Monsters & Magic

“How do you like it?” Seth asked as they walked through the streets of the marketplace.

Cora shrugged. “It’s fine.”

She and Idris and Seth had just left the children with Gabe and Marian and it had been Seth’s idea to stop in and get something to eat.

“Did you get anything to eat last time you were here?” he pressed.

“No.” Cora crossed her arms under her cloak, looking at the stands around them. People were everywhere and yet somehow it felt less crowded than the city she had come from. Still, the eyes she felt watching her made her feel constricted. She glanced behind her at Idris who walked in silence. What is he thinking?

“Come on!” Seth said, suddenly tapping her arm and pointing toward a stand a short way off. “That’s my favorite place to get anything sweet. It’s way better than the stores where you’re from. Come on!” He repeated himself before running ahead.

Cora debated continuing past the stand instead of following Seth, just to get away from his non-stop talking. Between telling her about his favorite places in the market and the route he always took when he visited, he had greeted just about everyone they passed with smiles and enthusiasm. To her surprise, nearly all of them had returned his greetings rather than ignoring him.

With a groan, she stepped up to the stand beside him. The smell coming from beneath the yellow tent brought up a memory from the old city that she had long forgotten.

Sitting on the side of the street, her back against the wall of a shop that smelled like this one, she had given up on getting anything to eat. Defeated, she was ready to give up when a shadow blocked the sun. She looked up to see a woman, her face hidden by the hood of a cloak. “Here,” she said, holding out a paper bag. It smelled amazing and Cora took it without hesitation. “Thanks,” she said, opening it and pulling out a roll from the shop. When she looked up, the woman had disappeared.

An elbow to her arm snapped Cora out of the memory that had consumed her.

“Are you alright?” Seth asked, catching her eyes.

“Yeah.” Cora brushed off the question and turned to look for Idris. She spotted him nearby, stopped by a couple in cloaks the same shade of green as the herbs that hung from the ceiling in Mattias’s house. Beside her, Seth greeted the shop worker with a familiar enthusiasm.

The old man under the tent smiled and nodded, returning the greeting with a more tolerable energy. His white hair was thin and wispy on top of his head and wrinkles decorated his face. “Who’s your friend?” he asked.

Cora narrowed her eyes at the old man. No one in her entire life had ever shown any interest in her until she arrived in Phaedra. Having everyone notice her was unnerving.

“This is Cora,” Seth answered. “We’re going to need two of your famous sweet rolls please.”

The old man laughed. “I don’t know about famous.” He reached down and pulled two large rolls from one of the shelves. He wrapped them each carefully in paper before passing them over to Seth. “Here you go.”

“Thanks!” Seth said, taking them and passing one to Cora. “Here. You have to try it. They’re the best.”

Cora took the sticky twisted roll from him with a muttered, “thanks.”

“What do you need from us?” Seth asked, turning his attention to the shop owner and taking a big bite of his roll.

“I could use some more of that salve Mattias gave me last time he was here,” the man answered.

“Sure thing,” Seth said. He pulled a bag from under his cloak and reached inside to pull out a small ceramic jar. “Matt thought you might be needing more soon.” He passed the jar to the shop owner who took it with thanks. “See you next time.”

“Goodbye, Seth,” the old man waved back as they walked away from the stand.

Cora frowned at him. “Is there anyone you’re not friends with?”

Seth laughed. “Probably. I just don’t know them yet.”

She rolled her eyes and unwrapped part of hers to take a small bite. It tasted like nothing she had ever had with a honey coating that melted in her mouth. She stifled a moan, savoring the piece she had bitten off. She wrapped up the rest to save for later.

“I told you, they’re the best,” Seth said. “We can head back now, I just wanted to show you my favorite place.”

“That was your favorite place?”

“Yep.”

“Is there anywhere else you wanted to go, Seth?” Idris asked when they met him.

“Nope,” he answered with a grin.

“Do you need us to walk you home?”

Seth laughed. “I’ll be fine. See you guys tomorrow.” With one last look at Cora, he turned and headed down the path in what she assumed was the direction of the entrance gate.

“Where are we going?” Cora asked when Seth had disappeared around a corner.

“To the docks,” Idris answered, turning down a lane on the other side of the yellow tent. “We need real food, not just sweets.”

Cora looked at the roll in her hand and shrugged. She was not one to be picky when it came to food. “Alright.”

She tried to picture the map she had looked at the night before as they followed the winding path around more stands and colorful tents. Soon, she could see the tops of what looked like wooden poles reaching up above the tents up ahead and as they neared, the air changed as well adding a new smell to those of the marketplace.

A man came rushing up to them, blocking their way. He stopped to catch his breath, his orange cloak hanging down his back and sweat on his forehead. “Idris! Come quick! Collapse!” he said between panting breaths.

“Where?” Idris asked, looking around.

Cora wondered the same. She had not heard anything that sounded like demolition.

“Near the gate. Two stands. Big ones.” The man glanced behind him as if they should be able to see the emergency from where they stood.

“Let’s go,” Idris responded.

The man straightened and turned, running down the path the way he had come.

Idris touched Cora’s shoulder and met her eyes. “Stay close.”

She could feel her heart beginning to race before they started after the man. With no idea what they would find when they got there, the race through the marketplace put her more on edge than the stares she felt everywhere she went. If the man had sought them out then it must be important.

Shouts reached her ears before she saw it. A cloud of dust settled over a large orange tent stand that had collapsed, taking with it a slightly smaller blue one. People surrounded the destruction. A few had moved forward, trying to move the rubble out of the way.

Cora sucked in a breath and immediately coughed it out.

Heads turned, and the crowd parted for Idris. Cora followed him through, avoiding eye contact with any of the bystanders.

The man who had led them to the scene called to the others to stop, then he turned to Idris. “There are two people stuck under there.” He stepped aside and Idris walked right up to the broken tents, knelt, and placed his hands on the ground in front of him.

Cora hung back, merging with the crowd to watch. Her hands balled into fists under her cloak as she studied the fallen tents. It looked like the pillars that were supposed to hold it up had failed. She swallowed hard, knots twisting in her stomach at the thought that there might be people crushed underneath.

She looked around, waiting for something to happen. Why did everybody back off?

Then the ground under her feet began to rumble and shake. At first, she wondered if she was getting dizzy, then murmurs rose around the crowd as the rumbling grew.

Movement in front of them caught her attention, and when she looked up her jaw dropped.

The tents were moving on their own. The posts, a mess of rock and clay, were forming themselves into pillars once again, lifting the tents into the air. Slowly, the rubble was transformed into the stands before they had collapsed.

Idris rose to meet the handful of people who rushed in. “The front corner was weak.”

The man who had brought them there nodded and took his hand. “Thank you.” Then he turned and started calling out directions to the people helping.

Cora was ready to stay and watch, looking for an opportunity to help out, as the rest of the crowd moved in. “Wait—“ she started when Idris met her.

“Time to go.” He wrapped an arm around her and steered her away. He moved more slowly than before, his arm heavy on her shoulders.

“What about—“ she tried again, and stopped short when she looked at his face. It looked like all the energy had been drained from him. “Are you okay?” she asked, keeping her voice low. She threw a glance around them, worry gripping her insides as a new sense of danger filled her mind.

“I’ll be fine,” he answered. He sounded out of breath.

Cora stared at the ground, brows furrowed, trying to figure out what was going on. Hurried footfalls approached from behind and Cora tensed.

“Idris, Cora, there you are. I heard what happened.” A white cloak came into her line of sight and she looked up to see Isla. “Come with me. You can rest and I will get you something to eat.”

Idris nodded with a quiet, “thanks.”

At the same slow pace, they followed Isla down the path toward her tent.