The Search Continues

**ERICKSON'S POV**

I decided to move on from the southeastern market up to the northeastern market. Here is where I would find a more varied group of people selling a larger variety of items. If anyone in the lower class market was going to have the Flourish potion for sale, it would be over here in this corner of the city.

"Excuse me." I smiled and went up to the first wolf that I saw running a stall. This wolf was in their non-human form and looked frightening.

The first time that I had seen someone in their wolf form was when I was a boy younger than Arthur. I had come to the city for the first time with my father as his apprentice. I thought I knew everything at the time, but I had soon found out that was not the case.

When I saw that man, walking around in a pair of torn and frayed blue slacks, his chest bare aside from the large amount of fur covering it, I screamed long and loud. I was frightened by his long, wolf-like snout, the razor sharp teeth, the large predator's eyes that he was watching me with, even his hands had frightened me. The wolf's hands weren't exactly hands. No, they had been a cross between paws and hands, and they had been tipped with lethal looking claws.

The wolf that I saw now didn't look all that different from the one I saw all those years ago. He had his chest bare and was wearing black, frayed and tattered slacks. This wolf's fur was a dark gray, where the one I saw the first time had been a brindled brown. I was used to seeing their long, lethal looking claws, their wolfish faces, all of it. They were a perfect cross between animal and man: standing on two feet, acting like everyone else, and ever talking (albeit with a slight impediment).

Trying to listen to someone talk as a wolf was difficult. It took some practice to get it right. Their large teeth got in the way which ended up causing the wolves to lisp quite a bit.

"Good day to you." I added when the wolf looked at me.

"Isssh there sshumfing I can helpf you wif?" The wolf's words were slurred and lisped but I knew what he said, so that was all that mattered.

"Yes, I was hoping you could help me find someone willing to make a trade."

"Lotsh of peopfle here make tradesh every day. What are you looking for?" This man, oddly enough, was nicer to me than the others that I had spoken to today.

"I need to find someone willing to trade a Flourish potion with me."

"Fwourish?" That's not eashee for a human to come by." There was shock in the wolf's eyes. "I can ashk around bwut I don't know."

"Thank you, that is all that I can ask for." I tilted my head to him, bowing slightly in my appreciation.

I went to several more stalls but nothing was going my way yet, aside from that one conversation. I did, however, notice there was a man following me. I had noticed him when I was in the other part of the city. He had followed me and listened in on my conversations.

I wasn't able to confront him about following me though. If I did, he would have had the right to demand my death on the spot. That was the problem with being a human in the world of wolves. I didn't have any rights when it came to them. There were some laws that governed them with us, like they had to pay what they promised to, and they weren't allowed to kill us humans without cause. Aside from that, though, it was a risk every single time a human came to do business with the city. And it wasn't easy to gain the trust that my family had gotten over the years. I didn't want to mess anything up for us right now, so I didn't say anything about him following me.

I finished canvassing that market and stopped back by the man from before. He, unfortunately, hadn't found anyone that he knew who wanted to make the trade with me. I was forced to admit that I might not find someone during this excursion.

"Please, don't let my dream come true." I silently begged the world and whatever higher power might be listening to me. I had heard that the wolves believed in something, but I didn't know what it was. "Please." I begged again.

With a heavy heart I started to make my way to the carpentry corner of the city. I needed to find Arthur and see if he had learned anything. I did my best to watch my surroundings as I walked, but I was so upset that I wasn't able to keep an eye out for everything.

"Watch out, Dad." I heard Arthur's voice as he grabbed the horses' reins from my hands and guided them to the side. "You're going to hit someone."

"I'm sorry, son." I wasn't apologizing for the horses either.

"I know, Dad. I didn't have much luck either." He understood me perfectly.

"We have got to find someone. We need to save your sister."

"I don't want Addie to die, dad. She's only thirteen. She's too young to die."

I heard a low growling laugh after Arthur spoke. When I turned around, I saw the man that had been following me all day.

The man was tall, taller even than me by at least a head. He had a deeply tanned complexion, eyes that were a dull, flat brown, and a head that was cleanly shaven. It was clear that this man was strong. His muscles were bulging under the sleeves of his immaculate clothes.

"Looking for something you can't get your hands on, I see." He was grinning at me as he spoke.

"That is the essence of it, yes." I nodded at him. There was no need for me to lie to him, he knew what I had been asking people because he had been following me.

"I just might be able to help you."