Breaking the Ice (Book 1)

Chapter Nine

LUNA

"How can you be out of Combust - a - bombs?!" Luna yelled at the shopkeeper. "Why do Heatlings even need a device to blow things up when they have fire!?"

"Why do we need a device to blow things up with?" Sleet asked, standing beside her. He did a good imitation of a Heatling accent. (It's like a Scottish accent)

"You never know." Luna replied, then she narrowed her brows at the shopkeeper. "Do you have crossbows or cannons?" Sleet gave her a look she knew was saying 'how will we carry a cannon with us?'

"What's a child gonna do with those?" the shopkeeper frowned.

Luna's face turned crimson. "I'm not a child!" she argued, not even needing to act the part of a hot-headed Heatling.

"You're what? Fourteen?"

"Sixteen," Luna declared, which was a lie. She heard Sleet cough beside her.

The shopkeeper barked a laugh, "Still too young. Go elsewhere, kid."

They wandered the market to find another weapons booth. Sleet pointed at a sign with a sword picture that had been burned in the wood. Luna's face lit up and her eyes sparkled. She needed a sword! She dashed toward the booth, Sleet following calmly behind her. He had been quiet ever since they entered the marketplace. Perhaps it was because he was an Icee in a volcano, surrounded by fire controlling Heatlings.

Her eyes searched around the booth, one sitting on the back table caught her eye. Its cover had the Ursa constellation on it. It nearly matched the Ursa tattoo on her wrist. Coincidence? Luna didn't think so. "How much for that?" she asked, reaching over the counter to point at the weapon.

A man stood before her, eyebrows narrowed. "That ain't for sale."

"Why not?" she inquired, determined to get the sword.

"I've already got a buyer." Then he grinned. "Unless you have three hundred silver pieces." Luna knew he meant to say gold pieces, not silver, but she quickly placed down a pouch before he could correct himself. The man, not knowing his error, put the pouch in pocket and handed the sword to her.

"You want anything?" Luna turned to Sleet. He tapped his chin, thinking about it.

"A bow would be fine."

"Arrows?" the man asked, grabbing a sturdy bow made of white wood.

"No thanks." Sleet shrugged. Luna understood that he could make ice arrows, which sounded pretty cool.

"Eighty pieces,"

Luna was about to open her sack when Sleet took out diamond coins from his pocket and put them on the counter. The man eyed him suspiciously. "Icee money?"

"Haggled it from a smug one." Sleet grinned. Luna smothered a laugh. The man accepted it because the Icee Kingdom was one of the richer kingdoms, their coins were pure diamond and crystal from caves in their mountain.

Luna pulled the sword out of its sheath. The blade was black with sparkling dots that looked very much like stars. No wonder it had cost so much. The white minerals were none other than Star Gems, which were extremely rare. The shop keeper had no idea what he sold, otherwise he would have raised the price to a thousand gold pieces. This, the Nightling was grateful for. She shoved Sleet away to get put as much distance between them and the booth.

"What's the sudden rush?" Sleet asked.

"You know the pouch I gave him?" she nervously giggled. "It was full of those red berries."

Sleet gave her a disbelieving look, then barked a laugh.

"Well we better stock up on food then and get the heck out of here." Sleet chuckled.