014 : Stained heart

I always hated it when the locker was one of the higher up ones. It’s not that I’m scared of heights, no, but what I am scared of is the ancient creaky ladder we use to get up there. Anything that old and made of wood, combined with the fact that if it breaks I plummet many, many feet to a cold stone floor, I tend to distrust. Locker forty-eight was near the very top of the back room. The general rule is the higher up it is, the smaller the locker so that the sad merchant collecting your magical goods (that’s me) doesn’t have to lug a two-handed great sword down three hundred brittle ladder pegs. There are some large lockers though, but honestly at that point it’s worthwhile climbing inside them if you’re just checking up on them, and pray that if someone does purchase it they brought their own Draccus to help lift it down. But as I was saying – I don’t like the higher up lockers. Kaufmann stood at the base of the ladder, steadying it, and in my hand I awkwardly clutched key #14 – a cold blue steel key with teeth looking like they had been made of a fine coloured glass. I wondered – and still do – why each locker has its own unique lock and key, and where and how Kaufmann got them made. I asked him about it once, but he just laughed and responded with “Me too.” It doesn’t help that the man who is meant to be teaching me how to run this place either knows just as much about it as I do, or is keeping things from me. Either one is a worrying thought. I made it to the locker and took out the wooden crate inside, safely putting it into a sling and securing it to my back before I carefully made my way back down.

My legs shook for a few minutes after I got down, but soon enough my nerves calmed and I set the box on the floor, pulling out the small hammer that I kept in my back pocket. The box – as far as boxes in that room go – was one of the smallest, about as large as my hand, maybe smaller, and the lid came off with ease. Through the sawdust I could already see the tip of whatever it was and – careful to keep as many of the shavings from covering the floor as possible – I pulled it out. In my hand was a knife, a kunai, made of a dull grey steel. Its handle was wrapped with a peculiar blue leather that I assume had been dyed, and at its centre boring a hole through the metal was a small, circular window filled with stained glass of various colours. It was dense, and in the air,

I could smell a subtle hint of dusty old books and wood. Holding it up to the light, I saw the shadow of the stained-glass splash against the floor and out of curiosity I held the glass up to my eye. Instead of what I you would expect, with the world remaining unchanged but just a little tinted, it seemed to fall away. Everything was replaced by a sweeping blackness, except when I turned to look at where Kaufmann should be standing, instead there was a small pulsing ball of light suspended in the void. As I looked more, I could see more faint white far in the distance, like looking at stars on a clear night. I took the glass away from my eye, and the world came back. I looked one more time, now looking at Kaufmann before I looked at him through the glass, and noted that the small ball of light formed exactly where his heart should be, and I realised the pulsing of the light was more of a… beating. I lowered the dagger. Kaufmann clasped his hands together.

“Well, young merchant. Your assessment?” As far as items go, this one seemed to have an obvious demographic.

“Rogue, this would be a perfect fit. The dagger, the enchantment – it’s an ideal match. There are a few scuffs on the blade, and this pommel stone looks as if it’s been replaced but for who this item is designed for, that line of work anyway, I would mark it up at 75,000.” By the time the words had left my mouth I had barely recognised the confidence in them. Either way, I felt assured in my statement.

“Not bad at all, not bad at all.” He gestured for me to hand him the blade, and I did as such, “Very keen eye for the pommel detail, keen enough that most people buyin’ might not notice themselves. No ‘arm in keeping them in the dark on that one, eh?” He winked, and I smiled. It’s a fair enough lie. Anyone who buys a dagger that quite literally shows the heartbeat of all the people in the world probably isn’t going to be using it for any acts of moral good.

“So, maybe price it a little higher?” He nodded.

“Maybe just a little.” After that we got to packing up, Kaufmann checking the itinerary and fishing for the relevant key from one of his many rings that adorned his belt. I decided to look one last time through the glass before it went back in the box, I couldn’t tell you why but something about it was so harmlessly fun there was no reason not to. I still haven’t figured out how, or what would explain what I saw as I looked around the room, but I swear that in some of the lockers I saw them. Those beating orbs of light. Not too many, and spread out, but they were there. As I made my way back up the ladder, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Was it really just us two in that room?