“Careful, you fool! Those are worth more than your lousy hide.”
Magnus thumped Dorpa on his pointed ear and reached over to pluck the delicate silver wing from between the younger goblin’s clumsy fingers. He gently smoothed the crease Dorpa’s heavy-handed touch had caused then placed the wing into one section of a shallow display box.
As he waited on Dorpa to extract its mate, he did a quick inventory of the box’s contents. One pair silver-pink, one pair silver-blue, one pair silver-green and one pair gold-yellow. The gold-yellow pair alone would pay for a month’s rent on Magnus’ vendor stall. Not to mention it would buy enough of Delela’s special rotgut to get him nice and soused for a few days.
“What do they use ‘em for, Master?” Dorpa asked as he removed the second wing from the small lifeless body he held on his lap. This time he used more care. He did not want to incur his master’s wrath.
“For what? Who cares?” Magnus hunched his shoulders in what passed for a shrug. “Fae’s nasty little things. Better off dead, I say.” He gestured to a wicker basket with a cloth draped over the top. Flies buzzed around an opening. “Better for me anyway!” Magnus chuckled.
Dorpa severed the last bit of flesh from the wing and handed it over to his master.
Magnus gently lay the silver-white wing atop its mate, noting the fresh dot of blood on the wing stem. Dorpa did a rather sloppy job, but he doubted anyone would notice but him. He dabbed at the blood with a gnarled green finger and brought it to his lips, his tongue darting out quickly. He closed the glass lid of the display box and locked it with a key on a dirty white string tied around his neck.
“Whole mound’s worth to do yet, Dorpa. I want that one wrapped and boxed right quick,” Magnus said as he settled on his three-legged stool. A grin spread across his round face exposing sharp, crooked teeth. He looked out into the market common where the usual hodgepodge of humans, goblins, elves and half-elves were beginning to mill around, going from one stand to the next. Quite a crowd. He would do well today.
"I feel a sale coming on," Magnus announced, rubbing his grubby hands together. He reached over and thumped Dorpa on the ear again. "Get a move on, you slug."
“Yes, Master.”
