“Imagine the different kinds of food they might sell,” Buttontail fantasised.
“Mister, do you know where we might find the Matriarch?” Damselfly asked.
“Not heard the name,” the rider replied.
“She is a famous sorcerer,” Damselfly added.
“Well, if she is into magic then she’ll likely be a part of the Guild. Travel through the labyrinthine streets until you reach a crossroads, head east and you will find the Magic Quarter and likely your friend.”
“Thank you so much,” Damselfly said, hopping down from the cart and helping Buttons down after.
The duo hesitated, staggered by the swell of activity as they plunged into the beating heart of Magicgarden, a place of fantasy, wonder and danger.
The bazaar was organised chaos with stalls ranging from crooked desks to enormous stalls that spanned one end of the street to the other. Damselfly examined the items for sale with curiosity although many of them were strange to her: saltpeter, nightshade, quicksilver; one stall even advertised selling stardust. Buttons was drawn towards a table of gruesome jars which contained all kinds of weird and magical things. One jar was labelled The Inner Eye and actually held a gigantic eyeball, which still moved and blinked. There were wyvern tails, scorpion stings, salamander scales and even phoenix tail feathers. To begin with, Damselfly was surprised to note that none of the products for sale had prices; that was until she overheard an elderly woman bartering and realised that everything in the bazaar was traded rather than bought. One tiny booth, hidden deep down a narrow alley, sold particularly interesting objects, and Damselfly was very sad that she had nothing to trade with. The vender, who was a dark, mysterious man with kohl-laden eyes and a strange smell of aniseed, offered them countless antiquities, each more expansive than the last.
“Can I interest you in sphinx riddles, they are impossible to solve? Or perhaps you are looking for love and need a potion to smooth the course of amore. No, well what about these luck charms, fossilized four-leaf clovers.”
Damselfly politely declined while leading Buttontail deeper into the market. They were just starting to wonder how far it was to the crossroads when Buttontail noticed something familiar in the tapestry of revelations.
“Hey, I’ve seen that cloak before,” he stated.
Damselfly looked through the masses, trying to catch sight of the cloak. Suddenly, as a path cleared, she realised that it was actually a red cape.
“It’s Orion,” Damselfly gasped.
Almost as if he could hear the princess’s exclamation, the sorcerer turned in their direction and his face changed as he recognised them.
“Run,” Damselfly screamed.
Buttontail needed no further instruction as he ducked through the crowd with his powerful back legs. Damselfly was hampered by the crowds, which simply refused to move or be hurried. Fortunately, Orion was experiencing the same frustration behind them as people went about their business, oblivious to the furtive chase.
“Move out of my way,” Orion demanded, with no success.
Damselfly just ran in any direction she could. Buttons had disappeared ahead of her, though, for now, she was only worried about avoiding Orion at all costs. The sorcerer would certainly insist on taking her back home immediately, and any chance of saving her mother’s life would be lost. Briefly catching sight of Buttontail up ahead, Damselfly put on a burst of speed that enabled her to cross a split second ahead of a horse-drawn carriage. The animal reared up in fright as the carriage came to an abrupt halt. One of the wheels came loose from the impact and much of the cargo being transported fell onto the road. While the driver attempted to calm his horse, a crowd gathered to see what had happened. Orion was trapped behind a wall of curious onlookers, and Damselfly was able to reach safety. The princess stopped running when she pulled level with Buttontail whose eyes were fixed on the horizon. As Damselfly caught her breath, she looked up to find a crossroads.
“We found it,” she exclaimed.
“Which way is east?” Buttons enquired.
“It is the direction the sun rises so it must be that way,” Damselfly led.
With no sign of Orion following behind them, they hastened towards the Magic Quarter in their search for the Matriarch.
About a quarter of a mile down the road, their surroundings dramatically altered; the road widened so four carts could have ridden side by side. The path became smooth with different coloured cobbles ranging from orange to purple. Only a handful of people passed them as they reached the Magic Quarter.
Set in a square were four large buildings, each standing higher than any building Damselfly had seen, except for her own home in Thronegarden. Buttontail’s foot twitched in excitement at the idea of such riches. He attempted to move forward; however, his progress was halted by an invisible barrier.
“What is happening?” he questioned.
“It’s magic,” Damselfly responded.
Like a spider whose web has been plucked, a young, disinterested woman appeared wearing immaculate make up and colour-changing nail varnish.
“Yes?”
“We’re looking for the Matriarch. Is she here?” Damselfly enquired.
“Where else would she be,” the young woman answered in a bored voice as she focused on her nails, which flickered from pink to blue and then purple.
“Can we see her?”
The young woman finally deemed it worthy to look at her guests, and clearly, what she saw was not to her liking.
“Who are you?” she managed to ask without sounding interested in the answer at all.
“My name is Princess Damselfly and this is Buttontail. We are on an important mission to find the Matriarch. It is a matter of life
