City of Mages

Chapter 6: Alara

Alara saw the dancing lights before she heard the soft din of raised voices. She had been following Quenti down the narrow hallways for a few minutes already and was getting anxious.

"Hey, we should head back now."

"What's down there?" Quenti eyed the dancing colors that glowed through an opening down the hall.

"Nothing special. And definitely nothing we should be messing with." Alara tried to grab Quenti's arm, pulling her back. The girl was unperturbed by Alara's hand and kept walking forward, dragging Alara along after her. The commotion up ahead told her exactly where they were going.

"It could be dangerous!" Alara gasped out.

"How would you know unless we check it out?"

Before Alara could express her apprehension or argue again, Quenti bounded forward.

"Quenti, the dark marketplace is dangerous!"

"And it has a name!" Quenti laughed. "Dark marketplace? So creative. And how would you even know about this dark marketplace, Senya Goody-goody?"

"I've lived here long enough to hear things and..." Before Alara finished, they rounded the corner, and her voice died, along with the rest of her thoughts. "Oh."

The tunnel opened up into a long cavern.

Alara had indeed heard about the dark marketplace—Emaru had spent many an evening ranting about the continued struggle to shut it down and her own annoyance that the rest of the council was content to let it go on, albeit frowned upon. But she had never dared go looking for it and had never seen it in person.

It wasn't as large as the upper marketplace, but it sure was alive. The cavern brimmed with people, noises, and lights as magia shot through the air. The same torches that lined the halls across the entire Haven were lit and burning along the cavern, but the flames danced with color. Mage fire shot through the air and glowing globes of water sent a kaleidoscope of chroma shining across the ceiling.

Directly in front of them, a dancer moved, her hands flicking and waving in the air as a pink-and-green-tinted firestorm swirled around her. Alara watched with wide eyes as the mage twirled and jumped between the flames without hesitation. The onlookers cheered and threw bronze pieces into the nearby basket.

"Emaru is going to kill me."

"Does she stalk all magites round here?" Quenti asked, looking at Alara sideways.

"What? No."

"Why you, then?"

"She doesn't..." Alara glanced at Quenti before looking away again, her eyes transfixed by a dancer whose head was thrown back and eyes closed as she continued to jump between the flames. "She's the one who found me... after my parents died. She took me in."

"Oh."

Silence fell between them for a brief moment.

"We really should get back!" Alara looked around them at the bustling crowd. What if someone she knew recognized her?

"Five more minutes, mama. Please!" Her eyes went wide and she arched her eyebrows at Alara.

"Seriously, no."

Quenti gave a toothy grin before jumping away. "Fine! But you'll have to catch me."

Alara grabbed at Quenti's tunic as she twisted away, but the thin wool slipped passed her fingertips. Damn it. What was this girl, five?

Alara pushed through the crowd, treading through a sea of elbows and shoulders that seemed to close in tighter as she waded through. The cavern was long but narrow, and Alara kept her head down, trying not to make eye contact with anyone she passed.