The three roads, or “Ways,” as they were commonly called, were lined with wagon carts, tents, and makeshift table stands. People from all over the realm were selling their wares and services: armor made from boiled and painted leather; the pungent frog weed from the kingdom of Dakahn; farming implements, leather goods, and riding gear, along with the finest horses in the land, from the Kingdom of Valleya. Barrel kegs, sailcloth, and rope, and just about anything else to do with the shipping trade, was sold by the merchants from the Isle of Salazar, and in fierce competition with the Seaward vendors who dealt in similar merchandise. There were fantastical potions, healing powders, magical spell scrolls, venomous curses, and personal charms of every fashion to be had at Summer’s Day.
One of the larger pavilions had an old silver haired man standing out in front of it. He was wearing wizard’s robes and claiming that the jeweled items he sold were powerfully enchanted and be-spelled. Daggers that never dulled, rings that made the wearer more attractive, medallions that would keep you from harm, and a longbow that would never miss its target, if you could find the strength to draw it, were just a few of the items he was trying to sell. He swore he could make anything you could imagine, and every so often, he would make a dove go flapping away from his empty hand in a puff of smoke, or pull a flower out from behind a passing maiden’s ear. The people who saw these feats either scurried off with terrified looks on their faces, or hurried inside to spend their coin.
Gerard was intrigued by the man, but didn’t scurry away, or hurry inside to spend his money. He chose to watch the wizard from across the way. He bought a piece of roasted meat that had been skewered on a wooden stick, and a mug of ale to wash it down with, then leaned back against the food sellers cart, and watched the old man draw in his next group of potential customers.
Gerard was transfixed by the man’s commanding tone and strange accent, but he wasn’t lured by the charlatan tricks that seemed to amaze the rest of the onlookers. The giantess, Berda, had told many a tale that included men like this one, and Gerard knew that feats such as these were a trick of the eye and not real magic. What kept Gerard watching, was the fact that when he had tried to use his ring’s power to catch the wizard out in his act, the old man only glanced at him without so much as a stutter. Like his older brother Hyden, the old man was somehow unaffected by the ring. Gerard might have thought that the ring had lost its magic had he not used it earlier in the afternoon to persuade a castellan from Wildermont to pay him twice the asking price for his last two hawkling eggs. The other six of his eggs, he had sold with Hyden’s six to a strange, little black-eyed woman who had wanted an even dozen. Gerard’s pouch was full, and he could have easily afforded any of the old silver-haired wizard’s wares, but he wasn’t interested in the fancy trinkets, only in the man selling them.
The woman who had bought the eggs from him and Hyden had given Gerard the creeps. She had been acting and speaking more like a distracted boy, or a skittish animal, and her eyes had been as black as the Spire itself. She had paid well though, and without argument. Actually, she had slapped the heavy pouch full of golden lions down on the table stand the Skylers were using for a countertop, and demanded the dozen hawkling eggs. Harrap, Gerard’s father, had started to question her, as he always did the strange buyers. He seemed to want to know everything about them, their home kingdom, what type of business they were associated with, and the reason they wanted to buy the eggs. Most people wanted to incubate the birds to carry messages over long distances. Others, wanted the yolk for its healing properties. This woman had grown defensive, and said that an old woman’s business is her own. After waving a hand around, and chanting a word that caused Gerard and his father both to forget that she had even been there, she had taken her eggs and disappeared. The memory of her came back soon after, and Harrap had grown angry. His cursing and irritable manner had driven Gerard out of the selling booth just as soon as he’d sold his other two eggs.
Hyden was in the middle of a preliminary round for the archery competition. Gerard used that as his ruse to go. Hyden would get to the finals, Gerard knew, so instead of going to watch his brother, he went off into the Ways exploring, and ended up here, in front of the silver-haired wizard’s pavilion. It was becoming obvious that the goods weren’t truly enchanted, so he was starting to lose interest.
Disappointed, he stepped out into the flow of the passing crowd. He was curious to see what else he could find. He hadn’t taken ten steps when a woman’s arm hooked around his familiarly. The lady didn’t pull him into the gap between the two tents they were passing as he half expected her to do. Instead, she just strode along beside him as if they were long acquainted companions out enjoying the festival together.
He could smell the sweet flowery scent of her, and from the corner of his eye he could tell she was attractive. He turned to look at her curiously and was pleasantly surprised.
She was close to his height, and other than the long, straight raven black mane that hid most of her face from him, all he could see was the ample amount of cleavage that her studded leather vest revealed. Once he got past that, he saw that her entire body was beautifully curvy, and clad in tight fitting protective leather. He also noticed that she wore a long sword at her hip.