Break my Heart Chapter 12: Infinite
Rye and King made it to the edge of the town at the bottom of the hill and forest underneath the Boar Hat, where they planned to stay for the first night. It was only mid-day and they had had a long morning. King was ready to relax.
Rye had different ideas. He turned around and grabbed King's hand and pulled him forward with a bright smile plastered across his fine features, his long silver blue hair flowing over his shoulders. King, shocked, looked at him wide eyed as he floated forward with the momentum of Rye's weight
The town was alive with vibrant noises and colors. As King looked up at the sky, a hand shielding his eyes, he saw many colorful banners hanging crisscrossed between the two story buildings in a mix of greens, blues, reds, and oranges. Floating down from the sky were sparkling little pieces of paper that reflected the mid-day sun as they were thrown out the windows of the second story windows. King's eyes were wide as he looked back down at Rye. As he looked at Rye he could hear the sound of instruments playing all around song mingling with song as the bands played at all different corners of the streets.
"Today this Town is celebrating the Festival of the Markets! They have music and many, many merchants!" Rye said softly as he continued to pull King through the markets. King looked around and every inch of the street sides were covered by carpets and carpet canopies to shade the many merchants. Each and every one selling something different, different trinkets and tools. Some even sold clothes and books. Others sold food and drinks. The smell floating to King's nose. He sure was hungry after basically throwing his food on the floor in the early morning.
As King looked around, a reflective light caught his eye. He stopped, Rye stopping as well. Rye looked in the direction King was looking and saw a merchant sitting on a carpet spread over the ground. His stall was the only one without a cover. As he looked back at King he noticed that King was enchanted by something he saw at the stand. Rye gently tugged on King's hand and smiled, slowly pulling him towards the stall.
"Let's go." Rye's soft smooth voice floated over the sound of the music along the street corners. As they pushed through the crowd of people they emerged on the other side of the street in front of the stall with no canopy. The merchant looked up at them with a smile.
"Welcome! Welcome! I see my beautiful goods have caught your eyes, good sir!" The round man said as he stroked his long braided beard. "I am a gem smith and have crafted these necklaces by hand, myself!"
King crouched down and stared at a necklace with a leather cord. Hanging from the leather cord were three beads spaced by black spacers and hanging from the bottom of the beads was a deep red gem the color of Ban and Rye's eyes, in the shape of a circular cone with flat sides. But what caught the attention of King was the middle bead above the gem. It was round and red but it seemed to glow in the light. It was mesmerizing and King could not take his eyes off of it. He waved his hand over it and it dimmed when the light no longer shined on it.
"Ah! Good eye customer! That is a rare one! Only one of its kind! I'll give it to you at a fair price of one gold piece!" The hearty round merchant said, stroking his beard again. Rye took out his money pouch and pulled out a gold piece. He gently placed it in the merchant's hand and grabbed the necklace King was obsessed with.
King watched him with curious eyes as he lifted the necklace to his lips and whispered something he could not hear over the crowded street and music.
As Rye lifted the necklace to his lips he gently whispered his enchantment:
"For the King who wears this necklace, he will forever be protected by health and power."
Rye gently blew on the gem and smiled as it glowed for a brief second before going back to normal. He reached out and gently clasped it around King's neck. The gem and glowing beads shined lightly for a second as the spell took hold of King and settled in. Rye smiled softly.
"What did you do?" King asked with a raised eyebrow. Rye's smile only got softer.
"Nothing important…" Rye whispered as he grabbed King's hand again and started to walk again. As they walked farther they passed a stall with lots of clothes and King stopped again pulling on Rye's arm. Rye stopped and looked at the stall. He smiled.
"I think we should start this journey with a new set of clothes." Rye said and casually pulled King into the large stall. As they walked around the stall king stopped in front of a mannequin with a set of clothes on them. The top was a soft yellow and had a hood with the buttons off to the left and a high collar. The bottoms were a simple blue fabric that was thick to the touch. On the hands was a pair of matching half knuckle yellow gloves that flared out at the wrist.
"Do you like it?" Rye asked as he looked King over as he stared at the outfit. King nodded his head. "Well then try it on."
King nodded and the lady who was running the stall quickly undressed the statue and guided King to a separate area with a curtain to get changed. After a few minutes King came back out with the clothes on and did a twirl for Rye. Rye nodded and smiled. It looked perfect on King.
"Fits perfectly!" King said with a smile. Rye nodded again and turned to the merchant.
"How much?"
"5 silver pieces." She said and smiled gently. "if you buy another outfit I'll give you the second one for only 3 silver pieces."
"Then give me a few minutes to look around."
Rye smiled at her and held his money pouch before he started to look around. Then he saw it, the outfit he wanted. He turned to the woman and smiled. "Can I try this one?"
She smiled and undressed the doll before leading him to the same area that King had gone into. As he dressed King became curious about what Rye had chosen. Before long Rye stepped out. He had fitted black pants with blue hems and seams. The top crossed over its self in an inverted v showing a small section of his stomach as the tail of the top flowed to the floor in two separate tails. The collar was high and tight as a wide hood hanging off the back. There were no sleeves. He wore matching black and blue vambraces on his forearms. He had untied his hair and it now flowed over his shoulders and down his chest the silver blue color standing out against the dark colors of the clothes. His deep red eyes glistened in the dim light.
King gasped. Rye had only worn brown clothes and a cape ever since he had met him and seeing him in something different now was shocking. He looked like a different person now.
"Your majesty, you might want to close your mouth before you catch a fly.." Rye teased King as he looked up at him. Rye quickly pulled out his pouch and handed the 8 silver coins to the merchant woman and smiled gratefully. As they left the stall they made their way down the street they spent a few more hours looking at stalls and buying small things before they heard King's stomach growl. The sun had started to set as Rye looked up. He quickly looked back down and around looking for food.
"We should probably eat before we go to the hotel.." Rye said as he pulled King to as. Stall selling food on a stick. King nodded and smiled as he smelled all the food around.
They looked around and actually took in the surroundings once they got the food and realized they were in the center of the town. They watched as towns folk lit the street lamps around the circular town center and watched as the bands around began to play fast up beat music. They watched as women began to sway their large skirts to the beat and the men began to dance around them. The whole town center was full of joy and cheer!
Rye looked at King and saw he was done with his food so he quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him into the throng of people dancing around. Rye pulled King to his chest and wrapped his arm around King's waist while holding the other. Rye quickly stepped into the beat of the music and swayed King around the people around them. King was shocked at first but quickly smiled and followed along with Rye. As King looked up at Rye he was mesmerized. Ryes' long silver blue hair flowed around him and his jeweled red eyes glimmered in the flicker firelight.
Rye smiled at the lovely little fairy boy in his arms as he wished this moment in time would never end. The music floated them off the ground and into the sky where it was just them as they spun around and around to the lovely music.
They felt infinite in that moment.
