-
“Pela’s” by Mlaz Corbier
At Trouser Man’s back alley nothing but poison enters your lungs; there’s only one place in the whole of Cursan Town where it’s harder to breathe, and it isn’t at the fishes markets either. It’s at Pela’s, a peculiar shop for all your most magical needs.Legend tells the witch who owns the place lived for more than a hundred years though it looks as if she’s in her salad days still. Her lips are as sweet as the poisonous air surrounding her, redder than Old Nick’s arse. This woman holds what I need, what will save poor me’s skin, what Mr Up To No Good ordered me to bring him. She’s close enough for me to stroke her raven plumage but my hands shake so violently now, the grip on my drakeshard fails. I need her heart, to lick it till it stops beating and only then I’ll give it up, take it to the mobster.
As everyone knows, every generation there’s one witch with a heart; eat and you’ll live a hundred years as Pela herself showed and showed. Then she suddenly turns around. Her jacinth eagle-eyes pierce me as she asks, ‘Can I help you, dear?’ Her voice is warmer than a bath of virgin’s blood but harsh enough to flog me out of my dreams.
‘Sorry, madam,’ I whimper and scarper off, back into boyhood.
