Visions of Love and Heroes

Chapter 3

The sinking sun cast the sky aglow in violet and sapphire streaks. The wind blew, a far off storm raging out over the waters beyond Misty Bay. For now, the dockside marketplace of Amersat Market buzzed with life, no one in a rush to pack up and hide away from the incoming storm. I pulled my cloak tight to my body as the wind plucked at the dark strands of hair that had escaped my braid.

The air was sweet as I hid behind a stall selling buns sweetened with honey and drenched in butter. Under different circumstances, I might have bought a whole basket to eat in a single sitting. Brea often traveled south to search for unique ingredients for her potions, and she always brought some sweet buns home—along with many others things that could only be found in Amersat market. 

Merchants from around the world came to Amersat— different people, species, and places I had only dreamed of. I scanned the stalls, frowning as I tried to spot Theo's golden head.

Across from the stall with the sweet buns was an odd boat made of pale wood with vines and flowers carved into its wood. On it sat a pale-haired merchant, their skin shimmering in the colour of the incoming twilight. I had never seen one before, but I suspected they were fae. 

They lived on the Golden Isle to the southwest of of the Elven territories and though their merchants occasionally visited Cascadia, it was said most of them refused to step foot on our lands. There wasn't much in our history about them or why they refused to set foot on Cascadia, but it was believed they thought our continent to be cursed.

I stepped out from the shadows of the cart, trying to spot Theo among the crowded stalls. The fae stared at me, their eyes large and unblinking as I passed, as if somehow they knew all my secrets. 

Inside their boat, I saw round ripe fruit of shining gold and weapons made of wood and silver. Next to the fae was a dragon rider from the Western Continent of Wystania selling dragon saddles and scale oil.

Dragon riders were rare in Cascadia. There had been a battalion of mages who had ridden dragons back during the Elven Wars, but most of them had died, only one or two of their lines surviving. Mandragon Province got its name from a powerful family of Dragon Riders that had first settled there before the wars, and since then Mages and Dragon Riders have been closely entwined. I darted past the foreign merchants, unnerved by the fae's attention as it followed me.

I needed to stay unnoticed. Invisible.

My crystal warmed against my skin and I paused, brushing my hand over it. Theo was nearby. I turned, looking closely at every stall, each one more and more otherworldly than the last. A Mer with pearls only found in the Drowned City that sat nestled deep in the waters off the two continents. Elven stones that when touched, briefly summoned a different element. Tomes full of magic work of the east, where some mages summoned directly from the aether. Books detailing beasts I had only dreamed of. A stall selling phoenixes with their healing tears. The deeper into the market I went, the larger and larger the world around me seemed to grow.

A small child clutched at my skirt. She looked up at me with eyes as wide as two moons, her hair and clothes brown with grime. "Please, Miss, help me find my mother." She pulled at me, desperate and wild. "I'm lost."

I paused, baffled. I was caught between snatching my skirt away and ducking down to comfort the child. Why was she here all alone? What parents left such a small child alone?

Small fingers whispered at my pocket. I snatched her wrist, and the child grinned at me, half their teeth missing. It was then I noticed her long ears pointing out from her head. Before I could get my coins back, the girl darted away. She wove through the busy crush of people, running away with a pocket full of the silvers she'd snatched from my pocket.

A changeling. Likely not even a child at all. Creatures from the Golden Islands that they used to swap out for human and elvish children. Though fae refused to step on our land themselves, they weren't above sending their kin here to do their dirty work for them. Growing up, the stories of the fae and their changelings had been more than a cautionary tale, but a reality. Two of my classmates in grade school had disappeared, never to be seen again. What the fae did with then, nobody knew.

I should have known better.

Foolish, bird-brained—I needed to keep my wits around me.

I swallowed, mentally calculating how much coin I had left. I still had my pouch in my satchel. I had scrounged for all I could find before I had left, but in my haste I hadn't planned as well as I should have. Just getting to Amerstat had cost me, paying off a merchant to take me half the way in his cart, the Inn id stayed the night in, then the horse I'd paid for to take me the rest of the way.

What if I couldn't find Theo? What if this took longer than I expected?

Everything about Amersat Market was so different from what I had been used to in Mandragon Village. Back home everything was spaced out, the mages few and far between, the only time our streets filled up was during the Trials. And even then, nothing like this. There were so many people. Half of them elves.

They surrounded me, their long limbs and pointed ears at every turn. I inspected each one, searching for a flash of gold hair.

But still, no Theo. My crystal burned against my skin, attuned to his spirit. He was so close. I clenched my hands into fists. I didn't want to have to scry again to find him. It would waste too much time. Time I didn't have to waste. Though he favored Amersat--not a surprise considering his associates. It was the best place for someone with unsavory ties to get lost. He was here I just had to—

A hand grabbed me by the elbow, another covering my mouth as they pulled me into the shadowy passage between stalls. The scent of pine and warm moss filled my senses, drowning out the rest of the market. I was pulled flush to a strong, hard body. Their breath was hot at my ear as they held me pinned to their chest.

"Seer," said a deep, male voice, the "S" curved with his elven accent. He spoke my title like it was something dirty on their tongue.

"Why are you following me?"

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Word Count: 1138

Total: 4903

Thank you for reading and supporting me this far!