A week later, Massimo entered the bustling town of Mourie, just across the Louan border. He was pleased to see it was market day — or perhaps every day was market day here. He was also pleased that he hadn’t bought more of that Petryan liquor back in Ralanast.
“Excuse me.” Massimo leaned down from his cart to question a middle-aged woman running a soup stall. “Do you know where I can buy timepieces, seekers, oracles, and prismatic orbs?”
“Further,” the woman said, jerking her chin.
“Thank you,” Massimo said.
He kept his cart moving through the market but it was crowded, making the going difficult. Some people grew angry with him, asking him to take his empty cart elsewhere, and Massimo wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do.
He asked everyone he passed where he could go to buy Louan devices, but so far he hadn’t made much progress.
“Where can I buy timepieces?” Massimo asked a pretty girl in a blue dress.
“Here to buy, are you?” the girl asked.
“All the way from Ralanast,” Massimo admitted. “It’s my first expedition on my own.”
“Really? I might be able to help you. How much do you want to spend?”
“Perhaps fifteen silver deens,” Massimo said. He remembered some advice Alonzo had given him about never telling people how much you really have.
“Head for the big square, up ahead,” the girl said. “You can’t miss it.”
“Thank you.” Massimo beamed. She waved back at him.
Massimo was pleased at the girl’s response — it seemed he was in the right place after all. He simply had to fill his cart with goods and head for home, and his mission would be a success.
On the side of the road just ahead, two men were arguing, poking each other as they shouted and called each other names. As Massimo’s cart moved through the market he drew close to them, looking on with consternation.
A punch was thrown, and Massimo wondered if he should do something. Suddenly he heard a great crash from behind him, like the breaking of glass, followed by a woman’s scream.
Massimo halted the drudge and turned. He had somehow hit another cart, although he didn’t see how it was possible. A woman held both hands to her face and had turned in the driver's seat to look in the back of her cart, sobbing with great heaves of her chest.
Massimo looked ahead but the argument had ended; the two men were gone. He hopped down from his cart and ran over to the woman's cart.
“What’s wrong?” Massimo asked. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
“What’s wrong?” the woman shrieked. “What’s wrong? You hit me, that’s what’s wrong! I was trying to get your attention but you kept looking at that fight!”
“I… I don’t see how I could have. And even if I did bump your cart, you're unharmed, aren't you? Perhaps you’re just a little shaken?”
“Look!” the woman cried, standing and pointing into the back of her cart.
Massimo looked over the edge of the woman’s cart at where she pointed.
He couldn’t tell what it had once been, but it was now just a jumble of broken wood and pieces of shattered glass. “What… what is it?” Massimo ventured.
“It was my lady’s jewelry box, that’s what it was.” The woman started to sob again.
“Oh. Is it valuable?”
“Worth at least fifteen silver deens!”
“Really? That much?” Massimo wondered what he should do. He had close to twenty-one deens. Had he really hit her cart? He was certain he hadn’t.
“You owe me,” the woman said. “Or my master’s going to have me hung.”
“Hung?” Massimo said incredulously. “Surely not.”
“You don’t sound Louan,” the woman said. “What would you know about how we servants are treated? Please,” her voice turned wheedling, “give me fifteen deens?”
Massimo thought about returning to Ralanast with nothing but a story about his careless handling of the drudge, leading to the loss of most of his money.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “I can’t.”
“What if I give you this cart? It’s the only thing of value I own. You could hitch the drudge beside yours and have a train of two wagons.”
“Your cart?” Massimo thought. It was certainly worth at least fifteen silver deens. He made a decision. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you the gilden, and you give me the cart. You can buy a new jewelry box and you won't be punished.”
“Oh, thank you,” the woman said. “Thank you, kind sir.”
A moment later Massimo was again moving slowly though the throng of the market, but this time he had two drudges side by side in front, and a second cart behind. He still had six silver deens, and he decided he’d already made a profit on the journey.
“That’s my cart!” a voice challenged. “And that’s my drudge!”
Massimo decided that this time he wouldn’t allow himself to be distracted. The last thing he needed was another mishap.
“You,” the voice called. “I’m talking to you!”
Massimo heard the sound of running feet, and, turning, he saw a man running toward him, a wooden club in his hand. It was one of the burly men who had been arguing in the street, just before Massimo had hit the woman’s cart.