The Birr Elixir_A Fantasy Tale of Heroes, Princes, and an Apprentice's Magic Potion by Jo Sparkes

Author:Jo Sparkes [Sparkes, Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oscar Press
Published: 2013-05-31T04:00:00+00:00

She'd roamed the desert many times, gathering herbs. But roaming the streets was a far different thing.

For one thing, the sheer size of Port Leet was daunting. Most towns were a few streets away from open desert. But here she could walk and walk, in any direction, and still be surrounded by buildings. And wood ones, too. Wood wasn't common in the desert. Things were constructed of sand-brick, a mixture of sand and water and Cactus sap, all cooked in a large iron oven. And roofs were often sky cloth – a special cloth treated with rain oil, which repelled water yet allowed enough sun through to light up the room.

Here even the roofs were wood. And wood could burn, unlike sand-brick, yet the city used a stunning amount of candles as its people stayed up late into the night. Other towns used candles, of course, but not on this scale. Only the San Cris pub used them to keep going after dark – and even there, a brazier provided most of the light. To burn so many candles seemed indecent.

Marra actually felt nervous when she rounded yet another corner, only to confront more stone walks and three-story buildings. Where was that herb shop?

And then, at the end of the next street, she saw a hanging board over a far door. The board showed a painted glass beaker.

She hurried up the street and inside.

The shop was smaller than her own in San Cris, which made her feel better for some reason. Until she saw the rows of shelves lining the walls. All the way up to the ceiling, and each laden with glass or pottery jars. And these jars bore labels such as 'energy', 'love', 'tooth', and 'sailor's complaint'.

Mistress Britta kept only three prepared potions in her shop. The rest were made to order, because they lost potency after weeks on the shelf. Marra's mind boggled at the idea of selling so much that you could keep them ready made in advance.

There were a dozen people in the shop.

“And some of that hair syrup,” an older lady told the boy behind the counter. The boy poured a small amount from a bottle into a tiny pottery vial, and set it beside a beaker and a cloth sack tied in a knot.

“Twelve copper, mistress,” the boy said. Marra doubted Mistress Britta took in twelve copper in an entire week. This lady merely counted out coin, as if such large amounts meant nothing to her.

When her turn came, Marra still hadn't seen any labels for what she wanted. Or indeed, for any ingredient.

“Do you have Myrrcleft?”

The boy blinked. He turned to stare at the jars, but Marra had already scanned them twice. “Maybe in the back? I didn't see it up there.”

Another blink, and the boy finally disappeared behind the curtain doorway. And returned five minutes later empty-handed. “Gran will be with you in a moment. Mistress Matton, how is your son?”

Marra had time to read all the shop's labels again before the curtain twitched.

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.