Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

The damaged wagon was still beside the lower trade path when Nia and Shen reached it.

Tovin had sent word that morning that the eastern traders waiting on the wheel repair carried several hot goods that might interest her. Aurel had mentioned the damaged wagon during yesterday’s picnic, so Nia knew which part of the lower trade path to check.

Now the wagon rested on a thick support block while two men worked beside the removed wheel. One shaved a new wooden pin with short strokes of a knife while the other checked the iron band around the rim.

Tovin stood several paces away talking to a trader beside three open baskets.

He saw Nia and Shen approaching and finished whatever he was saying before coming toward them.

“The wheel should be back on before second bell.”

Nia looked toward the repair. “Are they the group with the spice?”

“One of them.”

“The sweet one Aurel smelled?”

Tovin shook his head. “Different group. That packet belonged to a cloth trader farther down. These traders came through the eastern warm valleys.”

Shen looked toward the baskets. “Have they sold food here before?”

“Salt last spring. Dried fruit two years ago. I remember one of the men, but not the spice.”

He gestured toward the trader he had left. “I told him you were looking for something hotter than our mountain pepper. He says he has three things people describe as hot. Ask before you taste anything.”

Nia glanced at Shen. “I was planning to.”

His eyes remained on the packets.

Tovin smiled and returned to the wagon workers.

The trader had spread his goods beneath a low canvas tied between the wagon and two stakes. He was broad through the shoulders, with dark brown fur along his forearms and a faded scar crossing one cheek. His table was a plank resting across two travel boxes.

Three small packets sat apart from his dried fruit and salt.

He touched the first.

“You use mountain pepper here?”

“Yes,” Nia said.

“Then this is much stronger.”

He opened the packet.

Thin dried pods lay inside, deep red and wrinkled, each no longer than Nia’s smallest finger. Their stems had been removed before drying.

Nia leaned closer.

Even without touching one, she caught a sharper scent than she expected. The smell carried a bright, dry bite that reminded her privately of the hotter chilies she had known on Earth.

“What do you call them?”

“Redneedle pods.”

Shen looked at the trader. “Is it normally used as food?”

“Always food where we buy them. Meat, thick grain, root dishes. Some route cooks crush a little into oil and season individual bowls.”

“How much would you use?”

“For a pot feeding six men?” The trader pinched the air above the packet. “A piece from one pod if the cook knows the batch. Less if he does not.”

Shen asked, “What happens when too much is used?”

“Your mouth burns. Your eyes water. You regret the amount.”

“Does it numb the mouth?”

“No.”

“Have you seen swelling or other reactions?”

“Not from the heat itself. I have seen two men react badly to the plant, but both reacted to other peppers too.”

The trader explained that the pods were split slightly before drying so moisture would not remain trapped inside. The batch had been kept with food goods rather than medicinal plants.

Shen nodded once.

Nia looked toward the second packet. “And that?”

The trader opened it.

The pieces inside were shorter and thicker, orange-brown rather than red. They looked like sections of dried husk curled inward around a pale center.

“Hotmouth husk.”

Nia leaned nearer.

The scent was sharp and bitter beneath the heat.

“How is it used?” Shen asked.

“Hunters from the eastern ridge chew a shaving when their teeth ache. Some put a little in strong liquor. One territory south of us grinds it with salt.”

“What does it do to the mouth?”

“Heat first. Then the tongue goes dull.”

Nia had started to reach toward the packet before the answer finished.

Shen’s fingers closed around her wrist.

She stopped.

“I only wanted to smell it closer.”

“Without knowing what was on the surface.”

Nia looked at the curled husks again.

The trader added, “Medicine workers buy more of that than cooks.”

Nia withdrew her hand, and Shen released her.

“We can leave that one where it is.”

Shen looked at her.

She frowned. “I heard the part about numbness.”

The trader folded the packet closed.

Nia pointed toward the third. “What is that one before my husband decides the whole table needs a safety boundary?”

The trader laughed as Shen gave her a long look.

The third packet contained coarse dark flakes mixed with salt.

“Smoked valley pepper. Hotter than most mountain pepper, but not by much. Good with dried meat.”

Nia smelled a pinch from a spoon the trader offered.

She smelled smoke first, then pepper.

The smoked pepper might be useful, but it was too close to what Hearthfang already had.

“The redneedle is much hotter?”

“Much.”

The trader nodded toward a man eating beside the wagon. “His meal has some in it if you want proof we eat it. I would not copy his measure for your first test.”

Behind him, the other trader continued eating without paying them any attention.

Nia studied the redneedle packet again.

“How much can you spare?”

“Half this packet.”

The amount would barely fill the bottom of one of Shen’s smallest spice jars.

Nia asked the price.

It was high enough that she understood why the trader had brought little, but a small household test was still reasonable.

“I will take half.”

The trader measured the portion with a small balance, folded it into clean paperlike bark, then wrapped the packet again in thin cloth.

“Keep it dry. Wash your fingers after breaking it. Do not rub your eyes.”

Nia nodded.

Shen took the packet.

Nia saw the scrape before he crossed fully into the main room.

“What happened?”

“I helped steady the wagon while they reset the repaired wheel. It shifted before the pin seated.”

“The trader’s wagon?”

“Yes.”

Shen came from the storage side and looked at Kael’s arm.

Kael lifted it before Shen asked.

“The skin broke. Nothing else.”

Shen inspected the scrape, cleaned it, and spread a small amount of salve over the damaged skin.

Nia sat near the preparation board with the redneedle packet in front of her.

Kael noticed it while Shen wrapped the scrape.

“You bought the pepper.”

“A very small amount.”

“There was another hot thing too,” Nia said. “Shen stopped me from touching it when the trader said it numbs the mouth.”

Kael looked at Shen.

“It is used more often for tooth pain than food,” Shen said.

Kael’s gaze returned to Nia.

She pointed toward the packet in front of her. “This is the one people actually cook with. We are testing this one.”

Shen secured the end of Kael’s wrap and moved toward the washing basin.

Kael washed the dust from his hands before pulling his chair closer to the preparation board.

Nia opened the redneedle packet.

“I want to know what it does before we put it into a full dish.”

Shen washed his hands and joined her at the board.

Nia had prepared several small pieces of cooked meat from the midday pot. They were deliberately plain except for salt. A small plate of bread sat within reach. A dish of their ordinary mountain pepper rested beside the meat, along with the fresh sunseed oil she had bought from the press rooms.

She seasoned one piece of meat with the amount of mountain pepper they normally used and pointed to it.

“Start with our usual mountain pepper.”

Kael ate it.

He chewed, swallowed, and waited.

Nia looked at him. “How hot does that feel to you?”

“Not much.”

Nia nodded.

Kael reached for his water.

Nia folded a clean cloth around one redneedle pod and used the cloth to break off a tiny piece without touching the dried skin directly. She dropped the piece into the grinding dish, folded the cloth inward around the remaining pod, and set it aside.

Shen leaned closer.

“Use less for the first test.”

Nia looked at the piece, then used the edge of the grinding tool to divide it again.

“Fine.”

She crushed the smaller portion with a few drops of sunseed oil, keeping the paste against one side of the stone. The pepper released a brighter scent as it broke apart.

Using the tip of a clean wooden stick, she transferred a trace of the oil onto one piece of meat.

“I am tasting it first.”

Kael’s hand moved toward the plate.

Nia shifted it beyond his fingers.

“You are not the first test just because you are harder to bother.”

He settled his hand back on the table.

Shen watched while Nia took a bite.

At first she tasted browned meat and salt.

Then the heat climbed.

She stopped chewing for half a breath.

The burn was much sharper than their mountain pepper, concentrated across her tongue and the back of her mouth. It continued building after she swallowed.

Nia reached for bread.

Shen moved the plate nearer before her hand reached it.

She tore off a piece and ate it.

Kael watched her face.

“That strong?”

“Yes.”

Nia breathed slowly through her nose. “Good, but much stronger than ours.”

Shen tasted a smaller corner from the same seasoned piece.

His expression tightened almost immediately.

He swallowed and reached for water.

“It develops faster too.”

Nia nodded. “I would use less than I just used.”

“So would I.”

She used the same diluted mixture to season a fresh piece of meat and placed it in Kael’s palm.

She watched his face carefully, but his expression did not change as he chewed and swallowed. He took an ordinary drink of water.

Nia waited another moment.

“How hot does that feel?”

“Hotter than ours.”

“That is not what I asked.”

“I can feel it. It does not bother me.”

Shen leaned one forearm against the table. “Any pain beyond the normal burn?”

“No.”

Nia looked at the remaining diluted pepper.

Her own mouth still tingled.

Before increasing the strength, she seasoned one final piece with the lighter mixture and set it at the edge of the plate.

Then she prepared another piece for Kael with slightly more of the redneedle oil, still well below the trader’s measure for a shared meal. She cut the stronger piece in half and placed one half into Kael’s hand.

He ate it.

This time he paused after swallowing.

Nia leaned forward. “You feel that amount?”

“Yes.”

“Is it uncomfortable?”

“No.”

His fingers started toward the stronger half still on the plate.

Nia covered the edge of the plate with her hand.

“We learned what I needed.”

Kael looked at the meat, then at her.

She moved the unseasoned pieces closer instead.

If she seasoned a shared pot until Kael considered it properly hot, she and Shen would suffer through dinner.

“When I use this in a full dish, your extra heat goes in your bowl afterward.”

Kael nodded.

“Not in the whole pot.”

“In my bowl.”

Nia wiped the wooden stick carefully and moved it, the grinding tool, and the grinding dish to the dirty side for washing.

Shen opened the trader packet and brought over a small wooden tool. He transferred the remaining section of the test pod from its folded cloth into one of the smallest spice jars, then added the untouched pods from the packet without handling them directly. He marked the jar with a narrow red cord and placed it apart from the ordinary pepper.

“Separate spoon,” Nia said.

Shen brought over a narrow bone spoon.

Nia compared it to the tiny amount she had used. “Smaller.”

He exchanged it for another.

“That one.”

Kael glanced at the little container. “How much did you buy?”

“Half a trader packet.”

“You only bought that much?”

“It is expensive, he did not bring much, and I am not putting your mouth on the household budget.”

Kael looked at her for a moment, then drew her chair closer with one hand at her waist.

“You bought enough for me to have some.”

“I bought enough for all of us to learn how to use it.”

He kept her chair close while Shen set the dedicated spoon beside the marked jar.

Kael reached toward the test plate again.

This time Nia pushed the stronger remaining half toward him.

He ate it while she took one of the plain pieces for herself.

Shen chose the lightly seasoned piece Nia had set aside, broke it in half, and passed one half to her.

She accepted it, still feeling the redneedle warmth at the back of her mouth while Kael reached for another plain piece beside her.