52

The shop owner stared at us for a few seconds.

"Tell a lie," he ordered me.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as my face started to twist into an angry scowl.

"Go ahead," Sekka realized I was getting angry.

I glance at Sekka then back at the shop owner.

"I'm a elf," I lied.

That simple lie was followed by the clear sound of the bell dinging. It was a surprisingly clean happy sound.

"Did you do something that would make it so your could buy my slave?" the owner suddenly asked.

"I touched him," I smirked, "Does that count?"

It seemed like this bell only detected lies so as long as what I spoke was technically true the bell would mark it as truth. That made me think. If we were to create a similar artifact I would want it to voice out the surface thoughts of whoever was touching it. That kind of thing might be near impossible to create. Maybe that was a project for the future.

If I managed to get ahold of this dwarf I would be taking a huge step toward my goal of having superior enchanted everything. He stared at us for a few more minutes then pulled his bell away, and set it up on top of the shelf once again.

"Is there something wrong with your slave that would make you want to sell him?" Sekka broke the silence that followed.

I let my hand drop to my blade, and stepped back so I was behind Sekka once again.

"Let's discuss prices first," The owner started the negotiation.

I lost interest in the conversation. Walking to the door so I could watch the street. I stared at the guard that was across the street with interest. I knew they were still following us so I wasn't surprised. Now that the street was empty there really wasn't much else to look at.

They'd probably follow us for the rest of our stay here. That irritated me. I'd already placed most of the spatial stones I needed to. I just hadn't got into the inner ring yet. I needed to study the barrier again so I could tell if there was a way for me to get through.

I was debating on flying up to the tree, and using the branches as camouflage to cut through the barrier. The tree swayed in the wind. That meant that the barrier might be getting set off by the sway of the tree. That meant that I might be able to sneak through the barrier by using the tree. That depended on what I could find out about the barrier.

"Nix," Sekka broke my line of thought.

I left the door, and walked over to Sekka. Sekka followed the owner of the shop into the back. There was a small alcove in the back corner of the room. There was a ratty blanket thrown on the floor, and on it lay a paralyzed, and severely beaten dwarf. It looked like he'd really gone after the poor dwarf before he realized he was ill.

"Go get him," Sekka pointed at the dwarf.

He was agitated. That told me that this guy had completely ripped us off. That was fine with me. We were ripping him off as well. Unlike the shop owner I could remove the poison that was slowly destroying the dwarf's core.

I picked the big dwarf up as if he weighed nothing. Surprising the shop owner with my ability to pick the big man up so easily. I hoisted him up to my shoulder, and followed Sekka out of the shop. I fell in lockstep behind Sekka as we left the shop. It only took us about an hour to cross the distance from the shop to the hotel.

Once we were back in the hotel room I set the big dwarf down. He was completely paralyzed by now. Although badly beaten, and poisoned he was still very much alive. I placed my palm on his belly about the approximate position of his core. Drawing the miasma from his core rather easily while he was still paralyzed.

I watched as his pupils narrowed. He was rather surprised. His emotional hues were going absolutely nuts. Fear, curiosity, confusion, and anger were the dominant emotions. I was certain that by now he figured out that my little cut had been what had been what had caused his illness.

I smirked at his bewilderment in amusement. My nose crunched up as the pungent odor of the impurities hit my nose. I burned that nasty liquid away which temporarily increased the stench. Once they were burned away the smell in the room started to improve. It would take some time for the smell to completely dissipate with the doors closed.

"I'm going to fix that paralysis now," I leaned over the dwarf, "I can heal your internal injuries when I'm done, but the external bruises will have to remain for some time."

My nail sharpened into a claw. I dug it into his neck. Straight into the largest vein I could find in his neck. Injecting the cure to the poison in the largest vein I could find would allow him to be cured much faster then he'd been poisoned.

"I'll explain why I wanted you so badly later," I started healing his internal injuries, "I need you to behave as if your near death for a short while. If you suddenly recovered after we bought you then your previous master would be greatly upset with the mistake he made."

I reached up to the collar as I studied it for a few moments. Looking for the runic constellation that made this collar work on dwarves. I was familiar with the one the used on humans, and half elves, but these runic constellations were new. Finding a pureblooded slave was a rare thing. All the slaves I'd rescued so far were human or half elves.