Whispers of the Obsidian Mirror - Shadows beyond time

5 | Not so helpful after all

"The both of you sure know how to get in trouble." The man in the silly suit seemed to find the whole ordeal quite amusing. As a matter of fact, he even started laughing! "You know, if fate brought you here, she is very adamant about your stay." He shook his head. "I wonder why."

"Sir please, help us! Please, we want to go home, I need to keep my brother safe, please!" Addison could no longer contain her emotions. She was scared, hurt and feared for their lives. Before she could do or say anything else, she heard a familiar voice.

"Sir, if you are not interested in buying any of my goods, I urge you to leave my shop."

This time, the tall man didn't even bother trying to force a smile. He regarded the silly man with a cold expression, his lips forming a thin line. 

"But of course Oscar, I wouldn't dream of bothering you if it weren't for the fact that I actually want to purchase some of your wares." As he said this, the man briefly glanced at Addison and Pete and gave a quick wink.

"These two rascals look like a lot of trouble. Let me take these useless humans off your hands." Oscar glanced at the man in the green suit, seeming none too excited with his offer.

"Or, you know, I could visit the order and tell them about all the exquisite species you have in your shop these days. I'm sure they'd be thrilled to hear that you've found some endangered animals and are keeping them safe in your cages. I can only imagine the joy and accolades that will come your way."

You could see this had an impact on Oscar. He tried to hide it, but there was no denying that the words of the other man had affected him. He quickly readjusted himself before replying. "Well now, Jonathan, no need for threats. Besides, I have a licence. The order can't hurt me." 

Oscar started grinning. "You know, these few specials can be gone in the blink of an eye. It will be like.. they were never even here." He laughed coldly.

"—That of course, would be a financial catastrophe I can imagine. And I would hate to hurt the small hard working business owners, especially in these tough times. So, let's say five gold for the children and we'll be on our merry way."

Oscar his eyes turned dark and he didn't say a word as Jonathan handed him the pieces of gold. "Always a pleasure doing business with you Oscar." The man in the silly suit, I mean, Jonathan, was smiling at the children. "Guess you are my problem now."

"Please let them be your problem somewhere else. I have got things to do." Jonathan took the rope from Oscar and started helping Addison and Peter get up. All this time, both of them were quiet. Afraid for what would happen next.

They started walking away from the enclosures and the creepy man with his three-headed dog. Little Pete was walking as close to Addison as possible, trying to disappear into her clothes. She gave him a small kiss on the forehead and looked reassuringly into his tiny, worried face. "It's going to be okay, Pete, I promise you."

Peter quietly shook his head, his eyes watery as he looked into Addison's. "We need to help the horse, Addison. He's going to hurt him!"

Addison, who had been worrying about her and Pete's fate, had completely forgotten about the miserable filly inside the cage.

Addison looked up at the man in the green suit who had simply waited for them to finish their little talk. She gave him a strange look, still unsure if she could trust the silly man whose name was apparently Jonathan. Asking this strange man, who held the rope tied to their wrists, to buy a filly for them seemed ridiculous. But, since they had entered the market, nothing had made sense to her.

Oscar seemed less than excited for where this was going. "I don't sell my precious unicorn to nasty mortals like you." He hissed. "What a waste that would be."

"You are not selling to them, you are selling the filly to me. Besides, I would do you a service. That is one less endangered mythical creature out of your shop."

Jonathan took a step towards Oscar who did not seem to be impressed to say the least. "Now quit being a flying rat in my ass and sell me the horse."

***

While walking through the market, still in handcuffs and with a tiny filly trailing behind them, Jonathan led them back to the other side of the fair. When the campfires and dangling lights between the trees came into sight again, Addison started to feel some sort of relief. At least this seemed to be the better part of the market, though she still didn't feel anywhere near safe. She sighed.

They walked towards what seemed to be another shop. It was quite a peculiar sight. In the middle of the market stalls stood an old wooden house with a door made of a large mirror. The windows were made of big mirrors as well, giving the building a futuristic appearance that didn't fit in with the rest of the market.

"Where are you taking us?" Addison looked at Jonathan who had been awfully quiet during their walk. "I just need to refill some of my dust before I can bring you kids home." While saying this, he padded on the little pouch that he had used during the fight with the angry butcher. Wouldn't want to encounter 'problems' without it." He smiled and gave another wink.

"Now, please; I need you to stand in front of the mirror the way I do." Jonathan dropped the rope on the ground and took a step in front of the mirror. Before Addison could even think of running off, something started happening.

The mirror on the door began to liquefy. Small waves of liquid silver rippled across its surface, centering at the height of Jonathan's face and chest. This continued for a second or two. Then, as if it had never happened, the waves calmed down and the mirror solidified again.

Both Peter and Addison stared at the mirror in disbelief. They saw their shocked faces reflected in it. Aside from their horrified expressions, there seemed to be nothing unusual about the mirror.

"My friend only accepts customers with innocent minds and clear hearts. Just see it as some sort of extra safety measure." 

Jonathan started rummaging through his bag he was carrying and took out a small knife. "First, let's help you out of these ropes. Please, don't run away. I don't have enough gold with me to buy you from Oscar a second time." You could see he found his comment rather amusing.

"Well now, who would like to go first?"

Sorry, had to update all the chapters because I wanted to change all the header images :)
But because of that, I shared a new chapter online as well!

What do you think of the new headers?

Kali