COMPLETED Remembrance of Self | Fantasy | LGBTQ

Chapter 24 - Part 1

The market in the lower districts of the Red Keep was of no great abundance of produce and items. Poorly made clothing and daily needs of those of simple lives and minds along with mushy fruit and shriveled vegetables filled the stalls of the small space. Merchants that were at the very beginnings of their careers loitered the place looking for every and any customer. They jangled their wares in front of every passer by, hoping to make a coin to further their entrepreneurial endeavors.

The people that frequented such market were of two kinds: those that simply sought to buy food stuffs and normal everyday items, and those that sought to leverage a more unconventional way of obtaining more specific and rare items or information.

Among the almost empty stalls sat a run down bodega that could not in any lifetime call itself an in as the name stated: "Green Toe In",  but much like its name it was a moldy green color, that resembled a gangrenous big toe, which had chipped away exposing the shoddy woodsmanship and build long time ago.

The Green Toe In was not a place of ill repute, though it prided itself with beautiful wenches that tended to the needs of their patrons in an overly friendly way for 50 copper coins or half of silver. It didn't offer much than a rowdy atmosphere, watery beer with a sour aftertaste, and a place to chat out of the Order or Royal Guard's earshot. The lack of windows and candle lit atmosphere gave it a much searched private allure.

Araya was already at her second horrible beer which she reservedly sipped now and again trying not to make a face, her eyes dashed to the door every time someone walked in but never lingered more than a moment.

One of the people she had helped from her town office, on the matter of saving their measly tailor shop from greedy corrupt guards that wanted to evacuate the poor family in the favor of buying the land, had came to her the other day saying that his wife had heard from one of their customer that heard from the local butcher who served one of the guards who had heard from another twenty or so encounters that the Order was planning something.

At first Araya tried to get the stout man on his way as quickly as possible to resume her search for Lwora, but the man provided an important clue to her friend's location. The first encounter of the rumor was one of the children that Lwora had grown fond of while serving under the Order. Dobrik, a small boy, probably due to malnutrition, with large brown eyes and dark hair, the single son of a lowly carpenter and maid, was wandering the dangerous streets of the lower district alone at night. Araya could hardly believe this were it not for the name that the tailorman provided. Dobrik. Lwora would go on and on about the children, among which, that name stood out every time in her stories. The child could not sit still to save his life, and his endless energy made him the life of the group. The boy's tale that gone through at least thirty encounters and mouths mentioned seeing Cornelius every night go down to the long forgotten paths of the city.

Red Keep was built on top of a clif, the building of which connected to the stone through tunnels, rooms, and terraces. The history books on the Red Keep are filled with stories of secret rooms and hidden treasures long lost to time. Even to this day, new chambers are being accidentally discovered by guards or people that wandered too far from the main streets.

It would not have caught Araya's eye if the boy had not mentioned that Cornelius' nightly visits began the day Lwora disappeared and if those paths were not in the lower district.

Cornelius was a man that valued status and rank above anything else, and would not be caught dead dirtying the sole of his feet with the same ground that was walked by mere commoners, and the unblessed to boot. Which made sense why he would have preferred to do so under the guise of night.

"Excuse me, miss?" a small voice reached her ears. She looked down to see a dirty boy with big brown eyes and black hair staring at her. "Are you a princess?" He asked, making Araya chuckle.