Cursed Seer by J.A. Culican

Author:J.A. Culican [Culican, J.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dragon Realm Press
Published: 2019-09-24T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Birka stands abruptly from her position on the couch, startling me. "We," she says like some sort of proclamation, looking around the room, "must go to the Emporium."

From the recliner, which has by some unwritten consensus become mine, I stare at her over a forkful of eggs. "The what?"

From the corner of my eye, I see Talon, sitting on the other recliner, set down his plate with still-trembling hands. He hasn't gotten much better. "I was not aware you knew of the Emporium."

Birka lets out a hiss of air, sounding like a snake laughing. "Of course I know about it. Mortals Landing was my realm, and it was my job to know anything and everything that happened there."

"And yet, you never did anything to close it down?"

She smiles at her son, and for just a second, an image of her, young and strong, standing over a juvenile Talon superimposes itself over the two of them. "I did close down the first one. Another was up and running within hours. That's when I decided it was better to monitor the place and see who was coming and going than to constantly send my forces to chase ghosts."

I glance around the room. Glenn looks uncomfortable, shifting in his seat and staring down at his plate of eggs and bacon. That's odd. Whatever this Emporium is, it was obviously illegal, and he doesn't like the fact that it was monitored.

I’ll have to ask about that, someday, when we’re not all together. I’m sure his involvement will make an interesting tale, and probably reveal much about enigmatic Glenn. Instead of asking him about it, though I really want to, I repeat myself. "What is this 'Emporium'?"

Luka replies, "Even in Hollows Ground, we’d heard of it. It was one place we could trade information across sides. The Emporium is an underground marketplace, but the only goods bought and sold are the illegal kind—and information."

I look to Glenn. Will he add anything to that, or will he keep hiding in his eggs?

"What could we possibly need from that place?” Talon asks. His tone and the wrinkle of his nose, like he smells something rotten, tell me all I need to know about his opinion of the place.

Birka sets down her plate and lets out a long breath before standing fully upright to look around the room from person to person, meeting everyone's gaze. "Dawson's operation is surely large enough that someone involved is going to try to profit off the information. It's been long enough, and I have no doubt the information is valuable enough. If we can go there, get in undetected, and then make some discreet inquiries, we may be able to find out where he is. Or where Luna is. They've had time to rebuild, now, so perhaps we can find out to which location the main lab has been moved. Unless, of course, anyone else has a better idea?"

She waits patiently, looking around the room still, but no one argues the point.

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