The Black Market

The group made their way forwards and started to walk among the many stalls and tents. Evanna became excited by everything she saw, darting from stall to stall with wide eyes. She was amazed as she looked between them; there were so many things that she could not help but explore. The men were trying to keep up with her without trying to cause too much attention; luckily, the market was consistently busy, there were always people looking for banned items.

On one stall, in particular, Evanna tilted her head to the side as she saw human organs in some jars, and next to them, there looked to be some form of potions in glass containers. She only guessed they were potions as steam came out from the top of the dark liquids. Ronan, at this point, grabbed her hand and gently pulled her away; she looked at him questioningly, who only shook his head in response. Once they were further away, he leaned his head close to her ear as he whispered,

"Only you would find fascination at an organ and potion table. Did the warning from earlier not teach you to stay clear from witches? And who in their right minds would want to look at organs!?"

Evanna giggled, "I have never seen organs before and are you not curious to know what the potions were for?"

"No, my curious cat. I did not. I prefer to keep my life, thank you very much," He replied, still smiling as he assessed the area around them.

It was then, Evanna noticed that they were still holding hands. She slowly slipped her hand out as she looked away at another table, pretending to take an interest in the merchandise so he would not see the small blush that crept up her cheeks. Her experience with men touching her was nil; she only felt comfortable with the occasional hug from Ger, who felt more like a brother to her. She kept her eyes trained on the stalls and the surroundings, the moment passed, and her shoulders started to relax again.

They continued for the next hour searching through different stalls; sometimes, Axel led the way, and most of the time, it was Evanna inspecting the various illegal items for sale. Jewellery or a newly fitted dress would be a treat to any lady; however, as her companions now knew, she was not like most women. Her preferences were of the weird and wonderful; books and parchments that could not be found back at the Kingdom of Dunhurst.

Approaching another stall, Axel stepped forwards and started investigating the many parchments. While he was checking for the map of Direwood forest, Evanna's gaze fell on a book written in Muranthian. It was a history book about the Kingdom of Lyvaria; she grabbed it and opened the first page to inspect the contents.

"This ain't a library. Buy it or piss off," The merchant moaned at her.

She closed the book immediately and placed it back. Beside her, Axel picked up a parchment, his eyes lit up, and he went to talk to the seller. While they were haggling on the map's price, Evanna started to walk to the far end of the stall. A small glimmering light came from a glass jar; as she walked towards it, she noticed that inside the jar was a tiny creature sitting down.

The closer she got, the more prominent its features she could see. It was a blonde-haired fairy; she sat down with her hands around her knees. Evanna stood right in front of the jar; she crouched down, so she was sitting on the back of her heels, staring in wonder at the little woman with her golden hair and wings. This was her first time meeting a fairy; she did not even know they existed outside fairy tales.

"This ain't a circus either, buy or scram!" The small fat man with his thinning hair said.

Evanna frowned; the fairy looked so sad. She could see little smudge marks on the jar from where more than likely it had been hitting her fists against the glass. Standing back up, she could see that there was only one small hole at the top to help her breath.

"Why do you have a fairy?" She enquired; the merchant narrowed his eyes suspiciously but came forwards. Axel had paid him now, holding the map in his hand while he waited patiently with Ger, standing behind her.

"A lot of the nobles like to have them as a sort of decoration in their house. Witches also like to have them, I guess, to use in potions. Seeing as you don't look like a noble or a witch and are asking questions, I take it you are only here sightseeing. Now bugger off!"

Evanna crossed her arms, becoming infuriated by how this man was speaking to her. She had been to her fair share of markets, pretending to be a peasant, but the merchants were not usually this rude. Somebody needed to teach him some manners.

"I was very much interested in buying it, but seeing as you have no interest in selling to anyone but a noble or a witch, then I will be on my way" Evanna started to walk away.

"Wait, wait! My apologies, miss, please ask away. I am but your humble servant, Maurice" The merchant, named Maurice, scrambled forwards, worried he had lost a potential customer.

Evanna grinned; looking up at Ronan, she saw a mischievous glint flash across his eyes, one corner of his mouth turned upwards. Composing herself, she turned back to the merchant with an annoyed expression.

"Hmmm, why are fairies used as decorations? Do they not have magical powers?" She asked as she went back to look down at the fairy. Her heart tightened every time she looked at the little fairy's demoralized face, yet her own face showed boredom at the topic.

"Technically, yes, the fairies have powers. Depending on where my hunters find them also depends on the type of fairy we have on display.."

"You mean to say there are different types of fairies?"

"Oh yes, we have been capturing them for years now. My stall is the best in the business!" Maurice proudly announced, making Evanna dislike the man even more.

This man had been stealing fairies from their homes, all so some nobles can have a decoration?!

"This fairy, however, is one of the fi fi clan. She cannot really do much other than glow in the dark and make flowers. I sell her kind as a sort of mantelpiece or a candle. As long as you feed her and give her water, she will live with you forever." He continued.

The more this man spoke, the more she felt like slapping him, talking as though the little fairy did not have feelings. Her hands fisted as she kept her temper at bay. She leaned in closer to the jar, as she did, the fairy looked up from her position and stared straight back at Evanna. She began to open her mouth, but the merchant banged the top of the jar, making the fairy cower and cover her ears. Evanna's eyes burnt at what she saw in front of her, her vision blurry as she tried to calm down.

~ Help me, please ~ A feminine voice suddenly sounded in her head, speaking in Muranthian. Evanna stared back down at the fairy, realising it was her who had spoken to her. With a single nod of her head, she showed the fairy she understood her and would relieve her of her imprisonment.

"How much?" She asked. The merchant's face lit up at her question.

"Raven, we do not have time for this.." Ger interrupted from behind her.

He placed his hand on her back as he leaned in to speak to her. She swatted his hand away, annoyed that he did not care about the creature in front of her. Behind him, she could see Axel nearly bouncing on his feet, looking slightly anxious as he kept glancing around. The sky had started to become dark, indicating that it was almost evening. She looked back at Ronan to see if he agreed with them, but Maurice's voice interrupted her by saying,

"200 gold coins", Evanna stilled at his response.

"200, you have to be kidding me, man?!" Ronan roared.

"I certainly am not. This here is a fairy, young man. They are hard to catch, and people pay a lot for them."

"Raven, let's go", Ger interrupted again, making Evanna turn around and glare at him before turning back to the merchant.

"100 gold coins", She bargained, she had enough money on her, but she did not want to give any to the worthless man in front of her.

He laughed at her, "200, darling."

"120, peasant" At her words, Ronan snorted and looked the other way, trying not to laugh, while the man in front of them started to go red at her remark.

"I see we will not be getting anywhere. Stop wasting my time!" He yelled back at them. Evanna was about to argue with the man, but Ger grabbed her by the arm and started walking away with her from the table.

"What are you doing?" She protested. Ronan and Axel followed behind them.

"I told you we do not have time. Prioritise what is important. Your mother or a fairy." Ger stared hard at her face, his patience wearing thin.

He knew he was harsh with her, but the black market had the rest of them on edge, and even after what happened earlier with the witches almost ensnaring her, she was still too naive to realise the attention she was bringing to herself. Not only was she bartering with a merchant, but as she did so, people were paying more attention to her appearance. He noticed their eyes scrutinizing the garments she wore.

She may be wearing a cloak and swords, but everything she wore showed that she had money. The material was not cheap. People were starting to suspect she was more than what appeared before them.

Evanna looked down before yanking her arm away from Ger's grasp and walked back the way she came, passing the stall with the fairy, her body tensing as she left the creature to its cruel fate. The men followed her; they seemed to visibly relax after realising that she was leading them back towards the exit. They had the map, which was what they had come to the black market for; this was not a vacation, they were in unknown territory, and any problems would slow them down in getting the gemstone for her mother.

Evanna scolded herself for letting herself get carried away with the little shopping trip she began to see the day as. Lost in her own thoughts, she did not hear the yelling or the commotion coming from behind her. It was only until she felt a hand roughly grab at her cloak that she snapped out of her reverie. She knew straight away; it was not one of her companions. Immediately she grabbed one of her swords and spun around to point it at her attacker.

"You stole the fairy!" The merchant from the stall yelled angrily at her, not paying attention to the sword that she was pointing down at his chest.

"Why would I steal it if I was willing to pay for it?" She counteracted; it was then she noticed the arrogance on Maurice's face. Why was he not bothered by her blade pointed at him? Where were her so-called guards?

Evanna spotted behind the man Ronan, Ger and Axel fighting two huge bold men. Raising her sword, she positioned it to his neck, regaining his attention to the steel cutting into his throat. Blood started to slide down his neck from the slight pressure she was applying. The man still did not yield, yet, his eyes shone with malice. She wondered if it was because he thought his men would make it to them before she would cause any real harm towards him.

"Give. It. Back. And your friends won't be harmed" He spat back at her, she narrowed her eyes at him, then before she could do anything else, the man's hair was grabbed, and a knife was also placed against his neck. The hand around the knife was none other than Ger's, who stood behind him, looking dishevelled with a cut lip.

"The lady said she did not take it. I suggest you take your leave before we take your life," Ger spoke menacingly. Axel and Ronan now stood next to Evanna, holding their weapons ready as they continued to survey their surroundings. Evanna looked past Maurice and Ger to see that the men who attacked the guys were now lying down in the wet mud.

"Okay, okay, no harm, no foul!" Maurice raised his hands in surrender; although he had surrendered, his eyes still shone with rage.

Evanna put her sword behind her back once again. Ger removed his blade from the man's throat before dragging him back and shoving him behind them. After regaining his balance, Maurice darted back towards his men, kicking both of them in the head to get up.

"What do I even pay you for?!" She heard him scream at them.

One corner of her mouth pulled up in a smile, it was true she did not steal the fairy, but she was glad to see her men were not harmed, or well, not severely harmed. She looked up to see that all three of them were flushed in the face, excitement glowing in their eyes along with cuts and bruises showing on their faces.

"Is everyone okay?" She asked, trying to assess them all for any further injuries.

"Let's just get out of here", Axel suggested; Evanna agreed, though she wished she had actually taken the fairy from those vulgar men.

As they started to walk away from the black market, Cilv suddenly appeared beside Evanna, her hood covered most of her face, but her long auburn hair stood out. Evanna had to look twice at the figure next to her, relaxing when she realised it was Cilv, who smirked back at the princess.

"Hey, no fair! I keep missing out on all the fun!" Cilv pouted, though her eyes were gleaming.

The guys looked back at her as though it was her own fault that she kept 'missing out on all the fun.' But they never said a word, the only indication of annoyance came from Ger, who narrowed his eyes at her.

"Maybe next time you can stay with us, and you can join in with the fun", Evanna smirked as she responded back to Cilv. Ger looked back, shock written over his face at her response.

Cilv laughed; maybe it wasn't so bad exploring with the princess, she seemed to be getting into a lot of mischief already, and it was only their second day together.

"As fun as it has been, there was too much attention on us today", Axel grumbled, not bothering to turn back around as he led the group back through the darkened streets to the inn.