The cramped wooden stalls with bright fabric roofing and sweaty vendors were memorizing. The vendors sold luxurious items, such as fine cloth, berried pastries, or the most eye-catching wooden toys for children to their high paying customers.
I knew this wasn't a regular market, instead this was a market with a target audience, royals, lords and their ladies, court men and women.
The sight was quite enchanting. We don't have markets like this back home. Perhaps that is why I felt overwhelmed with all the bartering, creaking wagons passing, the clop of horses' hooves on the evened-out brick road, and people calling for service to draw their customers in.
I could barely understand what princess Celeste was clucking on about this time as she jumped up and down, pulling me towards yet another stand selling the most extraordinary jewels.
Young Celeste was so excited to be out of the castle walls, finding herself the most expensive items in an attempt to prepare for the festival coming up in six days. Her guards kept sending back to the castle anything she laid her gaze upon, from fine beads to flowerily perfumes. I couldn't imagine having such items, I didn't even know how to shop for said items.
As Celeste and I near the stand, the vendor greets us excitedly.
"Gods be my eyes! I have the most important customers at my shop this fine morning!" He exclaims, clearly excited to have the princess of Daelum as a buyer.
Celeste was interested in his jeweled necklaces, touching each one as she asked about them, but the vendor quickly pulled the tray away.
"No, no, no. Those will not do, maybe for a commoner, but not the princess!" He turns to his assistant, a young boy who sheepishly hung around waiting to be told what to do. "Koen! Get the princess something with taste!"
The boy hurries and pulls out a large casing with very dazzling, and might I say, flashy necklaces. They were showing Celeste the most spendy items they possessed. The vendor knew he could con such a young girl into getting something for more money when she could get a very similar item for less.
I shook my head, not wanting to interrupt Celeste's joy even though I wasn't as easily convinced.
Something catches my eye as I do so. I near the stand, examining the ring in the wooden and glass casing. The golden band was dainty, the blue sapphires being the main attention. The center sapphire was lighter than the two surrounding it. It was almost crystalline. A blue I have seen before in Thaddeus's eyes.
Thaddeus.
I had told Thaddeus what happened last night. I told him the attacker wanted me to join King Martell. I didn't understand why, but Thaddeus explained to me what was going on here in Daelum. The people were angry, blaming Martell for taking everything they have and spending it on himself and his churches.
Thaddeus believes that Martell wants me as a healer. A powerful asset to have at his side when his kingdom is facing constant attacks and uproars from his subjects.
Thaddeus stated last night that Martell needed me to keep him alive should his people that are rising up against him make their way into the castle walls ever. And his only way to try to blackmail me into joining him is threatening to tell the other kingdoms about Thaddeus's curse. Thaddeus believes a servant overheard us after dinner in the corridor, a loose end as Thaddeus calls it.
I don't know how he is going to save himself from that letter, from a few here in Daelum knowing about his curse. But I didn't worry about it much. Thaddeus is smart, he would find a way to cut the loose end off.
King Martell was a scared little old man, his own wrongdoings trying to finally catch up with him. But, as I glanced to young Celeste, I knew I couldn't be mad at King Martell for threatening me, he had much to protect.
I jump slightly when a deep voice behind me speaks.
"See anything you like?"
I look over my shoulder to find prince Demios. He stood with his hands behind his back, eyebrows raised at me.
I give the prince a small smile, "Not really," I lie.
The sapphire ring did draw me in due to its resemblance to Thaddeus, but Thaddeus had sent me with just a few coins. He told me not to purchase anything I didn't absolutely want or need for the festival. He didn't want to fund King Martell's lifestyle.
"And the girl lies," Demios places himself beside me.
"What are you doing here?" I ask, turning my body away from him.
"I wanted to check on Celeste. Make sure she is safe," he admits.
I admired his care for his sister, but it was unnerving to think she isn't even safe at a market for nobles.
"Do you want the ring?" Demios motions to it. I glance to the ring, before back to his chocolate eyes.
"I was looking at it, but I don't think it's my style," I tell him.
Demios's lips slightly curl up in a half smile. He leans in towards me, "Lady Aurelia, I am fascinated by you."
"By me?" I question.
"Yes." He responds, leaning away.
"How so? I thought I was just a northerner who happened to clean up nice," I remind him of our initial encounter.
"Well, just for starters, I think the most fascinating thing about you is your smell. You smell like earth, gardens, a little more," he pauses, pulling my wrist up. "human than the rest of us."
As he holds my wrist up, Demios grabs a lustered pearl bracelet from the casing.
"The only gem made from a living creature, a sign of life. Something small and delicate. Something incandescently beautiful. Something natural. Something that suits you." He claims as he clasps the bracelet on me.
"Although beautiful, I am afraid I cannot afford it," I state.
"No worries, I have already bought it for you."
Before I can even say thank you to him, princess Celeste pushes her brother aside.
"Demios! I told you not to come! This is a girls' trip only!"
Princess Celeste was happy when I accepted her invitation to join her this morning. A young girl with no maternal figure in her life, only men that seem to bicker quite often and not give her the feminine attention she needs.
Demios puts his hands up in defeat, not wanting to argue or explain the real reason he was lingering around. He turns to me, bowing a bit before his departure.
Young Celeste glares her older brother down as he disappears into the crowd. Once out of our sight, she perks up again, "I told him he wasn't allowed with us. All he does is stare at you when you aren't looking."
I was slightly taken aback by Celeste's words, but kids being kids, they say things with no filter before going back to what they were doing. As she starts looking at all the gems again with her ladies in waiting advising her on what to get, I decide to take the chance to look around at the market.
One stall caught my eye out of them all. They didn't sell lavish items, instead they sold herbs and elixirs. I find myself nearing the stall. The vendor wasn't in sight, so I take the chance to smell some of the bottles on display.
Thaddeus claims my attacker fled when he burst in last night, and unluckily for us, he wasn't able to trace the attacker down. His wolf's scent was covered up. Hidden by some sort of elixir.
As if on cue, a girl in her twenties, probably close to my age, appears. She was average looking, but still very pretty with her tanned skin and black hair pulled into a thick braid to show her slim shoulders. However, her most notable feature is the beauty mark on the center of her right cheek.
"Can I help you find something particular?" She uses her hand to motion at all her bottles on display.
I clear my throat, "What do you have that would hide a wolf's scent? Make them untraceable?"
The girl was amused with me as she turned her head to the side slightly.
"Are you hiding from someone?" She asks quietly.
I shake my head, "just curious."
The girl hums, her forest eyes tracing me up and down.
"Curiosity often leads to trouble," she warns.
"Never mind," As I start to turn around to leave, she draws me back.
"Artemisia,"
I quickly turn to her, "Artemisia?"
"What you are looking for is Artemisia mixed with sweet everlasting," She reveals.
"What happened to curiosity leads to trouble?" I feel myself raise a brow at her.
"I happen to like trouble if I think it's worthwhile."
She hands me a small glass bottle containing a clear liquid. I pull the cap off, smelling potent mugwort and maple syrup.
"Who is the last customer you sold this to?" I put the cap back onto the bottle.
She looks me up and down again. She leans in towards me.
"I cannot tell you what his name is, however, I do know it is someone you know."
"Someone I know?"
She nods slowly. Right as I was going to ask her more, commotion behind me draws both of our attention. A guard had ahold of a young peasant boy. He yelled at the boy, scolding him for trying to steal a loaf of bread. The young boy cried and pleaded, trying to defend his case. The guard did not care as he pulled the boy into the center of the pathway. Everyone had stepped aside at this point, creating a circle to watch the scene.
The large guard sets the kid's hand on a barrel, saying something about stealing and losing a hand. I look to Celeste's guards, who do nothing to stop the incident. They just stand there, watching.
I step forward to intervene, but the girl I was talking to grabs my arm to stop me.
"Don't get involved," she whispers.
"What did he do that's worth crippling the poor child?"
"The people are starving. We take chances, even though we know the outcome. We're desperate," she glances to the boy, before back to me. "And getting involved will only cause problems."
"You don't know that. I'm here with the King of Lodestar, I could help the boy. The guards might listen-"
"But I do know," she insisted. "You cannot change one's fate."
I stare at her in disbelief. How could being crippled be someone's fate? The girl nods her head towards the boy's parents, who I saw earlier selling fine shells to one of the vendors to try to get money. The boy's father shoved his way through the crowd, trying to pay the guard and spare his child pain. But, it was too late. They were going to punish the boy anyways as they pulled out a large, and rather sharp, blade.
"They have the money for the bread now, the boy just couldn't wait long enough. He probably hasn't had a meal in days," the girl whispers to me.
Then, I felt it. A sharp pain radiating over my entire body. I feel myself jerk towards the boy, who's scream echoed loudly. I wanted nothing more than to run to him, to help him, but the girl I was talking to quickly rushes around her stand, placing herself beside me. She starts pushing me towards Celeste and her guards.
"You need to go. You aren't safe. You shouldn't be here," the girl urged.
I couldn't understand why she would say I wasn't safe, until it happened. I felt another sharp pain. The boy's father. Killed in cold blood. The girl continued to shove me through the crowd furiously, who was starting to uproar in anger against the guards.
The working-class people, the vendors, were running away as large herds of peasant men and women were attacking the guards and the market customers. I felt pain everywhere, a deep aching throughout my entire body over and over again. It wasn't just a riot. It was a slaughter.
I turned to look for the dark-haired girl, but she was gone from the crowd. As I get shoved around, I quickly scan faces for Princess Celeste. She was being rushed towards our carriage by the king's guards. I chase after, running as fast as I possibly can while getting tossed around by fighting bodies.
Smoke. Blinding smoke. It brought tears to my eyes and makes me feel as though I am slowly suffocating. I cough and sputter while trying to still remain upright in the surge of the crowd as the world spins slowly around me.
Bodies were slamming together, high class bystanders were running away, even going as far to attempt to climb the stands and buildings to get away.
They didn't make it far as they were being pulled down and murdered by the lower class.
Right as I reached one of the guards, he pulls me harshly towards the carriage and shoves me inside. He yells something to his fellow men, but that was before he was jerked back by a rioter.
The guard inside the carriage with the princess and I kicks the attacker in the face, making him fall backwards outside before he slams the door shut.
The carriage just started to move, but quickly came to a jolt. Young Celeste was clinging to one of her ladies in waiting. I only then noticed that the other three ladies were not inside with us. They were being brutally killed by the crowd.