Bridlesmark was a soul-crushing abyss. Its market was a tapestry of despair, woven from threads of poverty, neglect, and desperation.
The air reeked of stagnation, heavy with the putrid stench of rotting food and human sweat.
Merchants faced smeared with grime hawked their wares with desperation etched on their faces. Hungry children, with dull eyes sunken and skin sallow, scavenged for scraps, their tiny hands grasping for anything edible and Beggars, with bodies twisted by hardship, pleaded for alms, their voices hoarse from shouting.
The crowd surged, a sea of sweaty bodies colliding. Elbows jostled, and hands grasped. The cacophony was deafening – vendors shouting, children wailing, and the constant din of haggling.
I felt suffocated.
"Nothing in return?" the girl asked, her voice laced with naivety. She stood before the merchant's cart, oblivious to the pervert's intentions.
I watched with disgust, wondering how she couldn't see through his facade. In this place where corruption reeked from every alleyway, it didn't take a genius to decipher a man's true motives.
Was she blinded by desperation or simply ignorant? Perhaps she was willing to do whatever it took to survive, forced to trade her dignity for coins.
I shouldn't be eavesdropping, but they were too engrossed in their conversation to notice me. Her innocent question almost made me intervene, to raise an eyebrow at her gullibility and slit the merchant's throat. Men like him deserved nothing but death for preying on the vulnerable.
"Nothing in return," He replied, flashing a dirty grin at her. I turned away, repulsed.
My gaze fell on the woman behind the nearby water stall. Her rickety, worn-out stand seemed to lean in. I still found it hard to believe that drinking water was sold in Bridlesmark, given its abundance of water bodies, yet the town's scarcity of clean water made it a vital commodity. The people here lived in squalid conditions.
And yet, in Velcan, the wealthy indulged in lavish palace parties, oblivious to the suffering of those in Bridlesmark. Children went hungry, people died, and still, they chose to turn a blind eye, their selfishness and ignorance a stark reminder of the cruel divide between the haves and have-nots.
The woman handed me a used plastic bottle filled with water that appeared clean, along with a straw. I raised an eyebrow, sceptical, but her expression remained impassive.
"You can always return it if you're not that thirsty," she said, her voice deep and rough-sounding, a complete opposite to her middle-aged appearance.
I stared at the bottle, my parched throat aching at the sight of water. Desperation won out, I tossed the straw aside and downed the entire bottle in one gulp.
"Got another?" I asked, my voice hoarse.
She almost chuckled, sliding another bottle across the counter with a useless straw. I tossed it back at her.
After quenching my thirst, I placed ten glints on the counter. But instead of taking the payment, she sneered at me.
"What?" I asked, confused. "Is water that expensive?" But I knew the answer. This was Bridlesmark, where even the basics were a luxury.
I added five more glints, but her expression remained unchanged, her eyes narrowing slightly "Aren't you supposed to be from the Golden City?"
Given my eyes' unmistakable colour, she must have recognised I was from Velcan. I let out a tired sigh and placed five more glints on her counter. They used gales in Bridlesmark, not glints. One glint was worth twenty gales. I was being blatantly conned – for water!
"Feeling lucky yet?" I scowled before turning to leave, but my gaze fell upon the merchant, his arms wrapped around the ginger-haired in a tight, uncomfortable grasp.
My instincts screamed to intervene, but I hesitated, wary of drawing attention. My eyes already made me stand out; I couldn't risk drawing attention, so I averted my gaze and continued on my way to Mud Hollow. I decided to buy two more bottles of water before leaving.
As I exited the massive market, I let out a sigh of relief. Sweat dripped from my forehead, and I ran a hand through my hair, exhaling deeply. The putrid air in Bridlesmark had left me parched, and I'd drained the last drop of water I had before I could even make it away from the market. Now, I was goddamn thirsty.
I still then glanced back, sensing a sinister gaze on me, but saw nothing. Shrugging it off, I turned away. Everyone here seemed suspicious anyway.
I started walking, and the feeling of being watched returned. I tried to convince myself it was just my imagination, that I was being paranoid, but deep down, I knew I was being followed.
How did they know I was in Bridlesmark already?
Every few steps, I'd catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye like a shadow. But whenever I turned to look, there'd be no one there. A creeping sense of unease settled in the pit of my stomach, and my eyes scanned the crowded streets, my senses on high alert.
Without breaking stride, I casually glanced over my shoulder. This time, I caught him. But he didn't expect me to turn back and give chase. He was shocked and started running.
In the blink of an eye, the tables turned, and I was running after him. I sprinted through the crowded streets, my quarry darting ahead. He was fast, but I was determined. Before I knew it, we were back in the market, its narrow alleys and stalls blurring together as we weaved through the throngs.
gods, I was too thirsty for this.
The market's stifling air and crowded passageways would make it easy to lose him. Maybe I should have brought my men, but I knew my father would disapprove. Besides, I hadn't expected to be discovered so quickly - certainly not amid Bridlesmark's market.
I caught a glimpse of the fleeing figure and shoved my way through the crowd, my eyes locked on my target. Some people parted to let me pass, perhaps noticing the colour of my eyes. Others glared, their faces twisted in resentment.
I sprinted around the corner, hot on his heels. But as I turned, I failed to notice someone coming in the opposite direction. A flash of ginger hair filled my vision, and then we collided. The air rushed out of their lungs as we crashed to the ground. We both groaned as our bodies tangled, arms and legs entwined, and we crashed to the ground.
She was beneath me in an instant, our faces inches apart. Her ragged breathing warmed my skin, and I was hit with the scent of her hair, now tainted with the acrid smell of sweat and smoke.
The smudges of dirt on her porcelain skin seemed to mar her features. For a fleeting moment, all I was aware of was the soft, fragile form pinned beneath me. Then, reality snapped back into focus.
As I scrambled to my feet, I offered her a hasty apology, "Apologies," I muttered
"It was a mistake", I extended a hand to help her up, but she ignored it, her brown eyes fixed intently on mine as if they could see right through me, piercing a hole into my very soul.
I didn't bother waiting for a response to my apology. With a swift duck of my head, I turned and walked away, leaving her to gather herself from the dusty ground.
Frustration simmered within me, fueled by the realisation that she was the reason why I'd lost the person I had been chasing