NORTHERN MARKETS
Episode 66: Not the Best Place for a Lunch Break

“As Perion’s town council struggles to keep Perion neutral in the growing political storm between Henesys and Kerning City, the local residents in Perion’s Granite Hills and Corazonview districts are living day to day in fear in the growing presence of the JA’s rangers. Everyday, the JA is in town, mostly in Granite Hills around the Free Market portal. Every now and then, convoys of cargo trucks and vans drive through town and stop at various motels and restaurants in Granite Hills as the rangers strut around like nothing in the world can harm them. The public boycott most of the few establishments that our visitors from Henesys use. Places like Snow Rock Hotel and the Perion Backpackers Hub have lost much of their business from the public because the rangers are always there, and people are telling us they are scary and intimidating like. Nobody eats at the Corazon Kooizine restaurant anymore for the same reason. And people been saying they feel their hearts stop or they get a sense of dread whenever a ranger walks into Subway or any other place. People cross the street just to get to the other sidewalk if a ranger’s walking down. Wake up, Perion, we know yer scared of the JA! What’s to be scared of them? They’re not blowing up our GM station, they’re not shooting up our kids, and they’re not beefing with us. Maybe it’s their slick recruiters going around town popping by the high school or, uhh, the malt shop and trying to tell your own kids that working in Henesys beats high school graduation?…”

Sunday, January 13, 2K8
11:40 AM Perion
Magic powered cars drove along the small streets, but there were few of them. Most of the people here walked on foot. The buildings or tents were something alright; Almost everything was carved out of giant rocks and boulders or underground. A few tents made from thick heavy boar or drake pelts stood, and were as big as longhouses.
Front lawns were not of grass, but of mosses, lichens, and tundra plants. Ancient Sharenian rock totem poles stood, proudly displaying the vivid colors and patterns of birds, drakes, boars, etc that the ancient Sharenians painted over 4000 years ago. Other signs of heritage included a 40 foot engraved pattern of the Nederlands flag on the cliffwall in the east corner of town. The local ‘church’ did not boast any big religion, but of ancient religious customs. The ancient people who once walked the Badlands worshipped the spirits of the air and land. Some thought they worshipped the planet; the ultimate giver- and taker of life. For some reason, the JA stayed away from the temple.

The company van drove slowly up Boulder Way slowly passing the boars and buggys. a huge red Drake stood, harnessed to its cart, grunting as the white van passed it. The guy who owned the red drake had traned the monster to use its fire breath to melt ice taken from the ice mine outside of town. That mine was the town’s water supply.

“Okay, I dont get it.” Joe said nervously now. “Why couldn’t I just pull into the truckstop? It was right on Victoria Road!
We stop, we do whatever and then we leave!”
“Shut up, 6itch!” Chuck shouted at Joe. “Idiot, you didn’t see those RANGERS standing at the pumps, and in the corner store?”
“Oh, come on, man! It’s not like they’re gonna do anything here!”
When Joe stopped the van so someone could cross the street, Chuck punched him.
“Ow! What the hell!”
“Just shut up, and drive! I’ll say when to pull over!”

The van ended up driving up the hill behind a huge Mule truck. It looked like the kind of truck small companies use to ship small amounts of cargo. They drove up Boulder Way till they went down a smaller road, still behind the truck.
They were behind Perion Rock, a 400 foot boulder that blocked the sunlight from touching Granite Hills and Corazonview districts.
They drove past the Free Market Gate, and Joe watched as the truck stopped at the gate. A ranger got out and talked to another bowman that acted as a security guard.
“Sheesh! Where’s the GMs around here?!” Chuck muttered.
HONK!
Startled, Joe slammed the brakes and the van lurched forward.
“HEY!” a ranger shouted, walking right up to the driver side.
“Oh, crap!” Joe said, hyperventilating. Chuck made him roll down the window.
“Watch where you’re going, you idiot!” the bowman shouted. Apparently the van cut off a truck that was coming out of the FM portal.
“Sorry!” Joe stuttered.
“Get going already!” Chuck yelled.

The van drove a bit more till they came to another garage.

“Wake up, shake a leg! Welcome to Perion!” a man’s voice shouted. The side door slid open.
Meeka raised her head. What time is it? she thought. Her head still hurt like it was going to split open.
“Come on, kid! Better use the bathroom and get some eats! Its still another 15 hours to Ellinia!”
Meeka squeezed her eyes shut as she climbed out into the sunlight. She was still wrapped in her big coat.
“Oh! The baby!” she moaned quickly.
“Relax! I’ve got her! You go get some food!” one of the women called.

The gas station and garage was way smaller than the big truck stop down on Victoria and Boulder. This one had a corner store that sold only home baked goods made by locals.
“These cakes are made from rockwheat flour, and a variety of hearty iceland berries! Packs more nutrients than a box full of PowerBars!” the guy said, holding open the box of cakes.
“How much for one?” the feral cop asked.
“We sell them by the box, guy. 1K, but given how much nutrients these things pack, it’s a real bargain! One of these will keep you for a whole day!”
The place sold other things like Drake eggs, jerky of all kinds boar meat, etc.
“Thanks for popping in!”

“Dammit! Both crystals are almost dead!” Joe said, checking the gauges. The power crystals were only good for another 50 miles.
“Then the mechanics gotta hook up the other two! Yer paying the fees!” Chuck said.
“asshole!” Joe muttered.

“Whoa!” Meeka exhaled as she stared at herself in the mirror in the bathroom. She was completely white-pale. Her hair looked oily and gross, and she looked dehydrated. She drank some water, but nothing helped. She needed mana fuel and bad. A magician can die from lack of the stuff.
She sat on the toilet and cradled her head. Headache was worse than the last mingraine she had.
There was a rap on the door. “Hurry up! I gotta go!”

“Buffalo steak burgers, good and fresh. Killed just two weeks ago!” the cook hollered from the kitchen inthe restaurant next door. “Come and get it!”
The beamoth waitress kept her wings tucked firmly behind her back as she grabbed the plates and took them to the van’s crew at the table by the window.
“So, where’s the job?” Rusty asked, digging into the mushroom oatmeal.
“Its in Ellinia.” Chuck said. “I don’t know much about it, I just saw on the add ‘work for tha mages of ‘Linia. No overwork, no assholes, no gangs, no JA, no nothing! 20K an hour to start.”
“Whoa, that’s good money-“
“Shut up, 6itch!”
“It didn’t say what we are doing?”
“No. But whatever it is, sure beats working back home!”

Meeka hid behind a vending machine by the pumps, panting. The icy air felt like iron in her lungs and burned like acid in her throat. She was scared s###less now. When she opened the door, she came face to face with a Ranger woman.
She just hoped to hell that the ranger didn’t think she was one of those magician slaves the JA caught…
“What the crap! They got out?!” some guy shouted.
A bunch of people ran down the sidewalk across the street from the petrol station. Magicians. or noobs. Or both.

One woman, also with blue hair took a look at her, and Meeka knew her innocence was gone. The JA would be after her too. The woman shouted at her to run too, but she was too weak and paralyzed to move from the vending machine.
A diamond arrow cut through the air and stuck the lady in the heart and she fell. The same ranger woman she saw earlier came out and she saw her!

Meeka bolted and ran for the door of the restaurant.
“Freeze noob! Don’t make it harder than it has to be!” the ranger shouted, firing a single arrow.
Meeka pushed open the glass door and bolted inside- the arrow crashed through the half inch glass and and took out the support trunk of a table. The oak table crashed on the floor spilling the bewildered customers’ food.

The waitress looked at Meeka thinking she was an escaped slave.
“H-help me! The rangers…” Meeka cried wide eyed-
The ranger kicked the door open, and as she proceeded to charge at the young girl, the waitress flew into action- She spread out her Beamoth wings. The wings- spanning almost 5 feet across, and of black soft feathers with the sharpness, durability and glimmer of metal made for a fearsome intimidating site. She jumped in the air over the magician and landed between her and the ranger woman. She picked up the diamond arrow which was still intact, and wielded it like a knife.
Everyone in the restaurant stared in surprise.

The ranger ceased her attack stance and said, “That one is an escaped convict. She was convicted under the-“
“Shut up, Ranger! You know there is no fighting allowed in here! Leave this place, at once!” the waitress shouted, waving the arrow about.
Most of the time rangers were known to disregard any laws of peace and attack anyway, but this one backed off. “As you wish,” she said grudgingly. “But that prisoner does belong to us!”
“No she does not! She belongs to Ellinia! Now get!”
two of the cooks came out. The naitive men were huge, and both wielded frying pans like weapons.
“This one’s hot off the grill, Ranger, I suggest you take heed the fair lady’s advice and leave us be!”
Without another word, the ranger stormed out and walked away.
As the Veamoth woman folded her wings, the two cooks helped Meeka to her feet.

“That one’s ours. She came with us from Kerning.” Chuck said. “We were just stopping for some gas and some lunch. We’re going to Ellinia,”
“Shame on you. Look at her! She’s on the brink of death! How dare you neglect her!”
“We didn’t neglect nothing-“
Chuck punched Joe in the face. “Sorry, sir, how much for a thing of mana fuel?”

In the garage, the two power crystals that were hooked to the van were taken out and were now tied with copper wire to an e-m converter. They were being charged.
“These don’t fit” the mechanic said to lady holding Meeka’s baby. “We’re just charging the other ones. It’s gonna take an hour. We’ll get them up to 50%, just enough for you to get to Ellinia.”

Outside as the JA ran after their slaves, some of the locals sounded the alarm. There were these giant air horns that you blow into and it makes a loud sound.
The reason the JA didn’t start too much trouble up here in Perion was the town’s small army of warriors who served as the local police. Any ranger knew better than to fight with these guys.
They ran in groups or sped to Granite Hills in hover trucks.
But soon the arrows started flying as magicians and noobs who escaped from the cargo truck by the FM gate were cut down by the legs.
Many of them were on the ground screaming in pain or despair as the JA crew grabbed them and hauled them back to the truck. a few were shot dead once they were taken back.
The lucky few ran into the swordmen who tossed them behind a corner or into their trucks to protect them from the JA.
There was a brief firefight, but the swordmen, all heavily armored in their dragon armor, and wielding the heaviest and sharpest weapon known to the fighting class subdued the JA guys quickly.
A few bows got smashed, that was about it.
After a heated argument, the JA stopped fronting and the trucks were quickly driven into the Free Market, but it was too late; after seeing a bunch of captive magicians and noobs; all deprived of food and fuel, the warriors lied to the JA and promised that they would disregard anything they saw, and after they reported their grisly discovery to their superior officers and bosses.

“recharge of power crystals 50K?! What gives?” Joe asked as he looked at the bill. Everyone was back in the van, but he and Chuck were at the counter in the corner store “Full talk of gas 90K, tune up- hey! I didn’t order a tune up!”
“But I did, now shut up, 6itch!” Chuck snapped back. “Well?! How much was the tune up?”
“115K. 15 boxes of poffin cakes 15K? I gotta pay for all your guys’ food?! And who got the mapbook of Victoria? I dont need a map-“
“Sorry it was for my kids. Thir gameboys died, so I got them that.”
“270,000 mesos. you gonna pay or am I gonna have to cripple your ass?” the man said.
“Whoa! whoa! I…I” Joe frantically searched his pockets, and found his dad’s credit card.
“Will this work? It’s Maplelican Express…”
“Give me card,” the man said taking it from him so he could fill out the paperwork.
“Its going to be a charge of 270 thousand and 5 thousand charge fee. It will be listed in your next bill.”

Joe drove nervously through Perion. He checked the radio clock- it was almost 2:30. Damn they were here much longer than he wanted to be. As he made his way down Boulder Way towards Victoria, a bunch of cars cut him off. He slammed the brakes, damn near missing the Chevy parked on the side.
“aw, not these guys again!” he groaned as the town’s warriors jumped out.
“What? You prefer the JA instead?” Chuck snapped.
Rusty, sitting in the back shook his head in disgust. He looked over at Meeka- she was lying on the sleeping bag again holding one of the spare power crystals like it was a big teddy bear. The two foot amethyst crystal was channeling magic energy into her through her hands. the thing felt warm, like an overheated car battery, but not hot enough to blow.

Rusty rolled down the window, and pulled his coat hood over his head. The air was still biting cold.
The warrior officer looked him and Chuck over. “You’re going to Ellinia?”
“…yeah why?”
“We’re going to ask that you come with us. We need you for a few minutes.”

The holdup lasted about half an hour as the warriors talked with their bosses and the town GM.
“You sure these guys will deliver the package to them, right?” the GM asked. “Because if this thing gets in the wrong hands and the JA threatens the peace here like they did in Kerning, I’m going to be out of a job here!”
“Be assured, my GM friend, that the mages will not foul this up! The Kerning council, yes, they need all they can, but those fat suit wearing bastards do is flap their mouths, and they would enrage the Arrow. The mages are gathering their elite and will soon launch their own front against Henesys and the JA will be under a lot of pressure to think twice about stirring up more trouble!”
“Allright, send it with them!”

Everyone sat in the van, now joined by about 10 other magicians the medical clinic decided were well enough to go back home.
Chuck held the wrapped package. It was obviously a stack of papers, maybe a memory crystal or two, but wrapped in parchment and sealed with some kind of glue that only a powerful mage could break. Somebody wrote on it with a pen:” FOR THE ELLINIA MAGE UNION ONLY”

Soon they were let off, and by 3, Joe was speeding east along Victoria Road away from Perion.
It was a long ride, so long that they wouldn’t get to Ellinia until tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, the next truck loaded with magician or PErmanoob slaves from Kerning did not enter Perion, instead it drove past too, but 10 miles later turned north onto Rocky Road and eventually onto the old Forbidden Road, the one that led to the JA’s newest base at Cold Death Pass.
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okay that is the LAST time i write 2 chapters in one day. my brain is fried!
stupid math class. and mandarin studies also fry my brains out too >.<