The Goldsmith

7. Acedia part 2: Vertigo

Their faces seem deadly
It just got messy
His eyes bloodshot
Vertigo - Alice Merton 

The shop was bigger than it looked from the outside making it easy for Onika to manoeuvre inside. The walls were covered by bookcases filled with old leather books and potions with strange liquids. The table in the centre of the shop was overflown with crystals and broken devices.

Mykolas and Onika carefully walked toward the counter which was also crowded with weird objects. It was as if every millimetre was used to store objects. Arinya stepped closer to investigate some of the objects. There was a crystal ball where images passed of a far place filled with snow. Rings that glowed with a sinister light and even a flacon with a small Kyuss worm. The Kyuss worm could suck up the magic from any elf, it was green and had sharp teeth. It was twisting in the jar like it wanted to break free. Anira shuttered and her attention was pulled toward a broken mirror, it was decorated with silver flowers at the edge, but she didn't recognize the flowers. She got the urge to touch the mirror.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Startled, Arinya looked up and saw the elf standing aside from her. He looked to be too young to be the Collector. He also didn't wear a bear mask or a black fur robe. The Panotti from earlier sat on his shoulder, his warm brown eyes looking at her, but he hid in the long dark hair of his master. The animal peeked from behind his hair at the wolf, she showed her teeth and Panotti made a shrill noise. The elf looked unsure at the wolf, he tried to evaluate if she would destroy stuff.

"Because I'm not allowed to touch anything?" She asked innocently with her hands behind her back. "Will it explode if I touch it?" The elf let out a deep and lugubrious laugh and looked at her with playful eyes. His eyes were the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. They resembled the endless night sea where she could get lost and never find her way again.  His slit pupils almost disappeared in his dark blue irises. 

"No, not everything will explode here." His ears stood upright and he held his head slant, while he nodded at the mirror. "There are worse things in life, such as that mirror. It's a prison you can never escape." Arinya took a step back, far from the mirror's reach. Onika reached for her and stood between the princess and the mirror.

"Are you the Collector?" Mykolas leaned against the counter, he was maybe a bit too direct. The owner of the shop looked suspiciously at the two Lietan elves and their wolf. His reaction told everything they needed to know, he was the Collector.

"That depends on how you people are?"

"We are looking for something of value." Answered Mykolas carefully. He looked doubtful at Arinya, she hadn't told him what she was looking for.

"Ah, I love to help you." The elf looked at the two, a twinkle of joy in his eyes. "There is the door," he pointed at the exit and Arinya pulled up an eyebrow in question, "it would be appreciated if you left at this very moment. I don't deal with snitches."

Mykolas opened his mouth to answer, however, Arinya quickly interrupted him. "I know of your cellar. The object we need is supposed to be there. We will leave after we received it." It was a guess, but Arinya didn't have the patience to beat around the bush. The elf turned his ears back and narrowed his eyes. He investigated Mykolas' uniform and took a step back. "Why is a Lietan guard here? I did nothing illegal in Lieta, no matter what you heard."

"I had a dream about you. And that you have the object that we need. We will pay for it." She told him quickly before he would try to kill them or worse, he would run away and disappear.

"OH, wow." The elf looked surprised towards Arinya. His eyes were clear. "That's a way to win someone's heart. But it will not help you to hand me over to the authorities." His ears were pulled and relaxed back. Arinya felt the blood heat her face and started swinging her arms insecurely.