Azul raised his head up to look at Big Randy, "Watch how you talk to me, smith." He had his arms folded imperiously, and his head held high, which amused me as he was the smaller of the two, so at this, Big Randy vaulted to his feet, nearly toppling over the table before it wobbled back to stability.
The tanner stepped back but still kept his head high, staring Big Randy in the face while the blacksmith talked, "I don't care how many nobles you work for," then he spat out his name like an insult, "Azul, watch your tone."
The tanner tried to ignore him and turned to face me, although I noticed the shaking in his legs. "I want you to hunt a Celestial Mirror Leopard. Will you do it?" He pleaded.
"No Khan," Big Randy gripped the edges of the table, "don't do it, one successful spirit beast hunt should not let you think too highly of yourself."
I was about to respond, but then a thought hit me, 'Too highly of myself? Is that how he sees me? All this time I had been planning and working to become a cultivator, and he didn't even think that highly of me?'
Shutting my mouth, I turned back to Azul, facing away from Big Randy. My face was hard set now, 'Damn near five months I've been in this city and even after all I've done, I'm at best relegated to the status of a smart peasant.' I bit the side of my tongue, 'I won't accept that.'
"What is a Celestial Mirror Leopard?" When I said that, Big Randy looked at me in shock, his mouth agape, confused as to why I would want to continue the conversation.
Azul responded, twinges of hope marking his features, "Just a spirit beast," then he noticed my hesitation under the mask of bravery I wore and rushed to supplement what he had just said, "You've already killed one before, this one won't be–"
"Quiet, with your madness, tanner," Big Randy bellowed in, still standing, and a shade more red than when he had first gotten up, he walked over to me, shoving aside the chairs that stood in his way, "Khan do not listen to this addled man," he pointed a muscled arm at Azul, who had to take a step back to avoid getting hit, "there are better ways to make money, ways more suited to your talents."
'Talents? What talents?' I almost got cross, but he was right, I may not like it, but I still had a deformed ethereal bridge. If a normal person had seventy years to live, I'd only have thirty-five. I didn't have time, and I was weak, and weakness didn't protect you if you had money. Wan Cheng was proof of that.
If I kept going like this, all I'd become was one of those bonded merchants. Having money but secretly enslaved to another, more powerful individual. If there was something here that could benefit me, then I wouldn't care even if I had to hunt another spirit beast. Whatever talents I had would be useless to me unless I got power.
'I had done it before, how hard could it be?'
"Khan, you must listen," Big Randy held me by the shoulder and looked me in the eyes, as if he was talking to his own son, "this spirit beast isn't like the one you killed last time, this beast hunts mortals, not just other animals, you would be fighting a tiger with wings."
His words went in through one ear and out of the other, 'So? And what was my alternative? Get slowly pushed down by Wan Cheng till I died on one of his delivery missions? Or keep loitering around here as my own business partner and confidant thought less of me?' But I kept those thoughts to myself.
My pride was getting the better of me, but if I didn't continue to look, failed goals and unfulfilled promises would get the better of me.
I knew which one was worse.
Azul scuttled over to me, his sandals stepping on the hems of his robes multiple times, trying to get in between Big Randy and his tight grip on me but he didn't budge. "Five gold!"
"What?"
"Hahah," he laughed a manic laugh, "Five gold. That's what one Celestial Mirror is worth. If we negotiate with Lady Vespara, we could push it to six–" his eyes widened, "no, seven."
Big Randy spoke again, his beard moving in tandem with each syllable, "Lady Vespara? Which horse fathered you, so you could speak such nonsense?"
"Tch" Azul ignored Big Randy again, "Please," he nearly kneeled, "Khan, I…I beg of you."
Both Big Randy and I exclaimed with surprise, 'When did this man ever beg?'
"What is wrong with you?" I stepped back. Had this man been possessed by an evil spirit?
The tanner followed, keeping the distance between us as little as possible, "Please, she'll kill me if I don't deliver."
With such a display from Azul, I was jarred out of my prideful state, my rational thought now took control, "What do I get out of this?"
He held up five fingers, "Fifty percent! I'll give you fifty percent of the sale."
Big Randy shoved him away, "Shameless! You send a boy" he looked at me, then back at Azul, "a young boy, to hunt a spirit beast, while you sit back and wait for the results, then you ask for fifty percent?"
I looked from Azul to Big Randy, thinking.
He noticed and tried to convince me to ignore Azul, "Khan, don't do this. Is it because of Wan Cheng? Make a new deal with him, tell him you'll give him some carcasses from your hunts or tell him you can get him something rare on commission."
"I remember what you told me. You said deals with that man come with chains."
"So?" He looked frenzied, his hair was in disarray from trying to move Azul, "Are you trying to die?"
I blinked.
Azul interrupted before I could say anything, "Who says he will die? I told you, you can negotiate anything with the Lady Vespara. Wan Cheng? The commander? I'm sure you could talk about something with her."
I was starting to see his point of view. I didn't want to work with Wan Cheng anymore, for him to rob me and then to throw me out on my behind, after I had done the mission and come back so quick? I had done a perfect job.
No. Getting out of Wan Cheng's grip would be the first step. The next would be to get my revenge. But first, I had to break the chains.
"Don't listen to his honeyed words, Khan," He gripped the neck of Azul's robes tighter, "Lady Vespara, the one who killed her husband? Azul, get out."
'Her husband doesn't matter to me as long as I can get–" Azul interrupted my thread of thought, "Hush, you big oaf, it's only a rumor." And he tried to tear Big Randy's fingers of his clothing to no result.
I spoke, "Are you sure she could talk with Wan Cheng?" Big Randy halted, right in the middle of dragging Azul out, and the tanner spoke, "Yes, of course," he flung himself out of Big Randy's grip, as Big Randy stared at me in disbelief, his grip loosened.
"She's a noble lady. She could get you out of anything as long as it doesn't involve another noble."
"Khan, don't listen to him. All that vixen cares about is power, her book collection, and how other people perceive her. There isn't a shred of love in her."
Immediately I heard that, something went off in my head, 'Books? What books? Would she let me go through them? For a noble lady, she's sure to have some esoteric books, could there be something in there that would help with my ethereal bridges?"
"Azul,"
"Yes?" He looked at me with expectant eyes.
"You said I could negotiate for anything?"
"I'm sure. A hundred times–yes, a hundred times sure, please." He held on to my robes now.
"If I ask her to talk to Wan Cheng for me, and still let me read her books, do you think she would allow me?"
"Yes, yes, a thousand times yes."
"Tell me more about this spirit beast."
"It's a qi-infused beast, it is exactly like a leopard except that its skin is different and its more powerful." Azul intoned, but Big Randy interrupted again, "Bastard, if you're going to send the boy to fight your battles, at least tell him the truth,"
Big Randy pulled out a chair and sat it next to me, while Azul kept standing, "Khan, I'm only giving you this information so you don't go ahead with this lunacy. Do you understand?"
I nodded my head.
"Good, there are a few spirit animals that are known throughout parts of the city. Most are harmless, only capable of stealing hunts from humans and being slightly faster than normal."
He took in a deep breath, hunched over with his chest resting on his belly, "Then there are those known all over the city, no matter where you go, that is because they are one of the few ones bold enough to come into the city itself."
He took a sip of the mug nearby, "It may not look like it, but the city has some formations that allow for the cultivators to know when there is a dangerous spirit beast in the city. When they find out, the sect send one of its lower disciples to go hunt it down and kill it. One of those dangerous spirit beasts is the Celestial Mirror Leopard."
He put his hand on my shoulder, "Are you still willing to go hunt the beast?" Azul looked at me with large watery eyes and an inflamed nose, his robes still ruffled up.
I was starting to think I was too rash.
"Wait, no, don't listen to him, he is making the beast sound more dangerous than it is, the reason it is able to come in to the city and hunt humans during this season, is because its so fast, apart from that its not much stronger than any other leopard!"
Big Randy whipped his head to the side to confront Azul. "Then why don't you go hunt it?"
The tanner kept quiet and looked down, but when Big Randy turned his head away, he looked at me.
'What should I do? Stay here and continue things as they are with Big Randy, or risk my life for a man who had insulted me? What would I get out of this?'
"If I do it, I want a few things," and Azul got uncomfortably close now, "I want the chance to negotiate with The Lady, Vespara herself, I also want as much as I can get for the leopard, 90-10."
"What? Not possible, I won–"
"It's not my life she wants," and he kept quiet, before agreeing.
"What else?"
I smiled. The thought of Wan Cheng flashing through my mind, I could be ruthless too. "I also want as much information as I can get on the leopard. I want the lady Vespara to allow me access to her book collection."
"Fine, fine, as long as you do it."
"I'll do it. I want to meet her by tomorrow."
Azul jumped up from his kneeling position and hollered in joy. Big Randy buried his head in his hands and shook it. "What have you gotten yourself into?"