8462 times)