Gray ate his second bite of the muffin that afternoon along with some charbrew and some crusty bread and butter. It would hold him over until they ate in the marketplace that evening.

  The sun was still relatively high in the sky when Gray went outside, thinking they would go through some kind of gate in the wall. Yellow didn’t like him leaving the house and made himself a nuisance until Gray went back inside.

  Settie had put on her disguise—a wide-brimmed hat above her mesh mask along with a cloak and her cane. The crystal was actually a skull, carved into top. Yellow mist swirled around the ornate cane.

  Gray felt a bit underdressed in his tunic and sandals. “You don’t want to be seen, but I can’t imagine you won’t stand out. I noticed you right away in the crowds. You do make quite a scene.”

  Settie held her cane like a weapon. “They will see me without seeing me. You will be stranger until you are not. Come.”

  “Why is there mana in the cane?” he asked.

  She eyed him suspiciously. “Why do you think there is mana in my cane?”

  He shrugged.

  “I collected it from the Pride Serpent. My cane can collect mana. Come.” The dragon woman went to the wall by the staircase and touched a panel. The wall slid open revealing a secret set of stone steps that disappeared into the darkness.

  Gray felt himself shiver. It had been a long day, and he still felt so depleted, and yet, the possibility of seeing a new city had him buzzing. Going through a secret passageway felt like the very essence of adventure.

  Settie gave Yellow a few playful pets. “Be a good dog. You wouldn’t like the marketplace, nor would the marketplace like you. There are too many strays as it was.”

  Yellow barked as if he understood.

  The secret door brought them down a staircase of very narrow stone steps that brought them down to a cellar filled with shelves. Most were empty, but some held jars and bags of various things. The dark mouth of a narrow passageway yawned between two empty bookcases. Gray and Settie were both so thin that they didn’t have any problems. Being so big, Carter would’ve struggled. Poor Carter.

  The crystal skull on her cane glowed, giving them light. However, it was still pretty dark.

  After a while, Gray felt something powerful above him, almost like a weight. It was difficult to breathe because of the pressure. He stopped, gazing up at the ceiling, where a dull yellow light swirled. He pointed. “We’re passing under the Hellbinder Barrier, aren’t we?”

  She nodded. “Yes. How do you know?”

  He frowned. “You don’t see the yellow light?”

  “No.” She gave him a long look. “Powerful sorcery created that wall to keep the demons inside Old Town. That’s where we live. Tell no one. And call me captain when we are in public, especially in the Pit Market. Do you understand?

  “I understand.”

  They left the wall behind and then climbed up more narrow stone steps. He would’ve asked her about the yellow light, which he assumed was mana, but he didn’t want to fight with her. Besides, the walk was tiring him out. He probably shouldn’t have gone for a run that morning. He would simply have to push beyond his limits. Blind John always said that you can do more than you think and most people chose their limits because they lacked imagination.

  Pushing through a small door, they emerged in the back of an alleyway.

  The rank smell of city back alley hit him first—such a stink! Then, the noise followed. A whole throng of people were down the way. They were closer to the Hellbinder, and Gray hurt his neck staring up at all that gray stone. Then, without another word, Settie hurried down the alley with Gray following.

  In seconds, they were out in the market.

  So many stalls! So many shops! And so many people, and not just humans either. There were squat men with beards, faces and necks marked with tattoos. With them were men with the heads of dogs, tattoos on their arms as well. Small green women passed by, round and happy, eating something out of a paper bag. Some tall, slender men passed, talking loudly. A women flew by on translucent wings, giggling at something her friend, a giant green-skinned man said through the tusks.

  There were humans as well, though most had some kind of tattoo on them as well. Regardless, it was father comforting to see such a familiar sight.

  Everything was being sold in the marketplace from a mixture of stalls and more permanent buildings.

  Settie led him to a round hole in the ground, circled by a wall that had been painted various colors. The hole was filled with brackish water. There were several round pieces of wood with candles on top drifting around the pond. At night, with the floating candles lit, the strange hole would look rather pretty.

  “So, Captain, this is why you called it Pit Market. It’s where the Wrath Tower once stood, correct?”

  She stood clutching her cane to her chest, looking down at the hole. With her mask on, there was no way to know what she was thinking. It took a finally, but finally she spoke. “You are correct. This is where the First Pylon once stood. Back then, there weren’t cities. It was all just the Belly, one continuous metropolis around the pylons, numbered one through seven. There were no angels. There were no demons. It was a wonderful, peaceful place.”

  She stormed away from the pit. “Come. You asked for frycake. I have something better.”

  She led him to a stall deeper in the market where a couple stood around a vat of boiling grease. Instead of round dough you friend, he saw a plump man pouring the frycake batter directly into the oil. An equally plump woman, with tattoos on her fingers, called out the name. “Frizzle twists! Frizzle twists for sale!”

  “What’s frizzle twists?” Gray asked.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “A pit city delicacy,” Settie replied. “It’s simply dough, very sweet, and very greasy. Would you like to eat some as we walk?”

  “I would.”

  Settie bought some, not using gold, but using small octagonal coins that Gray recognized as shekels.

  Sprinkled with powdered sugar, the frizzle twist was the most delicious thing Gray had ever eaten.

  The captain gave him the sideway through the hole in her mask. “That is a truly gluttonous treat. Do you feel anything in your core?”

  He shook his head. “No, but it is delicious. Do you want some?”

  “I have a hunger that such food can’t touch. Come.”

  People didn’t really give her many looks, despite, the hat, mask, and cane. There were so many varieties of people, and not just dog men either. There were some girls with cat ears as well as tall, stately men with pointed ears, and long flowing black hair. Huge green men with massive tusks glared at them as they went by. One vendor, selling leather goods, was a small green man with a giant nose. His wife’s nose was even bigger, and she was several shades greener. It was all so surprising.

  Gray didn’t see any dragons, but if Settie could pass as human, others could as well.

  Names from stories came to him…elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, beastkin, fairies.

  Suddenly, the frizzle twist weren’t sitting well on his stomach.

  “Captain,” Gray said. “I have to sit.”

  She grabbed his arm as his legs failed him. “Yes, I understand. Let’s go someplace that will surely make you feel better.”

  Pulling him along, they finally sat on a stone bench carved into the wall of a building that looked like a cross between a palace and a castle. Dwarven guards with chestnut hair stood out front, holding giant polearms. Their cloaks had golden embroidery. A layer of golden filigree covered their polished steel chestplates.

  “What is this building?” Gray asked.

  “An dwarven bank,” Settie replied. “Let’s see if you feel anything, for inside is both pride and greed. And fear, but fear is not considered an instinct. Perhaps it is the so-called mysterious eighth instinct. Who can say?

  Gray sighed. His heart felt fine. He should be fine. And yet, he wasn’t, because his core was so empty and his mind was troubled.

  “Such a big sigh, precious Gray. What would make you feel better?”

  “Being able to ask questions would be nice. How about I get three questions and then if I ask more, you hit me with the cane?”

  “Very well. Ask your three questions.”

  “You sometimes call them magic, and sometimes you call them instincts. What are they?”

  “Every person on Midmere has the seven instincts, even those who life in the Null. We have the sex instinct, we have hunger, we have the desire for recognition, we want to be secure, and we want to rest. The seven instincts have two parts—the sin and the virtue. The one tempers the other. For example, lust is matched with chastity. We can’t fuck all the time.”

  “No, we can’t,” Gray said. “Though on some days, that’s exactly what I want.” He thought of the other sins and virtues they’d been talking about. He spoke softly. “The instinct to eat but not eat too much would be gluttony and temperance. The instinct for recognition would be pride. We should take pride in our accomplishments, but we should have the humility to know we are not perfect.”

  “Very good, precious Gray. Humility is not humiliation. It’s a recognition of one’s strengths and weaknesses. Continue. I like watching you try to impress me.”

  “The instinct to fight would be wrath. What is the opposite of that?”

  “Patience. But wrath has many components. Self-preservation, a sense of justice and fairness, the desire for change, and sometimes, it is a matter of defending one’s territory. Patience is seeing beyond the anger to the reality of one’s situation.”

  Gray thought for a moment. Was he feeling anything come from the bank? He wasn’t sure. Talking about this was interesting, and he liked how he felt sitting next to the dragon woman as he finally got some of his questions answered.

  “What’s next?” Settie asked.

  Gray knew. “Sloth versus diligence. The instinct to work for one’s own benefit versus the need to rest. But I’m not sure about the last one on our list.”

  “Most say pride leads the list of sins,” the captain teased. “Yet, you spoke of that one early on. Interesting. You have done well for yourself. Do you feel pride in what you have done?”

  Gray had just enough energy to smile at her. “Let’s not get distracted. What of envy?”

  “The ambition instinct,” the dragon woman replied. “We envy others because we want what they have. It can fuel our ambition for any number of things, including status, sex, survival. Ambition, however, can be such a cage. To free ourselves, the key is simple kindness. We celebrate the success of others. We practice gratitude.”

  A scowling man marched up the steps, face twisted.

  Settie nodded. “There, precious Gray. That man. Can you feel the envy? He has such hate for his competitor in his heart. He would burn down the world to get the wealth of his rival. Yes, I can feel that, and it fills my core.”

  “Because you have a greed resonance.”

  She didn’t answer him, since it was

  She inhaled. “Banks are such a wonderful place to feel the power of the seven magics. One night, I saw a couple leave with bags of shekels. All that wealth got them so aroused, they couldn’t wait to get back to their room. They had sex just down the way, down that alley. I drank and drank and drank from them.”

  Gray thought about asking if she had more than on resonance, but it was obvious she did. She’d given him a clue. The envy of the scowling man fed her, as did the horny couple in the alley. How many did she have? He would keep track.

  As for his next two questions, he would hoard them.

  “Do you feel anything?” Settie asked again.

  Gray shook his head.

  The captain grunted in frustration. “This is not good, not good at all. We can strike gluttony, greed, pride, and envy off the list. There are some who can feel humility, but they are rare. That woman, there, the catkin in the pink dress. Do you feel how prideful she is in her very fine dress? If my core wasn’t full, it would replenish me completely.”

  A muscled orc woman with black hair walked past them. Around her wrists were diamond bangles, and with her were several tall orcs with swords. One had an arm marked by several tattoos inked in his green skin.

  Gray furrowed his brow. He wondered about the tattoos, but he didn’t ask about them. Hadn’t Princess Lilian said something about sorcerers being marked by tattoos?

  Settie nodded at the people in front of them. “Yes, that orc girl is rich, she is pretty, but she also has humility even as she bends the world to her will. She understands that one day she will die. Her mother died, when she was young, and what is beauty and riches compared the life of your mother? Or so I’ve been told. I never knew my mother.”

  “Neither did I, Captain. But Old Agatha took up the role well enough, I never felt that longing. For my father, I had Blind John, who was better than most of the other fathers I’ve met who weren’t up for the task.” He paused, and started a question, but didn’t finish it. “How did you know… never mind.”

  “You withdraw the question?” she asked.

  “I do,” he said.

  “I’m feeling generous tonight, so I’ll answer your unasked question. Mana is connected to all the world, all the universe, and so, all of our cores are connected. We can use that connection sometimes, but only sometimes, to know the unknowable. The flow of space and time is like the ocean surf, and we are all standing in the water. I think you know something of the sea.”

  He nodded. “I don’t know anything about magic, but I do know that.”

  “Space and time, flow against us sometimes when we are standing here, simply standing here, and we see the possibilities of what was, what is, and what could be. I’ve glimpsed the Night Mother walking across the sky before the world was born. I’ve seen the battles of the Second God War and wept even as the seven races rose from the divine blood. When that rich orc girl walked by, I saw into her past. I would say you might get such power, but it is unlikely. I fear that your core, having been dead so long, will not so easily connect to the magic flowing through the world. It would be a pity, but not a tragedy. I know one way that will definitely replenish you. It might be awkward for us. It would be awkward for me.” She lowered her mask and gave him a long look.

  He chuckled. “You tease me. You want me to ask my question, but I won’t be fooled so easily.”

  “No,” she said after a long time. “You won’t be. Come. Sitting near this bank has filled my core, but my belly is empty. Let’s try gluttony again. Do you like noodles?”

  “I love noodles.”

  Truth be told, he had no idea what she was talking about. What was a noodle?