Merchant Crab

It was dusk, and the embers crackled in the fire pit at the center of the bazaar. What was left of it, anyway.

The roof was mostly gone, exposing the deck to the darkening sky and the chilly air of the approaching night, more bitter and cutting now that winter was around the corner.

All around the fire were piles of debris and broken items. Parts of the ceiling, destroyed shelves, remnants of crates, what once had been a rich display of random junk, now just a simple pile of it.

On the floor by the fire sat a crab, slumped over a small collection of pebbles, idly fiddling with them. A short distance away was a toppled and open chest, covered in mud and scratch marks from being dragged through rocks.

Spilled out of it were more pebbles, some other random items, an old piece of rolled parchment, and a statuette depicting a golden muse.

The light of the flames reflected on both the statue and the crab’s shell, the glow much more dull on the latter, which was dirtied by mud and lacking its usual pristine shine.

Balthazar sighed and stared at the light reflecting on one of the precious rubies etched into the statuette. The same eyes that before looked at it with marvel and adoration now could only find remorse and guilt in its sight.

All he could see now when looking into the sublime features carved onto the muse’s face was Madeleine, her gentle smile, her kind eyes, and be reminded of his last memory of her, her arms reaching out for help as she was taken away by the dragon.

He could have done more, he should have done more, were the conclusions he kept coming back to every time he thought about everything that had unfolded the day before.

“Hey, Balthazar,” said a croaky but also gently voice. “You should get some sleep. I’ll look after the place for the night.”

“What for, Henrietta?” said the deflated crab, without turning to face her. “Not like we can do any business like this, anyway. You go on, I’ll stay.”

The toad hopped closer to the fire pit, next to the crab, and looked at him. “I could stay, if you don’t want to be alone.”

Balthazar did not respond, and instead continued staring emptily into his collection of pebbles.

“What’s that?” Henrietta asked, nodding her head at the piece of parchment peeking out of the chest.

“It’s nothing,” muttered the crab. “Just some stupid old scroll I should have thrown away a long time ago.”

The toad stared at the crab for a few moments, with concern and pity in her eyes, before she sighed.

“I will leave you be, but if you need me, you know where I am.”

The merchant nodded idly, and Henrietta hopped away to one of the corners of the pond that remained intact.

Balthazar continued gazing at the fire, wondering if he’d ever feel like sleeping again.

He heard movement from the back of the bazaar and turned, ready to reassure Henrietta again that she could go rest and leave him, but rather than a toad, the crab found a drake approaching.

Blue made her way next to him, walking slowly, while carrying her red cushion in her mouth. It was dirty from having been under the mudslide, but she did not seem to mind, as it was still her favorite thing to sleep on.

“What is it, girl?” asked the crab.

She carefully placed the cushion on the floor and walked in a circle before lying down on it, her head facing him and the crackling fire.

Balthazar paused for a moment, looking down at the drake. Her scales where the lightning strike had hit her were shedding, the area appearing to be healing well, and the impact from the dragon did not seem like it had left much damage on her.

Despite that, she seemed down and even lower on energy than before the previous day’s battle.

Not too unlike the crab.

“You miss her too, don’t you?” Balthazar whispered.

Blue let out a low growl.

“Yeah, me too, Blue. Me too.”

The crab let out another sigh, and the young drake nudged her head against his shell.

Balthazar hesitated for a moment, but then placed his claw over her head and gently patted it.

The azure drake closed her eyes and rested her head against the golden crab’s shell, letting out the occasional faint growl as he petted her dorsal scales with the smoother side of his pincer.

Despite how close he was to the flames in the pit, he found the warmth emanating from her far more comforting to his sore and bruised body.

Some time passed as they rested by the fire, the drake falling in and out of sleep, while the crab continued gazing into the pit, flashes of the growing fireball erupting from the red dragon’s mouth coming to the front of his thoughts as he lost himself in thoughts of guilt.

A rattling sound snapped Balthazar out of his trance and pulled his attention to the path leading down from the main road.

Carefully dislodging himself from under Blue’s head, he stood up and slowly moved around the fire pit, listening closer to the approaching sound.

The rattling continued growing louder until the crab realized it sounded very familiar.

“Tom?” he said, squinting his eyes at the shimmering yellow glow appearing from the darkness outside the doorway.

The rattling skeleton stepped closer and into the light from the fire. Wearing his old and barely held together jacket and pants over his old yellowed bones, carrying his usual stick with a firefly lantern hanging from the tip, the undead merchant greeted the crab with a timid wave.

“Hey, buddy.”

“Oh, hey. Didn’t expect you to show up here tonight,” the crab responded.

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Balthazar looked at the fellow merchant for a moment, his sad empty eye sockets and apologetic smile.

“I’m guessing you heard.”

The skeleton tilted his head and shrugged. “Yeah, everybody’s talking about it out there. Big red dragon showing up out of nowhere, big fight, everything else.”

Balthazar nodded and turned to go back to the edge of the fire pit, signaling for Tom to follow.

The skeleton stood a short distance away as the crab sat down on the floor. “Sorry, I’d offer you a chair, but I’m not sure there are any still left in one piece.”

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it,” Tom said, reaching for the back of his skull with one hand. “Not like I can get sore legs or back pain, heh.”

The bony merchant chuckled awkwardly, but quickly became quiet again.

“I heard you had broken a few legs. You alright? You seem to be walking fine now.”

“Oh, yes, legs are fine now,” Balthazar responded, his gaze back to the flames. “It was just a matter of carefully snapping them back into place. Perks of being an invertebrate. Can’t really break bones if I don’t have any.”

The awkward silence continued to hang over the room for a few more seconds until the crab glanced at the skeleton.

“Sorry, not sure if that was inappropriate or offensive. I didn’t mean it, if it was.”

“Oh, no, no, not at all!” Tom rapidly replied, raising both hands in front of his rib cage. “That was actually a good one. I would have had a good laugh at it, if… you know… it wouldn’t feel so wrong to do that at the moment.”

More silence filled the air, and the skeleton let out a lung-less sigh.

“Look, I’m not really used to, or very good at, this kind of stuff, but for what it’s worth, I’m really sorry about everything you’re going through.”

Balthazar let his shell deflate and spoke while staring into the fire. “It’s alright, I’m not good at it either, but I appreciate it, Tom.”

The skeleton noticed two large fragments of a smooth, dark red rock near the open chest. It was a perfectly round orb, but cracked down in the middle and split in two nearly identical halves, revealing a solid core of opaque geode.

“Is that his… you know… core?”

The crab nodded without saying a word or moving his gaze.

Twiddling his thumb bones for a moment, the traveling merchant looked for something to say.

“So, what do you plan to do now?”

The crab shrugged.

“What’s there to do? Probably nothing. My dream has been destroyed. I don’t even have any pie left to help me feel better.”

“Right,” said Tom. “Couldn’t you get pie from someone else in town, though? I’m sure there’s more than one person baking up there.”

“Yes, probably, but it’s not about that. It just wouldn’t feel the same if it wasn’t from… from her.”

Balthazar slumped down again, idly poking his pebbles with the tip of his silver pincer.

Tom’s jaw slid to one side slightly as he watched the crab.

“Alright, sure, but you can’t just be ready to give up like that, can you?”

The tired merchant let out an exasperated sigh.

“How can I not, Tom?” he said, finally turning his eye stalks up to the skeleton. “My bazaar is wrecked, my friend is gone, Madeleine was taken by a dragon. I can’t do anything. I’m just a stupid crab, and it’s about time I realized that.”

Balthazar’s eye stalks sagged back down to his pebbles and the space around them was filled with silence again, only broken by the soft hissing of the burning wood in the fire, and the loud breathing of Blue sleeping on her pillow.

The skeleton stared at the crab for a moment and a scowl started forming above his empty sockets, despite his lack of muscles or skin to scowl with.

“You’re right,” said Tom. “You are a stupid crab. You’re stupid for thinking you can’t do anything.”

Balthazar looked back at him with a slight frown, but before he could say anything, the talking skull continued.

“It’s true you lost your bazaar, but so what? I remember back when you didn’t have one to begin with, and your business was already booming then. You built it once. Why wouldn’t you be able to do it again? You never struck me as a quitter, crab.”

The depressed crustacean looked around, at the monumental mess around his home, from the demolished gazebo to the place where his central islet used to be, now buried under the mudslide of the avalanche that had also filled much of the pond.

“Yes, your golem friend being destroyed must be terrible,” Tom carried on. “Trust me, I may be undead, but I know. But I also know sometimes things don’t have to be so final. He’s a golem. Surely there’s some magic… thingy that could be done. I remember a long time ago watching one of those mage-types fighting a giant using a golem outside a dungeon, and even though the giant smashed the golem down, after the guy won the battle he did some magical bullcrap to bring the golem back to life.”

“Wait, really? You saw that happen?” said Balthazar, his eyes shooting back at the skeleton.

“Yes!” the other responded. “And as for your baker girl, far as I heard, she was kidnapped by the dragon, not killed. Dragons like to collect things. I doubt it actually harmed her. It could have just done that here if that’s what it intended to do. She’s out there, somewhere, and that means there’s a chance of rescuing her. If you care so much about her, why are you sitting there wallowing instead of putting that thinking shell to work and figuring out how to get her back? Back before you knew her, didn't you come up with a plan to find a baker to bring you pies? Well, do it again, crab!”

Balthazar’s gaze drifted towards the flames again, this time not in defeat, but in thought. As he listened to the skeleton, it was as if another fire was slowly stoked within him, riling him up, making him wonder if there was actually something he could do. Giving him a growing impulse to act. Giving him hope.

“Maybe… maybe you’re right,” the crab finally said, clearing his throat as he used his voice again. “It’s a big task, but with enough people and time, and with John’s help, why couldn’t this place be fixed up? Maybe made even better than it ever was.”

“Exactly!” exclaimed the skeleton, a smile growing across his exposed teeth.

“And I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before, but surely that old wizard that traded me this golem core can do something to help me fix it. He’s a bit loony, sure, but he definitely knows a lot about magical things. He has to know what to do!”

“Now you’re getting there!” an excited Tom said, clenching his bony fist and pumping it in the air.

Balthazar looked up at the night sky and over the horizon, where he’d last seen Madeleine, being taken away by the dragon, and his breathing trembled a tiny bit.

“As for Madeleine… I’m not sure how yet, but I can’t just sit here forever with my pincers crossed and expect things to be solved on their own. If I want her back, maybe it’s finally time I figure some stuff out and go do something about it myself.”

“Yes! That’s the spirit!” cheered the skeleton, the fireflies in his lantern shaking wildly within as he celebrated. “You just gotta look around and realize you are not alone anymore. Think of all the friends and allies you’ve made along the way and who you can count on. Hell, you, your partners, all those adventurers, everyone gave that dragon a good show, considering nobody was expecting a dragon to show up after ages without them being spotted. Imagine what could be done with preparation and a good plan. And I’ve seen enough from you to know that planning is something you’re pretty good at.”

Balthazar stood up and clenched his pincer. “You’re damn right! I’m not a quitting crab. I’m going to turn things around. Just watch me!”

“Ha-ha! I’m glad I could help you see reason. You had it in you all along. It just needed to be poked at.” He paused and adjusted his walking stick. “However, if you’ll excuse me now, I don’t think we can really do much business tonight, given the whole mess you got here, so I’ll be on my way. The night is young, but I got a long stretch to go if I still want to make it to the Orcs. I figure they will want to know the news from a trustworthy mouth.”

“Right. Thanks for helping me see reason, Tom. I… I really appreciate it.”

The traveling skeleton tipped the brim of his dusty hat. “Don’t mention it. I’ll see ya around, crabber.”

They waved each other goodbye, and the visitor wandered back out to the road, rattling away as he went into the night.

Standing with a newly found drive in him, the crab began running the cogs of his mind, planning and scheming, figuring out how he was going to put things back in motion and turn his bad luck around.

“Just wait, Madeleine,” he muttered to himself. “We will bring you back. And I will bring Bouldy back too. You will both get to see a new and improved bazaar. I’ll make use of all the gold I have, I’ll get the help of whatever adventurers I can, I’ll put all these skills to use, this stupid system, everything, but nothing will stop me from seeing this through. I promise.”

As Balthazar made his oath to the night sky above him, a soft sound behind him caught his ear. It sounded almost like… rustling feathers.

The crab turned and his eyes widened as their stalks stood up.

A crow, feathers and eyes black as midnight, had landed on the edge of the fire pit and was staring directly at him.

Of all the things he did not need to deal with in that moment, a damnable bird was surely high on that list.

Just as Balthazar prepared to charge at the feathered annoyance and shoo it away, it did something that nearly made the crab’s jaw drop to the floor: it spoke.

“We need to talk, Balthazar.”