The War God’s Favorite
Chapter 33
The Wild Beasts
“Don’t you have enough now?”
Nebora was frowning while looking at everything Cassandra had bought. Three full baskets of medicinal herbs on the little chariot behind them. The concubine was still looking at the stalls, smelling more herbs and observing the products. Cassandra chuckled.
“Not yet. This is my first time seeing a market in the North, and we rode two hours to get here. I should make sure I don’t miss anything before we go, shouldn’t I?”
“You’re a really strange woman. You have five chests full of riches, yet all you care about are spices and herbs.”
Cassandra had never really cared for those things. The young girls at the castle however, had been excited to check out her new dresses and jewelry, and even played with it when the Prince wasn’t around. She had fun reuniting with the other girls and answering their endless questions about the military camp and soldiers. It was like she had gotten a lot of younger sisters all at once.
Nebora, however, was two years older and more composed. She was a bit interested in the jewelry, but didn’t dare touch it. She only helped Cassandra tie her hair up with golden hairpins and suggested a couple of bracelets for her to wear.
When the young concubine had insisted on going to the nearest village, she had been the only one allowed to go with her. The other servant girls had much work to do with the Prince back, and Patrina had made sure to keep them busy. After Kairen agreed, Cassandra and Nebora had left with only a chariot and a horse they borrowed from the castle.
“I’m still curious on how you got His Highness to let you go alone,” said Nebora.
“It’s only a couple of hours by foot. He can be there in ten minutes if he flies. And I doubt anything will happen here.”
She moved on to the next stall where the man greeted her with a polite smile despite his eyes being riveted on her red dress.
“Well, with the Army so close, no bandits are stupid enough to come to this area, but we still have wild beasts, you know.”
“You said they only come out at night.”
“That’s why we better be back before nightfall.”
“Yes, yes…”
Cassandra grabbed a batch of herbs, which were dry, and caressed it between her fingers. It was from the smallest basket on the stall, and he only had half a dozen of those. She slowly smelled it. She addressed the man selling it.
“Lavender?”
“Yes, My Lady. My Lady knows well!”
“You don’t grow that here, do you?”
“My sister grows those a bit further south, My Lady. We cannot grow much here, but those travel a long time…”
“Is it still good if it’s dry?” asked Nebora with a frown.
“Lavender is great,” replied Cassandra, handing her the little batch. “Any flower can be dried and used like that.”
“Can you eat it?”
“It’s mostly used to perfume things. You can make beauty products, incense, and perfumes. Lavender is good for calming the nerves and relaxing the body, in small amounts.”
“My Lady, you’re very knowledgeable! Most folks in this area wouldn’t even know what this is called! Give me a second!”
He looked at the back of his stall for something while Cassandra gathered money to pay for her purchase. Fortunately, Patrina had already converted the gold bar into money and given her a good amount of it. There was so much though, that despite everything they had bought that day she hadn’t even used a third of it yet.
“Here it is! My Lady, do you know this?”
The man handed her what seemed like a batch of black paper. Cassandra’s eyes opened wide in surprise when she took it.
“Is that…dry seaweed?”
“It is! I knew you’d recognize it!”
“Dry seaweed?” asked Nebora, completely lost.
“It’s plants from the sea you let dry and you can eat.”
“Eat? You want to eat this black stuff?”
Cassandra chuckled and tore a little bit to eat. It was salty but as good as the one she had known in her childhood. Better even. Nebora was baffled, but the merchant smiled from ear to ear.
“It was imported from very, very far in the South, but it stays dry and edible! I bought it a while ago, but it’s hard to sell to the people around here. They are wary of what they don’t know.”
“How much do you have?” asked Cassandra.
“Here we go again,” sighed Nebora.
“You know, it’s good for keeping the body young,” said the young concubine.
“Young?”
Nebora frowned, but took one of the sheets, observing it with curiosity. She hesitated a bit before tasting it, but seemed confused.
“What an odd taste…”
“I’ll cook it, you’ll see.”
Cassandra took a while discussing it with the merchant, who was happy to see someone so knowledgeable. The young concubine was ecstatic too. Nebora knew Cassandra was holding herself back from buying too many herbs, but she didn’t understand why. It wasn’t like the Prince was going to be anywhere near poor even if she bought the whole market! Besides, most of the purchases weren’t even for herself, but for cooking for everyone or creating new medicine. She really was an odd one.
Suddenly, a shadow flew over the sky. Everyone at the market raised their heads.
“Isn’t that His Highness’ Dragon?”
“It is…”
The merchants, afraid, ran to take cover. Neither of the two women moved, their eyes cast upwards. The black dragon didn’t stop, however. It was headed further, and didn’t even look down their way, Cassandra frowned.
“Is he going to hunt? So far?”
“That was the direction of the palace,” said Cassandra, intrigued as well.
She couldn’t see if Kairen was on his dragon’s back from that distance. Yet she had an odd feeling about this. They watched the beast’s silhouette until it was too far, then she turned to Nebora.
“Let’s go back.”
“Okay. It’s getting late anyway, we better go now if we want to arrive before night time.”
They quickly finished purchasing what they needed, filled their chariot, and got on their way back. It wasn’t an easy path back to the castle as it wasn’t used often, but it was wide enough and their horse knew its way.
However, as Nebora had feared, the sun went down fast behind the mountains. They were still far away from the castle when the temperatures fell and both women tightened their coats around them. Nebora had the horse speed up, though the night was clear and a thin coat of snow was surrounding them. Thanks to that and the moonlight, they saw clearly ahead of them, but the castle was still far behind the winter trees.
Nebora was looking more and more worried, continuing to glance around while hurrying the horse.
“What kind of beasts are there?” asked Cassandra, worried as well.
“We’ll be lucky if it’s only wolves.”
What could there be out there worse than wolves? Cassandra looked around too, looking for any animal that could be lurking from behind the trees, from the deep darkness in the forest. Cassandra couldn’t tell how far they were from the castle, but Nebora’s worried look spoke volumes. Not close enough.
Suddenly, she noticed a growl on their left, somewhere behind them. Cassandra turned around, only spotting a couple of eyes in the dark, but not the beast they belonged to.
“What’s that!”
“Something looking for fresh meat,” sighed Nebora. “They won’t attack yet, but they are following. They’re hungry. Come on, hurry up!”
She had the horse accelerate, but with their weight the poor thing was already doing its best. Cassandra heard more creatures coming after them, rushing in the snow, growling hungrily. Could they outrun them and get to the castle in time?
“Nebora! Watch out!”
One of the beasts jumped at them, all claws out, but Nebora dodged right in time and it hit the chariot instead. Cassandra saw it though and it wasn’t a wolf at all.
“Snow leopards! Damn it!”
The snow leopards were white with dark brown spots, explaining how Cassandra struggled to spot them among the snow and trees. Their fur was a perfect camouflage in this landscape. Except for their glowing eyes, they weren’t hard to see at all. But they were much scarier than wolves!