Willow's Arc

Chapter 5 of 12

Willow walked toward Serpent Village with the moss stone ring in her pocket. She needed to know more about the gem and the beast before the elders discovered what she had found. The lizard shopkeeper had been spying on the cult. He knew things about their rituals, maybe even about the shrine. She found him standing outside a weathered shop with newspapers stacked in the windows. The sign above the door read Swampy Newsstand in faded letters. He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching her approach. Before she could speak, he smiled. A salamander in muddy boots stepped out from the shop's side entrance, counted three serpent coins into the lizard's palm, and disappeared down the path. The lizard weighed the coins in his hand, then looked at Willow. "Already sold what I know about you," he said. "The cult's elders aren't the only ones interested in a frog who watches shrines instead of hunting beasts." Willow's hand moved to her pocket where the gem still pulsed. She had wanted answers from him, but he had already traded her secrets to someone else. She turned and scanned the village paths, wondering who now knew where she had been and what she had seen.