43. The Great Market of Arasham.
"Well, I suppose this would be a pretty good hiding spot if I were looking for somewhere to disappear with a magical item." Eva thought to herself.
She was in the great market of Arasham.
Anything and everything that existed, whether magical or not, could be found here.
And as the merchants here like to tell you.
"If we don’t have it, you don’t need it."
Which was pretty much true.
If you heard about it, chances are it will be sold here by someone.
At a reasonable price of course.
Reasonable being a very subjective term.
Theodore must have come here knowing that they could look for a magical object and check all the ones that were by themselves.
But if you put one right in the middle of a large number of magical items, it will just be part of an immense field of magic.
And the highest concentration of magical items was here.
Eva gave Theodore a little credit for thinking of that. Though it did not outweigh the immense stupidity of stealing from a God.
Felicity’s fellow rats had found Theodore hold up in a small store that carried potions and powders, and was in the more elite part of the market.
The great market was divided into the open part, which consisted of all the tents and tables that were put up by the poorer merchants to show off their wares.
Also the nomadic merchants would set up shop here for the duration of their stay and then move on to the next market.
This area was constantly changing, and was also the busiest area of the market. This was after all the cheaper section and where you could find food and drink as well.
There was a large fountain in the centre of the open market where the young children of the merchants and the residences of Arasham, could be seen talking or splashing, depending on their ages.
On the streets that branched out from the open market like the spokes on a wheel, were the shops that sold more exotic, and therefore more expensive, goods.
Here you could buy perfume from the far east, or a protection from bad luck spell.
Not that you couldn’t find the exact same stuff in the open market but this was guaranteed to be real and proper. No open market merchant could give you such a guarantee.
At least the rich customers who bought their stuff in this part of the market believed that. And that suited the shop owners quite nicely, thank you very much.
Eva waded through the crowd to one of these streets, called potions row.
She turned into the street and took a deep breath. The crowds could be crushing at times.
Here it was a lot less crowded then the main part.
She could see a few well dressed people walking along here. Some were alone and some had others with them who could not be mistaken for anything other then personal guards.
The street was on an uphill slope and looked more like a large staircase as there were large, wide steps making up the road instead of being the smooth surfaced kind found in other cities.
It was wide enough for four to walk abreast and on either side were rows of doors for the various shops.
Above the doors hung signs with the name of the shop on them and some had descriptions of what the shop sold.
Eva walked up the street looking for the shop Felicity had told her Theodore was hiding out in.
"There it is."
The sign read "Pariwinkle’s Potions" with the name of the proprietor written underneath.
Paxton Pariwinkle.
She opened the door and walked in.
A small bell hung on the door frame, jingled as the door opened and closed.
The shop was full from top to bottom with shelves full of bottles and flasks with all sorts of powders and liquids.
There were even stacks of books just piled on top of each other on the floor, as there was no room left on the overstocked shelves.
Eva could barely move around the shop as she tried to make her way to the counter she could see at the back of the store.
As she came closer to the counter she saw a man lumber out of the back room.
He had to bend down while walking through the doorway.
He arrived at the counter at the same time as Eva and in a voice that was less baritone than Eva expected, he ask.
"How may I help you today madam?"
Eva looked up at the green eyes that examined her and said.
"I am looking for someone."
Paxton’s eyebrows raised up a slight touch but no other reaction crossed his face.
"Why do you come here then?" he asked. "I deal in potions and their ingredients. If you have lost someone I suggest you contact the authorities."
He turned as if to return to the back room.
"The one I am looking for is rather small and easily overlooked." said Eva.
Paxton stopped and turned back to face her.
"I don’t understand." he said.
"I am looking for a small animal." she told him. "A ferret to be exact and he is hiding here in your shop."
"Then maybe I should call the catcher." he said.
"Let’s just say he is a little slippery. and he has something that a few powerful people want. And they won’t care if they tear up your store to get it."
Paxton seemed to think about what she was saying.
Something in her tone must have convinced him she was telling the truth.
Or perhaps he thought her a mad woman and decided to play along in hopes she would leave when she did not find anything.
"Very well." he finally said.
"How do you propose to find this creature." he asked.
"that won’t be as big a problem as you may think." she said.
She took a big sniff of the surroundings, trying to find his scent.
The shops potions were a little hard to push through, but she eventually found Theodore.
She moved in his direction, taking her through the door that Paxton had come through earlier.
This led to the back of the store where stacks of boxes could be seen balancing precariously in the corners.
There were vials and flasks and jars strewn all over the place, on tables, benches, and even the floor.
Eva tried not to knock over anything as she moved around the clutter on the floor, still following the scent.
It led to a far corner where she could see in the shadows of some boxes that there was a hole.
A little flash of white could be seen.
Quicker than a snake, Eva reached out and stuck her hand into the hole.
She felt fur and held on.
A cry came from the hole, and she pulled a struggling Theodore from it.
"Put me down." he said, still struggling to get away, "I haven’t done anything."
"Oh no?" said Eva, "Then why hide out here?"
Theodore stopped struggling, and was now staring at Eva.
"Aren’t you the one they call Eva Lonehunter?" he asked.
Eva smiled and did a mock bow.
"At your service." she said.
"Oh boy." was all he could say.
"Oh boy indeed." said Eva, "You are in a lot of trouble little one. Stealing a jewel like that from a god is really not a bright thing to do."
"But it was just sitting out there, unguarded, and it was so pretty." he said with a dreamy tone entering his voice.
"What do you mean, unguarded." asked Eva.
"I mean the coffer was open and I could easily see it in there. I felt this urge to have it and took it without thinking."
"I really am sorry but after that I didn’t know what to do." said Theodore, sounding really contrite, "Good thing I ran into the guy who owns this place and was able to get here and decided how to go about getting out of this mess."
"Wait a minute." said Eva, "You didn’t plan on coming here?"
"Nope." said Theodore, "I wouldn’t have thought of it. But you have to admit it is a good hiding spot."
Eva turned to talk to the owner.
He was standing there with a cross bow pointed at her.
Normally this would not bother her that much, but this time was different.
The bolt was made of silver.