Chapter 9: Witch Water Grove

The high noon sun that was baking the land below briskly began to fall into the late afternoon. A cool breeze carried away the feverish warmth that was strewn over the loose sands of San Lenard. In this gentle wind, Mikey found himself taking to the streets after recovering some funds from the Blackjack.

Negotiations with the masked giant Adendé had gone fairly well. Though rather ambiguous about his true aim, Adendé quickly took up Mikey's offer after hearing of how much gold he had in the ship. However, Adendé mentioned he'd meet them at the Blackjack the next morning - needing to clear prior business before he was ready to leave.

Left with a couple of hours to spare before the evening, Mikey took it upon himself to purchase supplies for the voyage ahead. Mikey had no clue where Lady Blackjack would be taking him at this point in the day.

At first, Mikey’s eyes scanned the city stores in search of necessities (dried foods, freshwater, rum and the like) however his gaze was quickly pulled towards the source of a peculiar scent gliding along the air. At the heart of the city, a soaring hedge prevented any attempt to peek through to the other side.

Enthralled by the bewitching scent, Mikey found himself traipsing the perimeter of the hedge, searching for some sort of sign or entrance to welcome him into what he imagined was a sanctuary. Eventually, after walking two lengths of the city block, Mikey arrived at a humble wooden archway. Blue leafed vines slithered through each delicate carving in the arch, all of them encouraging Mikey to walk further inside.

‘We’re in the middle of the city, surely I won’t find myself tricked by some creepy old lady, right?’ Mikey thought to himself, briefly glancing behind him to make sure he wasn’t the only one around before he continued on his way in.

Wandering through the arch, it slowly blended into an unnaturally shaped tunnel of branches and bushes in a dense forest-like garden. Each side of the path formed a parabolic arch over Mikey in almost perfect symmetry. Every few steps, a slight breeze would carry one or two leaves over the path, but each of them remained flawlessly facing Mikey - as if they were eyes observing his arrival.

Mikey couldn’t help but blow on one that passed by his face, sending it spiralling off into the bushes.

In due course, Mikey found himself at the foot of a small set of stairs leading to a front porch. A hanging sign swung back and forth from the overhang. Though Mikey couldn't read the text, he did recognize the symbol that was carved above it. A small flask with a bubbling liquid inside: a potion.

"An alchemist in the middle of San Lenard?" Mikey asked aloud, his head looking back towards the garden for one last look for anything else out of the ordinary - and that's exactly what he'd found.

Looking back, the same eye-shaped leaves that had passed by before all floated in the air. They faced Mikey like a silently judging jury.

"Well that's… creepy," he mumbled to himself, turning back towards the porch as he was suddenly met by a woman. Her skin reminded Mikey of the glazed almonds he would pocket in the markets as a little one. An intricate series of silver chained jewellery ran up the length of each of her fingers, connecting to rings that sat just above each knuckle. The chains chimed lightly with the breeze.

However, it was her eyes that had caught most of Mikey's attention. Sat not far beneath a full head of chestnut curls were a pair of jade tinted eyes, radiating with an energy that almost convinced Mikey that the woman was a fairy.

"You think they're creepy? I find them rather charming," she unprovokingly replied in an eerily soft voice.

"Umm, who are you?!" Mikey asked, his eyes fixated on her enchanting presence.

"An unfathomable twist of fate. I wish to ask you the same question," the woman stated as the leaves floated back off into the garden beside Mikey.

"Mikhail Drewitt, but you can call me Mikey, at least that's what most people call me. But you don't have to, you know, you can call me Mikhail, or Mister Drewitt, or I don't know, M?" he found himself blurting out, unable to keep himself from a concise answer.

"Mikey is just fine. I am the alchemist Keshan. Welcome to Witch Water Grove," she smiled softly.

Mikey felt the entire experience to be rather surreal, his skin tingling as if he found himself in a dream. That's when he began to notice the same fragrant scent as he had on the street, his nose ineluctably inhaling deeply.

"What is it that you smell Mikey?" the alchemist Keshan asked, her head tilting with a modest fascination.

"I smell, coconut - it's been freshly baked across a sweet bun," Mikey began, closing his eyes to better enhance the immersion.

"Yes, and what else?"

"Salt on the wind. The early morning's seabreeze passing through my window," he continued as his nose moved softly through the air. "But also, lemon. The fragrance from the orchard's citrus wine. We could always smell it from across the table."

Keshan smiled with a strange approval of Mikey's response, pulling a small vial from a satchel on her hip. A bubbling purple acid fought desperately to be free of the enclosure within the vial, writhing in panic.

Keshan slowly walked down the steps of the porch, arriving in front of Mikey who still had his eyes closed. Popping the cork on the vial, its contents calmed with the exposure to air and allowed for a thick vapour to rise from its mouth.

Keshan lightly waved this under the entranced Mikey's nose, leaving him to unknowingly inhale it.

This set Mikey off on a coughing fit, stumbling back from Keshan and curling over. Each cough was husky and sharp as if his throat was crackled wasteland.

"What in the fuck?! What was that?" Mikey asked as he recovered, demanding an answer from Keshan who had all but lost the glow in her eyes.

"The pollen from the Cardinal Sumac. At this time of year it releases an almost bewitching scent that can make most living creatures completely docile - including man and its kin," Keshan explained before holding up the vial that was in her hand, although its contents were now completely evaporated. "This held the only known antidote for it, it provides an incredibly long-lasting resilience to the effects. It's a kind of tradition that I provide this to new customers, but I do apologize. If you're still interested, could I show you my wares inside?"

Mikey looked at the woman suspiciously but found himself too curious to leave the grove.

“Yeah, so long as you don’t drug me with strange pollen or weird fumes when we get in there,” he replied with a nod of his head, allowing Keshan to lead him inside the store.

Moving into Keshan’s shop, Mikey found himself entering an uncanny labyrinth of pipes, vials, flasks and tubing all weaving around the walls and ceiling. Shelves holding an eccentric collection of colours containing every tint of the rainbow and beyond were lined in a delightful disorder.

Mikey found his eyes lost to the displays, trailing every substance that found its way through the unearthly system.

"Well then, what potion, poison or tincture do you find yourself absent from? Any needs or desires you so dearly wish to be fulfilled?" Keshan asked as she moved behind a quaint counter, her hands held politely behind her back.

"What exactly can I ask for? I have no clue where to start? Do you have something that can cure an addiction to alcohol?" he jested, an image of Lumpy appearing in his mind as he followed the tubings across the room and eventually to Keshan, once again meeting eyes with her.

"Cure an addiction to alcohol? No, no I'm afraid not. Not in any practical or permanent way… though, there is a formula I've devised to neutralize the effects of the alcohol. It will take some time to work, two weeks maybe, but it may yield a satisfactory result?" she explained as she moved from behind her desk and recovered a large flask on one of the shelves. The contents were a burgundy red, almost indistinguishable from some red wines.

"I'll take it," Mikey nodded affirmatively as Keshan brought the elixir back to the counter, though his excitement grew as he realised the potential within this store. "Well if you have that, I guess I should be asking for things a bit more extravagant, yeah? Like do you have a potion that can make me fly? Or something that'll let me grow twenty feet taller? Or maybe something that will juice me up on an INSANE amount of magical energy?"

"Yes, yes and yes, but I'd recommend none of them for recreational use. One will have a permanent set of wings burst from your back - a transfiguration that I've heard is excruciating. Growing twenty feet taller is absolutely possible. But you'd also be made of wood and have leaves sprouting out everywhere. You'd also fall asleep anytime you found yourself out of the sunlight," she began to list out all the possibilities of what he asked for, rather amused by the facial expressions that appeared on Mikey's face as she went on. "As for the, how did you say it? Juicing up? That would also work, it'd give you enough mana to conquer any magical feat you've available in your arsenal I'm sure. You'd also explode when the volume of mana surpassed what your body would ever be capable of holding."

"Well those sound pretty useless, why in the world are you selling those?" Mikey asked, sighing as he looked around at the vials on display, trying to figure out something he could genuinely ask for.

"There's a market for everything, Mikey," she responded quietly, allowing Mikey the focus to browse.

"Well, in that case, I think I'll settle for the alcohol thingy madoodle - what's it called?" Mikey asked.

"The Ale Clearer. Now, onto the usage of the elixir. Keep in mind that it's two spoonfuls a day. One in the morning, one in the evening. It will not work immediately, so you must be patient."

"Yeah alright alright, how much will that be?" he asked as he pulled out a small sack of gold from the ship, having lost his last satchel to Adendé.

"6,450 gold coins," she replied nonchalantly, though Mikey's response was nowhere close to that.

"6,450?! Are you insane?! What, do you think money grows on trees?" Mikey snapped, looking down at his rather meagre looking sack with barely a hundred coins within.

"Well, I suppose it depends on the tree, no?" Keshan smiled half-jokingly but maintained the seriousness of her previous answer.

"Mmmm, yeah, no. Never mind all that," Mikey waved it away, turning back towards the entrance of the store. "Thank you anyway."

"Ah, a shame. I hope to see you again soon Mikey."

As Mikey made his way back down the garden path, he felt it to be much messier than his journey in. Leaves were littered over mossy stones with broken branches hanging from the neighbouring trees and bushes.

"What a load of shit, like we're spending that much on the old fart," Mikey said to himself as he made his exit back onto the streets of the sandy city.

By now, the sun was only an hour or so from setting and the nightlife had begun to set off. Hearing the sounds of cheer through the city, Mikey couldn't help but turn his attention towards it.

"Well, I suppose one drink couldn't hurt."