Chapter 56: Training
Tulland moved up to the man’s stand, keeping his shoulders slouched in a defeated, sad-sack sort of way as he closed in. The man watched Tulland with a mostly bored curiosity as he came to a stop in front of his stand. Licht had been exaggerating when he said that the man’s oranges were moldy, but barely. In addition to not being that much like oranges, they were obviously withered and bruised.
“An orange,” Tulland said, as quietly as he could. Quieter, in fact, then he thought the man could probably hear. “Please.”
“What? Speak up, weakling.” The man pounded his big fist down on the table, fast enough and with a loud enough sound that he almost startled Tulland in earnest. “What do you want?”
“My mistress desires fruit. I need to buy some,” Tulland said, a little louder, before looking doubtful and raising his voice to a level of almost shouting. “I’d like to buy an orange!”
“Good elephantine god, boy. Quiet down before people think I’m killing you.” The man glanced towards Necia, who was leaning on someone else’s house with a spoiled, disinterested look on her face. “Is she as bad as they say? I heard she was giving you a hard time in the bar.”
Tulland looked at Necia in mock panic, then back to the man, replying in a whisper. “Yes. Worse. They sent five people in to accompany the young miss and I’m the only one who made it through.”
“Well, it’s not like you have to obey her now. No going back, you know.”
“Maybe.” Tulland looked doubtful. “I took some oaths, before we left. Those aren’t just words, back home. Don’t know what happens if I break them here. And given what I swore to… don’t want to risk it. Do you have the oranges, or not?”
“I do.” The man nodded. “What do you have to trade?”