Page 28 of Only Cold Depths
We walked along the main street, skirting around the throngs of people clustered around the busy shops, which were selling everything from clothes and shoes to real paper books and stationery to mouthwatering scones and cakes. Many of the shops were also filled with long glass cases, which contained hunks of stone and chunks of wood resting on white velvet trays.
“Mineral exchanges,” Kyrion explained, seeing my curious looks. “Along with wood, stone, and other raw resources. Dealers put out samples of their products so customers can see what quality and grade of materials are available and decide how much to bid on them.”
The Erzton controlled hundreds of planets and moons rich in raw resources, and they were always searching for more, just like the Imperium was constantly looking for psionic outliers to add to the Regal Houses and bloodlines. Back at Quill Corp, I’d received dozens of memos about the materials the production plants needed to buy from the Erzton, but those had been abstract numbers, so it was fascinating to see how the process worked here on Sygnustern.
Kyrion and I turned a corner and stepped onto a much quieter side street that led to a massive dome that rose hundreds of feet into the air. The dome was made of enormous panels of emerald-green permaglass connected by thick seams of gold and smaller gold bolts, like it was a giant tortoise shell.Antiques Emporiumwas painted in gold in an elegant cursive script on a dark green wooden sign.
“Asterin’s workshop is on the other side of the dome,” I said, sliding my tablet back into my pocket.
Kyrion nodded. “Let’s cut through the emporium. It should be quicker than going around.”
The double doors were open, so we entered the building. A wide corridor circled around the entire dome, so we crossed it and went through another set of open doors. My breath caught in my throat, and Kyrion stopped beside me, his wonder rippling through the bond.
From the outside, the permaglass had looked green, but inside it was clear and offered a magnificent view of the surrounding mountains. More clouds cloaked the sky, and a few flakes of snow were drifting down, making it seem as though Kyrion and I were inside an oversize snow globe.
Thick cables dangled like golden icicles from the curved ceiling, each one ending in a bright golden bulb shaped like a four-pointed star. A much larger, longer green glass spike dropped down from the center of the ceiling like an enormous stalactite. Gold seams glowing with light ribboned around the spike’s jagged edges and glittering, sparkling facets.
My gaze flicked from the seams to the spike and then up along the curve of the dome. My seer magic kicked in, highlighting each section in a soft silver flare and showing me how they all worked together. The gold seams and green glass might look pretty, but they had a much more practical purpose: they were solar wiring and panels that provided energy, light, and heat for the structure. Impressive.
Aisle after aisle ran from this end of the dome all the way to the other far in the distance, as well as from side to side. Booths, tables, and carts lined the aisles, along with shelves, bookcases, and glass curio cabinets that held a wide variety of objects: books, clothes, tools, dishes, weapons, even some old brewmakers and other appliances. Almost all the items were made of real stone, wood, and glass, instead of the polyplastic versions I was used to. Some of the items had obviously been well used, but many gleamed as if they had never even been touched.
“I’ve heard about places like this,” I murmured to Kyrion as we strode down one of the smaller aisles. “Places where people buy things that are old instead of new.”
He nodded. “The Erzton is much more environmentally conscious than the Imperium. The Erztonians reuse and recycle as many items for as long as possible, whereas the Regals are always throwing out the old in favor of the newest invention.”
We moved deeper into the antiques emporium. Several people were browsing through the goods, but no one gave us a second look, as they were all focused on finding whatever hidden treasure they were searching for.
“Touma would love this place,” Kyrion said.
A smile curved my lips. Touma Hirano was Daichi’s uncle, a spelltech who dabbled in all sorts of illegal things. Touma had a cluttered workshop on Corios that was stuffed from top to bottom with odds and ends. If the spelltech were here, he would be rubbing his hands together in glee and flitting from one booth to the next, searching for the perfect parts and pieces to take back to his workshop.
The smile faded from my lips, and guilt bubbled up in my chest like a Magma volcano about to erupt. No, that was wrong. Touma couldn’t go back to his workshop, just like I couldn’t return to Quill Corp. The spelltech had helped us escape from Crownpoint, and now he was a wanted fugitive, the same as Kyrion and me.
“There’s an open space in the middle of the dome up ahead,” Kyrion said. “We’ll have to cross it to reach the other side.”
I shook off my guilty thoughts, and we headed in that direction.
As we moved deeper into the antiques emporium, the shoppers thinned out, the murmurs of conversation vanished, and an eerie quiet cloaked the air. A finger of cold unease slid down my spine. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I felt like someone was watching us—
Ding!
A soft chime shattered the quiet. A woman looking through a display of books pulled out her tablet. She glanced at the message, then looked around. Her gaze landed on us. For a moment, she froze, then her eyes widened, and she scurried around the far side of the booth, moving away from us.
Kyrion quickened his steps, and I hurried to keep up with his long strides.
“Someone knows we’re here,” he said in a low voice, his gaze sweeping from side to side. “We need to get out of this building.”
I pulled out my tablet and messaged Asterin, saying we had been spotted. My tablet dinged almost immediately with a response.
On my way!
I slid my tablet back into my pocket. Asterin might get here in time to help us, but we couldn’t count on it.
Kyrion and I walked even faster. This aisle opened into the wide, circular space in the very center of the dome, directly underneath the green solar spike. Up close, it was even more beautiful, and the sharp, gold-pointed tip was only about a hundred feet above our heads.
Kyrion and I stepped into the open space. No one was browsing through the surrounding aisles. The silence was more eerie and absolute than before, but my seer magic kept whispering a warning that we weren’t alone.
Kyrion pushed his cloak back, revealing his stormsword. His hand clenched around the silver hilt, which featured small carvings of stars, eyes, and arrows clustered around a large sapphsidian jewel shaped like the House Caldaren sigil arrow. Curls of silver stretched out in opposite directions to form the weapon’s crossguard, while other pieces of silver snaked up and wrapped around the base of the lunarium blade.
