The Seven Markets Read Online Free Page A

she could tell, this was a match to their own. She told him so.
    “Fine, fine,” he said, tossing it back into his mess. “You’ve shovels, how marvelous. Stands to reason then . . . and here . . . very well. How about, d’you have these?”
    He produced what was recognizably a lantern and held it aloft for Ellie to see. She began to tell him that, yes, they had lanterns in Oberton, when he touched a spot on the top of the lantern and it suddenly lit up brighter than any lantern she’d ever seen.
    “Ah, I see,” he said. “Lanterns but not ’lectricity, is that it? Is it candles? No. Oil, surely. You’ve oil, don’t you? Pour a bit in and lower the taper and there we are, good and bright, eh?”
    He made as if to return the lantern back into the wagon when Ellie told him to stop. “May I see it?” she said.
    “Oooh no, can’t do that,” he said, ducking it down away from her. “Truth be told, I could get into frightful trouble just for the glance I gave you there.”
    “Just a moment,” she said. “I won’t tell.”
    “It’s not the telling,” he said. “It’s more, well, there’s rules, y’see?”
    “Whose rules?” She stood up on her toes to peer inside the wagon. There were a great many unfamiliar items amid the general clutter, but she had no way to make sense of them all.
    “Just rules,” he said, tucking the lantern away. He rummaged a bit more, muttering under his breath about photons and terabytes and several other words Ellie was unfamiliar with. From what she could tell, he was separating his goods into two piles: those he could sell and those he would need to keep hidden.
    “How about this?” he’d say, holding a thing up for Ellie to look at. “Y’got these?”
    “Earrings?” she’d say. Or, “Pocket watches?”
    Whenever he held up something she didn’t recognize, no matter how she tried to conceal her curiosity, he was too quick.
    “What does that do?” she asked, after he held up a round, silver box scarcely wide enough to fill her palm, only to hide it again just as quickly.
    “Plays music. How about this?”
    “Yes, we have eyeglasses.”
    “These?”
    “We have books as well, though none so fine as that. May I see?”
    “These?”
    Ellie recognized a pair of dice when she saw them. She began telling him so when she saw the way they sparkled in the day’s light.
    “Are those glass?” she said.
    “Up—right. No ’lectricity, no CD players, definitely no plastic. Sloppy that. Apologies.”
    It was becoming late and the light was failing. After her time in town and then her time with Joshua, she’d already been on track to arrive home quite late. With this latest distraction, Ellie would likely come in after Mama had dinner on the table.
    “Pardon me, sir?”
    He looked up, his hands empty.
    “Ah, growing dark, is it? Here you go.”
    He reached over to a flat, silver panel Ellie could see inside the wagon. A heartbeat later it became as bright as midday. She cried out in surprise, protecting her eyes with her hands. The little man, realizing his mistake, swore loudly and extinguished the wagon’s lights.
    “Rules, rules, rules,” he said, shaking his head. “So easy to forget. Just like dates, there and gone in the blink of an eye.
    Ellie rubbed her eyes, blinking away the fading embers of light imprinted on the undersides of her eyelids. “Was that the same as your lantern?”
    “Yes.”
    “Do it again.”
    “No.”
    “Do it,” Ellie said. “I’m ready now. I won’t be blinded. Do it.”
    He made to protest, and then saw he was beaten. Shoulders slumped with resignation, the little man tapped the same silver plate again and the light returned.
    Ellie had shielded her eyes from the sudden brightness. After giving herself time to acclimate, she was able to see into the wagon.
    “How does it work?” she said, unable to help herself.
    “All right, that’s about enough of that,” he said, switching the light back off.
    “But it’s