They went outside the palace by carriage. Prince Sam had handed her a drab, patchworked brown hooded cloak and said to disguise herself with it. Then they were taken down into the capital that Kiera remembered passing through on horseback when they rode up to the Solomon Palace.
Their carriage stopped in a secluded area. Kiera looked at the prince curiously as he opened the carriage door and stepped out into the damp and darkened alley. He smiled back at her while beckoning with his hand.
As soon as she stepped out, Prince Sam reached over and closed the door to the carriage, bidding his farewell to the unassuming driver and his equally humble carriage.
As the carriage drove away she realized the two of them were alone now. She wasn't sure what they were doing at the capital, but she also didn't want to seem too affected by the prince's presence. She had to keep her icy façade of indifference, even more so now.
"It's a bit of a walk," his voice cut through the eerie silence of the alleyway as he turned his face towards her, "but the marketplace should be in full swing by now."
He walked forward confidently and Kiera had no other choice but to follow him as he took them out of the alley. The sudden light that hit her eyes made her wince, but she was more concerned about the tight streets of rundown buildings around them. Even as the sun is at its highest point in the sky, the streets they walked are desolate and void of its people.
She followed behind the prince as her eyes took in the surrounding area as they passed, taking note of every shuttered window and of every chipped wall or pillar.
"This way." Prince Sam held out his arm, directing her into another street. "It'll look like this for another ten blocks."
He spoke as if he knew the entire layout of the city. She nodded her head and turned into the next street. With every turn they took into another street Kiera became more sure of her rising thought. The prince had a penchant for escaping into the city as that was the only explanation for why he could maneuver the maze-like streets.
She didn't know how many times she thought they were lost, but sure enough, the prince led them into another street. That was when the buildings started to look to be in a better state. The windows were all still closed, but at least they weren't nearly as broken like the ones from before.
Kiera and the prince kept silent as they continued down the various streets. She was thankful for the chance to take in all the new sights. Kiera made sure she observed the differences between each street they walked.
Prince Sam kept walking ahead of her, adjusting his pace whenever he noticed the General slow down to inspect something that had caught her interest. Kiera had to admit she was impressed by his patience.
It took a while for them to begin hearing the sounds of other people. As they neared, she could hear the bustling noises of the market and she thought they were surely heading into the heart of it all where they would be able to finally see another soul.
"We're getting close. Make sure you keep your hood on." The prince informed her and she scrunched up her brow. She would think the actual prince of this Kingdom needed to be the one worrying about being spotted. The people here wouldn't even know of her existence, much less know what she looked like.
It wasn't long before she started seeing other people out on the streets. The buildings grew farther apart along the streets and her nose picked up the overwhelming new scents of so many different smells.
She wrinkled her nose as they slipped into a crowded street, her ears were quickly assaulted by the overbearing sounds. She heard the sounds of livestock. She smelled the dung that was sprinkled on the ground every here and there as they passed. A scent of fish whipped past her and she covered her nose with her hand.
"It gets better as we go on." The prince grabbed her free hand, pulling her along as he pushed through the mass of people.
She highly doubted his words but was quickly shown how accurate the prince had been.
The further they walked through the crowd, the better the smells became. She could only hear the faint sounds of the livestock as they left that part of the market behind. The crowd also thinned, and they were able to finally breathe air that had not been recently exhaled by another person.
She took back her hand when she realized they did not need to keep track of each other anymore as they could walk comfortably side by side without having to worry about bumping into anyone. He easily let her hand go, something she realized she should not have noticed.
Kiera looked at him as the hood of his cloak covered his bright golden hair. Somehow the hood could not come even close to covering up his radiant smile.
"Why are we here your Highness?" She inquired, trying to keep her voice as low as she could without having the sounds of the market overshadow her.
He playfully puts up one of his fingers over his lips, winking one of his emerald eyes at her.
"Remember, out here we're just two normal people out taking a staking a stroll at the marketplace. Here we're just Kiera and Sam."
"You haven't explored the capital yet have you?" She shook her head. Even though she knew each of her Captains had taken the time to go out and explore the different areas they've never been to, she stuck to the palace and to her King's side. She was an inquisitive person, but ultimately it was in her nature to remain focused on her current mission.
"Excellent. Then you'll be seeing everything here for the first time." He seemed pleased with their current situation. "There are so many places I could show you, but I thought the marketplace was the most interesting one out of all of them. You could find a lot of exotic merchandise here. Not to mention the street food is just as delicious as anything sold at any high-class restaurant."
As she listened to him list off the many attractions of the area and of the marketplace specifically, her nose caught the scent that instantly made her mouth water. Her stomach let out a grumble in protest as if reminding her when she had skipped breakfast in the morning. Thankfully, the prince didn't seem to hear her as he kept talking.
Her nose led her to turn her face in the direction of where the divine smell was coming from. Soon, her eyes landed on the food stall that seemed to her like they were selling some type of meat skewered onto a thin piece of wood.
"Do you want some?" She was startled when she came to a realization that she had stopped in the middle of the street. Her eyes went from the food stall to the prince. He only smiled at her before turning and walking up to the stall she had been staring at.
She watched him as he spoke to the vendor, handing him two bronze coins from his money pouch after the food vendor takes two of the meat skewers off from the hot coals to hand over to the prince. Her stomach growled again as she hungrily eyed the steaming skewers in the prince's hands as he made his way back to her side.
"Here. It's hot so be careful." His warning went unheard as she took one of the meat skewers out of his hand and took her first bite.
In no time at all, she scarfed down all the meat on the wooden stick. She licked her lips, her hungry nowhere close to being sated. Prince Sam only grabbed the now-empty skewer, replacing it with the other one in his hands that had gone untouched.
"You can have mine too."
"Are you sure?" Kiera asked him out of politeness, but as soon as the prince shook his head, she dug into the other skewer. When she was done she finally felt the nip of embarrassment as the prince grabbed the other skewer from her.
"Thank you." She mumbled her words, but the prince didn't seem to mind at all as he threw away the two wooden sticks.
"There's more food down the street. My favorite food is the potato mash at the corner of the next street over." He beckoned to her and they went back to walking the length of the market.