Immortal Stonekeeper (2022) Chapter 11: Chapter 11: The Witch Market

Read chapter 11 of Immortal Stonekeeper (2022) by Mercynarie on NovelPedia.

For such an elusive marketplace, it was certainly much livelier than expected. ‘People’, to describe its residents loosely, buzzed around arrays of stores lining the road, haggling for items that could easily put a novelty gift shop to shame. Jonathan tried his best not to stare at the interesting physiology of the market dwellers, and he was failing spectacularly. It was probably one of the only moments that not even a beautiful woman walking by could catch his attention. Jonathan stuck close to Lucy, just in case he was mistaken for some kind of live artefact and sold off to a well-dressed minotaur. “Baldurant, long time no see! How’s your daughter doing? All grown up, I imagine?” Lucy waved cheerily at a humanoid being behind a stall with a bright orange fish for its head. It somehow reminded Jonathan of a certain talking clownfish. “Auntie Lucy! You haven’t aged a day!” The fish-like being flapped what looked like its gills excitedly. “I’m Gelfant; Father passed away many moons ago. Oh, and I’m no longer his daughter; I’m his son now.” “And you look absolutely dashing, dearie. How long has it been since we last met, fifty years?” “Eighty, actually.” Gelfant’s head wobbled from side to side as though it was swimming. “I took over this store after reaching full maturity.” “Carrying on the family business, I see. Your father would be so proud of you.” Lucy nodded warmly. “Anyway, I need a few demonic protection charms; gotta go somewhere pretty holy. Think you can help me with that?” “Link up your arm and we’ll give you the charm!” Gelfant piped. “Speaking of which, is your familiar where you store your reserves? He’s practically overflowing with magic.” Lucy turned around to Jonathan in gleeful surprise. “You didn’t tell me you were magic. Mind paying for this one for me then? Consider it payback for my taxi services.” “How?” Jonathan blinked in confusion. “Just hold out your arm.” Jonathan did as he was told, and the ant brought out a device that resembled a blood pressure monitor with two straps. He wrapped one end around Jonathan’s arm and another on a tablet with some strange carvings on it. The straps began to glow, and a strobe of light began travelling from his arm to the tablet. “Just a moment more, and we’re… done!” Gelfant flapped his gills again as he removed the strap from Jonathan’s arm. The carvings on the tablet were now swirling around like fish in a pond. Lucy reached for it and the inscriptions flowed from the wooden board into her wrist. They stopped halfway through her arm and turned into tattoos. “These basic charms should protect you from blessed air, so you may step foot in a chapel now,” Gelfant said. “But if you want resistance against holy magic, Axtrrpuq’s talisman store is in the same old place. Just take the airlift and get off on the third ledge.” Lucy thanked the store owner with a curtsey and ushered Jonathan along. He hurried beside her avoiding the scary-looking stares of the market occupants. “Calm down. Some of them are empaths and can sense your nervousness,” Lucy whispered to him. “Don’t worry, nobody is going to dare lay a finger on a vampire’s familiar. We have quite the reputation here.” They stepped off a cliff. A strong gust of wind lifted both of them along the jagged cliff walls and dropped them onto a much darker area. “Did we get off on the wrong floor?” Jonathan looked around. “I don’t see anybody here.” “Axtrrpuq is the only occupant on this level. Dark magic keeps him on edge, so I cannot hasten our journey with my magic. We have quite the distance to cover on foot.” “Vampires use dark magic?” Jonathan scratched his chin. “Duncan and I noticed a dark magic user at the auction, although he didn’t cause any trouble. He only bidded for an item and left peacefully.” Lucy furrowed her eyebrows. “Dark witches were mostly weeded out during the Salem witch trials, along with many more innocent women. Only vampires or werewolves would dare employ dark magic out in the open nowadays si