The sun's heat was menacingly caressing the skin on the back of my neck and I could feel my pores melting under the touch. I don't know what I was thinking when I volunteered to stay under the weather's wrath, by myself, with no protection, guarding a table of plastic colourful beads that were meant to be the fruit of our living.

People loved this stuff, I kept reminding myself and if I wasn't going to do it, Agnetha was in no position to stay here by herself, with little water and no food. She's been doing this for far longer than I was and it was only normal that I pitched in for the food and shelter they'd given me.

But Alexander shouldn't have put her through so much, especially when she was an obedient little mouse. She did anything for him, anything. Fed him, bath him, work for him and find him entertainment.

The one thing I liked about him was his freedom, freedom to do whatever he pleased. There was also something so amazing and reckless to the way he lived his life, at the mercy of others but still in power and control. He lived in one of his mum's rooms, for free. He didn't pay for food nor did he work the magic beads into necklaces and bracelets like the rest of us. He lived of the giving of others, mainly the rich women he would sway and mesmerize with his charm.

Women liked Alexander. He was tall and fit, he had tanned olive skin, his eyes were two coffee brown beads and he had long, dark hair, falling in waves on his shoulders. Some people said he looked like Jesus, not that I ever knew what Jesus looked like. But it was his plump, pink lips that were drawing me to him, to feel their touch on your skin, on your mouth and in between your legs. He could do wonders with those lips. Despite the charm, I could not ever bind myself to him, not like all his women did.

Agnetha was chained to him and he treated her like an iron ball that you have to drag around. Can't get rid of it but can't do anything about it either. If he ever did, it didn't work. Alexander put Agnetha trough so much torment but she was still at his side, quiet and obedient, even when he partied and slept with other women and she was pretending to sleep in the bunk bed, underneath.

"There's always others," she said to me one day, "but he always comes back to me."

I might have kissed her man, but I never took Alexander for myself, even though he pursued me.

Doing her job, while she rested and recovered was the least I could do to help. Alexander left her on the streets for two days, with no food or water for not bringing enough money home and now I was bound to have the same fate. Being here in the middle of the town, I was hoping that someone would stop and pay good money for a bunch of beads that could feed us all. People passed, some unimpressed, some stopped and looked, some bargained, some starred, kids cried for the colourful enchanters, some bought. Not many, not enough of them.

There was going to be another night of not enough food for all of us and three days in a row now with little resources, I was contemplating on leaving. There would have been enough for them to feed, but I was extra, I was in the way anyway. Alexander stopped me every time. "Be my woman," he said "and you don't have to worry for a place to live." But, I couldn't be his woman. Agnetha was living proof that I wouldn't be enough for him. Once he would have his fill with me, he would leave me behind like a forgotten story and I really thought that there had to be more in store for me out in this world.

I had to go, but where? I had no plan, no means, no skill to look after myself and I couldn't go back from the place I ran away from either. If only I had some money, or anything valuable to buy away my freedom so I don't feel like I'm always on the run. I also couldn't go back home to Dranov – that mere village was like a flock of dust under Babadag's wide spread wings. If I couldn't find my place and means in Babadag, I had no chance to do it in Dranov. Not only it was a poor man's land with no chance of opportunities, but it was roughly ruled by The Solomonars.

They once protected the town from enemy kingdoms but under the rule of Knyaz Suldank, these tall giants with red hair that wore peasant's clothes but rode dragons and read people's minds were keeping the guardianship of the town in tight hold. No one came in, no one went out. I did, but going back would mean punishment, on me and my family. My mother managed to hide me in a wine barrel when the circus left town. She must have paid good money for my escape, but she had no clue how I was sold further by the ones who promised her my freedom. I still had two sisters at home, older than me but both in arranged marriages. That was the only way poor people would make it in a better life and women, young maidens like my sisters who had beauty on their side as means of trade were fortunate enough to make it in good families, not nobles, but definitely better off than ours.

The sun was high up in the sky, giving no sign of giving up his reign over us, its heath scalding the dirt roads, drying the little creeks, wilting the flowers, burning the crops, shortening our food resources. It hasn't rained in months. Summer came and was here to stay. It's been summer for more than half a year. I swallowed dry. I finished swallowing my spit hours ago and not knowing how much longer I would have to sit here and try to sell cheap jewellery, I made it my mission to prolong as much as I could the few drops of water I had left in my flask.

The town zoomed and hummed while the dirt rose from the ground and was hovering mid calf around us. By the evening it would be high enough to reach our nostrils. Babadag was a dirty, poisonous town. It showed no mercy to me so far.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds trying to see if I can distinguish one noise from the other; it's a game I used to play with my dad when I was young. I always hated crowds and at every fair we had to attend, people were loud and obnoxious and it used to frighten me. But dad taught me how to identify them all and sort them out and once I knew what they were, it couldn't scare me anymore.

I could hear the man at the corner store calling to by passers to buy the pastries his wife made, or the kids screams around a well and their chants every time the echo from a frog or stick and rock that hit the water surface would emerge back to them, or the ladies bargaining for a quarter of muslin and then I heard the click clack of some very expensive shoes over the pavement in the plaza, then nothing – the world sat still.

I slowly opened my eyes, like trying hard to wake up from a dream that I didn't want to forget and the world around me stood still. Or maybe it didn't, maybe everything just slowed down, while my eyes searched the crowd and landed on something or someone out of this world.

A figure, dark clothed but poised, stood tall a few feet away from me, a handsome man, his beauty unmatched by anyone I've ever encountered. He had very light skin in major contrast with the clothes he was wearing or the people from these lands and his hair was almost white, silver white, tightened at the back in a silver cuff.

His eyes looked bored but searching the crowd as he kept his hands in his trousers' pockets and he stood still in the middle of the busy plaza. His clothes were dark, jet-black, the deepest and darkest black in the spectrum of colour, his leather tunic that covered what was a shirt of the finest silk was adorned in black embroidery depicting flower stalks entangling around each other like veins over his chest and the petals were of deep, glistening purple, peppered with golden specks for the anthers.

As I tried to regain control over myself, through the echoing of my heart thumping in between my temples, my heavy breathing and the invisible pull that came from him and I could not shake off, I became increasingly aware of the arousal that took over me and the fire that burned low. I swallowed again and this time my mouth was hot, my lips were swollen and needy and a torturous carnal desire took over me.

He must have smelled me from a mile away, as his eyes snapped in my direction and made me leave out a gasp for being caught. I wanted to look away and hide my shame but I couldn't. Without taking his eyes of me, he strode slowly my way, one slow, painful step at a time. I thought he was some kind of royal or guest of high nobility, by the way of his clothing and he was going to crush me for daring to look his way and even with this thought in mind, I couldn't move away from his hold.

I forgot what I was doing here, in this busy city, in the crowded plaza and when he spoke to me the world came back to its roaring continuance.

"Beads?" he asked as he took one of the bracelets and checked its colourful baubles. His voice was soft, yet sombre.

"For luck," I managed to squeak, very aware of the dryness in my throat. This man standing right before me in his regal countenance was more than beautiful. He had an oval shaped face, with smooth angular jaws and pale looking skin, almost translucent but sparkling like a diamond under the sun's brightness.

"Tyche," I heard him whisper but I couldn't understand what he meant.

"Excuse me?"

He looked lost in thought for a while then his eyes bore to me.

"Fortuna, goddess of luck. Do you believe in deities?"

"I... we haven't had much time to believe in gods," I chose my words wisely. If he was some sort of noble or had relations to the royal court, believing in anything than our King Hyeras was considered blasphemy. We were to put our entire life, support and obedience in the royal family. "But the beads give people hope, for a better day and that the work our king does will soon open the sky for us and bring back life and food to our tables," I pitched to him.

"If hope is all you have... I believe you'll die soon too."

"Would the master like to buy a bracelet of maybe a necklace for your wife?"

"What makes you think I am married?"

"Your clothes are clean and well looked after. I imagine a good wife by your side," I replied. I knew there's no way this man was not taken, he was way too handsome to be single or never pursued by a procession of women.

"I could have slaves," he dead-panned.

"You could," I gulped at the thought that he could be a tyrant. "But, if you were to look for a woman," I found the courage and tried to sell these invaluable rock stones to him like they've been blessed by Zeus himself. He looked rich from a pole away and if he were to buy the table of beads we could have feasted for weeks and I would had time to plan my departing. So I tried my sales skills with him "The red beads help you find passionate love, the white ones give you peace and harmony,..."I ramble away.

"And the black ones?" he took the bracelet of my hands and started rolling the black beads over his white, long fingers. "... Bring you death?"

I gulped down at the condemning tone. "You're selling me luck, by the look of things, though you don't quite believe in it yourself. Wouldn't these people be better off buying food with their gold rather than some colourful rocks?"

"You look like you can afford it," I found the brazen courage to respond and then cowered down expecting him to hit me or punish me but he didn't.

"And it would be your lucky day, if I were to buy one or two," he looked me straight in the eyes and it felt like he was keeping me hanging from a thin rope above a raging fire. His eyes were deep, iridescent, cerulean blue that slit through my soul with their icy claws and I couldn't escape his tight hold on me. I forgot about myself completely under his gaze. He radiated power and dominance and I imagined he could kill me with a thought, so I didn't even dare move.

"But it looks like Moirai had her pale face turned to you, for it is Fate that brought us here today. You're a child still, you'll learn one day," he said to me and dropped a few golden coins on my table.

I looked around a few times to make sure nobody else could see the gold or heard its clinking. This was way too precious to leave out in the light of day but before I could grab the coins, he covered my hand with his. It was cold – too cold and it was hot outside and it's been hot for months and he was wearing dark clothes as if a cloud of thunder and snow hovered over him and kept him that cool. I wanted to retract my hand back but he held it encapsulated in his. "What are you going to do with this gold?" he asked.

"Feed myself," I barely managed to reply. One of his eyebrows lifted and he tilted his head to the side.

"Yourself... and others..." he didn't question it, he acted as if he knew I was going to buy us some food and give the rest to Agnetha for all those days when she won't be selling anything. In the back of my head I prayed that she'll take the money and run or go back to her family.

He didn't let go of my hand and with the other he took something from a hidden pocket in his tunic and placed it on my table, still covering the object with his hand. I looked at it and saw a white rock, slightly powdery on some parts but the rest looked like a piece of frozen ice, but I knew it wasn't. It' was a small rock of salt, the most powerful bargaining material in our world.

It is said that thousands of years ago, mankind has over foraged our minerals and resources underground and the salt mines have been squeezed dry. There were only a handful left, guarded by powerful, mythical creatures when the kings from before times have made deals with the gods to have the mines protected in exchange for a maiden's soul. Until not long ago, people have been sacrificing a maiden, once a year and offered her to the gods until King Hyeras decided there should be no other power above him and he stopped the tradition. People supported him, mainly the mothers and women who were deemed to be slaughtered, while he got more power over us. Other's blamed him for the long summer that took over our lands and destroyed all the crops and diminished our food supplies. But they had no power over him, as his trusty advisers and council and his huge, ruthless army were all supporters of his ruling.

My eyes were glued to the white rock and I could almost smell it. Did I ever know what salt smelled like? I couldn't remember. Our food was foul, but it fed our belies, but the rich used different spices to give their food a better taste, however nothing compared to the few sprinkles of salt that one could have on their food. This was better than gold, this was a door to freedom, to a better life and the man in front of me knew what this meant to me, to any of us.

"Buy food for yourself and your friends, but don't show the rock to anyone. It is powerful, but can bring misfortunes in the wrong hands," he looked me deep in the eyes and I only manage to put the rock in a leather pouch and slid it across the table. I looked around and grabbed it as no one was looking and put it in one of my coat's pockets.

"Hide it. I can smell it on you and so will others."

I got lost in the thought that maybe he could smell my arousal too and I could feel my cheeks burn. I looked for my bag to find a place to hide it inside and when I looked back to thank this magnificent man, he was gone, like he was never here.