"What do you mean you don't have any in stock?" The pure fear in Jon's voice was clear as day.
"What, you got cotton in your ears?" Awsten scoffed, throwing his arms into the air. "I don't have any in stock! I ran out! It's all gone! You need more synonyms?"
They couldn't believe what they were hearing. Jon, his hands shaking, tangled his fingers in his disheveled hair and paced around the dimly lit room. Brendon merely gawped at the purple-haired dwarf in shock and disbelief. Ryan couldn't quite figure out exactly what was going on, but he didn't feel good about it.
They'd come so far, only to be shot right back down at the very end. What were they supposed to do now?
"You run an apothecary!" Jon exclaimed. "How do you not have the ingredients you need to heal people?"
"Well, I'm sorry!" the dwarf retaliated, the sarcastic tone in his voice seeming to say he felt otherwise. "When you're the only person in the goddamn city who knows how to fix dawnwraith toxin, you tend to get a lot of thickheaded travelers stumbling blindly into your shop after getting their asses beat! I run out fast!"
Jon wanted to scream. He wanted to drop to his knees and curse the heavens or the Fates or whatever else could've put them in this grim scenario. He wanted to throttle the dwarf for not realizing he'd run out of ingredients sooner. He wanted to give up, to throw it all away, because he was at a loss. He didn't know what to do anymore.
But instead, he tried his hardest to draw in a full breath, to calm his rattled nerves and approach the situation with a level head. Yelling and screaming would get them nowhere. "What do we do?" he asked the dwarf. He could barely hear his own voice over the ringing in his ears.
"Well, for starters, you can stop yelling at me so I can think for a damn minute," the dwarf snapped. He rubbed his temples and closed his eyes, heaving an aggravated sigh. "Witch's Oslia grows in snowy places. I usually pick them outside some old ruins to the northeast of the city."
"How far?" Jon pressed. "We'll get them for you."
The dwarf let out a baffled laugh before Brendon had a chance to protest Jon's proposal. "You numbnuts wouldn't last five minutes in those ruins. Place is crawling with creatures and borderline feral autonomous machinery left behind by ancient civilizations. I only get by 'cause I'm small and quick. You guys, on the other hand..."
Jon was too busy formulating a plan of action to pay attention to Awsten's gibe. He didn't care how far the ruins were. He didn't care how dangerous they were. Nothing was more important than getting Spencer the medicine he needed, and nothing was going to stop Jon from doing the deed.
Not even if he had to do it alone.
"Whoa, where the hell are you going?" Awsten asked as Jon turned around to make his way to the front door. "You're not actually gonna go to the ruins, are you? I just said you wouldn't last five minutes!"
"Well, we need Witch's Oslia, don't we?"
"I'm coming with you."
Despite struggling to stand without swaying, the determination on Ryan's pale face was unmistakable. He already had his shaking hand around the hilt of his sword as he tried to move to join Jon at the door.
"No, you're not," the mage argued. "You're still weak and need to rest. Either Brendon and I can go, or I'll just do it myself. You're staying here."
"What happened?" the dwarf asked as he hopped down from the counter. He waddled over to Ryan's side and gave him a hefty sniff, one that nearly startled the boy out of his shoes. "Use too much magic, eh? I can fix that. It'd be stupidly ridiculous of your friend to go to those ruins alone."
How the creature was able to deduce that Ryan had indeed strained himself using too much magic was beyond them. They watched with puzzled curiosity as the dwarf rifled through his bag and retrieved another vial, this one sparkling with a liquid the color of the sky in the midst of a sunset. With another grunt, the dwarf toddled back to the young blacksmith and thrust the vial in his face.
"Here. Drink up."
Hesitantly, Ryan took the vial and gazed down at the liquid sloshing around inside of it. He was fearful of its contents, having never seen such a thing before, but if it would help him regain his lost energy, what else was there to do but try it?
"Make sure to swallow it all at once," Awsten told him as he uncapped the vial with trembling hands. "Stuff is gross and leaves a nasty aftertaste."
"What is it exactly?" Jon questioned, brows furrowed. They had no reason to distrust the dwarf thus far, but it was never smart to get too comfortable.
"The pus out of my warts," the dwarf replied, but quickly let out a cackle when he saw everyone's alarmed expressions. "Nah, it's a potion that restores energy lost from magic overuse. Completely harmless. Just tastes like rotten snot."
This creature's sense of humor was certainly not what any of them were used to.
His mouth dry and his heart racing, Ryan slowly brought the vial up to his lips and, in one swift movement, tipped it back and drained it of its contents.
The taste was absolutely foul. His stomach lurched as it passed over his tongue and slid down the back of his throat. It had the consistency of syrup, but the tang of old blood and smoking coals. It took every bit of his remaining willpower to keep the liquid in his stomach.
Then, miraculously, as if he'd been blessed by some higher being, the ache in his joints began to subside. The fatigue left his sore muscles. The fogginess in his head cleared, and he felt like an entirely new person, a refreshed and pristine version of himself. He didn't know how, but something in that potion must've been ethereal. It was as if he'd never even attempted to heal the gaping wound in Spencer's abdomen.
"Pretty crazy, huh?" Awsten said with a smirk, tearing Ryan out of his bewildered thoughts. "Amazing what a simple mix of ingredients can do. You feel better?"
Ryan could only nod his head, too astonished for words.
"Good. Now you two better hurry off and find those ruins before your friend here gets any worse. I'll staunch the blood flow and keep him alive until you get back. Then we can draw that nasty toxin out of him and get him on the rocky road to recovery."
It was a precarious plan, but it was the only one they had. They had no choice but to put all their faith in the dwarf's ability to keep Spencer alive while they were out searching for Witch's Oslia. Otherwise, the royal adviser was as good as dead, and it was safe to say that none of them wanted that.
Ryan and Jon exchanged a resolute glance as they met up at the front door. They were just about to open it and step back into the dim and musty alleyway when the prince spoke up from behind them.
"Wait!" he called, stopping them in their tracks. His frightened eyes were stretched wide, his chest heaving with nervous breaths as he struggled to spit out his words. "I'm...I'm going, too."
His declaration was surprising, to say the least. It was teeming with courageous determination--which, coming from the prince, was outlandish enough--but the petrified look on his face told Ryan and Jon differently.
"Are you sure?" the mage asked, one eyebrow raised. "You'll be safer if you stay here."
Brendon drew in an unsteady breath, nodding his head a bit too quickly. "Yes, I am more than sure," he replied. "I'll go mad if I have to sit here and look at that horrid injury any longer. I will be of greater use out with you two."
Ryan was skeptical, Jon even more so. If the ruins were half as hazardous as Awsten had forewarned them, then it was no place for someone like the prince, someone who only had a short while of sword training under his belt and the valor of a terrified mouse. He'd already proven that much in the vampire's nest in Dracden.
Then again, having an extra person to serve as backup in the ruins wasn't an awful idea. They needed all the help they could get if they were going to be facing off against aggressive autonomous machinery and any ferocious wildlife that guarded the ruins. Brendon could serve as a lookout, and, if worst came to worst, an additional fighter to fend off their enemies.
It was a plan. Brendon was going along with Ryan and Jon in search of the sole flower that could save their fourth and rather vital group member, and they could only hope and pray that they would make it back to the city in one piece.
Before they left the marketplace and ventured back out into the wilderness of Morhollow, Jon made a stop to sell the two bows that Ryan had made in Wimborne. Thankfully, it didn't take long to find a generous buyer--she gave him one bulging pouch of coins for each--but in a strange way, it hurt to see the weapons go. They were mementos from the very beginning of their journey, the one that seemed to have begun an eon ago. Looking back at how far they'd traveled was an entire exhausting adventure in itself.
Jon used one of the coin pouches to purchase a set of lengthy coats lined with what appeared to be thick wolf pelts. The ruins were in a snowy region according to Awsten, and after remembering what Gerard and Mikey had said about their detour through Wintervale, obtaining coats that were bound to keep them warm was definitely an intelligent decision. They wouldn't be able to finish their journey if they froze to death halfway across Valmead.
The three slipped on their new coats, relishing the immediate warmth and comfort it brought them, and made their way to the gates separating Ampleforth from the outside. There was no turning back now.
Stepping out into the quiet and all-too-familiar landscape of Morhollow, the three got their bearings and headed northeast, toward the snowy mountains that seemed to scream peril and menace.
~~~~~
Gonna be honest, I've already hit another wall with this story. It's literally almost two weeks in January. What did I say a few updates ago
Okay okay but I promise I won't let another big gap happen. I'm hoping it'll only be an extra week or two before I get back on track with this. I just started another story (I never learn) and I'm really excited about it so I've been working on that one nonstop
So yeah, if there's not an update next Sunday, I'm hoping it'll be the next or the one after that. I do NOT want another repeat of this past fall
Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed!
Love y'all! Remember to vote/comment/share with your pals! <3