IMPERIUM

Chapter 6

Alayna laid on her bed as she fought back tears. She had endured many hardships through the years but not ones she had no power of changing. There had to be a way for her to avoid this. Alayna stood up and began walking back and forth in her room trying to come up with a solution. After some time of hard thinking she let out a frustrated sigh and fell onto her bed again. She looked up at her ceiling and pondered. Alayna started grasping the fact that there was no way out. 'Was I really stuck in a maze with no exits' she thought.
Alayna wanted to scream and cry but nothing came out. Her emotions were unable to emerge. She shut her eyes trying to think of anything else, that's when she suddenly remembered the village and the night market. She immediately stood up and reached for the well hidden cape and purse in her closet. Alayna looked out the windows as she put on her cape. The night market would put her thoughts on something else and maybe she'll find something distractful along the way.

She carefully opened the door and stuck her head out, making sure no one was in the hallway. The chances of her getting caught were not as high as last time because there were no events going on, still she had to be careful. She broke out from the same balcony as she previously had done. Luckily she didn't injure herself on the way out.

The night was young which meant she had a lot of time in her hands. Alayna looked through the bushes she hid behind, searching for any guards. Fortunately for her there was none standing where she was about to sneak out.
'It must be their changing shift'
Alayna shrugged and carried on her way. She decided to head in the same direction as last time, since it wasn't worth taking an unknown path and risk getting lost. She was already in a sticky situation. Getting caught while sneaking out during night time was definitely not the first priority on her list. It wasn't like she was trying to speed up her marriage arrangements.

The night market was crowded with people. Everyone could be found here, from poor to rich to young to old. Whatever you are trying to find, the sellers in this market will surely have it somewhere. As Alayna was walking by the different stands she could recognize the same ones from her previous visit to the market, except this time there was an old lady that she hadn't seen before. For some reason this old lady looked somewhat familiar to her. Alayna saw that the old lady was selling many different varieties of things. There wasn't a specific pattern, she wasn't really offering anything particular like the rest of the sellers. As Alayna neared her stand she noticed that the objects looked like someone else's belongings. Alayna approached the old lady's stand. Without putting any thought to it she started following the old lady's movement trying to think of where she had seen her before.

The old lady noticed a person staring at her from the corner of her eyes. She looked up and saw a young woman with a brown cape standing in front of her.
"Hello dear, have you found something interesting?" the old lady asked in a high pitched voice.

Alayna was startled by the old lady's voice. Her cheeks went red knowing that she just got   caught staring at a stranger. 'Oh no, she must have thought I was a nutcase', "Um, not really. I just thought you looked familiar," Alayna responded, still embarrassed by her actions.

The old lady looked at her for a second before answering. "You too actually remind me of an old dear friend of mine" The old lady said while smiling. Alayna returned her a tight smile as she pulled down her hood to make sure it was covering her eyes. The old lady could not have seen her face because of her hood. 'How strange.'

As she was about to leave something caught Alayna's eyes and made her stop in her tracks. There in front of her lay a book in a box with a very familiar book cover.

"Wait, actually " Alayna  said as she turned her head back to the old lady.

"The book over there," she said while pointing at the box behind the lady. The old lady's eyes widened at Alayna's statement but returned to their original state as she was about to respond.

"I'm sorry but that book is empty, dear. There is nothing interesting inside. " the old lady answered with a saddened face. Alayna was disappointed by the old lady's answer.

"It may be a pretty book, but it's nothing more than that," the old lady continued as she was staring in Alayna's direction. It was like she was trying to tell Alayna something.
'Was I missing something' Nonetheless Alayna was still curious about why a book of this sort could be sold in a market like this when she had to sneak into the banned section to put her hands on the other copy she was hiding.

"Could I still get it?"

"Are you sure you want to spend your coins on this?" The old lady said .

"Yes I am sure," Alayna answered determinedly.

"That'll be three coins, dear." The old lady said as she was organizing the objects on the stand, shifting her attention from Alayna.

Alayna took the opportunity. She quickly put her hand in the purse and made three coins appear in her hand. She then proceeded to hand the coins over. The old lady smirked at her before accepting the coins. Alayna stared at the old lady for a second, trying to understand her strange behavior.

"Thank you for your purchase," the old lady said smiling.

Alayna thanked the lady and carried on her way. She looked around and quickly hid the book in her bag. It was too risky to even look through it on the streets.

As she was turning around a person wearing all black suddenly crashed into her, making her trip.

"Hey!"

*******
Hi everyone,

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, also a new character will be introduced in the next chapter.
(A very special one!) 😉

S&S