Kara (7 page)

“Stay close by. This is a big place and you
could easily get lost. Plus, you don’t want anything at that
booth.”

Grace flew down next to her with a chirp and
a shake. The sprite looked to be agreeing with the werefox. Kara
mumbled an okay. With the flowers forgotten, she quickly went back
to taking in every sight and sound.

Down the first main aisle, non-humans crowded
around a weapons booth. Swords and axes hung from the sides of the
booth, while mannequins in chain mail stood in the corners. A half
goat-half man was busy haggling with several people at once. At one
point, the proprietor jumped up on a stool and pointed. “Sold! No
deal! How about twenty? Get lost, ya’ bother me, kid!”

Kara found herself rooted to the spot
watching the spectacle. Hambone tugged on her arm to move her
forward. They huddled in a group just up from the weapons
booth.

“We should split up. Maybe an idea will come
to us about getting Kara back home. Grace, you go with Hambone.
I’ll take Kara. Kara, is that okay with you?” Dante asked, his
voice hardly registering.

She was busy looking back at the booth with
the goat man, his funny voice echoing and baying while he
bargained.

“Kara?”

“What?”

“We’re splitting up. Hambone and Grace and
you and me.”

“Okay,” she said, not caring about whom she
was with but who was around.

After they set a meeting place and time, the
group split. Dante guided Kara by the arm, almost dragging her. He
seemed eager to get somewhere. Kara wanted to stop and look at it
all.

They passed an old woman selling apples. Her
smile revealed a toothless grin. The woman called out to them,
holding her product out. “Apples for sale. “

Dante held up his hand and shook his head as
they passed by.

“Dante, she looks human. Maybe she knows
how….”

“She’s a witch. They resemble humans but are
not quite human. Some can be very powerful in magic, but for some
reason it takes a toll on their body. The older they are, sometimes
the stronger with the gift they are. Best we leave her in peace.”
Dante whispered and pulled her along. Kara stared back at the witch
and the apples, which were so red they made her mouth water. The
witch caught her eye, gave a smile, and then a wink.

A sudden chill went through her.
She
knows!

“Dante?” But he ignored her and he pulled her
along. The chill passed and new sights distracted her mind.

They passed a large pig-headed creature that
appeared to be a butcher. It talked in snorts and grunts while it
hacked at something with a cleaver. There were some smaller
creatures that she recognized now as gnomes selling plants and
vegetables. These tiny men reminded her of the ones she first saw
staring into the bubbling caldron.

Next she saw some orcs. Dante identified them
for her, plus they were similar in size and shape to Hambone,
plying crudely made furniture. Two were trying to set out a dining
table that had five legs. A couple of the chairs also looked
mismatched.

Kara wished she could stop and watch
everyone, take it all in, but Dante seemed to have an agenda.
Where was he taking her?
Maybe he knew of someone who knew a
way back to Faldoa.

Dante slowed, then stopped, and Kara bumped
into him. The booth in front of them looked like the forest itself.
A canopy of intertwining branches sprouted several leaves and one
pink flower ever so many feet, covered the top of the store. Green
vines traveled from the grassy floor to the natural canopy. Kara
watched as these vines moved on their own, caressing and curling
around the supports. Their movement drew her in closer.

Not much could be seen further into the
booth, as a curtain of shimmering silk hid whatever was behind the
curtain from view. As the breeze blew, the curtain caught waves of
light and sent an electric light show through the fabric. Just one
more thing Kara could have stared at for hours, had it not been for
Dante.

“Lyllianna. The most beautiful nymph at the
market,” he murmured, as he let go of Kara’s arm. He sketched a
small bow right in front of the booth.

“Master Dante, it is a pleasure.”

Kara stared wordless when she caught a
glimpse of this Lyllianna. Birch-colored locks fell softly on her
shoulder where they floated as on clouds, for they barely moved. In
her hair, she wore a garland of leaves that were as bright green as
the ones on the booth. Emerald eyes gave Kara a brief glance and
then turned back to Dante.

She looks human?

“Here with a friend?” There seemed to be a
tinge of jealousy in her words.

Dante broke out of his momentarily dreamy
state to mumble, “No, this is just a Bedouin friend of Hambone.
He’s off with Grace doing…something…shopping. I don’t know.”

A smile, that magically completed Lyllianna,
formed on her face. “So, since you shook off the dwarc and the
little green speck, you just happened to be close by…” Her words
trailed off and Dante leaned in closer. She took her finger and
pushed him back by the nose.

“I suppose…” The woman said, drawing out the
word in anticipation. “I could squeeze you in. But your friend
needs to wait out here.”

Immediately, Dante dipped down on one knee in
front of Kara. “You stay put. Don’t move or touch anything. I’ll be
back soon.”

“But where are you going? Does she know how
to get back to Faldoa?”

“Shhh!” Dante shook her and looked back up at
Lyllianna who was twirling a finger through her hair. “No one is
supposed to know you are human,” he whispered.

“But where are you going?”

“Don’t worry. You will be fine. Your illusion
still works, so no one will bother you. I won’t be gone long.”

“But…” Panic rose in her voice at the thought
of being trapped here along amongst all these races.

“Oh, Dante…” Lyllianna parted the curtain and
crooking her index finger beckoned him in.

Dante stood up. “Just stay put. You’ll be
fine.” He patted Kara on the head then quickly dashed to the nymph.
They disappeared behind the curtain.

Kara stood there stunned. What just happened?
What did this booth sell? It had no sign. Then again, most of the
booths around here had no placards. When at the village market, all
the shops announced what they offered through signs. Some even had
pictures of their wares. She began to feel uneasy and awkward. Were
people staring at her? How long was Dante going to be gone?

In the booth several other women, just as
beautiful as Lyllianna, were talking to customers. They also wore
garlands in their hair and their long white dresses tied at the
waist with a cream-colored braid of rope. All the customers
appeared to be male, or what Kara could make out to be male from
their long unkempt hair and beards. She had no idea what was going
on. No one from the booth approached her.

“Excuse me?” she called to a woman in the
booth. A blonde haired beauty looked her way, gave a brief scowl,
but floated over.

“Yes ma’am.” The tone was sullen and nowhere
near as charming as Lyllianna had been with Dante.

Now what?

“Um, what do you sell here?”

A laugh escaped the woman, but she quickly
composed herself. “Why, beauty of course.” The nymph continued when
she saw the confused look. “We are beauticians. We groom, pluck,
cut, massage, tone, et cetera., our customers, so that they will
look their best. Males usually need the most work. Excuse me. Duty
calls.” And with a wave of her hand, the beautician glided off to
another customer.

Dante left me alone to get a haircut!
Kara felt anger for the first time since she had arrived in the
Territories. Her emotions dictated her actions. She made a move
toward the curtain to pull Dante out of there.

Suddenly, a wall of coarse fur blocked her
way. Kara looked up, instantly afraid. A huge bull-headed man stood
in front of her, arms crossed, glaring down at her. Steam huffed
out of his nostrils.

Kara backed away wordlessly, stunned, ready
for the thing to attack her. Once outside the booth, the bodyguard
relaxed.

Maybe I should wait here.

The roar of the crowd passing down the aisle
grew. She turned to watch, her curiosity and awe hindered by the
nagging fear that Dante would not come back before someone
recognized her as human.

A quad of dwarves stumbled by. They carried
large steins filled with an amber colored liquid that slopped over
the rims and dripped onto the ground. The four seemed to be in very
good spirits. Their good humor was infectious. She smiled to
herself.

Creatures of all sizes, colors, and even
smells passed by her. A wolf creature, walking on two legs, smelled
like cinnamon when it passed. A small scrawny reptile creature with
big eyes, carrying a spear smelling of peaches.

Kara’s stomach growled. She wished Dante
would hurry up, so they could get some food. She glanced back at
the booth but there was no sign of him. The bull man caught her
eye, and she quickly looked away.

A tickle at her ankle made her swat with her
hand. She connected with something, and jumped back. Panic pulsed
through her and her eyes grew wide. The animal sniffing her looked
like a cross between a dog and… She wasn’t quite sure what
else.

“Graaach!” Its mouth opened revealing rows of
pointed teeth and a blood-red tongue.

Kara bolted into the flow of traffic,
instantly running into someone or something. She quickly apologized
to something large and hairy. But in doing so, bumped into someone
else.

Kara became a bobber in a sea of creatures.
The crowd bumped her around turning her several times until she
lost sense of which direction she headed, until she finally ditched
into the booth opposite the nymphs’. She fought to tamp down the
panic that beat inside her. She paused a moment to get her
bearings.

She looked back at the stream of races and
tried to catch a glimpse of the booth Dante had gone in, but she
couldn’t see it.

Did I just get lost?
A frightened
voice asked inside of her, but she willed it away. Kara turned back
to the nearest booth, a canvas tent, where several tables of
jewelry and trinkets sat displayed. Farther back, it looked as if
there were swords that had gems infused in the hilts. Maybe the
shopkeeper here would be able to point Kara in the right
direction.

But as she started in, her eyes caught sight
of one table and one object on that table, a necklace. It held an
amazing blue stone. The stone set in a crystal pendant resembled
the shape of a bat, wings outstretched, but no head.

“Pretty.”

She jerked back, startled by the voice. “I’m
sor—” Her words trailed off as she saw the creature looking at her
from the other side of the table. It stood only about three feet
tall, its chin just about resting on the tabletop. Two huge pointed
ears laid flat against its greenish head and rose two inches higher
than the balding dome.

“I, Goblin Skrag.” The thing stepped back
from the table and did a mock bow to her, one of its thin bony
hands waving the air in front of him. The voice reminded Kara of
coins rattling around in a tin cup. The beautiful jewelry he was
selling was very much in contrast to the ugly thing running the
booth.

“How I help you?” Skrag’s speech broke like
that of a little child who had newly learned to speak. He paused in
between his words when he didn’t have to.

Kara couldn’t take her eyes away from Skrag’s
saucer-sized, yellow eyes. His almost nonexistent nose reminded her
of a skull she once saw.

“Um…I’m just looking,” she said dismissively,
hoping that he would go away. Her eyes focused back on the
necklace.

“You look good. Very pretty.”

At first, Kara didn’t know if Skrag flirted
with her or told her that the necklace was a good piece. She hoped
he meant the latter.

“Yes, it is. It just caught my eye. Did you
make it?” Her hand so wanted to touch the stone, but Dante’s
Don’t touch anything
still echoed in her head.

“Not Skrag. He no make. My mistress. Yes, she
make. Make all.” His speech became rapid as he spoke of his
employer. It sounded to Kara that if Skrag talked any more about
his mistress his heart might explode.

“Oh,” Her hand hovered at the table. Her eyes
drifted over the other objects on display. They were all beautiful,
but none caught her eye like the bat pendant.

“You like. You take?” Skrag tapped the table
with a stone-like, ancient nail.

Kara stared at his finger. It repulsed
her.

“Try on.” Skrag insisted. He pulled his hands
back and stared up at her. A smile, which made him beyond creepy,
graced his face. Jagged, crooked teeth poked out. She wanted to
run, but the stone, the necklace, the invitation to try it on held
her there.

She removed her glove, laid it on the table,
and picked up the necklace. A tingle raced up her arm at first
contact.

Kara glanced at Skrag and noticed his eyes
widening.
What was that all about?
He was the one who’d told
her to try on the necklace.

“Human….”

My hand!

Kara dropped the necklace on the table and
quickly snatched back her hand, snagging the necklace and glove on
her sleeve. She bolted from the booth. She ran in a blind panic,
dodging the oncoming traffic. All these monsters surrounded her.
The slave traders would capture her for sure. She had to get out of
there.

The crowd did not take notice of her as Kara
skirted around them, but she was positive they all saw through her
disguise. She needed to run, run, run!

At the end of one aisle, she headed left
looking for a way back into the forest and maybe even a way back
home. Tears filled her eyes.
Home….

Her foot caught on a stone and she tumbled
face first into the dirt.