With the sun high up in the sky, the market place was alive with even more activity than usual. Fridays are the start of what Adina likes to call "The Merchant's War", where merchants race to be the first to snag the cargo off the docks. It's amusing to see them in a bargaining frenzy-- lucrative too, as busy merchants make great targets for deft hands looking for gold.
Once again the mentally-challenged beggar, Adina and her gang had achieved quite the success that morning, relieving 5 stout merchants of their most prized possessions. They had watches, bracelets, pendants, and of course, a handful of golden coins.
Ravi was such in a good mood, he allowed the gang to use some of it to buy themselves pastry; usually they can only spend after dividing the loot. Adina had Alex buy her the crusty meat pies she so loved, the ones made of the heavenly mix of veal and chili. She could never pronounce what they call it, but she could easily eat a dozen of it; heck, she could eat it all week!
"Calm down, Adina," Alex teased. "Goddess, I've never seen a woman eat as much as you do."
"First of all, I'm still a growing girl," she growled. "And second--" She paused as she munched down her third pastry. "This is sooo good and you cannot stop me."
Alex snickered. "Growing? More like bulging! You eat more than the three of us combined."
"Give the girl a break," Dymitri came to her defense. "She speaks the truth, no? She is a growing girl. Let her eat."
"Come to think of it," Ravi piped up from his corner of the room. "Adina, I've never seen you use your loot money for anything other than food. Where do you take them?"
Adina squared her shoulder and faced him head on. "I eat them. You have a problem with that?"
"All of them?" Alex asked again. "I was lying about the bulging part, you know. You look bone thin. That's why you play the beggar part so well."
He stood up from his place and loomed down on her. "What do you really do with the food?"
Adina rolled her eyes. "Idiot. I eat them over a span of days, not all at once. Can we please talk about something else?"
She looked at Ravi. He opened his mouth, as if he was about to say something else, but then shook his head.
"Let her be, Alex. It's not polite to question a girl about her eating habits. It's not like she's using your money."
Alex grumbled but relented. "There's a second batch of cargo coming this afternoon," he said changing the subject. "We need to hit the docks as soon as they load it."
Bathed in the atmosphere of salt and fish, the four of them weave through the throng of merchants turned buyers. Unlike the boys, however, Adina did not feel quite as joyful. And it's not because she ate too much pastry.
No. It's the tension in the air. The unease Adina felt three days ago is back with a vengeance, pressing on her from all directions. What could it be? What is this vile presence that keeps drawing near? Why not just show itself so she can deal with it?
She realized that Dymitri was watching her closely. He raised an eyebrow. Everything alright?
She blinked twice. Something is off.
He raised both eyebrows and took a deep breath. Everything will be fine, just breathe.
She had only just steered herself to the direction of the next target when a scream pierced through the air. Like vultures, the crowd quickly gathered near the bridge, where a tall man lay writhing in agony, his mouth frothing with a blue gooey liquid.
People did nothing as they circled him, their faces even contorting with amusement as he flapped his arms around and struggled to breathe. Adina felt pity for the man, but remained steady in her place. The mentally challenged girl doesn't know how to brew antidotes like Adina does. She is silent. She is helpless. She is no one. She cannot jump down there to save the man.
"That's him!" A man shouted from the crowds. "That's the guy who poisoned the magistrate."
All heads looked to the direction the man is pointing at. Adina gasped. Ravi?
She was sure as the sun itself that it was his fiery head she saw, but it can't be...can it? That's not who Ravi is. And the magistrate? The magistrate! He's the only aristocrat in the entire kingdom that cared enough about the poor to lobby for the deduction in taxes. There is no way on Earth that Ravi would attack HIM.
Among the chaos, her roaming eyes found Alex and Dymitri's on the other side. GO, Alex mouthed, but she can only stand still as the guards continue to chase Ravi.
She looked down at the magistrate, then to the guards. The magistrate, then to the guards. If the magistrate dies and they catch Ravi, they'll hang him whether he did it or not.
In the split of a second, she made her decision. Abandoning her mentally challenged act, she rushed to the bridge below, past the magistrate, and into the cart of herbs and spices on the shore.
Grabbing a handful of coriander, cayenne, lemon seed, and wart's hog, she rushed like lightning back to the magistrate's side. With the poison acting fast, she had no time to make a paste—she shoved the entire thing down his throat. A guard grabbed her from behind, dragging her away from the magistrate, but she ordered him with a tone of utmost expediency.
"Fire Mead! He needs Fire Mead—it's the only thing missing. Give him Fire Mead NOW or his death will be on your head, by the Goddess!"
The guard hesitated for only a moment, but Adina took that opportunity to grab said liquor from another merchant cart. She tipped back the magistrate's head and poured it all down, refusing to be deterred by the excitement of the crowd.
The magistrate sputtered, turning over to his other side to throw up.
"Lord Prius!" The guards shouted. "Girl, you're done for now."
But Adina paid them no attention, her eyes fixated only on the puking man.
"He will live," she said. "Just you watch."