Lucia’s head was starting to hurt from looking for that old woman for way too long. The loud market wasn’t helping either. She made her way through the dense market, ignoring all the calls from the stallholders trying to sell her something. She didn't want to spend more money than she already had. All sorts of goods yearned for her attention, the unique magical creatures or even some new innovations from the capital. Pulling her cloak forward, she averted her gaze now fully focused on finding that damned hag.
After walking for a few more minutes, her eyes finally caught sight of a familiar decrepit white flag with a blue flower right by the entrance of an alley. Letting out a sigh, she rushed towards the alley not caring about the people she bumped into in the process. Inside the alley an elderly figure sat on the ground with a large bag beside her. Her figure was covered by a cloak and her greying dark hair peeked through. The old woman looked at Lucia before suddenly bursting into laughter.
“Ya hate the sun that much? You look like you wanna strangle me.” The old woman said.
Lucia ignored her comment and said with a scowl “Give me the herbs I requested”
The old woman wiped a fake tear after calming down, “Not so fast.” She opened the bag beside her and brought out a small pouch. “This took a lotta work to find, don’t ya think you should add a bit a compensation-“
“No” Lucia interrupted. “We had a deal on three gold and I’m getting it for three gold.”
The old woman pressed on with decades of persuasion.
“C’mon, I know ya have a few more gold to spare.” Her voice turned firm “I’m sure ya know how hard it was to get this, ya gave me drawings and prayers to find an herb that don’t even got a name. Even I couldn’t recognize it and I’ve been playing with plants ever since I was a sprout.”
Lucia, now on the verge of shaking the old woman gritted her teeth and reeled in her anger with a deep breath.
“We agreed on 3 gold” Lucia repeated. “And i am not giving you an extra piece when I didn’t even get my order on time.”
The old woman sighed in defeat before stating. “An unknown plant banned from multiple kingdoms for it’s association with sorcery and witchcraft. Why ya looking for such a mysterious herb”
Lucia went silent. She had a point, but Lucia remained firm. “An elderly woman with an unknown background possessing great medical knowledge yet is barely scraping by despite high demand for healers. And also bears a striking resemblance to the infamous doctor that performed experiments-“
“Ya seem to be very informed” The old woman said abruptly, “look pretty lady, we both have our secrets. So why don’t we help each other out by keeping quiet?”
Lucia smiled, “Deal.” She reached into her cloak and pulled out a skinny pouch, reaching into it she pulled out three gold and threw it to the old woman. The old woman swiftly caught it with a defeated sigh and spoke disappointedly, “Youngins nowadays are evil, not sparing an old woman some change.” The old lady threw Lucia the pouch containing the herbs. Lucia replied with a smile as she caught the small pouch, “I can see that fat coin purse you’re hiding.”
The old woman stiffened and covered the peeking coin purse with her cloak. She muttered slowly, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Lucia chuckled and turned to leave the alley when suddenly…
“Be careful with that, don’t wanna lose my loyal customer!”
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Lucia cursed and tugged her cloak further down, hoping that the market was loud enough to bury the noise of the now cackling grandma. She rushed out of the alley back into dense market, making her way back home. Lucia made it out of the large town and walked a long distance towards a high hill leading into a dense forest. A wide meadow and a few buildings surrounded the outskirts. She slowly trekked the hill while admiring the scenery like she’d done thousands times. It was peaceful, harboring a handful of villagers. Higher up the hill, the view slowly turned barren and empty. Afterall, no one wants to come close to a cursed forest.
A while later, Lucia finally reached the peak exhausted and sweaty, then she saw something odd. She thought the sun had finally gotten to her and she was hallucinating, but as she got closer, she realized she definitely wasn’t hallucinating. A few dozen meters away was a large and bloody mass. Lucia immediately rushed towards the mass, the closer she got the more her face fell. It was a large man, heavily injured and with enough blood around him that made her think he was dead.
She finally made it to the man and he somehow looked worse up close. He was laying on his stomach, large gashes ran across his tanned, muscular back. In his hand was a large, elegant staff with intricate patterns. Lucia acted quick, she checked his pulse and felt the slow beat under his wrist. Her eyes scanned the extent of his injuries when his hand suddenly grabbed her cloak. His bloodied face looked up at her with immense pain, he whispered, “Help…” He tried to get up despite his injuries. “Don’t move!” Lucia yelled at him but he didn’t listen, most likely too dazed from the pain and blood loss.
Lucia grunted, she struggled to even move the man, she was too exhausted from the hike. The man, still clutching his staff, managed to raise himself up despite Lucia’s protests. She gently supported and guided the man towards the forest, she tried to strike up a conversation to keep him conscious. “What’s your name? Do you remember how you got here?” The man didn’t respond, he wouldn’t last much longer if she didn’t get him to a safe place. They finally entered the dense forest, Lucia stopped in her tracks and chanted something under her breath. The man raised his head, expecting some sort of stucture but was met with trees.
Before he lost consciousness, he saw something forming in the space in front of them. It slowly morphed into a grand double door. The doors opened on their own and they walked in, it shut behind them loudly and faded back into the trees the space once was.
Lucia was greeted with a familiar sight of a cozy yet impressive room. She motioned her finger towards herself and a bed slid towards her with a loud screech. She gently placed the man on the bed, she felt instant relief from the absent weight but reminded herself there was no time to rest. She tied her long and dark curly hair up.
“Time to get to work.” As soon as she said that, a large desk filled with all sorts of bottles, medicine and medical equipment floated towards her. She immediately began treating the man. His condition was fatal, any normal doctor would deem him a lost cause. But she was no normal doctor, she’d experienced this more times than she could remember.
Her fingers worked deftly, Injecting multiple colorful liquid vials into him, she began to clean the grime off of him. Cleaning the blood revealed a beige, sun-kissed skin with a few old scars, his short silver hair seemed captivating after it was cleaned, but what captivated her more was his face.
He was a very handsome man even though he was unconscious, harboring features most people wished for. Now that he was clean, she could work without concern. She disinfected and stitched up the large gashes.
An hour later, she collapsed unto a chair that floated behind her. The mqn was bandaged and unconscious but thankfully out of danger. She glanced at the many empty vials on the floor, she winced from the sheer amount of resources she had to waste on the man. It’d take a full week of brewing to stock back up.
Lucia looked at the man she’d just saved. Her tired expression slowly morphed into a scowl, not only did he have the audacity to appear injured in front of her having had no choice but to save him, but he was also penniless!!
Lucia’s gaze wandered to the corner of the room, his luxurious staff rested there looking mighty attractive to her. She wanted to sell it but quickly decided against it. It seemed very dear to him seeing how he didn’t let go of it despite his condition.
‘Whatever, I have a plan for him anyways.’ Lucia shivered, she looked at the herb the old woman gave her which was now on resting on a table. She sighed, hastily grabbing the herb, she stared at it wearily. “I hope this works..”
I hope you enjoyed! please write any advice or suggestions you think would improve the writing or story just rememeber to be respectful! Thanks for reading!!
>3
