Eutopia (First version)

Chapter 26

Eirene spent a happy morning wandering through the busy market place with Jinn’s coins burning a hole in the small purse he’d given her. As the sun crept higher and higher in the sky it seared away the wisps of mist that lingered inland, having been swept in by the brisk breeze. The rays of the sun, as they fought to break through the low clouds, began to warm the air and made Eirene smile to herself as she leisurely inspected each stall in the square.  Most stalls displayed food; from the plain and simple fish hauled wet and shiny in from the nearby dock, to the more exotic fare traded from across the sea. The few grapes and coarse bread she’d nibbled to please Jinn had sated her hunger and so Eirene passed by the food sellers with polite decline as the traders hawked their goods loudly.

The market place in Ostia was not much different to the market she was used to in Rome apart from the fact it was a little smaller and seemed more organised to her, less sprawling in the Forum at the centre of the city. The merchants displayed their goods outside their stone archways in a bid to tempt the customer in to browse further. A beautiful array of various fabrics, all dyed different colours, caught her eye and so Eirene fought her way through the early morning crowd to reach the stall. It was considerably cooler in the shade of the sand-coloured stone and even though the sun had barely had time to heat the dusty ground the shadow was a relief for Eirene. She couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that she was being watched. She had felt the bore of eyes upon her back ever since Jinn had left but it was a feeling she had tried to ignore, until now. Eirene worked her way around to the other side of the wide, shallow cart that spilled various fabrics; from plain wool to rich silk, she let them all slide beneath her wandering hands as she lifted her gaze to roam around the bright marketplace, her back was turned to the alcove created by the dust-coloured archway that was the main shop.

‘Can I help you?’ a reedy, nasal voice asked from behind, making Eirene start and drop the white piece of linen she’d lifted from the spectrum of colours beneath her fingertips. She turned to find a tall, thin man looming over her. The features of his long face were just as pinched as his voice sounded and his neatly trimmed hair and beard were a pitch black that made his skin appear as white as milk. Eirene lifted the purse of coins quickly as though to prove a point. She was sure her surprise had given her a guilty look and she felt the need to show the merchant, with his dark, accusing eyes, that she was there as a paying customer.

‘My Master wants me to buy some new clothes for us,’ Eirene said. In truth, she had been attracted by the array of beautiful fabrics, glittering like the rainbows cast from droplets flicked by a fish’s tail, but exploring the flat top of the wheeled wagon also had given her an excuse to turn and confront the eyes she could still feel locked upon her. Her own eyes, however, could discern nothing more than a busy market morning with no one in particular paying any special interest in her as they went about their own daily business. ‘But we are travelling and do not have the time necessary for items to be made.’

‘I see,’ the man’s eyes narrowed further, his head cocked at an angle that reminded Eirene of a pigeon as he stroked the side of his beard with one delicate finger. His sharp ears had caught the heavy clink of her coins and Acanthus was a shrewd businessman, he was not one to turn away custom. ‘Your Master, is he as dark as you, or fair?’ he questioned, his quick fingers sifting through the various fabrics and plucking at different colours as he held them up next to Eirene’s face to judge the effect on her skin tone. He was clearly a man that took pride in his work. No one, whether slave or high born Senator, would leave his premises dressed as though life was too much effort.

‘He is dark, dominus,’ Eirene said, looking puzzled at the constant fluttering of fabric beside her.

‘Then come, come, I have just the thing parum unus!’ Acanthus declared with a dramatic swish as he flourished a piece of purple wool at her, leading the way into the shop front. Eirene cast one last unsettled look around the marketplace before she turned to follow the thin figure ahead.