Chương 25: Second Spring

The door to Calder's Clerical, the only healer in Bramblewick, was locked. Apparently, he had gone on some sort of journey of self-discovery, according to his neighbor. The man had always been somewhat… unpredictable. Inside his windows, I could see the layer of built-up dirt and the dead potted plants. The little sign hanging above the door creaked in the breeze, its painted sunburst faded and chipped at the edges. I held my broken wrist, and the pain was beginning to spread through my arm.

Lina put a hand to her chin." Hmm… what to do?"

"We need some sort of healing potion," Vaelith suggested.

"Potion, potion," Darwin mimicked. Lina snapped her fingers.

"That's it! There's rumblings of an out-of-town merchant with strange healing potions. He's staying at the Hearth and Hen." And so we went back to near where we started. The adventurers, whom we had left to their own affairs, had disappeared… hopefully for good. The townsfolk eyed me as they always had, although now they carried a tiny bit of pity as well. A few whispered as we passed, glancing at my wrist, then at Vaelith, then at Darwin clinging to my shoulder.

Eventually, we found a stall that was not normally there. A woman, tall and wide, with black hair and a pair of half-glasses, was setting up various colorful containers on a wooden table. The vials caught the sunlight in bright, brief flashes. The air around her stall smelled sharp and medicinal, like crushed herbs and diluted alcohol. We approached, and the woman smiled wide, showing a few missing teeth. She was rough and tumble and had clearly seen her share of battle.

"Marnie's the name," she said.

"What can I do for ya' strangers?" She shot me one glance, fixated on my wrist.

"Ah, I see."

"Do you have a healing potion?" I asked, trying not to sound too desperate.

"Not to worry, not to worry—I've just the thing. Potion of Bone Mending. A special recipe of mine. You see, you take the small finger bones of monsters and—""We'll take it," Lina said.

"It's a full silver," Marnie replied. The conversion rate, I had learned, was fairly simple. Not unlike Earth's currency; one hundred copper equaled one silver. Same from silver to gold. Same from gold to mythril. So the price of healing was… one hundred copper pieces!

"That's too much!" I complained. Grumbling, I whispered, "I'll just need to straighten it and tie it to a stick to keep it straight until it heals. I can't throw away that much coin—""Deal," Lina said, flicking one silvery coin in the air. Marnie caught it, rolled it between two fingers, and pocketed it. She slid over one of the vials. It was the smallest of the lot and had a chilling, bone-white color. The liquid inside did not slosh so much as creep along the glass.

"Warning," the woman said.

"You need to down it all in one gulp. The entire thing. I've proportioned it to exact needs." I set my broken wrist on the wooden counter and, with my good hand, popped the cork off the top. I smelled it first and smelled nothing odd. In fact, it didn't smell like much of anything. I shrugged and downed it all, as asked, in one gulp. I tasted nothing at all. It wasn't so bad—suddenly, a shock ravaged my body. I fell back into the dirt, my entire body convulsing.

It felt like rocks were traveling up my veins toward my hand, and when it reached my broken wrist, my entire hand twisted and turned at an awkward angle. The sound of various bones breaking, snapping, healing, and breaking again filled the air. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. A passerby who saw the scene turned at the brutality of it and threw up in some bushes. Eventually, it all stopped at once.

That was when I realized I hadn't been breathing. I felt something land on my chest, and when I craned my neck to look, I saw Darwin staring at me.

"Master?" Darwin asked.

"Master, okay?"

"Ugh," I replied. Honestly, I felt much better than I had before. The faintness from the pain was completely gone, and I had a sudden burst of energy. Still, not wishing to push it, I went slow as I rose.

"I mean… never better." I forced myself to stand.

"Alright then, good doing business…" the woman said.

"Now, if you wouldn't mind a bit of gossip, what happened to you?" I told the woman about my little duel, and she nodded at the story.

"Ah, so that's why everyone was so excited," she replied.

"Just to let you know, that adventurer you mentioned stopped by and bought a Strength potion. It was just a potion of Ox Strength, so not the strongest that I offer. Still, if you went head to head with him and he drank one of those, he'd punch a hole clean through you."

"I don't mean to duel anyone anymore. I learned my lesson." Vaelith tapped her chest.

"Leave the dueling to me. How else am I supposed to earn followers if you hog all the glory?"

"We're in a party," I reminded her.

"My glory is your glory." She grinned.

"Good answer." Lina ignored us as she browsed the alchemist's wares.

"So… what else do you have here?"

"Oh, the usual. Potion of Scalehide. Potion of Fish Breath. Some antivenoms. Some various stat increases… oh, and this new one." She fingered another small vial which had a golden hue to it. The liquid inside shimmered whenever the sun struck it, like tiny flecks of dawn had been trapped in the glass.

"This is the Draught of Second Spring." The potion glittered in Lina's greedy eyes.

"What does it do?" she asked. Marnie grinned, sensing a deal.

"This is a rare concoction. I learned the recipe after some careful negotiations with pirates… well, that's not important. This vial can restore youth to any animal or monster." Lina looked at the woman curiously.

"And by youth you mean—""Youth, as in young adulthood. It takes any animal or monster to where its health was strongest." Lina narrowed her eyes.

"Sounds far-fetched to me. I've never heard of anything like it." Realizing something, Vaelith's eyes lit up.

"Madam Moolisa! We can give this to her, and then she can come with us."

"I don't think so," I replied.

"Leave the poor cow alone. She almost died—I think her sense of adventure is well behind her now."

"How much?" Vaelith asked, ignoring me and slamming her hands against the table, causing the vials to shudder.

"Are ya mad?" Marnie replied, trying her best to settle them.

"You break 'em, you buy 'em."

"Sorry," Vaelith said. Marnie pulled her clothes tight, holding her head up.

"Now then, as I've said, this potion is quite rare. I couldn't let it go for anything less than two gold pieces."

"Two… gold… pieces!" all three of us said in unison. Marnie nodded.

"But a new cow would cost only a few silver," Lina complained.

"And who said you had to use it on a cow?" Marnie replied.

"You could use it on a warhorse. Just imagine… training a horse and taking it to battle after bloody battle, and when it's old and weathered, you restore it to its prime with all of its knowledge still intact. By the gods, two gold may be a steal, thinking about it."

"Still…" Lina said.

"That is a bit more than I could possibly afford." Marnie nodded.

"Then you'll have to settle for none. Now that our business is concluded, please step aside. I've others to attend." We put the thought from mind as we made our way back to Lina's. I had a certain pep in my step, and yet I found that something felt off. As we rounded the corner, I figured out what it was. Darwin was near Madam Moolisa, still locked in her segmented fenced area, holding a small vial up awkwardly, as my companion had no hands to speak of.

"What is that—" The question fell from Lina's mouth as we all, in unison, realized what it was—gold flecks in the sun, there could be no mistaking it… it was the Draught of Second Spring.