Sarah woke up to an aching body. The bed was too soft for her liking, plus she has never slept without her own pillow before. Early in the morning, she cursed the foreign land for taking her sleep away from her.
After breakfast, she took a stroll through the marketplace with Jake. It's nice to take a look around a new place before moving again. Who knows what important things or people they might come across?
The shops were mainly small huts made of straw and mud. They sold all sorts of accessories starting from wearables to utensils, even books and stationary. They did not have press or printers so all books were hand written in pen and ink. Sarah picked up a book and stared in awe at the intricate designs and imagery all drawn by hand. Such skill is hard to find. The authors themselves prepared these books which would sell for billions in the common world.
Magic can only be used for certain things, like swords or knives, but other things need to be prepared, sold and bought. And then there are some people who are not skilled enough to make a knife so they head to the stores. If magic could do everything, then people would not need each other; if they had everything, they would find no purpose to life.
They walked for a while when suddenly a group of teenagers attacked Jake. Flashes of light produced large wooden sticks. The boys brought their weapons down with sheer force on Jake but he dodged them and counter-attacked with his own weapon. A swat at his legs got him jumping up to dodge and he brought down his stick hard on the blonde boy's shoulder. He recoiled for a second, but dove back into action. The battle was tilting to Jake's favour when a little boy ran past him, causing him to miss the attack coming from behind and a sharp blow on his back brought him face down to the ground.
Sarah clasped her hands on her mouth in horror. At this point, a black-haired boy with a small mole at the corner of his left eye began to chuckle
sitting atop one of the huts. Jake spat out dirt and looked up.
"Looks like Brave is eating dirt now, huh," he chuckled again.
"Not funny, Ethan. I was interrupted anyways," Jake replied.
Ethan looked away from him and at Sarah. Then he jumped down in style landing five feet away from her.
"Well, well. Who do we have here?"
"None of your business," Jake snapped.
Ethan wrinkled his nose at Jake and turned back to Sarah.
"I am Sarah".
"Nice to meet you Sarah. I am Ethan, a friend of Brave's. The blonde one is Peter and the brunette one is Neil. We also happen to be his playmates since we were little. This is a game too," he smirked, "new to Ankur, I believe?"
"Yes, in fact Ja...Brave was showing me around before all of you appeared. I thought we were under attack or something," she squeezed out a nervous chuckle.
He inspected her a little longer then walked over to Jake who was now standing up and brushing off the dirt, "How rude of you to not mention us to your guest. We are your closest buddies".
"You showed up and did the job for me. Why should I take the trouble?"
Ethan wrinkled his nose again, "bleh, what a waste. Come on Sarah, we will show you around, and if possible please do let me offer my arm to you".
"That won't be necessary," Jake pushed them aside and walked straight, giving Sarah a little push to walk in front of him. The rest followed.
Five minutes into walking in silence, Jake realised that his friends were not supposed to follow them. If they did, they would all end up at the palace gates together and soon enough, Sarah's identity would be out. So they stopped, and Jake faced his friends again. Ethan knew his intent and approached him with his hands in his pant pockets, "don't want us around?"
"You figured it, so off you go".
"Come on. We are nappy buddies. Who is she and where are you two going?"
"You will know when you have to, Ethan. Right now, leave us be".
Ethan stood there staring into Jake's eyes. Then his eyes moved to Sarah's face. Sarah stared back firmly as if trying to send telepathic messages. Eventually he moved his gaze back to Jake, gave his shoulder a light path and turned around to leave. Peter and Neil reluctantly turned and left with him. Without turning back, Ethan shouted out to the two, "if you ever need a friend, remember us. We won't let you down".
Ethan felt an oddity in Sarah's arrival. He felt things were about to change, and he wanted to be a part of it.
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