Page 46 of Marked
Within twenty minutes, they were face-to-face with the city of Togars market.
Not exactly what they were expecting, this town exhibited significant differences from the ones they had journeyed through.
The streets were littered with trash, a dark demeanor claiming the area.
The first thing Blair noticed as they crossed into the new town was the sky.
It was the middle of the day, and the clouds were heavy, casting the streets in an overcast light.
The buildings here were separated with lots of space, tall and narrow, with crooked chimneys and soot-darkened stone.
As they approached the sellers, the energy stayed the same.
All colors were in muted grays and tans, from the cloaks to the linen that perched over the stalls.
Most carts were small, offering a few items, and those that stood had a lot of space in between.
As she continued to look around, Blake mumbled about finding a possible place to update his weapons.
Squinting past a group of hunched townsfolk dragging carts of what looked like dried herbs and cracked pottery, Damien and Blair spotted a shop. Blake's eyesight followed, and his body immediately went toward it .
Halting him, Damien motioned silently to a slanted wooden sign half-hanging by rusted chains.
"This area is small enough that we can still split up and keep tabs on each other.
Do you sense anything unusual? He asked Blake.
After a second, Blake shook his head in answer, and Damien continued, "Grab what you need and meet back here in an hour. "
"Or sooner, if possible?" Blair said softly, watching as the townspeople walked around them, eyeing them suspiciously and talking in their native tongue.
Damien stepped forward to kiss her forehead, slipping a small bag into her back pocket. He stalled at her ear, "I'm gonna go with him, make sure he doesn't break anything. Will you be okay?"
She nodded as she pulled away, feeling the strange weight.
Blake gave a mock salute as he turned away toward the store.
Damien mumbled a quick "Be safe." and then followed him.
Blair turned the opposite way, eyeing the options to replenish their food source.
As she walked, she found the only fruit stand.
Observing the contents, a bright red fruit was waved in her face that smelled of iron and citrus.
She politely declined and walked a few feet to the next vendor, a woman offering her hard, cheese-wrapped, salted meat with cloves and pepper.
Blair weighed the options and politely declined again.
As she continued across the path, a merchant pushed dried nuts into her hands, insisting that she taste them.
As she popped them in her mouth, she smiled at the vendor and tracked the lines of different nuts she had across her table.
Recalling the bag Damien had slipped her, she reached into her pocket and produced the small silk bag with various coins.
Comparing how many she had with what she needed, she counted out enough for a large bag of mixed nuts and turned toward the next opportunity.
As she hit two more tables displaying corn and eggs, she moved across the way to a table of chicken jerky.
She was almost there when she came across a small table with two chairs.
It was bare except for a wooden sign that lay upside down in the middle of the table.
She turned it, reading "Fortune Teller" and rolled her eyes.
Taking another step, an elderly woman dressed in a tan cloak grabbed her hand and pulled her close.
Blair's body was yanked down to a hunched form, sitting on a third chair to the side. As she focused her attention, her eyes zeroed in on an elderly woman with white hair wrapped in a bun and covered by her hood. She wore dangly earrings, and her skin was wrinkled with age.
Blair tried to pull back, but the woman's grip was abnormally strong. Brown eyes looked up at her, their inner glow tinged with a purple hue. An eerie voice floated around them, "I have a message for you."
Blair looked around and then stared at her, confused, unable to answer. The voice continued as if three voices were stacked on top of each other, "The blade will not protect you, child… until it turns inward. When shadows rise, and all is lost, only blood will wake the power. "
Startled, Blair yanked her arm back and fell from the force, landing on her butt. She winced, grabbing the things she dropped and standing, bringing her eyes back up to the woman.
"What...?"
Her mouth froze. As she looked back toward the fortune teller, she was not the same. No purple hint to her eyes, no cryptic voice. Her figure was even straight, with no arch in her back. The woman smiled at her; her face bathed in happiness.
"Would you like your fortune told? I do palms and cards!"
Blair blinked rapidly, no words escaping her open mouth. She cleared her throat before speaking, "You just..." she lifted her arms up, pointing to the woman," There was..." she shook her head, lowering her hands back down. "No, thank you." her words came out in a rush.
"Okay, my dear, just come on back if you change your mind." the woman responded, turning to grab the attention of others who were passing by.
Willing her body to move, she turned around and led herself to the last cart she needed, bearing the dried meat. Every couple of steps, she would look back at the woman who now sat with another customer, shuffling her cards and laying them on the table.