Chapter 166: I Do Not Pay Tithes: I Collect Them
The black stone gate stood open ahead of them, the ripple in the air showing a glimpse of crystal sunlight and ordinary grass beyond. Nima had already turned the horses toward it.
Levi raised one hand.
"Stop."
The chariot slowed. Blue light under the horses dimmed. The five women looked at him.
Lucy frowned. "We are not crossing?"
"Not yet." Levi’s eyes stayed on the gate for a moment, then turned away from it. "The surface can wait. Neverland is not finished with us, and I am not finished with Neverland."
Vespera’s living eyes narrowed slightly. "You claimed the origin layer. The witches. The remnants. What is left?"
"Places the witches never fully ruled," Levi said. "Demon courts. Markets that answer only to strength. Settlements that paid tribute to the Mother of Chains but never bent the knee. I want them under the mark before I step back into the light."
Serakel’s third eye opened a fraction. "There is a city two days east of the outer dark. The Ashen Bazaar. Demons, half-bloods, things that never took a witch’s chain. They trade in souls, steel, and secrets. The Mother left them alone as long as they sent the occasional offering."
Isha’s slime rippled with interest. "I have heard of it. They say the streets rearrange themselves at night so no one can map them twice."
The Reverend Mother Superior sighed. "Of course they do."
Lucy grinned, sharp and ready. "Sounds better than baths and polite questions on the surface. I vote for the demon market."
Levi nodded once. "Ashen Bazaar. We go."
Nima turned the horses away from the gate without comment. The glimpse of crystal sunlight and ordinary grass vanished behind them as the chariot headed back into the deep dark of Neverland. The gold light of the Sovereign Domain followed like a quiet banner.
’The surface marks can wait. The women I left above can wait. First I finish the underground.’
The journey east took them across cracked plains of black glass and through canyons where the walls whispered in languages older than the witches. Occasional packs of lesser demons scattered when the gold light of the chariot approached. None were foolish enough to challenge it.
Lucy spent the first hours sharpening her blade and trading low remarks with Isha about which of them would start a fight first once they reached the bazaar. Vespera sat in composed silence, though her living eyes tracked every movement in the dark. Serakel watched the shifting landmarks with her third eye. The Reverend Mother Superior looked quietly resigned to another stretch of chaos.
Levi listened to them and felt the Sovereign Sigil pulse in steady approval.
’They adapt fast. Good. The Ashen Bazaar will not be polite.’
Near the end of the second cycle of dark, the land changed. The black glass gave way to wide streets of packed ash and bone. Towers of scavenged metal and demon-bone rose at odd angles. Red and green fires burned in iron cages along the main avenues. The air smelled of hot metal, blood, and something sweet that was probably not food.
The Ashen Bazaar.
Nima set the chariot down on a broad plaza of fused skulls at the edge of the city. Demons of every shape paused in their business to stare. Some had too many arms. Some had horns that dripped slow fire. Some wore the skins of things that had once been human. All of them felt the gold light of the Sovereign Domain and decided, very quickly, not to be the first to speak.
Levi stepped out. The five women followed.
A tall demon with the head of a starved hound and a coat of stitched coin-purses approached, claws raised in a gesture that was almost polite.
"Outsiders. The bazaar has rules. You pay the entry tithe or you leave pieces of yourselves in the street."
Levi looked at him once. The golden barrier of the Sovereign Domain flickered just enough to make the air around the demon’s face shimmer.
"I do not pay tithes," Levi said. "I collect them."
The hound-headed demon’s ears flattened. He took a careful step back. Around the plaza other demons suddenly found their own business very interesting.
Lucy smiled, all teeth. "I like this place already."
Vespera’s voice was cool. "They will test us before the first street ends."
Serakel’s third eye glowed faintly. "Let them. I want to see what they are willing to lose."
Isha’s slime formed small, eager tendrils at her fingertips. "I can be very persuasive about loss."
The Reverend Mother Superior looked at the nearest stall, where a demon was selling what appeared to be bottled screams, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I miss the origin layer’s silence already."
Levi started walking into the bazaar. The five women fell in around him. Gold light moved with them, quiet and unmistakable. Demons cleared a path without being asked. Whispers started in their wake.
’New territory. New rules. Same mark.’
A wide avenue of ash and iron led deeper into the city. Stalls lined both sides, selling weapons that whispered, maps that lied, and contracts written in still-wet blood. Above them, bridges of bone and chain connected the leaning towers. Things with wings watched from the rooftops.
At the first major crossroads a group of six heavily armed demons stepped into their path. Their leader, a broad female with obsidian skin and four arms, rested two hands on the hilts of curved blades.
"You walk like you own the place," she said. "Prove it or pay the older way."
Levi stopped. The golden barrier expanded a fraction.
"I do own it," he said. "You just have not updated your records."
Lucy’s blade was already half an inch free of its sheath. Vespera’s living eyes had gone cold. Serakel’s third eye opened fully. Isha’s slime dripped once onto the ash and sizzled. The Reverend Mother Superior simply folded her hands and waited.
The four-armed demon smiled without humor. "Then we update them in the street."
She drew both blades. The five behind her followed.
Levi’s Sovereign Sigil pulsed once, bright and eager.
’Lively it is.’
The Ashen Bazaar was about to learn the new order the hard way.