Wings of Hope

Chapter Six

Despite the eerie early morning mist that settled over Demornt Village, the market square was still rife with bustle. People rushed between the stalls that had been created outside of sellers' homes, desperate to get the fresh food before it sold out. They bartered for lower prices, but most of their attempts failed.

I didn't know exactly what I needed for the mission of getting my sister back or what the market was selling, so I could only try to prepare myself the best I could. We were fine on weapons and we still had the metal waterskins from our journey through the forest, but food to take with us and clothes were what we lacked.

My mother was still asleep in the room we had been offered as I had managed to sneak out without waking her. She hadn't been sleeping lately, so I wanted her to get as much rest as she could.

With my fingers drifting to my coin pouch, I made sure it was still firmly tied to my belt. I didn't have much to haggle with. We had collected every coin we could find in our home before we left Silverwood and this was all we had found. If the tavern wasn't offering free mashed potatoes every evening to the newcomers of Demornt, we would have run out already from simply trying to feed ourselves.

The next few stalls I passed were selling fresh loaves of bread and other pastries that looked like they had been delicately decorated with hours of the baker's time. Even the sight of them had my mouth watering, let alone the smell of the bread as I wandered closer.

I couldn't buy anything yet. I needed to think about how long the food would last as I didn't know when Stelni was coming back. If she was going to come back at all. The Lyre shard that still sat in my pocket warmed as if to assure me she would return. She had looked desperate for the pieces of the broken artefact.

"Excuse me," I began, catching the attention of a woman setting out some loaves on her stall. "How much is one loaf?"

"Five silver, dear," she replied with a warm smile, as if the price she had mentioned wasn't extortionate for some bread. At my widened eyes, the woman continued, "Sorry dear, business is high at the moment and these loaves still sell out fast every morning. You can't blame me for trying to get as much coin out of it as I can."

I couldn't. It was the smart thing to do. After all, a bunch of new people had taken shelter in Demornt and were looking for food to eat. While the shadow creatures roamed around outside the wall that protected the village, there was nowhere else for them to buy food except the stalls in the market square.

"Is there any chance you could lower it to three silver?" Even then, three silver was still overpriced.

"These are all guaranteed to sell out at five, dear. Sorry, but I'm not going to lower them." She flashed me a sympathetic smile before heading back into her home to collect more baked goods to put on display.

I sighed, leaving the mouth-watering bread behind. There had to be someone else offering just as tasty-looking bread for a lower price somewhere.

As I walked further into the market, I spotted a group of Goddess-blessed healers making their way around the wall. They held out their hands towards the bricks with their eyes squeezed shut. Their palms glowed a faint blue, the way Zofia's did when she was preparing to use her power. That had to be how they were keeping out the creatures. The shadow beasts had to be traumatised after being bound to the Lyre for so long that now they avoided everything linked to it.