Jovari the Blue

Chapter 26: An Unexpected Visitor

Kastali Dun

Jeanine and Feowen emerged through a hidden door and into a shadowed alley, tall buildings looming on either side. The door closed behind them, the sound muffled. She pulled her hood up and Feowen did the same.

They hesitated, searching for movement. Besides the noise of the city beyond, everything around them was silent. She exhaled, her shoulders relaxing.

"I still can't believe we found it," she murmured. It had taken months of exploration, but they'd finally mapped every single passage leading out of the keep. This was one of two leading directly into the city, right into the Pauper's District, putting them closest to the public market. The other let out into a nondescript neighborhood of tall homes in a working class part of the city, more centrally located.

Feowen merely grunted in agreement.

She reached into her pocket, removing a list they'd drafted earlier. Her eyes swept over the contents. With tensions high, it was becoming more and more difficult to intercept Tess for what they needed. Now that they had a way into the city, without having to leave through the keep, they could come and go more freely.

The market had only just opened back up a week ago, and already, they'd visited it twice. They had nearly thirty people living with them down in the cave now. That was a lot of mouths to feed.

Feowen's warm palm landed on her back. "Come," he said, giving her a gentle push forward.

She folded the list and tucked it away. They paused at the mouth of the alley, checking the street beyond, mostly for guards. There were more and more Oshean guards every day. Ships arrived from across the sea, and guards came with them.

They stepped out and made their way to the market, traveling at a leisure pace. There were others out and about in the late afternoon, making it easy to blend in with the crowd. The market came into view.

Feowen hesitated, reaching for the hilt of his blade beneath his cloak. "What is it?" she hissed, immediately becoming alert. Tall buildings along the docks cast long shadows. A group of guards stood fifty paces ahead, monitoring the crowd. That didn't seem to be what Feowen was looking at.

"I..." His eyes darted around. "I have the strange sense that we're being watched." The muscles in her shoulders bunched tight. "Come on. Don't act as if anything is amiss."

They passed the Oshean guards, keeping close to the small group of shoppers ahead of them, then slipped into the densely packet aisles between stalls. She removed the handful of cloth sacks from beneath her cloak. They slipped into an apothecary stall. The tent flaps were pinned open to let in some light, and a fire burned in a nearby basin, casting everything in a warm glow.

The tent was blessedly empty, save for the merchant inside, who greeted them with clipped words, her eyes darting to the shadows beneath their cloaks.

"We need these items," Jeanine said, keeping her voice low. She handed over her list and the woman began reading it over.

"I got everything but rilu grass and bitter clove, you'll have to try the tent down the way for that," the woman said, handing it back. Then she set about gathering up ingredients. At the counter, they placed them into one of the bags, then handed over a stack of coins and hurried on their way.

The tent down the way did not, in fact, have what they needed, so they went to two more before collecting both items. Then they stopped for a bag of vegetables. Then made their way to the butcher's section for meat, which was wrapped in cloth and placed into a third bag.

"Hungry?" Feowen asked as they passed a section selling cooked food. Her mouth watered at the heavenly aromas. Because they were rationing, the question was unnecessary. She was always hungry these days.