Not So Innocent (A Dark Fantasy Novel)

Prolouge: The Market of Mages

The hidden marketplace was teeming with harsh whispers and hidden secrets. It was the kind of place that seemed to expel light and goodness, and welcome shadows with open arms like a long lost son coming home. Participants would slither from stand to stand like snakes, with hoods casting dark shadows over their faces. Eyes in this place were constantly looking over their shoulders, and feet were always moving.

No other place in the world was the concept of predator and prey better seen than the dark underground workings that made up the market of mages. It would go without saying that the place was not for the weak, and especially not for the feeble minded.

And that is why when the tiny girl stalked in with a posture full of confidence and a walk full of intent, she turned heads. It was not common for a woman to be found in this place, much less small ones like her. Leering eyes followed her stride as she made her way farther into the shadows, farther into danger.

They watched as the girl eventually arrived at one of the farthest stands, and one of the most mysterious. Everyone who was anyone inside this networks of criminals knew that this stand was the one to stay away from. Even The drug lords and the harsh slave traders kept their distance.

For this was the stand that the market had received its name for. This was the stand of the dark mages.

"Say, what's a pretty girl like you doing down here?" One of the mage vendors asks, more for the benefit of the other vendor and himself than for the sake of curiosity. "Won't your husband be hungry when he comes to find no supper on his plate?"

"And cold with no one to warm his bed?" the other vendor asks, this one willowy and slimy, with hair so greasy that it seems to drip oil. He leans forward. "I sure know I am. Maybe you could help me out with that little problem?"

The vendors erupt in laughter at her expense, but the girl, named Lexa, ignores their crude comments as she analyzes the magical contents of the stands.

The stand is filled with all sorts of magical items, thrown onto shelves halfheartedly like there was never a single thought to the importance of organization. Spewing potions lay on top of falling apart spell books, with all sorts of other miscellaneous items scattered everywhere.

"You know her type, Lewis. Shy in the streets but a fire crystal in the..."

The willowy one breaks off as Lexa slams her crystals onto the counter, so hard that the impact causes the whole shelf behind him to wobble, added with the clinking of potions together as they reverberate.

The Vendors' eyes widen as they spy what Lexa had just slapped onto the table.

Ironically, they see fire crystals, the most valuable commodity for a mage to have. They contained valuable energy that even the head mage of the land would covet.

Of course, these weren't real fire crystals. But these vendors did not need to know that.

"Could I have that book please?" She batts her eyelashes as she points to the leather bound grimoire on the shelf. From beginner to advanced transformative spells.

Lexa had always found that playing into someone's expectations of her could reap all kinds of rewards. These vendors see a confused girl out of her place, so that's what they will get. Or at least, for as long as she gets her way.

But for now, they'll be too preoccupied with thinking that she is a clueless girl who stole some of daddy's fire crystals than to actually examine the faulty making of her decoys.

Lexa used her most innocent, clueless voice. "I think that this should be enough, right?"

The two vendors nodded immediately, still shocked that the girl had so much value on her. In their minds, she was overpaying by only a thousand times what that book would be worth.

Idiots. Too easily fooled by money and a pair of boobs.

They hand her the book, and Lexa thanks them dutifully as she left. The same eyes that followed her to the stall follow her way out of the market.

Eventually the oily vendor shouts, "HEY! She tricked us!"

The vendors, angered by not only the fire crystal scan, might have just noticed that the book wasn't the only thing that is now absent from their stand. By then, the mages who were revered and feared for their magic, might have noticed that Lexa had also swiped deathly ingredients for deathly spells.

But by the time that happens, Lexa is already long gone.

Phase one in the assassination and replacement of princess Adelaide Jay Dordelia, fiancée of Prince William the third, has been completed.

Which means that Lexa is one step closer to her throne.