I gave the apple one last satisfying crunch and then tossed the core away.
The market was busy this morning. Farmers in from out of town, hawkers striving to be heard above the noise of the crowds, anxious couplings of merchant and buyer as deals were haggled over and sealed, sailors on leave or looking for their next cargo, city folk wives and servants testing the fruit and meat for quality before taking it home for suppers, and of course the pickpockets.
Pickpockets in their natural habitat. Crowds and chaos and full coin purses and boxes.
As I watched I saw one young feller, only half again as tall as me, stumble into a plump lady, sending both of them and some wares flying. The skinny merchant with a large mole on his nose shouted about their clumsiness and threatened the law if they didn’t return the flagons to his stand immediately. While his back was turned, a second thief, female this time and a tad older, slipped in behind and took half of his morning’s earnings from his cash box.
She turned to slip away in the crowd and I caught her eye and winked. Had to give encouragement to the younger generation. She blinked at me, grinned and disappeared into the fracas.
Bored, I meandered up the street. Karnage and Sygmund weren’t likely to come looking for me for several hours yet and I had time to kill. Plus it had been ages since I had been in a town of any size at all and I wanted to check out the jewelry shops. The shops with the pretty gems, polished until they glowed and sparkled, displayed on the velvet like a feast set before royalty. My fingers itched to caress a deep red ruby, to cuddle a fiery emerald, to hug a shimmering opal.
After gathering a bit of information on the local jewelry establishments, I set off for Jeneer’s Gems. The locals seemed to think he had a large selection and I wanted to see me some sparklies.
The shop looked fairly new, the wooden sills and awning lightly worn from the weather, the stone still square from the quarry. I had heard about the big fire in this section of Kyrancet a couple seasons ago. The rebuilding was nearly finished. I was glad. Stealing from the fire ravaged folk of this town might of tweaked even my conscious but as they clearly were doing a booming business and fully recovered, they wouldn’t miss a little sparkly or two. Would they?
I stepped into the shop and my eyes were immediately drawn to the display cases. Curses! I wasn’t tall enough to see inside. Equal rites for gnomes will be instituted someday and counters, tables, chairs, everything would be built to accommodate our size. We were the superior race, the other races were too intellectually challenged to realize that yet. But it was coming.
“Shopkeeper?”
An aging man with a permanent squint to one eye, presumably the eye he used his loupe in, leaned over the counter and peered at me with watery grey eyes. “Yes, miss?”
“Do you perchance have a stool, good sir? One on which I could stand and gaze upon your fair merchandise?”
“We don’t allow gawkers here, miss. Move along.” He moved down the counter to where a couple, sappily in love, were looking at promise rings.
“Sir! I am here to buy.” I shook my coin purse meaningfully. “If I find something I like.”
The man took in my worn leathers, stringy brown hair, and tanned skin. His gaze lingered overly long on the two daggers at my belt, at least the two he could see. Finally he studied the coin purse in question and said, “All right.” He passed over a small step stool that was clearly used to reach the upper shelves behind him.
“Thank you, sir. I will let you return to your other customers. It may take me a while to make my decision.”
I stepped onto the stool and my attention was drawn to the large medium toned dark red ruby pendant displayed proudly in the center of the case. The cabachon cut and gold setting glowed in the light coming in from the window.
I had to have it.
