Demon's Design

Chapter 10

Zandra backtracked towards the city of Crale, from there she would head west which would take her down to Fen's estate. It had been months since she had been back, not since he sent her away, but then again she didn't want to think about that. No matter, he had materials that she needed, after all his father was the man that helped her escape all those years ago--Roy. His father had kept books, and journals, of knowledge regarding her family. It had been by complete accident that she had learned about the identity of his father, one day she had been looking through some of the books in his study and stumbled across one written by him. Fen had gotten a bit upset with her for snooping around, but in the end, he got over it as long as she promised to leave it all alone. Well, now she needed that information, anything that contained data in regards to her family and what they had been doing.  

They city was bustling when she arrived, without the family slowing her down she arrived as morning business was in full swing, with her thoughts going full swing she didn't bother to try to sleep. With haste she headed towards the only reputable weapons dealer within the city—Orion of the Twin Rose. Although he wasn't quite the cheapest place in town, he didn't try to steer her wrong either with faulty equipment. She learned her lesson with a few others, one such dealer ended up with a permanent reminder to never cross her again as she removed his left hand. If that man was smart he would have gone into hiding and never dealt in trades again. 

Zandra walked into the shop and Orion came out from the back smiling at her. "And what do I owe the pleasure of your presence this morning?"

Orion was an older dark-skinned man, who seemed to be in his late 50s, with a very bald head that seemed as if he waxed it several times a day as it was never without sheen. Although his skin was leathery and slightly wrinkled from years of hard labor, you could see this tattoos going up both arms, around his neck, and up the back of his head. They ranged from various wild animals such as wolves and snakes, to symbols, and even plants. All of which seemed to create a personal story of sorts of different events in his life.

"What reason would one have to visit a weapons dealer?" She said to him with some sarcasm.

Orion smirked as he stood behind the counter, "very well. What do you need?"

Zandra took a brief look around to see if there was anything new of interest as she walked towards his counter. The walls were all lined with different sized shelves to match the weapons and equipment he sold there. A lot of merchandise he had for view was cheap knock-offs to help deter and prevent theft. If someone was stupid enough to steal from him they wouldn't get far as the goods were more likely to cost them money then earn them anything. Every so often, though, Orion would put something of value out to catch someone's eye. No good keeping all the goods for sale out of people's reach.

After a quick glance at the daggers and knives she turned her attention back to the merchant. "I need bullets more than anything. Although, I should go ahead and top off my knife collection. I lost a few a little while back."

He looked over her for a fleeting moment attempting to gauge what might have happened, "getting into trouble again I take it?" He asked as he reached under the counter and pulled out a couple of small boxes.

"Always," she said giving him a small vexing smile. 

Orion shook his head with slight laugh, "I still do not understand why you would choose this kind of work. With your skills, I'm sure there are plenty of other ways of making money." He opened both of the boxes showing off the shiny metal bullets inside, one silver and one gold.

Zandra reached out and ran a gentle finger down each box. "This life chose me and I plan on making the most of it." She responded then tapped her finger on the silver pack, "let's start with that box."