Vanya felt the mayhem brewing outside. The next morning felt as if a tornado had passed through the Mountain Home Inn considering the amount of chaos that had unfolded even before the sun had risen.

She woke up to shuffling outside the door to her room. Loud thuds were heard with people running up and down the hallway. She lit a candle to check for any signs of Roza.

Roza’s bed stayed as neatly untouched as Vanya saw before her eyes shut closed while waiting for her bunkmate last night.

She rubbed her eyes awake hearing a loud knock on her door. She shuffled her way to the door to only jump seeing who was staring down at her as she opened it.

“Sorry to wake you. You should get ready soon. We’ll be heading out in an hour or so,” Rhohaz, his voice still raspy from just waking, his hair slightly disheveled, tried not to sound as if he was giving Vanya orders.

It was pleasant to see him without his proper leader-like attire for once. She nodded half-awake at him and watched him hop through the heaps of clutter that had appeared in the hallway to head to the stairs.

Suppose he knew Roza never came to sleep…

Vanya thought for she expected him to barge in to check in on his sister.

She quickly got ready hoping Joan would be proud of how well she remembered Joan’s techniques to have her dressed. She buckled a belt around her waist trying not to scrunch up the neat pleats of the dress and combed her hair into a braid although it sat slightly lopsided on her head once she was done with it.

She found her way down the stairs and into the dining area which was flooded with people. There was not one inch of free space to squeeze into. Everyone was either ordering someone to do something or following orders dragging heaps of items to sell at the market beginning today.

She somehow managed to find Kev at his cart outside with his donkey, who was taking a piss and disgusting the people passing by.

“Kev!” Vanya called out as she made her way to him.

“Isn’t it smart? I did not want to bother unloading and loading, so I slept out here last night to watch over the goods from being stolen,” he said proudly.

“You slept out here in the cold?” Vanya retorted, baffled he was doing fine after a night out in the winter weather.

“A little cold never bothered Kev,” he winked with a shiver rippling through his body.

They finally began to see more familiar faces appear to load their carts. She found a half-asleep Timmie make his way to Kev’s cart and settle himself among the fish crates to continue his dreams. Vanya listened to Timmie’s snores while watching the sun finally rise in the sky bringing some daylight to Elioth that was too busy to notice the lack of it.

Soon, Kev started to have his donkey haul them to the market grounds. It was not far, not even a couple of minutes from the Mountain Home Inn. Yet the market grounds were massive with no end in sight. Kev explained the logistics of everything by coming early into the grounds to get a good spot that can also withstand the winds and the occasional rain. He also explained their first task for the day, setting up the tents.

Vanya found Rhohaz already at the grounds walking around, inspecting, and deciding on the perfect spot. He waved the crew over and they immediately started setting up the space. Vanya tried to make herself useful but she mostly found herself holding something in a corner waiting for instructions to move aside. She felt very much in their way.

“Don’t feel so bad, Jade,” she startled, finding Taru next to her.

“Was it that obvious?” she asked, realizing she must have looked like she was having an awful time.

“Oh yes, I saw it the moment I entered the grounds. It’s your first time. No one expects you to help.”

“I didn’t realize it was this big,” Vanya said, still awe-struck by the scale of the market that was flowering itself in front of her eyes.

“This is one of the biggest markets in all of the West. It’s quite odd though. You would think such a large event would occur in Esmeth for example. But it has always been in Elioth for over fifty years now. I should say it's one of the main driving factors for the economy here in Elioth,” Taru spoke quite proudly.

“Fascinating…” Vanya held her breath for a moment before continuing, “...Did Shalom always sell fish at this market?”

“Hmm, not as consistently until maybe a few years ago. The people at Shalom have been on the West Coast for only two decades or so. It came as a surprise to us when they arrived on the market for the very first time a few years ago. We never even knew they were at the seaside. The coast was always barren and unoccupied for years,” Taru looked relaxed and possibly sleepy enough to keep spilling things to Vanya.

“Interesting, they may have laid low after the…bounties that were placed on some of them back in the day,” Vanya bit her lip hoping she was not making the wrong move.

“Oh yes, we too only connected the dots a couple of years ago. The Yelhi tribe is known to have quite a dark history. I believe there were about seven people who had bounties placed on their heads by the royal court.”

Vanya held onto herself hearing Taru go on about it, those very pages stuck into Rhohaz’s book she snooped through that had the notices collected in there with one of them being Rhohaz’s father.

“Do…do you know what happened to them? The seven of them?”

“Oh! They got caught right after the new King was coronated. They were all burned at the stake for the public to see…” Taru’s words shocked Vanya. Her pupils shivering, unable to comprehend his words. “...I am told they were dark times.”

“They were burned at the stake? All seven of them? Twenty years ago?” Vanya’s voice got louder and sharper. She was so sure she saw Rhohaz’s father on that ‘Wanted dead or alive’ notice. And she was quite sure he only passed away last year after being ill for some time.

Taru nodded at her questions in reply, “That’s right.”

“All for using magic?” Vanya’s voice dropped in confidence.

Taru turned to her to immediately correct her, “Oh no, not just for using magic. Most people who used mere magic in their day-to-day lives were only imprisoned and later apparently pardoned by the King in secret. But these seven did not just use magic. They used magic to assassinate the former King.”

Vanya froze. Her pulse quicked with fear growing in her stomach, “But the former King was assassinated by a group who came from the Southern Kingdom.”

Taru shook his head, “Well, there’s also another story saying the Southern Kingdom hired the seven from the Yelhi tribe to execute the task. And there are even more variations to that story. I guess we’ll never know the truth about any of this. It is always the case, isn’t it, with politics?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Vanya was confused, too disheveled to think anything through. During the old war between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, her uncle, her father’s brother and the former King of the Northern Kingdom, was known to have been brutally assassinated by a group with an alliance to the Southern Kingdom. The Southern Kingdom denied such involvement vehemently. The war between the two Kingdoms ultimately ended with the previous King’s death. And later peace treaties were signed once her father rose to power sweeping sour experiences between the two kingdoms under the rug.

But listening to Taru and realizing that the Yelhi tribe may have been bribed to kill the former King and the perpetrators were caught and burned at the stake, was not something Vanya was expecting to hear. She had no prior knowledge of this. Not even with being in the royal assemblies and gatherings where they spoke for hours on end about policies, history, strategies, and so on.

And if it was the truth, the fact that one of the perpetrators was Rhohaz’s father and that he only passed on a year ago made no sense in her mind. She wanted to go back, look at the pages once more, and confirm she saw right.

It was not helping though. The very thought of the politics of the Kingdom made her start to worry about her own outcome. She wondered if she would ever make it alive back home. And if they still wanted her to make it in one piece and assume her position as the crown princess of the land. She began to ponder on the words she heard exchanged between Chief Han and Rhohaz. Those words made her doubt if her father was even putting any effort into looking for her instead of arranging another coronation ceremony to crown her stepbrother as the next heir to the throne.

Her racing mind suddenly calmed seeing a familiar figure walking towards her. It was just like when she would take her morning walk with her horse Dirt, not a worrying thought bothering her mind. She felt the pressure that had built up and was thrashing against her forehead release. She breathed deeply watching him approach.

“Taru, you are here early,” Rhohaz spoke to Taru but he instantly noticed Vanya’s slight discomfort.

“Are you alright?” he asked, looking towards her, a concern overtaking his face.

Vanya flailed her hands trying to brush it off yet he started insisting she should take a seat and not worry about helping around.

A sudden noise caught everyone’s attention. There was a shouting match of a few pent-up sellers going on in the distance making the entire grounds preparing for the market stop it all to observe it.

While everyone was too engrossed in the unfolding fistfight, Rhohaz sat Vanya down in a corner.

“What is it? Did Taru say something? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he spoke in a whisper.

I might as well have seen one at this rate…

She thought to herself wondering how Rhohaz’s father may have escaped death, perhaps even deceived her own father into thinking they burned him at the stake and lived a quiet life till he passed away last year.

Yet she was feeling some sort of calmness with Rhohaz by her side. As if his presence somehow made her forget about the impending doom that was looming over her head.

“Aren’t you supposed to be busy with your leaderly duties or something?” she asked sitting in a dark corner of the tent that was put up by the villagers. Crates of fish sat next to her enveloping her in their stench. She did not mind the smell of fish anymore. She did not even think about it. It was too natural for her at this point.

Rhohaz crouched down to her level quite unexpectedly. They seemed so perfectly out of sight from everyone else.

He gazed into her eyes and sighed, “I’m telling this so you don’t end up falling ill again. You look awful, very much on the brink of it. If you are worried about me asking about Roza, don’t bother. You won’t have to keep an eye on her.”

Roza was the least of her worries, yet she stayed silent seeing him so completely consumed by the fact that she looked terrible which no one but he seemed to notice so quickly. She stayed there staring into his eyes which looked so troubled by the vision in front of them.

Just then, those very eyes faintly glowed in gold and disappeared the very next moment.

Vanya’s lips curved into a comforting smile. She felt warm air that was very much absent in this cold wintery weather, hug her. She knew it then that Rhohaz had no idea that she knew what he was doing, that she knew of his little ways to comfort her. Almost like it was a secret just between her and his eyes.

***

Vanya found herself back at the Mountain Home Inn only midday. She expected to stay back at the market grounds with the rest of the folk who were suddenly overcome by a large crowd of people bargaining for fish. She even heard Stu, whom she barely saw, speak about how it’s been one of the best opening days they have had in a while. Soon after, she was asked to go back and rest by Rhohaz who had already arranged for a cart to take her back to the inn.

She made her way into the now completely empty inn half-heartedly. She spent some time sipping on some water while seating herself at the corner of the dining hall avoiding any thoughts of her current situation from taking over her mind.

Lazily she climbed the stairs all the way to the fourth floor and opened the door to her room to find the window at the opposite end wide open and a figure perched on it tilting itself into the room. It fell inside with a loud thud.

“Roza?” she questioned.

A head full of hair looked up to show Roza covered under it all giving a radiant smile of satisfied accomplishment.

“Oh, am I glad to see you, Jade,” she whispered.

Vanya immediately closed the door behind her and helped Roza up to have her seated on her bed. Roza quickly got busy rummaging through her satchel that was around her shoulder.

“Your brother, he’s been looking for you. He said you’d be in deep trouble if you did not show up today to help at the market,” Vanya spilled everything while watching Roza not be bothered by anything she said in the slightest.

“He will be fine. We have bigger fish to fry, Jadie. Much bigger fish.”

“What do you mean?”

Roza finally looked back at Vanya and cupped her hands around Vanya’s cheek.

“I found a way to save Joan.”

Vanya’s eyes lit in thrill. She was finally getting a solution to Joan’s worsening injury. Something to save the most important person in her life.

“What is it? Tell me now,” Vanya pressed on watching Roza laugh in joy.

“I’ve found us a way to get close to the Ombrah and scrape a piece of their skin. But we must be cautious. It is only proven in theory. But I’m most certainly sure it will do.”

“Okay, alright. What is it?” Vanya was too impatient and Roza was not getting to the point.

“It’s an amulet that protects you against the touch of dark magic, so in our case, the Ombrah.”

Vanya’s brows furrowed. She took a moment scanning Roza’s satchel that had already been emptied on her bed to find no such amulet visible.

“An amulet? Where do we find this amulet? Is it in Elioth?” Vanya asked.

Roza paused for a moment thinking, then nodded her head anyway to continue, “Yes, it is. Do you ask because you want to help me go get it?”

“Yes, yes, of course! I will do anything for Joan. And I will make sure we leave here with it, no question,” Vanya spoke with her hands on her hips ready to fight Roza if she were to disagree with her participation in retrieving the amulet.

But Roza only gave a heart-warming smile, “It must be lovely to have a sister like you. Joan is truly lucky.”

Vanya blinked unable to react to it. If only Roza knew Joan was never Vanya’s sister, to begin with.

Roza continued, “You’ve asked me before about how I found the grimoire that you held in your hands that night. Well, I found a man who had sold a few in the past. I tracked him down and had him sell me that one. At that time, he mentioned an amulet along with a couple of other things he wanted to sell. I said I would come for him if I needed it.”

“A man? Where is he now?”

“Well, it’s the biggest market in all of the West right here in Elioth, isn’t it? He is expecting to make a killing out of this week.”

“He’s at the market? Well, why are we here? Let’s go!” Vanya grabbed Roza’s hand but before she could drag Roza with her Roza held back and stopped her.

“Oh no, he’s not at the markets. Almost everything he sells is banned and he would be arrested if he were to show his face there.”

“Well…Where is he then?” Vanya asked taking her hand back in worry.

“I already found him and booked an appointment for tonight,” Roza held up a piece of paper with a date and a time covered by a red seal.

“Temptest Inn?” Vanya squinted reading the paper on Roza’s hand.

“It’s only a little south from here. Worry not, Jade. I know what to do. You just need to stay at my side at all times.”