Chapter 37 - Troubles Brewing

Just as Yuzu resigned herself to not being able to find the black threads, her spiritual intuition alerted her to the approach of a man. The image of a black haired man with long, thin limbs surfaced in her mind as she turned around to see him turn the corner.

“Miss Xing, long time no see!” The man smiled, the edges of his eyes wrinkling. He wore a light coat over a chef’s uniform. He had a lively countenance and gestured broadly with his hands as he talked.

“Good afternoon, Spider.” Yuzu said politely, standing up as he approached. Char Char followed suit, greeting the man with a smile and a polite bow.

“Good afternoon, Miss Xing. I see you brought a friend!” Spider looked over to the shorter girl who had a bright, clear complexion and a pretty face. His smile naturally grew warmer in response to her smile. He bowed in a gentlemanly fashion to her. “Good afternoon, pretty miss. I am Loren Marchant, although everyone calls me Spider.”

“This is Char Char.” Yuzu introduced simply.

“Good afternoon.” Char Char replied.

“And what brings the two of you out here? Selling? Buying? I might have guessed it was because you missed my noodles, but apparently only the special is worth ordering.” He grinned as he took the verbal jab at Yuzu. Clearly he had heard of the quip that Yuzu made to Rabbit.

“We’re looking for a specific mushroom. Is Enoki in town?” Yuzu said, a professional look on her face. Spider seemed used to this attitude as he considered her question seriously.

Enoki was a mushroom specialist. He was a regular customer of the pawn shop, which is how Yuzu knew him. Somehow he always seemed to need extra money to purchase the rare goods that people sought him out for. He’d come to the shop, pawn some goods for the cash, then return a few days later and pay it back with a wide grin and a handful of strange looking mushrooms to show off to her. He didn’t keep a regular stall location because he rented different spots depending on what he had for sale, which is why Yuzu paid a visit to Spider first.

“Ah, Enoki.” Spider brought his large, long-fingered hand to his chin as his eyes glanced to the ceiling in thought. “Yes. He is in town. I believe he set up a shop in zone six. He was grumbling about it all week. Apparently he’s been having issues with his stock - trouble with the local foragers.”

“That’s fine, we’re not looking for a local mushroom.” Yuzu said.

“May I ask what it is?” He asked, his eyes twinkling with curiosity.

“Biltishroom.” Yuzu glanced over to Char Char to make sure she’d said it properly. “It’s a desert mushroom.”

“What do you need it for, if I may ask?”

“It’s for a special medicine.” Char Char said, “The mushroom is apparently pretty rare, though.”

“Oh?” Spider said, his interest peaked. “It must be, I’ve never heard of it. And I’m quite familiar with mushrooms!”

He patted his stomach and laughed.

“Zone six you said?” Yuzu quickly brought the conversation back on track. “Where was that again?”

“Next to the barbeque house on Maido street.” Spider said, “I saw him a few days ago, he was pretty stressed. He was saying how his shipment hadn’t come in and that he was losing money from renting the spot. Those stalls aren’t cheap, you know, even though it’s just an empty spot on the ground.”

He sighed as he seemed to lose himself in his own monologue, “Times are really troublesome lately...”

The last comment wasn’t made to anyone in particular. Yuzu had no intention to press the topic, but Char Char took the initiative and asked, “What do you mean, troublesome?”

“Ah- Sorry. I was just thinking out loud.” Spider said, “It seems that many people are having troubles. Whether it’s bandits from the south, or strange occurrences in the forest...”

“What kind of things in the forest?” Char Char interrupted.

“I’m not sure myself.” Spider replied, “People getting sick, seeing things in the dark, hearing things in the woods. On the other hand there’s quite a few exotic items from the forest appearing in the market as well. One of my friends is selling a set of giant talons and feathers. Claims it was from a giant bird they found in the western foothills. Never heard of anything like it!”

He turned to Yuzu, gesturing with his hands to describe the talons which were the length of a forearm. “You should really take a look if you have a moment, Miss Xing. I’d be interested to hear your opinion. They’re really too huge, but they look real. Perhaps it’s from across the sea? My friend insisted he’d bought it from a local huntsman. Unbelievable, eh? Whatever it is, something strange is in the air this spring.”

Char Char was about to ask for more information on the talons when Yuzu grabbed her hand.

“Let’s go, Char Char.” Yuzu said firmly. “We need to find the mushroom. Spider will talk until it’s dark if we let him.”

“That’s the truth!” Spider laughed, stepping aside. “Take off, then. Let me know if you find it, I’d be interested to hear about it.”

“Thank you, the noodles were delicious.” Char Char said, bowing politely.

“Thank you, please come back. I promise our other items are just as good!”

Yuzu walked off without another word, forcing Char Char to say a quick goodbye before running to catch up to Yuzu.

Spider stroked his chin thoughtfully as he watched the two girls leave. His eyes glanced down at the two bowls on the table. One was practically licked clean, while the other one was still half-full.

“More than she usually eats.” Spider commented to himself, looking down at the bowl that still had plenty of noodles and meat in it.

“The soup must have been especially good today!” He smiled cheerfully as he packed up the bowls on the wooden tray to help clear the spot for the next customers.

~

Ten minutes later, Yuzu and Char Char found themselves in a street packed with carts that had been set up under colourful tarps. In the carts were open crates full of hundreds of different dried goods. The smell of herbs and spices mingled with the fresh spring air, at times sweet and light, at others heavy and musky.

Maido Street was five blocks long and was one of several streets that specialized in produce and other raw food items. Zone six was merchant lingo for a specific block of stalls. Yuzu was familiar with the zone system but had not memorized the layout, so she would only have been able to get a general idea of the location from the number, but Spider’s specific directions helped her head straight to Enoki’s stall.

“It’s closed.” Char Char said as they approached a small cart that had been covered with a heavy tarp. The girls stood in front of the cart, looking around for the mushroom merchant.

“Excuse me.” Char Char caught the attention of the vendor next to the closed stall, “Is this Enoki’s stall?”

“Yeah.” The man glanced over. “I haven’t seen him all day. He packed up early last night, too.”

“He’s not the only one who sells mushrooms.” Yuzu said to Char Char after some thought, “We should ask around and see if there’s anyone who’s selling Biltishrooms. Just stay in this block and we can meet back here in half an hour.”

“Alright.” Char Char said, “Good luck!”

Yuzu walked across the street to another stall, watching Char Char walk off into the crowd. Once Char Char had left her sight, Yuzu returned to Enoki’s empty stall and stood a little off to the side of it, taking a pose like she was waiting for someone. Truthfully, she doubted that Char Char would have any luck, since this section of the street was purely for edible dried goods. Most of the merchants that sold mushrooms on this strip probably wouldn’t have even heard of the rare poisonous mushroom.

Yuzu had sent Char Char away because she wanted to try something without her friend around to watch. As she stood with a bored look on her face, she activated her spiritual vision and focused her eyes on the golden wisps of smoke that materialized behind the empty stall. She reached out to each one in turn, sifting through them for Enoki’s thread.

After a few minutes of sifting through various stranger’s futures, she touched a thread and saw the illusory image of a familiar tan skinned man. He was short, wearing white baggy pants held up by a corded rope and a red vest with no undershirt. He was thin, with leathery skin and rough hands from a life of digging and foraging. He had a narrow face, a nose with a curved tip and sharp black eyes.

It was dark in the vision. Half of the stalls in the streets were closed with tarps thrown over them. Enoki staggered over to his cart, clearly drunk as he clutched onto a bottle of wine. He bumped into the handle of the cart that jut out of the side and nearly fell over.

“Shit!” He cursed, kicking at the wheel of the cart, “Shit!”

The vendor beside him, the same one that Yuzu had talked to, reached out a hand, “Enoki, you okay? What are you doing out here?”

“Picking up my things.” He said, pulling up the tarp revealing a few locked cases. He opened the cases to check on their contents as he continued to swear. “I’m leaving this town before I catch it. You should too, Ramie.”

“You mean what Howard’s got?” Ramie asked, a concerned look on his face.

“Not just Howard. All of them.” Enoki said, “Sores all over their bodies. Shit growing out- I don’t want to think about it. Nope, I’m gone. I’m leaving!”

As he said those words, several screams pierced the night. Ramie and Enoki looked down the street towards the sound of yelling and toppling carts. Yuzu turned her head to look as well, but the vision didn’t extend far enough. Illusory images of people materialized as they ran past the two vendors.

They looked at each other and ran too, causing the vision to fade.

“What...” Yuzu muttered in concern as she took hold of the smoky string and followed its trail in the direction that Enoki had run, but she gleaned no additional information as they continued to run through the street. She had not been able to get a glance of what they were running from. Stretching her spirit, she was only able to reach out a distance of about a block’s radius away. She decided against following the string for too long.

Heading back to the stall she found Enoki’s string again and kept ahold of it as she examined the other strands in the area. Most of them were only of people passing by throughout the day, when the situation in the street was still normal.

Then she found a smoky strand that seemed to end abruptly in the air. As she touched it, the illusory image of man tripped over a fallen crate and landed in front of Yuzu. He clutched his knee in pain for only a few seconds before his head jerked up to look at a woman with a maddened look of hunger in her eyes. Black tendrils protruded from her body and had wrapped themselves around her limbs. Some of the tendrils had long, leafy fronds that waved in the air frantically. At the end of the fronds were bloodshot eyeballs that were all focused on the man.

Yuzu broke her connection to the string just as the woman lunged at him with her fingers outstretched like claws.

His cut off scream echoed in her ears as the noise and motion of the real world came back into focus around her.