Blood & Cinders- Choose your Own Adventure Story

12. B

"Well?" Jacqueline stomped her foot impatiently, not unlike a mare trying to rein in a wild colt to the rest of the herd. Isabelle wasn't overly thrilled to be spending the remainder of her evening with the chatty group, but there was safety in numbers.

Reluctantly, she shuffled forward to the waiting posse, a smug smile breaking over Jacqueline's face as she reached them. The older girl looped an arm through Isabelle's and dragged her forward into the bustling fray.

It was the liveliest affair Isabelle had witnessed in quite some time. The smell of fried bread and sweet cakes mingled in the night air, mixing with the damp earth. Stalls were set up in a large circle surrounding the plaza and peddling their meager wares of rusted trinkets, jewelry, and moth-bitten clothes––probably scavenged from the abandoned homes in the lower city. Although, none could hold a candle to the jewels that adorned the creatures that called this place home.

Lamp lights hung from every stall corner and street post erected in the square, shedding a warm glow that seemed to drive away the darkness and what lurked within it. She noticed a few horned heads and tails sliding on the ground, but otherwise, most were human.

A tug on her arm caused her to stumble forward as the blonde drove into the crowd, pushing and shoving her way towards one of the stalls.

"Oh, this one!" Jacqueline gushed, dragging her and the herd of women towards what looked like a jewelry table.

An elderly woman sat behind the stall on a wooden box, a tattered patchwork shawl covering her shoulders from the nip of the autumn evening chill. Her dress was dusty and worn, but she wore a brilliant gap-toothed smile, eyes crinkling and softening as the young women came to appraise her selection.

"Welcome, dears." The old woman rose slowly to her feet, back straightening steadily with a crack. "What lovely young ladies. If you buy two or more, I'll cut you a good deal."

Isabelle returned her smile with a small one of her own and a nod of her head, while the rest had flat-out ignored her for the wares on the table. Though the selection was limited and in need of a good polish, they had been carefully laid out for display.

Jacqueline turned to Isabelle, holding up a thin silver chain with a small blue stone dangling from it. The blue matched her own bright blue eyes.

"How does it look?" She asked, pairing it over the powder blue dress she wore.

"Pretty," Isabelle commented before looking down at the table and scanning the rows of bracelets, earrings and necklaces. She started to turn away when a glint of silver caught her eyes. It was a beautiful silver chain, delicately made, with a single rose dangling as a miniscule pendant.

Rosie.

Without thinking, she reached out to brush her fingers against the delicate rose, her heart constricted with the thought of her friend still trapped in the clutches of the beastly King. She only hoped his interest towards the small mouse had not yet waned.

"Would the pretty miss like a necklace?" The old woman interrupted her thoughts, eyes flickering down to the piece of silver that was still clutched in her hand. "Two Francs a piece, but I can do three Francs for both of them." She gestured over at Jacqueline who had already slung the blue-stone necklace around her neck, the others gathering to fawn over how it 'brought out the blue' in her eyes.

Seemingly satisfied by the adoration poured on her, Jacqueline whirled around and gestured to the piece adorning her neck, oblivious to what the old woman had said. "How much?"

The woman's eyes narrowed, but her gap-toothed smile remained. "Why, don't you look lovely! That suits you quite nicely."

"It does, doesn't it?" Jacqueline thumbed the jewel, enjoying the attention. "Well?"