Wyrd: Book One of the Witch War Trilogy - WATTYS 2018 WINNER!

Chapter 17: When Laina Meets The Wizard

"Meat, meat.  Get your meat here. Doe, rabbit, venison! Even griffon meat!"

Large shanks hung from the ceiling of the makeshift butcher stall, some still red and bloody, some marbled with blue veins on sinew, all sizes and cuts swinging to and fro with the soft nudge of the sea breeze.  Laina found it revolting to consider the slabs of meat as tasty morsels for anything other than the buzzing flies. She diverted her attention to the next stall, diligently avoiding eye contact with the sweaty, rotund shop keeper.

"Fresh fruit! Special prices on plucked berries. Succulent star fruit, yummy yarnada, all at a great price. Exotic fruits from around the worlds," a determined vendor bellowed directly into Laina's right ear, eager to keep her attention on his produce stall instead of on his competitors'. 

The cacophony of the market, the myriad voices haggling and selling, and the teeming smells, not to mention the bustling bodies and the stifling heat, had Laina enthralled. Though most people would find the heat too hot, the crowds too aggressive, and the attention overbearing, Laina felt a surge of adrenaline sing through her veins and the pull of adventure tug at her heart at each jostle. Her attentions were eagerly flitting, not unlike an unfaithful magpie, from one shiny new discovery to the next as she attempted to take it all in. Each unfamiliar varietal of fruit and every new olfactory delight thrilled her. The wistful excitement pouring off of her was palpable to every savvy businessman eager to make an easy coin on a naive and strangely dressed foreigner.  

But if the merchants had known her better, they would have thought twice about striking up a bargain with the bullheaded blonde. In fact, it seemed that when she passed a stall, she'd leave with a souvenir and the merchant would be down some piggotts and scratching their heads trying to decide what had possessed them to give their wares away. She didn't even speak their language! This was how Laina came to be the proud owner of a shell that sounded like the ocean when you held it to your ear and a little hemp bracelet with wooden beads. Had it been her beauty, her kindness, or that twinkle in her eye that made them bestow free gifts upon her? She assumed they simply liked her spirited bargaining.

Luckily for the vendors Laina had less interest in the stores than she had in the local people. She couldn't help but notice that each woman from the coastal town was wearing an outfit more radiant than the next. They wore swathes of draped gauzy cloth that hung down to their toes, belted casually at the waist. The dresses were in deep crimson, vivid azure, canary yellow and lime green hues with a multitude of lively patterns – dots, stripes, flowers, tie dye – every print more eclectic than the next. They wore sandals adorned with shiny white shells, and clunky jewellery made from coral, sand dollars, or uncultured pearls, which Laina decided she would have to get a pair of one day.

And the men! They were mostly bare chested, muscular and tanned. Even the old men seemed to be strong and wiry with washboard abs on display. Laina was beginning to resent her own cotton t-shirt as it clung to her sweaty back. Shirtless was a good policy in this heat for those who could get away with it. On their lower halves, the men sported loose wide-legged shorts in beige linen with no adornments, and simple jute flip-flops. 

All of the people had olive-based skin tones. Next to them Laina was particularly pasty and Winnie was a deep chestnut brown. They stood out. Here, both sexes wore their shiny brown hair down their backs, long, natural and flowing. If the hue of her own locks weren't golden and Winnie's weren't a mass of kinky ebony curls around her head, they would have been more innocuous.

Laina smiled at a local fisherman heading towards her. The crow's feet in his weathered face crinkled upwards in response reminding her of her favourite physics teacher Mr. Godfried. Eager to learn what he could teach her about the local culture, she made her way over, to attempt to talk to him with stilted hand motions and bumbling gestures. She was deterred by an insistent tug on her hand.