Chapter 6 Chapter 5

I trailed behind him and soon we reached a wooden shop near the end of an alley which gave off spooky vibes. The shop looked very old and empty unlike other shops we crossed in the market.

We entered as my heart hammered against my chest and I saw the old shelves of the shop had many boxes set there one by one and all of them were covered by dust. The owner must be lazy to clean it. Is this where he would sell me?

Bad thoughts ran in my head while we crossed the shelves and went further where another door appeared. As the physician opened the door, a skeleton was the first one to greet us. I screamed and held the man's arm closed to me as I hid behind him.

"It is just a skeleton," the man said with a straight face as he pushed the human bones aside as it hung from a hook.

All these while, I kept tugging on him but he didn't say anything as he headed forward taking me with him.

My cheeks reddened as I realised I still held his arm and released him immediately as I composed myself. I began to walk behind him but closely because the place seemed haunted with little light in it.

Soon, we found the owner. He sat with his glasses on which sat on his nose firmly. His graying curly hair glinted with the light of the only lantern that sat on his table.

As we appeared, the old man looked up. He asked, "How may I help you?"

"I want to sell some herbs and medicines." The physician said as I released a sigh that it wasn't which he wanted to sell.

The old man looked up at him for a moment and got back to what he was doing as he said, "We don't buy things. We sell only."

The young physician took out some small papers as he unwrapped them and placed them on his table. The old man looked at it and was shocked as he said, "These...how did you find them?"

"I prefer privacy," the man who stood before him said, "Do you want to buy it or I go find another buyer?"

The owner stood up immediately and shook his head as he said, "No. No... These western medicines are very effective. And we had been finding some sellers but could not and due to that my shop is always empty due to lack of supplies of good medicines."

He tilted his face up and looked through his glasses as he asked, "How much do you have?"

"Enough to last a whole year."

"Please, can I buy them all?"

The man before me nodded as he took out a big wrapped up paper and placed it on the table. The owner's eyes glowed as he went through the door behind him and came back within a moment with a leather porch. From the clinging of it, I could only guess that it had quite a lot of money.

The physician took it and turned around as he said, "Let's go."

As soon as he turned toward the exit, I followed him. Would he not count if the man gave him a good amount?

I could help but asked, "Won't you count the coins if he had given you the exact price of the goods you gave him?"

"No," his reply was immediate as he added, "Because I know he gave me more than I deserved."

I furrowed my brows as he looked at me and said, "The medicines and herbs I gave him are cheap where I live but here they are expensive."

I looked at him dumbfounded as he wasn't only a young physician but also a merchant?

We got out of that old house and he went ahead as he entered a roadhouse. It wasn't sophisticatedly decorated for it had only some curtains on the windows which weren't washed for some time as they were darkened with dust, the plants to give it a good attraction were all dead due to carelessness of its staffs and the tables and chairs were all set in a very messed up way but it was crowded.

I moved around my eyes and I noticed it was only filled with men. Most of them were drunk or had started to drink.

The physician looked to the side where a small empty table rested and said, "Keep close to me and don't look at anyone even if they say something outrageous."

I nodded and got close to him as he went ahead and took a seat beside the empty table. I sat beside him, my legs finally found peace. It ached though. A young staff member came as he ordered him the food.

While we sat in silence, the physician closed his eyes as if he was thinking something while we caught the attention of a group of people near us. They seemed to be drunk already and they seemed rowdy with their large bodies and even larger mustaches and beards. Two of them got up and came near me as I turned away my head at how they smelt. They reek of the beverages they took and sweat from the works they had done before coming in the roadhouse.

"Eh, she looks young and fresh," one of them said as he put his hands on our table and closed his face near me. My heart pumped in my ears. The other one took another side of me and said, "Do you think he is her husband?"

I looked at the physician who still sat while his eyes were closed. It made me a little mad that he didn't say anything to them or maybe he was asleep! The ground beneath me slowly perished. Should I wake him up? I don't even know his name!

"Even if he is, do we care?" The one who was closing his face at me said and the group of them found it entertaining as they laughed from there.

The man was about to close the distance to me when the physician put his legs on top of his head as he leaned back to the chair. His legs were so heavy that the man's face was smashed against the table and he growled in pain as the physician finally opened his eyes.

"I apologize, I didn't know someone was here," he said with a straight face as he put off his legs from above the man's head and the man looked at him with rage filled eyes. His nose was bleeding.

"You needed something?" He asked as the man said, "Yes, this girl."

"Why?"

He was taken aback by his question as he simply asked them 'why'. I looked at him with wide eyes as I thought, why would anyone want to take a girl with him!

"Because we want to have some fun with her," he said with a mocking tone and the others from his group started to laugh thinking he would get angry but it was the opposite. He was still calm and collected.

"Why?" He asked again, making them dumbfounded and a bit irritated.

"Because -" he didn't know what to answer next as he growled angrily, "because we want to."

"No, your answers didn't convey your purpose thus, I'm afraid, I won't be giving you this girl."

"Who asked you?" The man spat at him as he laughed and was about to take my hand but he immediately stopped when he felt a cold metal on his neck.

All of them looked at the physician with wide eyes including me as he held a sword in his grip and the tip of it threatened to give a deep wound on his fat neck. The physician's eyes glinted devilishly as he smiled at the poor man. Sweat dripped from his forehead and I was certain, his euphoria of being drunk had long gone.

I would be telling a lie if I said I wasn't surprised to see a sword in his hand, glinting murderously. My eyes couldn't even follow when it appeared.

One question came to my mind. Who was he?