Ice-Bound Promise [Wattys 2023 Shortlister]

14

The men wore leather breaches, or tight hose, almost exposing intimate areas. Short jackets, flared at the bottom, with sleeves stitched to shoulders with exposed bows of thin strings. Bulbous hats adorned many a man's head, some tilted to jaunty angles.

"Now, keep your eyes on this path. You'll need to remember this. So you will." Passing a finger beneath the hook of his nose, Arthid pointed with an outstretched hand towards a building passing to the left. "That there place'll buy your furs. Now, prices'll be different from what you're used to. So they will. They don't get many fine pelts up this way. Don't let them haggle you down."

"How will I even find this place?" Únik realised she still rode with an open mouth. She snapped it closed, looking all around her. "It's too big."

She looked behind her for Shihiri, but the Fae had disappeared. She didn't know if the girl only had her own things to do, or whether she had left them, her task finished. Either way, the Fae could look after herself. Something Únik was not certain she could say about her own abilities. Not here, in this maze of buildings and people.

"You'll find it. So you will. Look." Half-turning on the seat of the cart, Arthid indicated the street ahead and then behind. "This is Main Street. You can't miss it. It's wider than all the others. So it is. If'n you get lost, remember this one has large cobbles, others have smaller, rougher cobbles or none at all, and that furriers is on this street. Right there."

Arthid pointed back to the building he had mentioned. Únik looked back, trying to commit the building to memory. She didn't know if she could remember, though. Many of the buildings looked alike, with alleys intersecting the Main Street where Únik caught glimpses of other, similar streets and each one as packed as this one.

She couldn't believe the smell, either. It clogged her senses, creeping up her nose. It smelt of decaying food and faeces, of urine and sweat. The noise, too, felt as though it reverberated through her head. People shouting in all directions and a constant murmur and drum roll of walking feet.

Looking around, she saw Hatyara looking around her too. The Ice-Kin seemed unbothered by the smells and the sounds. Beneath the scarf, wrapped around her head and revealing only her eyes, Únik could tell the girl grinned, her almost-white eyes sparkling. This was a place that Hatyara felt more at home, that seemed certain. Barsa, too, twisted and turned his head, stalking up and down the bed of the cart as each new sound, smell and movement caught his attention.

Somewhere in the centre of the town, Únik guessed, they crossed a small, stone bridge that arched across a small, sluggish, filthy river. As they passed over that bridge, Únik retched at the smell and she realised, now, where the miasmic stench of the town came from. A quick glance showed people tossing things into the river. Buckets of slops, food and human waste, no doubt, were flung into the dark, turgid water.

The stench cleared, somewhat, on this side of the river, as they found themselves upwind. Arthid navigated his cart through the teeming crowds, barking at people to force them to move. In town, it seemed, Arthid acted a little less like the warm, loving family-man Únik had admired. She couldn't fault him that. The insults and spits as he passed by those in the way would make anyone more bitter.

"Here we's is." Pulling his old horse to a stop, Arthid hooked a thumb to the right. A building, the second story overhanging the street, had a sign swinging beside the door. 'The Scarlet Pennant', as the sign read, was an inn. "This is a good place. Good food, clean beds and it has a back door for you and the other pret'yuns to come and go. Bilhid, the innkeeper, knows me. Get a good rate. So you will. I'll get us settled, then see to stabling."

Hopping down from the cart, Arthid reached into the bed, lifting out his travel bag and swinging it over his shoulder. Únik looked up and down the street, wondering if leaving the cart like this was a good idea at all. She glanced at several surly people, eyes staring, mouths murmuring and whispering as she and Hatyara dropped down from the cart.