In Darkest London

Chapter 14 ~ {The Black Market}

Chastity followed Stella closely with her hand covering her nose and mouth as she tried to avoid swallowing the smell that seeped through her fingers. She could tell they were getting close because she was finding it harder by the second to keep up without being separated from Stella. Again, they seemed to join a ferocious current of people, just as they had near the slum lodgings the night before.

"Pardon?" Chastity begged as she tried to keep up.

"I said, stay near," Stella turned and took hold of Chastity's hand, barely looking at her face, just grabbing and pulling her close, "If you thought the alleys were a maze ... you'll be going round here in circles if you don't keep up."

Chastity felt herself being tugged this way and that. She sensed the erratic urgency of Stella's movements as she led her toward a huge, stone archway. Chastity felt a cold drip down the back of her neck as they passed underneath. She came to a halt and pulled out of Stella's grip. Stella looked at Chastity with annoyance, then as Chastity wiped her neck, she looked up. Chastity craned her neck and followed Stella's eyes. The brass sign chained to the stone above them read 'Spitalfields Market'.

Stella grinned. "Welcome to The Black Market."

Inside was bustling even more than the street they had just come from. Market traders offering cheap watercress and jellied eels fought to be heard over the hiss and pump of steam that bounced around the walls. The heat under the canopy made the smell from the street seem fresh compared to the airless stench trapped inside. Chastity winced as she stepped in sodden straw, making foul smelling air bubbles rise up to the surface in the mucky-brown puddles that made up the flooring beneath her feet. There was so much activity, Chastity didn't know what to focus on. It seemed the whole population of the east end were squeezed inside this one marketplace, as though it were the very heart that gave its inhabitants a chance at life.

It was only when Chastity had finished shaking the dirty wetness from her fingers that she was able to focus on any one thing. A collection of small amber flashing lights caught the corner of her left eye. She turned to look, and the flashing stopped. She couldn't see where it could possibly have come from. There was nothing in that direction, except one man stood behind his wooden stall table, barren but a large cracked bowl placed in the centre. His eye caught hers then and he gave her a look that tempted her closer. With Stella's back turned, she found herself wandering over and peering in. It was empty.

"See something you like, lovely?" the stall man asked.

"Sorry," Chastity said, "I thought I saw something else." She started to walk away, her eyes fixed on searching the crowd for Stella. She felt a tap on her shoulder and a whisper in her ear.

"Look closer." the man's voice echoed, along with a burst of heat.

Chastity turned and peered over the bowl once more. This time, it was crawling with insects, dozens of them, scuttling and clambering over each other as they appeared through the cracks into the bowl. Chastity flinched. "I'm not hungry." she said trying to sound polite but not able to hide the look of ill on her face.

"You wouldn't want to eat one of those, sweet girl ... I sense you could do with one though." he offered.

"Really, I'm fine ... " Chastity started to turn when the bright twinkling reappeared in her eye. She turned back.

The man picked a pair of silver tweezers from his shirt pocket and steadily dipped his hand into the bowl that was now almost overflowing. When he pulled it out, he had one of the bugs in a pincer grip. He tapped his other hand on the underside of the table and the scuttling inside the bowl stopped dead. Chastity blinked and in that split second all movement in the bowl ceased, the twinkle, gone. It was empty again.