Jeff opened the front door.
"Greetings, Mr. Scrimbett," the councilman said.
"Greetings, Sir," Jeff let the man walk in.
The councilman started unbuckling his leather suitcase, placed it against the wall and opened it. "How was the day," he said as he fetched a parcel wrapped in cardboard.
"Good," Jeff said and accepted the parcel. "What exactly is this?"
"It's a council treasure that was stolen a few years ago. We retrieved it today from a powerful wizard."
"Congrats."
"It's not over, we want to take it to the council."
Jeff understood his part, "how powerful is this wizard?"
"He uses a cane."
Jeff raised his eyebrow, "is he a threat?"
"For us, yes. That's why we want you to take it. We can't afford any more expenses on this."
"Okay."
"Good then," The councilman shut the suitcase. "Our man will be available in a bakery near the west-side windmill. You can pass it to him. The wizard won't get past that."
"Got it."
"There's a note with the name and address," he said as he walked to the door.
Jeff flipped the parcel and confirmed it. He saw the councilman walk down the stairs. He closed the door and walked back to his working table and placed the parcel there. He opened the top cupboard and picked a leather satchel with a shoulder strap attached to it. He tucked the parcel in it and started skimming through the shelves for potions.
He picked a glass phial with a healer potion. The text written on the label was smudged, he wasn't sure if it was a healer so he took only one of them. He took three more potions and stacked them in the bag when he noticed there was no tonic. He opened the cupboard and picked a red shaded empty phial.
He tossed it into the bin, picked a clean phial and walked to the the door, he stepped down the stairs, took a left and walked to the neighbouring house. He almost knocked on the door but hesitated and took a few steps back.
He knew very well he needed at least two potions of tonic in case he needed to face the wizard. He reluctantly went ahead and knocked on the door. There was no answer, the sun was already down, he picked his pocket watch, checked the time and put it back into the pocket. He knocked again.
"What do you need," the voice came from behind.
Frieya was standing in front of the house picking the keys from her purse.
Jeff raised the phial, "just some blood," he stepped aside as she reached the door.
"I'm not doing donations, sorry," she said.
The door opened.
"I can pay you," he said.
"How much?"
"Two?"
"Two gold coins?"
"Two silver!"
"Two gold or I'm out."
He sighed, "alright." He grabbed a handful of coins from his pocket and dropped them back, everything except two gold coins.
She inspected the coins for a moment, picking a phial from her purse and handed it to him.
He had a close look. "That's just two drops," he complained.
"Two drops for two coins." she said and slammed the door on his face.
Jeff cursed, he genuinely had no time to bargain so he returned to the working table. He opened a wooden box with the pipette. Drew potions from large crystal phials did a quick mixing in a new phial with the blood and created the tonic.
He unfolded the map and traced the path on a piece of paper. He marked all the important places, the railway station, the barns, wheat fields, and the west-side wind pump. He folded the paper in quarters and tucked it inside the bag before putting his coat on and the bag across his shoulder.
When he got out of the house again, he stopped in front of Friya's house and swore to get the two gold coins back.
There were not many lights near the railway station. A single guard was sitting on the desk with a newspaper fully spreaded. Jeff pulled the open notebook and the pen, started entering his name, address and other details.
The guard opened a drawer, tore a ticket and passed it to Jeff.
Jeff took it and walked into the railway station, it was platform Five, but there were no trains on the first four platforms. So he skipped the stairs and climbed down and up twice to cross the platforms.
Carriage H. He was near carriage F. He walked past two carriages and climbed inside the third one.
The windows were closed and it was completely dark. He flicked a lighter as he proceeded through the carriage to reach the other door. He opened it and climbed down to get out of the portal.
The station on the other side was filled with trains. He started walking through multiple trains and carriages on the track to get to the only platform there.
"I expected you to be soon," he heard Frieya's voice as he climbed it.
He looked up, "Are you following me?"
"I was here first," she said. She was sitting on the station bench waiting for him to show up.
"What do you need?"
"Two gold coins for two drops of blood! How much are they paying you?"
"I don't discuss my fees in advance, especially for such tasks."
"Fair enough. What can you give me?"
There's a wizard hunting for that treasure, it was good to have a witch around, but it's equally dangerous. Especially one like Frieya.
"How much do you want?"
"Half of what they pay you."
"Do I have a choice?"
She smiled and tossed a gold coin. Jeff caught it in the midair and put it back in his pocket.
One more, he said to himself.