The Market of 100 Fortunes by Marie Brennan

Author:Marie Brennan [Brennan, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Media Tie-In, Fantasy, Epic, Historical
ISBN: 9781839082603
Google: YdXQEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Aconyte
Published: 2024-02-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Sekken stopped dead.

In the warm, fading light, the market was every bit as busy as it had been – but not with people. Not with humans, anyway, for all that a great many of the creatures in front of him had human forms.

For sufficiently flexible definitions of that term, at least. The nearest fellow might have simply been an eccentric who chose to wear a boot on his head in place of a hat. Nearby was another who could have been mistaken for an ordinary man, albeit an extremely short one, were it not for the scissor blades rising from his forehead like the ornament on a warrior’s helmet. But next to the man wearing the boot… that one looked utterly normal from the neck down. From the neck up, he didn’t so much wear a hat as he was a hat – complete with teeth along the brim and eyes poking up from the top of the cap.

And past them…

A kimono without an occupant, except for the hands emerging from the sleeves. A trio of sandals scurrying through the crowd as if playing a chase game, running on tiny legs and waving tiny arms. An umbrella hopping along on its handle, which seemed comparatively fine until it turned and revealed a single huge eye blinking in the middle of its folded canopy. The lanterns overhead began to light in the growing dusk, fire springing up within as their own single eyes opened and their paper sides split in gaping yawns.

“Tsukumogami,” Sekken whispered under his breath. So of all the stories told of the hidden market – ghosts, Fortunes, and so forth – this was the correct one: yōkai born from objects. He’d heard of creatures like this, seen them depicted in art many times. But as with the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, it was one thing to read about such things, another matter entirely to see them in the ceramic, silken, and metal flesh.

At least none of them were trying to kill him, Ryōtora, or any of his companions. That was an improvement over the Night Parade, and Sekken hoped devoutly it would stay that way.

In fact, none of the yōkai immediately noticed the four people standing just inside the gate, between the two larger shrines. Sekken was torn between the urge to dart into one of those shrines so he could see what else might be there – fox spirits for the Fortune of Rice? What creatures, if any, might serve the Fortune of Roads? – and wanting to dart inside to get out of sight. He felt horribly conspicuous, the only human present apart from the three he’d brought with him.

When he turned to his companions, he found that Kuzu had ducked behind Ryōtora for safety, and Meirō was standing in the loose, alert stance of a warrior ready to draw the blade she wasn’t carrying. Judging by the hard set of her jaw, she sorely regretted that lack. When Ryōtora sent Tarō away,

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