"That's an… interesting smell." Marcus said with a scrunched up face.
The smell reminded him of a Bed, Bath and Beyond, a mix of different strong smells that assaulted your senses. He looked around at the inside of the store, he saw many shelves full of different things, scrolls, potions, different items, he could even see some weapons. This store looked like it carried everything related to magic or enchanting.
"I think it's a little bit more than just interesting." Sylvia said, sticking her tongue out, then quickly looking around, making sure nobody saw her; it was considered very rude to stick your tongue out.
There weren't too many people in the store along with them, only about a dozen or so. Many of them looked to be either mercenaries buying some potions or young wealthy people looking at the enchanted items.
Sylvia started to peruse the different items on the shelves, pausing every once in a while when something caught her eye. Marcus was always right next to her, looking at items as well, but still keeping an eye out.
"Do you think we could split up?" Sylvia suddenly asked.
"Why do you want to split up?"
"No reason, I just want you to have a good time as well. There might be something that you like in here." Sylvia said, shrugging her shoulders, trying to act nonchalant.
Marcus stood still for a second, thinking it over. The whole day Sylvia seemed like she never wanted to part from Marcus's side, now she wanted to ditch him all of a sudden. He didn't really know whey, but he didn't see a problem with it as long as she didn't leave the store.
"Well, alright, but don't leave the store without me. If you need anything I'll be right over there, ok?" Marcus said, pointing over to the section with the magic scrolls.
A wide smile found itself on her face, she nodded, then scampered off in another direction. This made Marcus very curious about what she was up to. He figured that he'd find out later.
Marcus then proceeded to look at the magic scrolls sitting on the shelves. He was thinking hard about getting a few, they ranged from fireballs to ice shields. Although he really didn't need to use magic, seeing how strong his body was, he still wanted to experience it. Scrolls were really easy to use, all you had to do was open it up and tear it. That action would activate whatever magic was imprinted on the scroll, allowing the user to use it. Marcus started to pick out what he wanted.
............….
"So you'll need another week of treatments, then you should be right as rain." Ellenore said with a soft voice.
Ellenore was the private healer that Sir Allister brought in to heal Clairissa. She was an older woman, maybe in her sixties, but she looked to only be in her late forties. She had dirty blonde hair and sat ramrod straight in her chair next to Clair's bed. She obviously took very good care of herself.
Clair nodded, she was sitting up in her bed drinking some chicken broth the Ellenore had brought her. It was around lunch time, but having been in a coma for the last three weeks her stomach couldn't handle anything but liquids.
"Also, Sir Allister wished to see you, but I told him to come tomorrow. I'm sure you'd like to spend some time collecting yourself."
"Thank you so very much, for everything that you've done for me." Clair said from the bottom of her heart.
"Say nothing of it. That creature over there is the one that really saved your life, plus I'm being paid very generously." Ellenore said with a soft laugh.
Sif was coiled up in the corner of the room chewing on a bone. Nobody had fed Sif the entire time she was out, so Clair requested something for Sif to eat. They brought a pork roast for her, she devoured it greedily. Although it wasn't enough to fill her stomach, it was enough to tie her over for a while.
"Now, over the course of this week, I want you to stand and move around as much as you can tolerate. You need to loosen up your muscles and tendons, I'm sure you can feel how much your body has tightened up." Ellenore said.
"Yeah, I'm stiff all over and it hurts to move." Clair emphasized this by stretching her arms out with a grimace on her face.
"It'll get better with time, and proper exercise. Luckily it was only three weeks, there won't be any long term issues with that amount of time. Now, since you've finished your meal, let me help you up. We'll start your rehabilitation now." Ellenore said as she stood and held out her hand.
Clair slowly grabbed onto her and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She felt weak, but as long as she moved with care the pain was tolerable. Thus began Clair's long day of torture.
..........
Sylvia was excited, she had gone shopping before, but mostly just for herself. There were a couple of times that she had bought her father something for his birthday, but this was different. She didn't know why it felt different, but it just was. She wanted to get Marcus something that he would like, she just had to find the right thing. She wanted to get him something that would allow him to use magic, him not being able to surprised her a great deal, she'd never heard of that before.
She was looking at enchanted jewelry, she never saw Marcus wear any, but thought he'd look good with a ring. She picked up a plain gold ring, it said that it had the fire enchantment. If she got Marcus this one at least he could start fires much easier, but she thought that it was awful plain. She moved on to the next one, this one really caught her eye.
It was silver in color, but was made out of a magical metal that she couldn't pronounce. It had an icy blue gemstone set in the middle of it with intricate carvings of little snowflakes on the band. Her eyes opened wide as she picked the stunning ring up to get a closer look, the description on the tag said it had the ice shield enchantment. The user would be able to cast a shield of ice twice a day when used.
It also said the ring could fit any size as it would adjust itself automatically. That was a must have feature since Sylvia didn't know what size he was. She had her heart set on this ring, until she looked at the price. It was a staggering four-hundred gold coins, this was expensive even for her. Her monthly allowance was only fifty gold coins, so she would have to save for eight months in order to afford this. She had been saving up for this trip, but she only had six-hundred gold coins saved.
She bit her bottom lip and reluctantly put the ring down, she just couldn't purchase it. She moved on down the shelf, there really wasn't anything that compared to the silver and blue ring she had her heart on. Her eyes moved to the last ring on the shelf, it looked like a copper ring. It was very plain, even more so than the first ring she looked at. It wasn't even gold, it did have a little black stone set on the band. It was pitch black and maybe only the size of a grain of rice. She picked it up to look at the tag, it said that it was a shadow ring, it had the ability to blend the user into the shadows, concealing them. The only downside to this was that it didn't use the magical energy in the surroundings, but used the stamina of the user to work.
Sylvia didn't think it was as good as the ice ring, but the novelty of it was intriguing. It also had the auto sizing of the ice ring and the price was right, at seventy-five gold coins. After thinking about it a little more, Sylvia decided this was the one that she was going to give to Marcus. She picked it up and started to make her way to the counter. She wanted to pay for it before Marcus came looking for her, it was a surprise for him that she would give to him later.
She arrived at the counter, there was only one other person in front of her so she decided to wait patiently for them to finish. It looked like a mercenary was buying some scrolls and potions and was talking to the assistant behind the counter. She couldn't help but overhear their conversation.
"You say five children?!" The assistant asked with his brows raised.
"At least five, that was the count from the mission slip. That's just that one village, I hear other villages are missing people as well, not just children." The mercenary said with a grim voice.
"Hopefully we'll be able to find something when we get over there, but it might be too late."
"We'll, I wish you the best of luck. Here is your change." The assistant said, handing over some copper coins.
The mercenary said his thanks and turned around to leave, giving Sylvia a smile on his way out. Sylvia smiled back, then stepped up to the counter.
"Welcome young lady, how can I help you?" The assistant asked with a warm smile.
"I'd like to buy this ring, it's a gift." Sylvia said, placing the ring on the counter.
"Of course, of course. That'll be seventy-five gold coins."
Sylvia used her storage item to give the man the gold coins, placing them in his palm.
"Do you want me to gift wrap for you, or put it in a nice box?"
"If you could that would be great, thank you very much."
"Just give me a moment, I'll be right back."
The assistant then disappeared into the back of the store. Sylvia, in the meantime, putzed around the counter, waiting on the man. It wasn't long before heavy footsteps sounded out from behind her, when she turned she saw Marcus walking up with an armful of scrolls. Sylvia was relieved that she was able to buy what she wanted in time, she smiled and walked up to him.
"I see you found something you wanted." She said, pointing to the scrolls.
"Sure did, these will be really useful in the wilderness. This one here is supposed to repel insects for a whole eight hours, that'll be great not getting eaten alive." Marcus said with joy on his face.
For as strong as his body was, he still managed to attract mosquitos, it really was beyond his comprehension how they were able to pierce his skin. He also picked up some fire scrolls, water scrolls, and a few other different kinds. He stepped up to the counter and placed his find on it, he then looked around for the man that was behind the counter.
"He should be back soon." Sylvia told Marcus.
"Ok. What did you find? I don't see you with anything."
"Oh, nothing much, just a small trinket." Sylvia said with a red hue covering her face.
Marcus looked at her dubiously, but his train of thought was soon interrupted by the assistant returning from the back of the store. He had a wooden box in his hands, it was stained a pleasing cherry red and looked very well made.
"Here you go miss, now remember what the tag said, it"
He was suddenly cut off by Sylvia as she grabbed the box from his hand and thanked him quickly. She didn't want him to say anything about the ring since Marcus was standing right there.
Clearing his throat, the assistant said "Well, anyways, I hope you have a fine afternoon. Just remember to be careful, I'm sure you heard what the gentleman before you said."
"Yes, of course. Once again, thank you very much." She said, holding the box close to her chest.
"Sir, sorry about your wait, how may I help you?" The assistant said, turning to Marcus.
Marcus's transaction took little time, he spent a total of five and a half gold coins on the scrolls he bought. Sylvia was nice enough to put them in her storage item since they still had some walking around to do. They left the shop and started off in another direction of Sylvia's choosing.
"What was he talking about before, about what the man said?" Marcus asked.
"Oh, it sounded like some people have gone missing in the villages around Rosevalley. I'm assuming he was a mercenary that took on a mission to check it out." She said, thinking back to the conversation she overheard.
"Really? I supposed we'll have to be extra cautious then when we're out." Marcus replied, looking off into the distance.
He didn't like the idea of people going missing and still taking Sylvia out into the wilderness. If it were up to him they would stay in the villa, but it wasn't, so he just had to plan for the worse. While he was thinking this, Sylvia took his hand again and pulled him once more into the crowd of people.
"Slow down, slow down, we have all day if you want it!" Marcus tried to remind her in a jovial tone.
Sylvia was practically running, weaving in and out of people. He didn't know why she was in such a hurry, but could tell she was enjoying herself from the smile on her face. She didn't say anything to Marcus's protests, just continued at a fast pace. She had no idea where she was going, but to her that was what was so fun about it. She ran for a little bit longer until she accidentally ran right into someone when she wasn't paying attention.
It wasn't like a full on tackle, just a little bit harder than a bump. Sylvia stopped and quickly apologized to the woman that she ran into. She was a middle aged woman, she had black hair and a friendly face. She looked at Sylvia, with Marcus in tow, and smiled.
"Oh, it's alright. Just be more careful, you could hurt yourself, or someone else." She said like she was scolding a child.
It wasn't too far off, although Sylvia was twenty, she still behaved like a child at times. Sylvia was about to introduce herself when the man the woman was with interrupted her with a loud voice.
"Now I think Lady Misner is owed more than a simple apology from the likes of you!"