by Allan Joyal
Chapter 6: Market Day
“Why are we waiting?” Jeff asked.
“First, I want to say you both did a good job,” I said. Jeff smiled as Heather beamed. My lover put her arms around my neck.
“What do I get for that?” she asked.
I looked at Jeff and noticed him smirking. He caught my eye and shook his head. “Promise her something sexual,” he demanded. “We all know you lust for her and it’s wonderful to see her happy.”
“Not now,” I said. “I was going to say the second thing, but just realized that I need to move my coin pouch.”
“Move it?” Jeff asked.
“We are going to be in a crowded area. The clothing has no pockets, so a coin purse normally hangs from a belt. The term cutpurse comes from people who would lurk in such a crowd and cut a coin pouch off a belt. I’m thinking I need to put it on a necklace and hide it under the vest I wear,” I said.
“I’ll help,” Heather said as she worked to unlace the vest. She opened it up and then pulled a piece of cord from the hairnet covering her hair.
Jeff snorted. “You had that in your hair net?” he asked.
“To put my hair in a ponytail if I took it out of the hairnet,” Heather said. “I don’t like the hairnet, but I figured it would be necessary.”
“It seems unusual to cover your hair,” Jeff admitted.
While they had talked I had managed to remove my coin pouch from here it hung from my belt. I looped it through the cord Heather gave me and then settled the cord around my neck. Heather seized the ends of the cord and tied it behind my back making sure to leave the cord loose around my neck.
My lover immediately started giggling and held the pouch for a second before carefully setting it on my chest and lacing the vest over it. “If anyone steals this, they are a magician,” she said.
“Hopefully no one tries,” I said. “Now, we are just looking. When you notice something give me a nudge.”
“Can we try to get me some shoes?” Jeff asked.
“Most likely all we can do is find leather,” I said. “From what I’ve been able to tell, the merchants here don’t do a lot of making items before they are sold.”
“We did get the shoes many of us are wearing from that one shoemaker,” Heather pointed out.
“He was tied in with the one merchant family, and the shoes don’t fit perfectly,” I pointed out. I think he really only had about six sizes.”
Heather shook her head. “You knew? I don’t think anyone ever said anything in front of you.”
“No one did,” I replied. “But I did see that Martha rarely wore her shoes once we set up camp. Al has had some days where he grimaces every time his right foot touches the ground, and Victoria’s shoes are clearly too big for her feet. She ends up deliberately leaving cloth off her toes so her socks can fill in the empty space.”
“You never said,” Heather said as we all stood up.
“Not much we can do. I was going to suggest to Victoria that we put some effort into adjusting the fit on her shoes, but we didn’t have the correct tools or thread,” I said. “But we can watch for that today.”
“Please,” Jeff said. “Mary also needs some shoes, so it’s not just for me.”
I nodded. “Well, I’m hoping that we can talk to merchants and get them to come to us. It will save us effort and allow us to make sure our purchases will fit in the wagons.”
“Will they?” Heather asked.
“Probably,” I replied. “This must be a slow part of the year for them, and the potential money we represent will definitely attract them.”
“Thank god,” Jeff said. “The smell here isn’t bad right now, but I don’t want to live in it.”
I nodded as we all stood up. The chamber we had been sitting in had kept the majority of the stench of the city out, but we all remembered the short walk through the streets. Still, we headed towards the exit, ready to visit the market to see what items might be for sale.
The instant we left the pub the smells of the city assaulted our senses. Jeff cursed and coughed as we watched the citizens of the city going about their morning routine. I noticed that the few women walking all had bouquets of flowers in their hands. They kept the flowers near their noses and regularly inhaled from the blossoms.
“Wow,” Heather said as we watched one of the women. “I guess that makes sense, try to overwhelm the foul smells with the perfume from a flower.”
“Let’s just get this over with,” Jeff moaned. “This smell makes me want to puke. It’s as if we were living between a garbage dump and a sewage treatment plant.”
I nodded and then turned to the left. The city had wooden boardwalks that ran next to the buildings on this street. The boardwalk was not crowded, so I set out, watching for the guardhouse.
We were passing a number of small doors. The buildings in this area were made from stone. Few had windows. Most of the doors were closed. I noticed that this side of the street had few pedestrians, but no one gave us any trouble. We crossed two side streets. As we approached the third city we could see a man in leather armor standing next to an open doorway. The man watched us closely as we approached.
The guard said nothing as we approached. I did notice that he paid an excessive amount of attention to Heather and the majority of that was focused on her chest. Jeff must have noticed as well because he moved so that he was directly on Heather’s left and between her and the guard. We all tried to otherwise ignore the guard as we reached the corner.
“You aren’t from the city,” the guard observed as we reached the corner.
I stepped aside to allow Heather and Jeff to pass me. “We are visiting the market. I doubt the merchants will be happy to find that one of the guards interfered with us. We expect to make some large purchases, but we could always decide it’s too much trouble,” I said dangerously.
The guard’s head snapped around so he was looking out at the road. I just turned and followed my friends as they turned the corner and began heading in the direction we were told the market lay.
“We go back a different way,” I said needlessly as I caught up to the others.
“That was uncomfortable,” Heather said as she ran over and threw her arms around me. “I knew you’d protect me, but that man just made me feel like I was on display for his benefit.”
I held my lover for a moment and then looked down the street. There was a stone archway ahead. From the other side of the archway we could hear men shouting and chanting. There were more than a dozen different voices all calling out their own message. The cacophony made it difficult to pick out any one voice.
Jeff noticed my attention. “This is going to be different,” he said.
“Stick together, if you see something tap my shoulder,” I said. The archway had a steady stream of people heading through it in both directions. There did not appear to be any large gaps. We kept moving forward and managed to join the flow entering the market.
The instant we passed through the archway, I attempted to step to the right out of the main flow of people. There was a small open space next to the archway, and I was able to look around. The large number of awnings and banners, made it impossible to see the exact size of the market, but I could see at least fifteen individuals who had goods set up near them. Most either had a small cart that was easy to watch or had set up barriers to prevent easy access to their goods.
None of the nearby stalls contained anything that I could quickly recognize. I was going to start walking down an aisle when we heard a voice cut through the din. “Hey! You! The trio that just came in! Come over here, I have something for you!”
I looked at the source of the sound and found a bearded man wearing crimson robes waving to us with his right hand. He was standing behind a cart and had an awning covering both him and the cart. From where we were I could not see what was in the cart. The man had something small and metallic in his left hand.
It took a bit of work to make my way through the crow
d. The people flocking to the market tended to push their way past others, rarely offering to yield the way to others. I had to swing my elbows a few times to force open enough space to continue move. However, I finally stumbled from the press in front of the merchant.
The rather rotund man smiled at me. “You look like a man who needs this!” he proclaimed as he opened his left hand. Several pieces of ribbon fell from his hand. I could hear the jingle of small bells. A quick glance confirmed that several small bells were attached to the ribbons. I realized that I could hear similar bells ringing out in the crowd.
“I doubt that having those will really improve my ability to get through the crowd,” I observed as Jeff and Heather stumbled from the crowd.
“What does he have?” Jeff asked.
Wordlessly I pointed at the ribbons and bells. Jeff took a closer look. “What are these for?” he asked.
I was about to point into the crowd when I noticed that the merchant was looking at something near my left hip and smirking. I slid my right foot back casually and pretended to lean forward to look more closely at the bells.
As soon as my shoulders started moving forward I felt a tug on my belt right at my left hip. I whirled around on my right foot. Using my left hand I grabbed at the arm I saw as I turned.
“Hey!” a young male voice shouted.
The merchant opened his mouth, but looked out into the crowd and backed down. I lifted the arm and looked closely. I had caught a young boy of perhaps eleven years. He had a small knife in his right hand.
I looked around. Several people in the crowd were taking a bit of an interest in the boy. I could see a few reaching for their belts. It was clear the young man was a known cutpurse and scourge of the market.
“Jeff, help me drag this kid away,” I said as I plucked the knife from the kid’s hand. “We need to talk to him.
“You’ll be sorry if you mess with me!” the kid shouted. “I have friends!”
“Kid, unless you want me to hold you up to the crowd and announce that you are a cutpurse you will be silent,” I hissed.
The kid’s mouth closed with a snap. He stopped struggling and hung in the air as I held him up. Jeff came over and grabbed the kid’s left arm. “Where do we take him to?” he asked.
“Let’s go back outside the market,” I suggested. “We can use the corner of the wall and the guardhouse.”
I watched the kid’s face turn white, but he said nothing. Heather moved to lead us through the crowd. This time the people quickly made way, allowing Jeff and me to drag the kid across the ground and through the archway. Once outside I shoved the kid against the wall. He grunted with the force of the impact.
“Now,” I said. “I understand that you are poor. I understand that begging is a pain and the money uncertain.”
“You do?” Jeff asked.
“Shut up, Jeff,” I said firmly before looking at the kid again. “I’ll make it simple. If I catch you, or any of your friends trying to steal from me again, I’ll gut you like a fish. You got your one and only chance. And once we are back inside that merchant will hear the same thing. I saw him look right at you. He knew that you were there, and I’m sure he got our attention as a way of providing a nice target.”
“He had nothing to do with it,” the boy said.
“No, but he’s about as honest as you are,” I replied. “Now I don’t have time to teach you manners, and I’m sure the guards won’t allow me to do it anyways.”
“Ron, a guard has noticed us,” Heather said. “He appears to be walking this way.”
“Scram,” I said to the kid as I took my hands from him. The kid glanced to his right towards the guardhouse and then sprinted into the crowd. He vanished back into the market as my friends and I turned to await the approaching guard.
This guard was similarly equipped to the one who had leered at Heather. He glanced at my lover, but then concentrated his attention on me as he walked up. The man stopped about ten feet away and looked me in the eye.
“What was the problem?” he asked me.
“Kid tried to cut my purse,” I said. “I caught him and then told him to leave me alone in the future.”
“You could have brought him to us,” the guard pointed out.
“Why?” I asked. “He did not actually commit a crime. I caught him before he could even find my purse. This way my trip to the market will be disrupted as little as possible.”
The guard glared at me. He gave Heather a last wistful and lust-filled glance and then turned around. His walk back to the guardhouse was swift.
Heather put her hand on my shoulder. “This time I lead. I’m a woman and I know how to shop.”
Jeff and I started laughing, but we both waved to indicate she should lead. Heather mockingly curtseyed to us and then turned to walk back through the archway and into the market.
Heather led us past the stalls closest to the entrance. Somehow, the crowd parted in front of her as she walked into the market and past the first intersection. We followed until we had passed about six stalls. At that point Heather turned to the right and plowed through the crowd to approach what at first appeared to be an empty stall space.
I followed. Once we managed to get to the edge of the flowing crowd of people, I was about to query her, but Heather was squatting down and examining some fabric that was carefully spread on the ground.
The fabric looked to be similar to denim. It was far thicker than the linen clothing we had seen most people wear. It was dyed a rather muddy brown, but Heather appeared interested. There was a man sitting next to the first stack of cloth. He watched Heather intently, but said nothing.
Heather stood up and looked at me. She glanced back that the merchant and then stepped away before whispering to Jeff and me. “This might be the type of cloth we need for clothing. It should last longer than anything except leather, and it will be something we can sew.”
“Can we get the needle and thread here?” I asked. “And how did you find him that quickly?”
Heather smiled and spoke softly. “I’ve shopped some crowded malls. You learn how to recognize the best products. This merchant knows his product is good, that’s why his setup isn’t all that elaborate. Why spend extra?”
The merchant appeared to realize we were discussing business. He looked around carefully and then stood up. “You are interested? I can offer a good price. Best cloth available for farmworkers and far less expensive than leather.”
“It is impressive, although the color is a bit dull,” I said carefully.
“Ah, a discerning customer. I do have other colors. Green, blue? Is that what you are looking for?” the merchant asked.
I glanced at Heather. She had nodded at green. The merchant had bent down and pulled out a rolled up skein of cloth that was dyed a deep blue. He smiled as he showed it to me.
I shook my head trying to make it seem like I was disappointed. “Not the right color. You said you had green?”
The merchant’s smile did not diminish. “Green! Of course I have green. Do you want the dark green, dyed using the extract from the long-tongue fern, or are you looking for the faded green of the sour-back swamp beast?”
“Faded sounds closer to what we were thinking about,” I responded.
“Faded?” Jeff hissed in my ear as the merchant carefully placed the blue bundle on top of his other wares. The man had to turn around and dig through a pile of cloth behind where he was sitting, but soon held up a new length of cloth. This one looked like the light green you might see on some hunter’s camouflage. Heather immediately tapped my shoulder as the merchant turned to us.
“Here, I have the faded green. It’s perfect for protecting someone working outside. This dye is very durable. It won’t fade,” the merchant said.
“It does appear to be a good color,” I said carefully. “I can see that the dye is not quite uniform though. Some sections of cloth are darker or lighter.”
I pointed to a section of the cloth where the color darke
ned visibly before fading again. The merchant looked at it and shook his head. “It’s strong cloth, and a good seamstress can work around the dye.”
“Perhaps,” I said. “But it does mean more work. Still, I think I’d be willing to purchase a roll from you.”
“A roll?” the merchant said with a gasp. “Sir, do you know how much a roll contains? My wife could clothe all of our seven children and thirty grandchildren with that much. Do you really desire a full roll?”
“If the price is right,” I said casually. “I can see that the roll you have there is a bit old, and the dye is not uniform.”
The merchant laughed. “You are a skinflint and a rogue,” he told me. “Do you want this roll?”
I looked right at him. Heather had reached up to pinch my ear. She tried to pull me away. I shrugged her off and smiled. “Fine, would you take a silver coin for the roll?”
“A silver coin? Sir, this single roll represents hours of work for my daughters-in-law. They must carefully dye each spool and then weave it on a handloom. The only reason they can spin a cloth so wide is that two will work together, so they can hold a larger loom,” the merchant said.
“And yet, that roll was near the bottom of your stack,” I pointed out. “The dye job might have been careful, but I’m guessing two different young women worked, and they were not exact in their measurements of dye. I do not want to leave them starving, but I cannot pay more than two silver coins. But I will offer dwarven coin if you add matching thread and five needles.”
“Dwarven?” the man said. He seemed to notice my vest for the first time. He pulled at the beard on his chin. “Which clan?”
“Clan Skyve,” I replied firmly.
“Show me your coin,” the man insisted.
I looked over at Heather. She smiled and reached for the cord around my neck. It took a moment, but she was able to pull the coin pouch out from my vest and worry it open. She shook several coins into her hand and held them for me to look at.
I plucked two of the shining silver coins we had received from the dwarves from her hand. She returned the others to the pouch while I held the coins out for the merchant to look at.