Karp turned around and saw the owner talking to two men in studded armor. They stared at Karp as she fled town, trying to avoid any trouble. Karp didn't understand the store owner's hostility and accusations. She continued south, learning the hard lessons of shifting.
Karp set about learning to master shifting without drawing attention. In towns and villages, Karp read others as she moved from world to world. When dealing with strangers, Karp knew that people noticed if their faces read of confusion or disgust. When discovered, Karp fled town and practiced again when she arrived somewhere new.
She stopped staying at inns since the majority of her valuables was going to lodging. Instead, Karp cleared out the small office in the Shift World and dragged in a little bed from the first house. She slept in the Shift World with the main storehouse door tightly secured and the entrance to the office locked. Since Karp no longer slept in the world at night, she trained at the outskirts of town or in nearby woods. Regular exercise wasn't enjoyable, though, so Karp practiced fighting skills with her dagger. The trees she struck didn't present much of a challenge, but over time she learned the feeling of thrusts, slashes, and blocks in her skin, muscles, and bones.
Karp practiced throwing her steel dagger and could always plant it into her target, regardless of the angle she threw. On rainy nights, Karp earned enough coin for drinks and a room by betting at the throwing board. Most taverns in the Lush Forest had a large wooden board along one of the walls. The board ranged from a few feet to several yards across and, generally, reached to the ceiling. Pictures, numbers, or writing covered the wall. Opponents agreed on a condition for victory and alternated throwing knives at pictures until someone satisfied the requirement and won. Participants who were confident in their ability to throw made the proposal to hit every target of a specific type. The more confident the person, the smaller the picture they chose. Although the simplest type of match, two skilled opponents stalemated for hours before finally deciding a winner.
Bright people suggested a game where each participant offered a riddle and the first person who solved the puzzle won. Victory at the throwing board hinged on correctly assessing your opponents' strengths and weaknesses as much as, or more than, throwing skill. Giving a simple riddle with a long answer was the best strategy against an intelligent opponent skilled at throwing knives. A convoluted question with a short answer was the best strategy against someone unintelligent but experienced with a knife.
As a shifter, Karp had a definite advantage in regard to tricky riddles with short answers. While awaiting a throw, Karp traveled to the Shift World, contemplated the answer, and shifted back after solving the puzzle. When playing for coin, Karp acted the fool to entice her opponent into choosing a tricky riddle. Sometimes fights, or even murders, arose over the throwing board, but Karp never played for high stakes, and she never played for coin against the same person twice to avoid retaliation. She only gambled when she absolutely needed coin and only swindled people who looked affluent.
Karp learned to shift without being noticed well enough to steal food, but she felt guilty. Theft became the last resort for when she had no coin, no stores, and nothing valuable to trade.
During the day in the Shift World, Karp cleaned the storehouse and searched nearby buildings for valuables. The valuables paid for food supplies, and she found enough valuables to create a stockpile of goods she didn't need to sell. Small iron weapons like knives, short swords, or morning stars made up the majority of her stockpile. Karp also had small tools that she didn't recognize but held onto in case they were valuable.
Karp spent no more than a few days in any village. She departed the communities willingly to avoid suspicion regarding her strange behavior or was forced to flee after making a mistake while stealing or cheating at the throwing board. It was three years ago when Karp arrived at the Village of the Traitor's Tavern for the first time.
Karp had never seen garments made of cloth before arriving at the Village of the Traitor's Tavern. The general store at the Village of the Traitor's Tavern sold a wide range of goods, but the business was most famous for cloth. A blue top embroidered with small white flowers that started over the right breast and flowed around the shoulder fascinated her. The smooth fabric looped around her fingers. The material bunched and parted as she stroked the shirt. Karp returned the merchandise to the shelf, stepped back from the display, and shifted to her storehouse.
Karp didn't know the exact value of cloth, but she knew people saved coins for years to purchase a set of clothing. Karp couldn't trade anything in her cabinets or pots for something as expensive as a fancy outfit. She could only directly sell her steel dagger for such a thing. All of her small iron weapons may have been worth trading for the blouse, but Karp didn't want to exchange a weapon unless she owned a duplicate, and she never stole anything she didn't need. Karp's only choice was to check the last few unsearched buildings near her storehouse or give up on getting the outfit.
Mountains loomed in the distance with peaks lost in clouds. Karp approached a building in the settlement closest to the mountain chain. The medium-sized clay brick house's shutters were closed, but the door was cracked open. A fully intact roof protected the building from the desert's blistering sun. Karp gently pushed the door and stepped into the dark house. Light poured into the room, revealing several large clay jars and a small wooden table in the corner. Karp walked over to the left side of the main hall, and slid open the door. Someone inside wore old tattered leather. They slowly rose and turned toward the door in a stiff jerking motion. Karp stepped back to allow light into the bedroom. When the instant sunlight hit the stranger, she shrieked, leaped at Karp, and tackled her. Karp crashed on her back. The stranger wailed and cried while as she slashed at Karp.
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