Appraising the mysterious object - Sealed Map! (II)

Darcie wondered if it would be a good idea to just let her father handle this ominous object.

Alas! As often happens to brilliant, but inexperienced minds, curiosity won over caution.

"I think I know what is it," Garluk hissed to them, leaning over the table. "But…" he rubbed his fat fingers.

Darcie and Daphne were prepared to invest all their pocket money and recently gained reward money to earth out this object's origins today only.

So, even before Garluk could turn his greed into words, Daphne took out another heavier pouch and put it on the table.

There were 50 Galleons in it.

The girls noticed Garluk licking his lips as he counted the money, and they decided they didn't like this goblin one bit.

"Follow me," Garluk spat, throwing himself off the chair.

Darcie and Daphne shared a glance, and then looked down at the invisible House-elf, taking courage in his presence.

There were security measures placed in the shop against invisible cloaks and disillusionment charm, but they would only trigger if Dobby were to touch or pick an item.

Not something the girls needed to worry about, they knew.

Then they followed the goblin, their steps neither slow nor hurried.

Garluk took the black-cloaked witches to the basement.

The girls kept eying the strange, eye-catching jewels and other items on their way. There truly was a charm about this place, they reasoned.

This basement, however, wasn't their stop.

The shop owner put his small hand over an iron gate, and the settled dust over the heavy metallic door exploded with a puff.

Magic pervaded their senses, the door opening with an ear-piercing screech in the next moment.

"Come," the goblin said, without looking back.

Darcie saw a flight of stairs vanishing down into the darkness beyond the threshold. She looked at Daphne and found her friend rather shaken, too.

Should they leave?

The question had just surfaced in their minds when Dobby tugged at their cloaks as an answer.

The girls nodded, held each other's hands, and descended into the unknown.

It was a small room, smaller than her bathroom, Darcie observed. But the goblin was tiny, and the girls were pressed together, so all occupied space within the room without feeling congested.

A lamp was propped up against a wall, lighting the floor underneath.

The rest was darker than shadows, and they could see not a hint of anything.

Suddenly, the goblin turned around and looked at them with a snap.

"300 Galleons," he hissed. "I won't give a galleon over it."

Darcie was flabbergasted. What was this?! Why the sudden offer?

If she hadn't understood Garluk's offhanded words in Gobbledegook, then she wouldn't have asked these questions to herself.

Just now the goblin was remarking on the object's sinisterness, and now he was presenting a price. Did he truly want to buy it, or was there more to his actions?

The girls didn't know what to do. So they went along with their original plans.

"This is not for sale," Daphne said, rejecting the proposal.

"You?" the goblin fumed and then sneered. "You scoundrels! You think I won't tell the ministry about what you are up to? Heh!"

Darcie was inexperienced but learned enough to recognize the pretenses when she saw them.

"Go ahead!" she retaliated. "Old fool! You think we don't know what you goblins are up to?"

Huh? Do we?! Daphne thought, doubting Darcie's obvious false tone.

Darcie knew nothing. But these were Goblins, a race always up to something, if the books and history amounted to anything.

No wonder Garluk's face paled. "What… What do you know?"

"Humph!" Darcie snorted, as practiced. "Just appraise the item. If you want money, then just say it, but it's not for sale."

Garluk's color went from yellow to red, anger rising at the tip of his sharp teeth. Yet, the goblin held himself back and said nothing.

"I've heard of these," he said, lifting the object in his gloved hands up to his face. "It's an ancient way to seal maps."

"Maps?!" Daphne exclaimed.

"Hmgh!" the goblin nodded in agreement, grunting through his nose. "Maps are a diagrammatic representation of an area of land or sea showing physical features…"

"We know what maps are!" Darcie cut in. She truly wanted to flick this goblin's forehead.

"Tch, so noisy!" Garluk complained. "Anyway, in olden times, wizards engraved maps on wood with magic, hiding some secrets within it."

"You mean like a Woodcut?" Daphne prodded.

"Yes," Garluk nodded. "Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood…"

"I know what a Woodcut is!" Daphne almost fumed, losing her composure. "It was I who brought up the word."

The corners of Darcie's mouth twitched ruefully. N

either of the girls had been angered so much by anyone so far if they were to ignore the existence of Dolores Umbridge, who truly was an eyesore.

"Tch-tch!" the goblin tsked. "Truly lacking. Where was I? Yes. The maps were carved into the wood as Woodcuts using a specific magical procedure, and then they sealed the Woodcuts, preventing anyone from accessing its secrets."

"Sealed how?" Darcie inquired.

"They created a potion, infused a code word in it, and then applied it on the Woodcut," the goblin replied, his pointy mouth lifting into a hideous grin. "To access the content of the Woodcut, one must speak the Code Word in its presence, and it must be in a specific language, as per the original creator's intention."

Darcie instantly recalled Garluk's repetitively saying Open three times, and she knew what this dishonest goblin was trying to do then.

She couldn't help but frown as she thought of the consequences if the object would have reacted to those words spoken in Gobbledegook.

But there was a major problem with what Garluk had told them.

And sure enough, Daphne was wise enough to catch it.

"No potion last for that long," she added. "No matter how efficient a potion's effects are, with time, they vanish."

Garluk suddenly laughed. "Not bad for a witch," he nodded.

What's that supposed to mean? The girls thought, their eyes narrowing.

"It is indeed the case," the Goblin continued. "That's why a specific ingredient was used for these potions that have the property to lengthen their age. This also lets one distinguish between the real Woodcuts and the counterfeit ones."

"You mean to say that this can be a counterfeit?" Daphne asked.

"Let's find out." Garluk spat the words, and then took a few steps back, vanishing into the darkness.

When he returned, there was an object in his right hand covered under a dark piece of cloth.

Darcie felt Dobby's fingers tighten over her cloak.

She knew the house-elf must have sensed something for him to act so. But both the time and place weren't in their favor for them to consult with each other.

Garluk put the Woodcut and the new object on the floor, and the lamp's light fell on them with an inauspicious glint.

"What is it?" Darcie asked.

The goblin answered by taking off the piece of cloth with a jerk.

It was a glass jar with a green-yellowish liquid within it. And in that liquid, two large tennis ball-like eyes were suspended, looking extremely alive.

Suddenly, the eyes blinked, and both girls stepped back.

Under their horrified gazes, the eyes looked at the Woodcut on the floor and trembled with unmatched fury.

There was such a fit of anger in those pupils that the thick liquid within the jar boiled.

The goblin hurried and covered the glass jar with the cloth again.

The trembling stopped gradually, and Garluk rubbed away the sweat over his brows.

Then the goblin smiled. "It's real," he said, picking up the object.

"Were those…" Darcie asked, but she already knew the answer. No wonder Dobby was shaking so much, grabbing her cloak.

"Eyes." Garluk sneered. "Eyes are a pair of globular organs of sight…"

An unprecedented amount of Magic churned around both girls, making the goblin let out a squeak.

"Yi? Uncultured brats!" Garluk cursed. "Yes, those were a house-elf's eyes. Only that ingredient used to brew this sealing potion could bring out such a reaction from those eyes."

"What ingredient?" Daphne asked, her face heavy.

Garluk laughed vilely.

"Bone Marrow," he hissed like a beast. "Bone Marrow, extracted from an alive house-elf."

The girls' eyes widened in horror, and that brought an end to their inquiries.

When Darcie and Daphne left the shop, both were quieter than they had been in their little lives so far.

Now they knew what this object was, and what they must do to know the mystery within.

But this knowledge of how these Woodcuts were created truly left them feeling quite empty.

***************

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