The Apothecary
an excerpt

The woman's name was Siv Nylund, and she was Twelvegate's apothecary. At first an assistant to the pharmacist, she had taken over the trade last year upon his death. Unfortunately, his two children, a fat woman rumored to be a whore and an ugly man known to be a thief and a con, had turned the old shop into one of the town's most popular taverns. Surprisingly, it was one of the least seedy of the establishments, and quite popular with the townspeople. But with its arrival had come the relegation of the town's only pharmacy to an apartment above the bar and a cart on the market grounds. Siv alone manned both, selling raw herbs here at the cart every market day and fully-prepared cures from the apartment every other day.

Why she was always the last to pack away her wares and return to the relative safety of the town on market day, not even Siv understood. She was not a wealthy woman, and her former master's children charged a high rent for the bedroom and study/laboratory where she lived. Whatever business she could do she had to do, although few were left who had the money to buy her cures. Although Siv was known to be a cold-mannered woman, unfriendly and frigid towards men especially, she did have a kind streak within her, and had recently been selling medicines on credit to those who truly needed the cures. In addition, however, it was rumored that she had begun dabbling in making substances that were not cures so much as amusements. Indeed, drugs were easy to come by in a town such as Twelvegate, but there were none so well versed in plants as the apothecary. What's more is that almost everyone knew that if you needed something that did the opposite of curing people, Siv Nylund could also be of help there as well. Of course, there were none who could risk bringing charges against her, for if they were not in need of her cures, then they had purchased one of her poisons or "amusements" and were just as guilty.

But even between the selling of all three products, money was still tight for the apothecary. So it was with a heavy heart that she packed away her leaves and powders in her cart, folded down the canopy, and maneuvered to the rear where two handles stuck out. Raising the back end up and balancing on the single wheel on the front, she moved the cart like a wheelbarrow towards the east gate of the town.

It was perhaps a mile's walk from the gate to the market square, and another quarter mile to the Mad Lion Alehouse. If she moved quickly, she could reach the tavern before the rains began, although she could already see the clouds growing dark. The mist was blowing free as well now, revealing the gray-green moors on either side of her and the muddy brown road before her. Far ahead, she could see Twelvegate, growing out of the moor like a collection of stone mushrooms with pointy tops.

And there...up ahead...someone in the road?