Chapter 43 - The Announcement And The Fall

The jeweler's stall in question belonged to a someone called Verel Yeardly.

"Reynard, young chap!" he beamed as we approached his brightly lit stall. "Who've we got here?"

"How's the sale going today, Mister Verel?" he blurted, clearly trying to evade the question.

"Answer me, boy," Verel demanded, his tone quiet but firm. 

"This wonderful lady here," Reynard said eventually as he gestured towards me with his left hand, "is Ashli Rivers. So about the sale-"

"Ashli Rivers?" Verel cut in as he crouched forward from where he sat on a large blue velvet ottoman and shook my hand. "Have we met before?"

"No, sir," I replied quickly, lowering my face so that my hair formed a curtain around it. "We certainly haven't met before."

I heard a 'mmm' and then a clap. 

"Anyways," Verel said in the loud voice gifted to him so he could bellow out his products to the world, "what's the relationship between you and my lad, hm?"

"Erm..."

"Just old acquaintances, Mister Verel, really" Reynard voiced but was quickly shushed by him.

"I'm talking to the lady, boy," he said sternly while tutting at him. "So, girly, whereabouts are you from?"

He was an old man, older than Martha probably. As he spoke, his puckered mouth revealed no front teeth but a slight lisp in his tongue. The hair that bore over his head were none but a few scattered strands which were neatly gelled down in an attempt to appear not so scarce. I tried to stand still as the man eyed me with his large, grey eyes around which the skin had crinkled great folds. But all in all, he had a friendly look to himself. 

"Ah, I'm from..." I gestured to the surroundings around me. "... I'm from around here."

"Oh really?" he said as he leaned back and scrutinized me with squinted eyes. "I don't believe the word! I've been selling jewels here all my life but might I say, I've never seen you walk past once."

"That must be the product of your short-term memory loss, Mister Verel," Reynard chuckled but was again shushed with a flea in his ear. 

"Don't cut in, boy." Verel never left his eyes off me once. "Anyways," he said, "care to purchase some lovely articles for yourself?"

I was glad that he wasn't prodding at my history anymore. Carefully, I raised my head and glanced my eyes around the wonderful gems on display. 

For the old man that he was, Verel had set his stall beautifully. In front of his ottoman was a large display table with several plush cushions on top which held several heavy gems in their grasps which sat snuggly in their respective caves. Other than the exceptionally large gems which glinted under the lantern lights, Verel also sold bracelets and long chained necklaces. I saw a couple which caught my eye.

"How much is this emerald necklace?" I asked, pointing to the chain which hung on the wooden stand to Verel's left. 

He lifted it off the hook and handed it to me to inspect closer. Over my shoulder, I saw Reynard peek at the necklace in my hand. 

"There's no way it's going to be within budget."

I ignored him. "How much is this?" I asked the vendor.

"200 golds," Verel answered as he patted down his hair. Upon noticing my disappointment, he wavered the cost. "175." 

"Oh no, it's much to costly," I said sadly as I handed him back his product. 

He took it back and hung it back on the display stand. "But I could tell you liked green stones," Verel said with a hint of smile to his lips. He flicked his eyes towards my wrist.

Confused, I looked down and saw Fleur's gift hanging above my hand. Oh I'd forgotten about that! I hadn't taken the jade bracelet off ever since my visit to the boutique. 

Now I gazed at it with warm fondness. 

"Where might you have picked up such an extravagantly crafted trinket?" he asked, his eyebrows going up in interest as he observed the jaded bracelet around my wrist. "As a man who deals with jewels, might you grant me the privilege to take a closer look at it?"

I looked up and he had his hands outstretched. 

I was hesitant but a warm touch to my back reassured me that everything would be okay. Slowly, I slipped it off my wrist and placed it gently in Verel's wrinkly palms. He retreated his reach and held his hands up to his face.

"Yes..." he muttered. "Lovely finish….lovely, I must commend."

After he had finished studying it, he handed it back to me and then nodded. "I would like to buy that!"

I was stricken. "P-pardon?"

Before I had even finished, Verel was pulling out a pouch from under the table which jingled loudly with coins.

"No no!" My hands went up in surrender. "This isn't for sale."

The pouch went back under the table. 

Verel sighed and eyed the bracelet in my hands longingly. "I do hope you would consider."

"I'll think about it," I lied through my teeth. 

We all bid our farewells and moved on. When we were well away from the jeweler's stall and had walked into an area where cries of food were being hollered. 

"Where'd you get that anyways?" Reynard asked, his hands back behind his head.

I rolled my eyes. Of course he'd be curious. "I'm a princess. I got it from wherever."

He 'mmm'd' and didn't say anything till we reached an area where good smells wafted all around us.

"I'm sure you could get more than enough goods to eat for 5 silvers," Reynard muttered beside me, browsing the many stalls of bread and butter.

"Really?" I asked as my eyes darted from stall to stall. I saw chicken, I saw beef and I even saw lamb. But I was really (really) in the mood for spicy rice cakes, my favorite korean snack. I used to get those little cup thingies from the old woman who ran the food stall behind school. The drenched rice cakes in the spicy sauce, which was part perfectly chewy and part delicious, I'd get them together with Jieum when we wrapped up with classes. Then I'd meet up with Juwon and we'd walk home together. 

But I bet they didn't have my no.1 comfort food here. 

I pointed towards a stall surrounded by a lot of hungry customers. We'd been roaming around the market for a long while now and I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast. (the pottage doesn't sound!) 

"Can I get that?"

Reynard looked up to where my finger was pointed to. "A pretiola?"

I looked up at him, confused. "Whatever is that?"

Reynard laughed at my inquiry, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "What do you mean? Are you sure you've lived in the same Empire as us people?"

"Of course," I answered hurriedly. Oof, close call. Once again.

Reynard and I stood in line for the said pretiolas and when we finally got to the front, the vendor asked me if I wanted mine salted or not and I said 'salted' so he sprinkled a pinch of salt over a large curly bread-stick like thing which clearly coupled with 21st century pretzels. 

"How much was that?" I asked as I bit into the hot pretzel. Yes, I'll be calling it 'Pretzel' now. 

"12 coppers," Reynard said through a mouthful of his own pretzel. 

"That's cheap," I said as the saltiness invaded my mouth. All I knew was that copper was worth much less than silver. I think. "Are you generous enough to give me the change?"

Reynard gave me a meaningful glance and kept chewing on his pretzel. We kept walking silently back from where we had come from. I started recognizing all the familiar stalls we had visited before. There went the fruit stall with the most exotic looking fruit I had ever seen. There went the fabric stall with a roll of shimmery black tulle that I had instantly fallen in love with. The stall with the various assortments of boots and flats goes past as well….And then we heard clicking.

It sounded like horse feet colliding against the cobble-stone.   

"Get to the side," Reynard hissed as he pushed me to the sides of the street. I noticed that other people were making way too, dispersing like a crowd of fish. 

The distant clip-clop of the horses kept drawing nearer and nearer till a black horse's head appeared high in the crowds, mounted by a prestigious knight dressed in a uniform similar to that of Sir Gradral's. 

A murmur went through the crowd.

The horse stopped in the middle of the street with a loud neigh. Following the leading knight were a couple other men  mounted on horses of their own.

The knight pulled out a scroll from his coat and unrolled it. Everybody knew this was an imperial knight from the Emperor's selected forces. Even I knew about that.

Everybody was waiting on their toes for the knight to declare whatever business he had with the locals of Eyress. I found myself hiding behind my hair in case the knights recognized me and I'm sure Reynard had thought of that too because he had stepped in front of me to shield me from the knights' line of sight.

"People of Wisteria," the knight started, bellowing in a loud voice, "this is a direct announcement from His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haleth Klaern II. We request you to not fret over what is about to be declared. Last night it was discovered that Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Cynthia Amaryll Klaern has been found missing."

A loud murmur went through the crowd. I tensed up as some women beside me whispered to each other on the matter and how awful it was that it had happened.

"We ask you to not worry," the knight said again. "The guards have been actively searching for Her Highness but she has yet to be found within the premises of the palace. His Majesty has issued an order for all people to keep a lookout amongst themselves for the Princess, whether she has been kidnapped or has run away on her own accord, though the latter may seem unlikely. If, by any chance, Her Highness seems to be completely absent from the palace, a public search will be carried out from street-to-street and house-to-house. Please wait patiently for further announcements. An official post of this will also be attached on the various public bulletin boards and a portrait of Her Highness will also be put up for reference of those who aren't aware of her appearance. The imperial knights thank you all."

With that, the scroll was rolled back shut and shoved back in the knight's coat. With a yap, the horses sprang back on their hooves and headed ahead to announce the same declaration on the other streets.

As the horses faded away, a tense atmosphere arose.

"The princess has been kidnapped, they said," some cried.

Someone yelled, "Doom shall dawn upon us all."

"Fret not," someone tried to settle things down. "Let us hope they find her safe and sound."

"The prophecy... the prophecy, what of the prophecy?" a cry arose, echoing closely by another, and yet another, until the whole crowd was chanting together.

The women beside me were praying under their breath. I gulped and glanced up at Reynard who was sweating profusely. 

"L-let's get out of here," he muttered. "Keep your head down and walk swiftly."