Egrariand Chronicles Book 1: The Curse of the Black Stone

The Old Florist Lady

Lucas and the others walked the last half a mile into the village. After they left the secret sanctuary of the gnomes, they snuck through the village wearing the clothes the gnomes gave them so as not to draw any attention from the villagers. It made them looked ancient.

They're on the stretch of the road when they heard Jack shout in surprise. They're all startled upon seeing him throwing his bag on the road with strange movements inside.

"Frekyt?" they all gasped. "Holy Shit!"

"Did you bring him with us?" asked Lucas accusingly as he walked towards Jack and Frekyt.

Jack glared at him in annoyance, "Of course not! Why should I?"

Lucas grabbed the bag and helped the little guy out of Jack's backpack. "Hey there buddy, what are you doing here?"

"Frekyt w'nt go w'th yie," he said then hopped on Jack's hands. "I w'nt mie pet."

"Go away from me! I'm not your pet!" Jack threw Frekyt away from him, but the little guy just kept on hopping on him no matter how many times he threw him away.

Lucas frowned. "Stop it already Jack," he said. "You're hurting him."

"I DON'T CARE!" Jack handed over Frekyt to him, disgusted. This gnome annoyed the hell out of him. He raised his eyebrow then smirked as he looked at Lucas. "You want him? Then, he's all yours."

Lucas rolled his eyes and held Frekyt on his arms. They continued walking in the village, but Frekyt didn't like to be with anyone except for Jack, as if he had imprinted himself on him.

Jack was pissed off, but grew tired eventually of driving the gnome away as he kept going back to him, again and again. 'It's no use', he thought. He then decided to ignore Frekyt even if he always followed him. It creepedhim out though, wherever he went, Frekyt was there and everytime he called him his pet. He, a pet? Gross.

There was nothing else they could see on the side of the road, but maple trees and manure from passing horse carriages. On the other side was an old stand with an assortment of flowers in a variety of colors. Beside it was an old lady in a peasant dress. She called for them with a smile on her face as she offered them a purple colored flower. It was called a 'foxglove' according to the old lady.

"It's a flower, sacred to the goddess Flora. It was associated with white witches, practitioners of benign and of healing magic," she said slowly while smiling.

Jane dropped her jaw. "Awesome," she said, astonished, but her smile faded and her shoulders fell. "But we don't have money."

The old lady faced her with a pleasant smile. "I'm giving it to you as a sign of my gratitude. Thank you," she said and handed three pieces of foxglove over to Jane who accepted it gladly.

"Thank you? For what?"

"You have someone with you," said the old lady whose eyes were almost closed and appeared milky as she seemed so tired. Her hair was gunmetal grey and was long and lush; her skin was wrinkled of very old age.

Lucas and the others felt a little bit uneasy about what she said. 'Does she know about Amara?' thought Lucas. They should refrain from talking to anyone, especially if they didn't know who was after them. They couldn't afford to take risks.

They were about to walk away from the old lady when she spoke again.

"I can sense there was a gnome with you," she said. "I heard gnomes have the ability to bring plants and flowers and even trees back to life. My plants here were all withered, not until you came. I smelled them like they just bloomed."