SHORT STORY: PERF Part 2

The Mid Square was busier, louder, and more fragrant than the Main Square. True, the smells here were those of perfumes and spices, whereas the Main Square smelled of refuse and bodies, but Perf still covered his mouth and nose with a silk cloth. The guards here were much more relaxed, their presence here was mainly to discourage any peasants who might have sneaked in looking to steal a coin purse or two.

“Hold,” a guard said, stepping out in front of Perf and stopping his progress.

Perf frowned, this was the second guard to stop him since he'd arrived in the Mid Square.

“What is the problem?” Perf asked, showing a his blatant impatience at being stopped. City guards were rarely of noble birth and most nobility saw them as just above peasants.

The guard hesitated and Perf scowled even more strongly.

“Well?” Perf demanded at the same moment that the guard had begun to speak. “And haw dare you try to interrupt me, what is your name?”

The guard wavered but held his ground.

“Jarel, sir, and I was just needing to see your papers,” Jarel stated, holding out his hand. “We've had a number of imposters of late and—

Perf cut Jarel off with a quick motion of his hand, indicating where his papers had been posted to the side of his cart. The guard shrank slightly at not having noticed them before. Perf doubted that the guard actually checked them, considering how quickly he waved Perf on, but that was the whole point of intimidating the guard. Had

the guard really inspected them he might have found a flaw in the forged papers.

“In the future, Jarel,” Perf said to the guard as he trundled passed, “I suggest you do not allow your personal failures to become the problems of your betters.”

Jarel said nothing and stomped back off to his patrol while Perf's frown deepened. The city was on alert. Perf pulled his cart up to an empty stall and quickly unhitched his horse and tethered it to a post with a bag of feed around its snout. Back at his cart, Perf began to uncover and to organize the sundry bottles, vials and powders that he carried. In no time at all he had converted his cart into an alchemists shop, complete with simmering pots and bubbling pipettes.

Perf breathed in the scents coming from his cart and he unwrapped his face. The smells of sulfur and other chemicals completely overpowered all the other stenches of flower petals and such ilk that the other vendors used to perfume their wares. For their part, the other vendors wrinkled their noses and the ones closest to Perf shifted their stalls further away from his. Few if any alchemist creations actually smelled so foul, and the other vendors knew it, but the stench was the sign of an alchemists sign, the stronger the scent the better the alchemist, and Perf's stench filled the Mid Square. Perf waved cordially to the perturbed vendors around him even as his first customer arrived.

“Do you have anything for sleep?” The woman asked.

Perf shuffled through his wares until he found the bottle he was looking for.

“Two weights of silver,” Perf said and the woman paid him.

The thin silver coins plinked brightly into his strongbox and Perf set about mixing up another sleeping draft to replace the one he'd just sold. The day passed quickly, with Perf making a fair bit of coins.

“City gates close at next watch,” The guards called out and the vendors took that as their cue to begin closing up shop.

Perf replaced his wares into their padded boxes and pulled the tarp over the top, securing it at the corners. His horse was well rested and clambered eagerly in the hopes of being able to move about once more. All the while, Perf kept careful watch on his surroundings. He took his time with the horse, brushing it down, waiting for the other vendors to begin moving away and for the guards to get called on to help with the unavoidable traffic jam. Sure enough, with half of the watch already passed and the slower merchants eager to get out of the city before the gates closed, the Mid Road became clogged with handcarts and horses and the shouts of the lesser nobility carried easily to Perf's ears.

Perf checked on the pouch that, like the one in his beggars clothes, had been stitched onto the inside of his garment. He reached inside the neck of his robe, pretending to have an itch, and removed the solitary item enclosed: a pinch of roughly ground glass. He gritted his teeth as he rubbed his fingers together, breaking the skin and mixing his blood with the powder. Power slipped out of him and he quickly drew the symbols onto his horse, cart, and himself. Perf made one last look around to make certain that no one was watching and then muttered the words.

Jarel walked a final round through the Mid Square. He could have sworn that the alchemist hadn't left yet, but his spot was empty now. He should go and check with the Gate Guard to see if the alchemist had left, but he didn't exactly look forward to another degrading incident. So he let it go and returned to the guard post where a mess of stewed meat was waiting for him.

Perf let out the breath he'd been holding once Jarel was gone. Being invisible didn't prevent one from making sounds. The horse and cart were already back through the passwall but nothing but the low light of dusk had prevented Jarel from seeing the chalk drawing. Once the guard was gone, Perf set about obscuring the drawing. Once again, Perf had changed clothes, this time to look like a member of the Royal Guard. The only thing out of place in his costume was the large sack he had strapped onto his back. There was nothing to be done, he would need the sack and he could only hope no one would stop and question him about it.

The invisibility would ware off at about the same time that he would be reaching the palace. He wished he could maintain it longer than that, but the city Augers would most definitely find him then. They watched the palace with such vigilance, and understandably, you could never tell when assassins might strike.

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I'm hoping to get more into the magic system of this world, but at the same time, this being a short story, do I need to? Would it only distract from the story at hand or would it add another level of complexity (in a good way)? Also, what do you think of Perf as a character? Is he too flat? Am I keeping too much to myself as the writer? Should I give a bit more about his past and/or inner thoughts and motivations?