Merchant Crab

***

In a different part of the city, a peculiar pair of tourists navigated up a street looking for their destination.

The goblin was not used to being allowed inside cities, but for whatever reason he did not understand, people in this place seemed perfectly fine with his presence.

Maybe it was because everyone was too afraid to say something since he was accompanied by a mean drake?

Or perhaps it was because everyone was aware of his important boss and knew not to mess with his loyal assistant?

No, surely it was because they saw the hat on his head and the staff on his back and knew he was no savage goblin like all of his cousins out in the wilds.

Druma was a civilized goblin wizard, and people respected that.

Nodding to himself, the little green guy continued examining the piece of paper he had scrawled a rudimentary map on, based on the larger one his boss had.

To anyone else, the squiggles and chaotic lines on the parchment would have been indecipherable as directions, but to Druma’s unique intellect, they made enough sense to get around, and that’s all that mattered.

The azure drake eyed him with her usual lazy and uninterested gaze, but carried on following behind.

Druma didn’t mind it. He knew her better than most. She acted cold, but the goblin knew she was warm on the inside.

Especially when she breathed out those pretty, magical flames.

Druma wished he could do that too.

Scratching his head under the wizard hat as he turned the piece of paper upside-down with the other hand, the goblin tried to make sense of the crossroads in front of them.

A sign with street names stood right by one of the corners, but that was of no help to him.

He did not know the streets of Marquessa.

Or how to read signs.

“Hmmmm…” said the goblin, tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth as his eyes darted up and down between the map and the forked path.

Blue let out an impatient growl behind him as she rolled her golden eyes.

“Yes, yes,” the crab’s assistant said. “Druma know where we go. We go… this a-way!”

With confident steps, the goblin carried on through the street to the left.

That part of town was nowhere near as busy as the main commercial districts they had come from, but there were still a few people passing by here and there. Most paid the two outsiders no mind, but some paused to look at the colorful visitors.

“G’day,” a lanky figure wearing a hooded cloak said as they crossed paths, his face semi-covered by the shade of the hood, revealing only a greeting smile.

Druma waved back and returned the smile, noticing the passerby had no skin but rather shiny green scales. Looking back as the stranger continued walking in the opposite direction, the goblin also realized he had a long tail dragging behind.

The more he saw of Marquessa, the more Druma thought that place was pretty neat.

If only the town near home was as welcoming to non-humans…

After a couple more turns and twists through the streets, the two town explorers came to a stop in front of a dilapidated building.

It was an old storeroom with high windows, most of them with missing or broken glass. Their frames and the front metal door were covered in rust and grime, like a place that had been abandoned for a long time. R̃

“This it!” exclaimed the excited goblin. “Druma find place boss want Druma and Blue to check!”

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With one brow raised higher, the drake looked at the unassuming building. With a nod, she then eyed the windows high up near the roof—the only openings that would allow looking inside.

Her green partner followed her gaze up and quickly shook his head. “No, no! Boss say Blue can’t fly. People can get scared.”

The winged creature clicked her tongue with a scoff and spread her wings, preparing for take-off.

“Please,” the goblin pleaded. “Druma no want to make trouble for boss.”

She paused and looked at him from the corner of her eye.

“Druma really want to do job right.”

Blue stared at the goblin’s sad, puppy-like eyes for a moment before letting out a smoky sigh and folding her wings back in.

“Thank you, thank you!” the happy assistant said, hopping from side to side.

Skipping toward the door, Druma stuffed his sketched map in the pocket of his burlap pants and crossed his arms, carefully observing the rusty door in front of him.

“Hmm… Druma can’t see inside…”

Then, glancing up, he spotted a transom window above the door.

“Aha!” the goblin exclaimed as he snapped his fingers. “Druma can get in if Blue boost Druma up!”

The drake cocked her brow at her green friend but obliged. With a swift hop, the goblin jumped up from her onto the ledge of the window.

Holding his large hat in place, Druma pushed the window open and squeezed through the tight space.

Blue winced as she heard a loud crash behind the door, from the goblin’s clumsy landing.

“Druma is fine!” his voice said from the other side.

Shuffling, rummaging, and things falling could be heard from inside the building as the drake frowned at the metal door.

“Wait… Druma will… find way… to let Blue in,” the struggling assistant yelled.

Blue took a sniff at the door and rolled her bright yellow eyes with a groan. With a soft headbutt, the winged creature pushed the unlocked door open with little effort.

“Oh,” said Druma, standing on the other side with a broom in his hands and one foot inside a bucket. “Druma not know Blue can pick lock!”

Exhaling a small puff of smoke, the drake walked past her partner in adventure and entered the storeroom proper.

“Look empty to Druma,” the goblin said, hopping behind her while pulling his foot out of the bucket.

Stretching her neck up, Blue sniffed the air, as if searching for any useful scents. Meanwhile, the other crab companion looked around the room while rubbing the back of his still-sore neck from the tumble he had taken coming in.

“Is this mangoes?” he asked, standing up from looking under a table while holding out a slightly moldy orange.

The drake looked at the fruit with a skeptical frown and gave it a quick sniff before pulling her head away with a snarl of disgust.

“No, Druma no think it is,” the slightly deflated goblin said, throwing the spoiled fruit behind his back. “Druma no think what boss want is here.”

They looked around the large room, filled with little more than several layers of dust and the appearance of a place that hadn’t been used in a long time. Unlikely to be where anyone had stored a large shipment of mangoes—or anything else—recently.

“Blue and Druma should go back. Boss will be waiting, and Druma no has anything to tell boss.”

Slumping his shoulders, the small goblin walked to the exit, dragging his feet as he went. The drake, glaring at the back of his head with a mildly disapproving scowl, followed him out, giving his arm a playful bump as she passed him.

A short time later, and after a couple of games of catch on the way there, the slightly more cheerful goblin and the drake arrived back at the central square where they were meant to meet the crab.

“Boss not back yet?” he said. “Druma and Blue wait for boss then.”

Hopping on the ledge of a fountain, the assistant sat down, watching the passing crowds while idly bouncing his hanging feet back and forth.

Time passed, but no sign of the crab.

“Druma hungry,” he said, jumping off the ledge and back onto his feet.

Holding his hat in place, the goblin looked up at the clock tower at the other end of the avenue.

Unfortunately, the goblin did not know how to read a clock either.

Fortunately, the sun was out, and that he knew how to read.

“Hmm, time for lunch soon. Where is boss?”

As he turned around, he found his winged friend walking in the opposite direction they had come from while sniffing the ground.

“Oh, Blue can smell boss?!” Druma said, running up to her side.

The drake offered no obvious response, other than to continue following her nose, swerving and dodging the crowds as they exited the square and went through more streets.

After several minutes of sniffing and walking in circles a few times, the two companions reached a much more slummy part of the city.

“Blue smell boss here?” Druma asked, looking worried as he eyed a ruined building with a single old tree next to it.

The drake gave him an affirmative nod, and they walked around the low fence, toward a low window on the side of the building.

“Trap,” the goblin whispered as he stopped and placed his arm in front of the drake.

Druma pointed at the snare rope haphazardly hidden under some leaves in front of them.

Carefully, the pair walked around the obvious trap and reached the window.

Popping their heads up, they peeked through the dirty glass.

Inside, they saw two bandits with knives in their hands, and between them, hanging upside-down from the ceiling by a rope tied to his legs and claws, was a giant crab.

Druma gasped. “Boss!”

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