Mercs & Magi by Jamie Edmundson

Author:Jamie Edmundson [Edmundson, Jamie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rarn Publishing

* * *

Sari walked over to the cottage. She looked about, in case anyone was working outside. The cottage had a garden with two small wooden huts in it. The stream babbled pleasantly up here, just before it dropped into the pool down below. But no-one was working outside.

Hesitantly, she approached the door. She gave it a knock.

‘Hello?’ she called, then waited for a response. None came.

She pulled at the door, which swung outwards.

‘What are you doing, you fool?’ hissed her demon.

Sari peered inside. It was a small cottage but looked well cared for. A rock hearthplace faced her, with a large pile of firewood to one side. The flooring and walls were wooden, and the roof was built from wooden rafters, thatched with dried reeds. The basic furniture inside was also made from wood, and hanging from every conceivable space—the walls and the rafters—were clumps of leaves, herbs, roots, bark and more. Some looked freshly picked, some had been dried out, but between them they gave the cottage an intense, aromatic smell. It was far more inviting than Sari had imagined. But no-one was home.

‘Good. Let’s get out of here while we still can,’ Sari’s demon said, still apparently concerned for her welfare.

But it was too late now. A figure was approaching from the trees. It was an old woman and she had already seen them. The woman looked about, perhaps wondering whether Sari had really come alone, or was part of a group. Satisfied, she walked towards her. A small carrying basket was strapped around her neck, filled with mushrooms and other ingredients she had foraged from the jungle.

‘How did you get here?’ she asked Sari, her voice full of authority.

Her hair had turned grey and her skin was wrinkled with age. She had deep, dark eyes, and Sari could imagine that once she had been beautiful.

‘From the university.’

The woman gave a grunt at that piece of information, looking up at the sky.

‘It’s too late to get you back there now. I’ll take you in the morning. Come in, you’ll have to sleep here.’

Sari followed her into the cottage, where the woman took the basket from around her neck and hung it on a hook.

‘What’s your name?’

‘Sari.’

‘I am Mustika.’

She grabbed a large jug.

‘Here, fetch some water from the brook.’

Sari did as she was told, walking over to the brook and kneeling on the rocky ground. First, she cupped her hands together and brought some of the clear water to her mouth, repeating the process until her immediate thirst was sated. Then she filled the jug and returned to the cottage.

Inside, Mustika had got a fire going in the hearth and was working with a knife on her table, preparing ingredients and placing them into a large pot.

‘Here girl, fill these cups, then refill the jug.’

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.