Post by Brandwyn on Oct 7, 2020 14:51:10 GMT -5
Market Wars
(OOC: Ben and Heather, Open to anyone, especially merchants operating in Desperation or members of the Merchant Guild)Year 666
Heather slipped the five-pound bag of sugar into her large basket containing the glass jars of pigment she had just picked up from the Apothecary. She walked out of the crowded General Store in Desperation and paused for a moment next to the bench on the wood plank walkway to look over Main street. Was there anything else she needed from outside the Free-Faire Market? She rubbed her swollen stomach to soothe the child within. “Hush now Little One or you will wake your brother.” She said softly. She saw the guard up the street watching her from his perch in front of the Guildhouse. He sneered at her and she leveled her gaze on him, her face expressionless. His sneer dropped and then he looked away. In fact, he looked as if he was watching someone behind Heather.
Heather turned partway around and saw two of a handful of men that she had hoped to avoid today. They moved to block her from going up or down the street. She met their gaze calmly. They were well-dressed with expensive boots and thick woolen cloaks, but under the clothing, they were dirty and unkempt. One was very tall and had a mean glint in his brown eyes. The other was only slightly shorter and stockier and had greasy, sandy-colored hair down to his shoulders and a thick mustache and long beard. He looked like a weasel to Heather. She knew them both. Ben had tangled with both in the past.
“Look who we have here, Gabe,” The taller of the two moved around in front of Heather and loomed over her. “If it ain’t that ole King’s Archer guy’s wife.”
“You sure about that, Mike? She looks a bit too fat to be that dumb bloke’s wife. Too pretty, too for a nutter like ‘im.” Gabe pulled a strand of hair out of Heather’s bun and stroked it.
Heather didn’t say a word. She watched them warily and crossed her arms over her large belly, the basket hanging in front of her. She pulled one of her daggers loose from its sheath on her arm but left it tucked in her sleeve.
“What we have here?” Mike pulled the cloth from her basket and threw it on the planks. Heather realized the area around the door of the General Store was now clear and the store interior at her back was quiet. “Sugar and, … what’s this?” Mike held up a jar with red powder in it.
“Poison to kill rats, from the Apothecary,” Heather answered calmly. “It is absorbed through the skin.”
Mike dropped the jar back in her basket, a look of fear flashed across his face and he wiped his hand on his pants several times. Heather smiled sweetly at him. “Weren’t you told not to shop out here on Main street?” Mike said gruffly.
“Weren’t you told that you smell and need a bath?” Heather countered.
“You little…” Gabe yanked the basket out of her hands and dropped it to the planked walkway. “You need a lesson in manners.”
Heather laughed as she hid the knife in her right hand. “You tell your boss I will shop where I damn well please. Now get out of my way.”
Mike backhanded her hard across her left cheek, knocking her off-balance and sideways into the now-empty bench under the store window. Heather cried out in pain as the arm of the bench pushed into her right side, dangerously close to the babies she was carrying.
“Ha Ha!” Mike laughed. “Now you git back to yer little faire and mind you don’t set foot out here again.” He shoved her shoulder at the same time as Gabe swept his foot into hers, knocking her down on the walkway. “Yeah, and you tell that Lilly-livered husband of yers that the Guild won’t be so nice next time one of his comes looking fer trouble,” Gabe added. They strode off up the walkway laughing as Heather carefully picked herself up with the help of a lady who had been hiding in the store.
“Those’re mean ones, Miss, you best not tangle with them again.” She helped Heather sit down on the bench and gathered up her basket and the cloth. Then she saw the knife Heather had dropped and carefully picked that up and handed it to her. “Even if you know how to use this. Are you okay?”
Heather nodded, though she was none too sure. She was still seeing stars from the blow to her cheek. If she hadn’t been in her current condition, the whole incident would have gone much differently. She felt like a cow, heavy on her feet, and unable to move quickly. “I will be fine. I just need to catch my breath.” She smiled at the woman. “My name’s Heather. My husband owns the Free-Faire Market.”
“I know who you are, Miss.” She helped slap the dust off of Heather’s back. “I saw those two following you and waiting to make their move. My name is Charlotte.” She held out her hand and Heather shook it with a smile. “I sure hope you are done shopping out here for now.”
Heather glanced uphill and saw Gabe, Mike, and a small group of their cronies watching her and laughing. She hated the thought of scurrying back to her home like a whipped dog, but she didn’t feel up to tackling the whole group, and she was going to have a hard time keeping Ben from killing those two for what they already had done. She nodded at Charlotte. “I would be beholding to you, Charlotte, if you would walk with me at least to the gate of the Faire.”
Charlotte helped Heather stand and carried her basket. “Is this really rat poison?”
Heather smiled, “No. It is a pigment to make paint.” Charlotte looked at her. “I paint scenery and animals and things, sometimes even portraits, but I am not very good with human figures,” explained Heather.
They chatted as they walked back down the street towards the main gate until they reached the Free-Faire Market entrance and her house just to the east of the gate. “I would invite you in for tea, but you probably shouldn’t be associating with me, or they are going to be harassing you next, Charlotte,” Heather warned. “Our house is right here, so I should be fine now. Thank you for your help. Be careful of those blokes up there.”
Charlotte handed Heather her basket. “I will, but don’t worry about me. My father is a guild member. They wouldn’t dare mess with me.” Heather gave her a hug. “You take care of that baby.”
“Those babies,” Heather corrected. “Pretty sure I am carrying twins.” She patted her belly, rubbing her side that was still aching from the fall. “Thank you, Charlotte.”
Charlotte smiled and headed back up the street the way they had come while Heather turned to the front door of her home. The house was one of the largest single-family homes in the town. She and Ben had pooled a great deal of their saved money to have it built right up against the stone wall of the Free Market at the corner nearest the Livery. The main road curved just enough to allow room for the three-story house. Ben and Heather’s room was on the main floor with the living room, kitchen, bathroom and Ben’s office. There was a door in the back that opened through the rock wall into the picnic area of the Market. On the second floor were all the children’s bedrooms, and on the third floor was Heather’s art studio with windows on each wall. From there they could see all of the Free-Faire Market and most of the eastern end of the town.
Her two girls, Moriah and Josaline, ran to her when she opened the door. She placed the basket on the dining table and extracted herself from their embraces after a hug each. “Riah, can you put the sugar in the pantry for Mama?” She picked the bag out of the basket and handed it to her oldest daughter who was only six. A sharp pain pierced her belly and she cried out, clutching the table so she wouldn’t fall down again.
“Mama?” her oldest child, Bernardo Jr. jumped up from the floor. “Are you okay?”
“I will be fine, Honey.” Heather placed her pigments on her painting desk next to the window. Another pain racked her body, but she managed not to cry out this time. “But why don’t you go find your father, Bennie, and ask him to send someone to fetch Miss Tilda, the midwife.”
The eight-year-old nodded and ran out the back door toward the livestock pens hollering, “Papa! Papa! Come quick!”
Heather checked on her two-year-old, Tobias, still napping in his crib, and sank down onto her and Ben’s oversized bed. She glanced at her face in the mirror and saw the purple bruise forming on her cheek. “Ben is going to kill me,” She whispered as she touched the bruise.
Ben was going to be furious with her for going out onto Main Street. He had asked her many times not to go uptown without him. There had been a lot of trouble lately between him and the head of the merchant guild. They were not happy his Faire was making money they couldn’t get a cut of. What’s more, is they were undercutting some of the main street merchants in price too. The guild was even harassing patrons of the Free-Faire Market when they could.
She wasn’t sure if she was more afraid of the harm her babies may have suffered, or of the reaction Ben was going to have when she told him what happened. He was going to be so mad. She lay back against the wall, propped up by her pillows, and closed her eyes as another pain pierced her side. If those two had harmed her unborn children, Heather was going to kill them herself – if Ben didn’t beat her to it.
“Mama?” Riah grasped her hand and tears filled her eyes. Josaline tried to climb onto the bed, but her four-year-old legs were too short to manage the high bed frame.
Heather smiled at them. “It is okay, Love. The babies are just kicking really hard and it was a long walk. I just need to rest for a moment.” Riah didn’t believe her. “Look after the little ones, can you? You are such a good girl.”
Moriah nodded and pulled her little sister back out of the bedroom. They sat down on the living room floor to play with their wooden rangers and horses Ben had carved for them, but the older child kept glancing worriedly at her mother. Heather relaxed and tried to calm her own fears and her heart rate by breathing in and out slowly. ‘It is too soon, too soon,’ she kept thinking. She wasn’t due for another three or four weeks. She placed her hands on her stomach and felt both of them kick. Heather sighed in relief. They were both still alive. She sent up a prayer that she could keep them that way.
She didn’t think Ben quite believed that she was going to have twins, but they ran in Heather’s family, and Heather knew by the movements they made. Sometimes she could tell when one slept and the other was awake, but most often they were awake and asleep at the same time. The one on her right side was very active right now. Heather hoped it wasn’t from pain.
She winced as another sharp jab in her side struck just as the back door opened. Through the open bedroom door she saw Ben step into the house. “I’m okay…” Heather smiled weakly at him. “I think…”
Even though she was worried and in pain, she couldn’t help but feel a jolt of love at the sight of her handsome husband. Just the sight of his hazel eyes made her feel better. Suddenly she felt safe and found it surprising how very vulnerable she was feeling since the attack. She was a ranger, for crying out loud, and not one to shrink away from anything. So why was she feeling so violated?
She reached a hand out to him, needing to feel his arms around her, and for some odd reason, her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry, Ben, so sorry,” she sobbed, fighting back the tears.
(OOC: Ben and Heather, Open to anyone, especially merchants operating in Desperation or members of the Merchant Guild)Year 666
Heather slipped the five-pound bag of sugar into her large basket containing the glass jars of pigment she had just picked up from the Apothecary. She walked out of the crowded General Store in Desperation and paused for a moment next to the bench on the wood plank walkway to look over Main street. Was there anything else she needed from outside the Free-Faire Market? She rubbed her swollen stomach to soothe the child within. “Hush now Little One or you will wake your brother.” She said softly. She saw the guard up the street watching her from his perch in front of the Guildhouse. He sneered at her and she leveled her gaze on him, her face expressionless. His sneer dropped and then he looked away. In fact, he looked as if he was watching someone behind Heather.
Heather turned partway around and saw two of a handful of men that she had hoped to avoid today. They moved to block her from going up or down the street. She met their gaze calmly. They were well-dressed with expensive boots and thick woolen cloaks, but under the clothing, they were dirty and unkempt. One was very tall and had a mean glint in his brown eyes. The other was only slightly shorter and stockier and had greasy, sandy-colored hair down to his shoulders and a thick mustache and long beard. He looked like a weasel to Heather. She knew them both. Ben had tangled with both in the past.
“Look who we have here, Gabe,” The taller of the two moved around in front of Heather and loomed over her. “If it ain’t that ole King’s Archer guy’s wife.”
“You sure about that, Mike? She looks a bit too fat to be that dumb bloke’s wife. Too pretty, too for a nutter like ‘im.” Gabe pulled a strand of hair out of Heather’s bun and stroked it.
Heather didn’t say a word. She watched them warily and crossed her arms over her large belly, the basket hanging in front of her. She pulled one of her daggers loose from its sheath on her arm but left it tucked in her sleeve.
“What we have here?” Mike pulled the cloth from her basket and threw it on the planks. Heather realized the area around the door of the General Store was now clear and the store interior at her back was quiet. “Sugar and, … what’s this?” Mike held up a jar with red powder in it.
“Poison to kill rats, from the Apothecary,” Heather answered calmly. “It is absorbed through the skin.”
Mike dropped the jar back in her basket, a look of fear flashed across his face and he wiped his hand on his pants several times. Heather smiled sweetly at him. “Weren’t you told not to shop out here on Main street?” Mike said gruffly.
“Weren’t you told that you smell and need a bath?” Heather countered.
“You little…” Gabe yanked the basket out of her hands and dropped it to the planked walkway. “You need a lesson in manners.”
Heather laughed as she hid the knife in her right hand. “You tell your boss I will shop where I damn well please. Now get out of my way.”
Mike backhanded her hard across her left cheek, knocking her off-balance and sideways into the now-empty bench under the store window. Heather cried out in pain as the arm of the bench pushed into her right side, dangerously close to the babies she was carrying.
“Ha Ha!” Mike laughed. “Now you git back to yer little faire and mind you don’t set foot out here again.” He shoved her shoulder at the same time as Gabe swept his foot into hers, knocking her down on the walkway. “Yeah, and you tell that Lilly-livered husband of yers that the Guild won’t be so nice next time one of his comes looking fer trouble,” Gabe added. They strode off up the walkway laughing as Heather carefully picked herself up with the help of a lady who had been hiding in the store.
“Those’re mean ones, Miss, you best not tangle with them again.” She helped Heather sit down on the bench and gathered up her basket and the cloth. Then she saw the knife Heather had dropped and carefully picked that up and handed it to her. “Even if you know how to use this. Are you okay?”
Heather nodded, though she was none too sure. She was still seeing stars from the blow to her cheek. If she hadn’t been in her current condition, the whole incident would have gone much differently. She felt like a cow, heavy on her feet, and unable to move quickly. “I will be fine. I just need to catch my breath.” She smiled at the woman. “My name’s Heather. My husband owns the Free-Faire Market.”
“I know who you are, Miss.” She helped slap the dust off of Heather’s back. “I saw those two following you and waiting to make their move. My name is Charlotte.” She held out her hand and Heather shook it with a smile. “I sure hope you are done shopping out here for now.”
Heather glanced uphill and saw Gabe, Mike, and a small group of their cronies watching her and laughing. She hated the thought of scurrying back to her home like a whipped dog, but she didn’t feel up to tackling the whole group, and she was going to have a hard time keeping Ben from killing those two for what they already had done. She nodded at Charlotte. “I would be beholding to you, Charlotte, if you would walk with me at least to the gate of the Faire.”
Charlotte helped Heather stand and carried her basket. “Is this really rat poison?”
Heather smiled, “No. It is a pigment to make paint.” Charlotte looked at her. “I paint scenery and animals and things, sometimes even portraits, but I am not very good with human figures,” explained Heather.
They chatted as they walked back down the street towards the main gate until they reached the Free-Faire Market entrance and her house just to the east of the gate. “I would invite you in for tea, but you probably shouldn’t be associating with me, or they are going to be harassing you next, Charlotte,” Heather warned. “Our house is right here, so I should be fine now. Thank you for your help. Be careful of those blokes up there.”
Charlotte handed Heather her basket. “I will, but don’t worry about me. My father is a guild member. They wouldn’t dare mess with me.” Heather gave her a hug. “You take care of that baby.”
“Those babies,” Heather corrected. “Pretty sure I am carrying twins.” She patted her belly, rubbing her side that was still aching from the fall. “Thank you, Charlotte.”
Charlotte smiled and headed back up the street the way they had come while Heather turned to the front door of her home. The house was one of the largest single-family homes in the town. She and Ben had pooled a great deal of their saved money to have it built right up against the stone wall of the Free Market at the corner nearest the Livery. The main road curved just enough to allow room for the three-story house. Ben and Heather’s room was on the main floor with the living room, kitchen, bathroom and Ben’s office. There was a door in the back that opened through the rock wall into the picnic area of the Market. On the second floor were all the children’s bedrooms, and on the third floor was Heather’s art studio with windows on each wall. From there they could see all of the Free-Faire Market and most of the eastern end of the town.
Her two girls, Moriah and Josaline, ran to her when she opened the door. She placed the basket on the dining table and extracted herself from their embraces after a hug each. “Riah, can you put the sugar in the pantry for Mama?” She picked the bag out of the basket and handed it to her oldest daughter who was only six. A sharp pain pierced her belly and she cried out, clutching the table so she wouldn’t fall down again.
“Mama?” her oldest child, Bernardo Jr. jumped up from the floor. “Are you okay?”
“I will be fine, Honey.” Heather placed her pigments on her painting desk next to the window. Another pain racked her body, but she managed not to cry out this time. “But why don’t you go find your father, Bennie, and ask him to send someone to fetch Miss Tilda, the midwife.”
The eight-year-old nodded and ran out the back door toward the livestock pens hollering, “Papa! Papa! Come quick!”
Heather checked on her two-year-old, Tobias, still napping in his crib, and sank down onto her and Ben’s oversized bed. She glanced at her face in the mirror and saw the purple bruise forming on her cheek. “Ben is going to kill me,” She whispered as she touched the bruise.
Ben was going to be furious with her for going out onto Main Street. He had asked her many times not to go uptown without him. There had been a lot of trouble lately between him and the head of the merchant guild. They were not happy his Faire was making money they couldn’t get a cut of. What’s more, is they were undercutting some of the main street merchants in price too. The guild was even harassing patrons of the Free-Faire Market when they could.
She wasn’t sure if she was more afraid of the harm her babies may have suffered, or of the reaction Ben was going to have when she told him what happened. He was going to be so mad. She lay back against the wall, propped up by her pillows, and closed her eyes as another pain pierced her side. If those two had harmed her unborn children, Heather was going to kill them herself – if Ben didn’t beat her to it.
“Mama?” Riah grasped her hand and tears filled her eyes. Josaline tried to climb onto the bed, but her four-year-old legs were too short to manage the high bed frame.
Heather smiled at them. “It is okay, Love. The babies are just kicking really hard and it was a long walk. I just need to rest for a moment.” Riah didn’t believe her. “Look after the little ones, can you? You are such a good girl.”
Moriah nodded and pulled her little sister back out of the bedroom. They sat down on the living room floor to play with their wooden rangers and horses Ben had carved for them, but the older child kept glancing worriedly at her mother. Heather relaxed and tried to calm her own fears and her heart rate by breathing in and out slowly. ‘It is too soon, too soon,’ she kept thinking. She wasn’t due for another three or four weeks. She placed her hands on her stomach and felt both of them kick. Heather sighed in relief. They were both still alive. She sent up a prayer that she could keep them that way.
She didn’t think Ben quite believed that she was going to have twins, but they ran in Heather’s family, and Heather knew by the movements they made. Sometimes she could tell when one slept and the other was awake, but most often they were awake and asleep at the same time. The one on her right side was very active right now. Heather hoped it wasn’t from pain.
She winced as another sharp jab in her side struck just as the back door opened. Through the open bedroom door she saw Ben step into the house. “I’m okay…” Heather smiled weakly at him. “I think…”
Even though she was worried and in pain, she couldn’t help but feel a jolt of love at the sight of her handsome husband. Just the sight of his hazel eyes made her feel better. Suddenly she felt safe and found it surprising how very vulnerable she was feeling since the attack. She was a ranger, for crying out loud, and not one to shrink away from anything. So why was she feeling so violated?
She reached a hand out to him, needing to feel his arms around her, and for some odd reason, her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry, Ben, so sorry,” she sobbed, fighting back the tears.