Page 50 of The Shadow of Breninsol
Han’s eyes widened, but she nodded and maintained her tight hold of Haesel. They ducked out the stall’s rear and dodged the fleeing people, though some headed towards the screams. The confusion was palpable. Stallholders hastily bundled what they could into baskets and carts. Eleanor wanted to yell at all the idiots to leave everything, but she knew that would attract attention to her, and then people would remember her. It was selfish of her, but their actions gave her time to get Han and Haesel out of the Cloth. She knew it was futile to reason with these traders, who valued their stalls. Saving their wares was more important to them, unaware of the impending threat, they didn’t foresee any greater loss than a financial one. Items could be replaced, but lives could not.
A child’s faint cry of “Ma” was lost as Eleanor pushed past the fleeing crowd, Han was close behind, while Haesel clung tightly to her. Eleanor was heading towards the nearest street out of the market. She didn’t want to be here any longer. The city guards could deal with whateverthiswas. It wasn’t her problem to deal with, not anymore.
Having nearly collided with people rushing to get away, they reached the edge of what remained of the abandoned stalls. They were closer to the edge of the Cloth, but Eleanor’s stomach sunk as she saw the street she’d been directing them towards. That street circuitously reached the Barrow; it was also a wider street. It had been their best option, but now a thick crowd swarmed at the mouth of the street.
Shit.
The surging mass of people who were pushing, shoving, screaming, and shouting lacked the city guard’s sparkling bronze. Everyone was frantic to get out of the market square.
Eleanor grabbed Han to keep them both together in the shoving of fleeing people around them. Eleanor’s eyes desperately followed the perimeter of the shop-lined square to the next street.
Shit. Shit.
There was a herd of people there as well.
Eleanor looked for the next street, and the next street that she could see. Every street out of the Cloth was full of people pushing, shoving, and trying to escape.
The crowd Eleanor had battled to enter the square was now, as one, trying to leave. It was chaos.
Pure and utter chaos.
Eleanor whirled around to take in the market square. They couldn’t leave through the streets. They were trapped.
Han’s panic-stricken eyes met hers, as she must have realised the same thing. They were in the Cloth withwhateverwas happening on the other side. Eleanor couldn’t think about that, only that she had to get them away from here.
The small hairs on the back of her neck prickled a warning. The wind, that had felt as though it had stopped, hadn’t. The air was picking up again.
She needed to get them out of here,now.
Eleanor kept a firm grip on Han’s arm as she pushed and shoved them towards the shops. They needed to get inside. The wind wasn’tthatstrong. Not like the winds she knew strong Air witches could wield, gusts with the strength to rip through buildings. But it was still strong, stronger than it should have been, considering magic wasn’t supposed to exist anymore.
Doors slammed and shutters rattled into place amidst the cries of the fleeing people. The shop owners who hadn’t alreadylocked their shops were doing so now. Something had changed. There was something behind them, making the shopkeepers lock themselves indoors. To avoid being separated from Han and Haesel, she dared not look back, whatever it was.
Eleanor slammed her body against a turquoise-coloured door that was closing and pushed the person back with all the force she could manage, shouldering her way into the shop. The shop owner stumbled back exclaiming, “We’re closed!”
The doorbell’s angry tinkle followed Han, as she slammed and locked the door. Then she dragged a chair in front of the door, wedging it in place.
“We need shelter,” Eleanor growled at the barrel-chested man, trying her best to ignore just how large the man before her was.
“We’re closed!” he repeated, putting his hands on his wide hips.
“You see what’s going on out there!” Eleanor said, pointing a finger at his window, from where he’d been watching what had been going on outside.
“Harald, you let them in,” a voice admonished. “I don’t think they’re going to rob us with a child.” The woman of short stature spoke as she came around the serving shop counter. Her blonde hair was so pale that the silver hair pins were almost invisible until they caught the overhead candlelight, and they shined radiantly. The woman’s face became as bright as her hair when she laid her eyes on Haesel.
“You never know, Mags.”
Even though Eleanor had to raise her chin, she narrowed her eyes at Harald. He wanted to throw them out of his shop with the threat outside. Her fingers flexed over her hidden blades. He could try.
Before Eleanor had decided on how best to remove this man as he was clearly the problem, Haesel started crying. The shock of what had happened outside had caught up to her. At the soundof her wails and sniffles, Harald’s demeanour softened, and he dropped his hands with a sigh.
“Aww, you poor dear,” Mags cooed, while Han murmured soft words to Haesel. Eleanor couldn’t help admitting that the little girl’s timing was perfect. “Don’t worry, love, you don’t have to go out there, you’re safe in here. You had a scare, that’s all. You’ll be right as rain in no time.”
Eleanor froze at the woman’s words. She could see Han’s lips moving to continue comforting Haesel, but Eleanor only heard the screams from outside that hadn’t died down. If anything, they’d become louder.
Harald knocked into her as he moved to the window. It jarred her against the wooden counter and the calm composure she’d been carefully maintaining frayed at the edges, letting panic seep along her spine.
Harald smacked the internal shutters closed, muttering to himself, and Eleanor jumped.
