Chapter Fifteen—Jihogakha

Shiro searched about for the proper algae required of him by Debaku, but for the life of the gods, he couldn’t find anything even remotely close to what he had been told to find.

Ali regarded him from the docks, waving, but not coming to join him as he returned from the inner port.

Shiro waved him off, feeling somewhat frustrated. They didn’t have much time to find the plants. The boat had simply stopped to pick up goods and continue on, and now he was running out of time.

I must find these plants, he thought.

Debaku had promised to assist him in his attempt to find Jessamine. Shiro had no idea how to reach the place inside her lamp.

Apparently she had been lost?

The thought horrified Shiro. How could this be? Jessamine was suffering in some dark place, lonely and afraid? He had to do something.

I have to help her!

“Shiro!” Debaku called.

He whirled.

The Black Cobra of Mar’a Thul stood before him in his white pantaloons and sandals. His jacket revealed most of this smooth chest due to his extremely low neckline.

Shiro was dressed much the same, but his jacket was thicker, the material longer, and he wasn’t wearing it now, only a thin tunic, though his neckline wasn’t so low as Debaku’s.

There was something about Debaku—the way he dressed. It was in the Abassir Imperial fashion, and yet there was something altogether different about it.

“I have the plants,” he said, raising his hands and revealing the long undulating red leaves with spidery green veins.

“Oh,” Shiro said, surprised and relieved both at one.

Debaku nodded. “Let us return to the ship. I do not think we have time to do this here.”

Shiro nodded and together they strode along the bank of the river under the palm trees as Ali called them back.

Back underway in no time at all, Debaku set to work with the leaves he had gathered. Shiro didn’t even remember what they were called.

Debaku smashed them with a pestle in a mortar bowl.

“It looks disgusting,” Ali said, bending over and watching.

“It is not meant to be aesthetic to the eye,” Debaku said. “The magic required to attenuate can only break past the mental barrier of the magicker if certain… plains are crossed.”

Ali nodded lightly. “And ah… are these leaves ever used for recreational purposes, my friend?”

Debaku looked at him.

Ali put both hands up into the air. “I only wish to know purely out of an adventurer’s curiosity.”

Shiro rolled his eyes.

“The Jihogakha leaves can be dangerous,” Debaku said in way of explanation. “I would not suggest you use them. Ever. Unless completely necessary. Shiro’s need is great.”

“So there is a risk?”

Debaku said nothing.

“I wish to aide you, Shiro,” Debaku said, “and so I will take this risk with you.”

He didn’t like that. Shiro did not want put Debaku in a life threatening situation. It felt… Wrong. “Are you certain there is no other way?” he asked. “I would just as well do it alone. Can you tell—“

“I cannot,” Debaku said. “I must assist you. And I am willing to do this thing. As a partial recompense for putting you in this situation in the first place.”

Ali shrugged as if to say, “Well, he is correct.”

“Very well,” Shiro said.

Debaku poured water and alcohol into the mixture. It wasn’t wine, but the distilled alcohol from the north which he found very distasteful.

“Drugs and alcohol,” Ali muttered, walking off. “And I thought this trip would be boring.”

“We are almost ready,” Debaku said. Then he smelled the concoction, but instead of using his nose, he seemed to suck in hair through his mouth.

It was very much like a snake.

Eerie.

“What if this leaf should affect me badly?”

“The leaves will induce a state within you, Shiro,” he said. “To lift you from this, I will use a magical spell that will increase your heart rate. It is necessary. If I find that you need assistance.”

“But…” Shiro said. “I thought you would be joining me.”

“I will,” Debaku said, glancing at him. “But first you must enter the trance. Then I will follow.” He lifted a small parcel of cloth and revealed some flat river stones containing some runic inscriptions. “The magic I speak of is within these stones. Once I join you, your friend Ali must preside over us, and to use the stones when he feels it necessary.”

“What?!” he asked from behind.

“You are needed, my Abassir friend.”

“I see,” he said, coming back to join them.

“What should I look for?”

“You must lay your hands across our chests and count the beat of our hearts,” he said. “If the beat becomes too fast for an extended time, you must use the stones.”

“And how will I know?”

“You will watch me first, and I will instruct you.”

Ali nodded. Then he pulled up his pantaloons in a gesture of concentration and rubbed his palms together.

“Then I am ready as soon as you are,” he said. “Let us begin.”

“No,” Debaku said, glancing at the setting sun. “We will begin once the skies have reached the deepest blue. The color of red is not good for attenuation.”

Ali looked at him with confusion.

Shiro shrugged. They did not know anything of this magical process.

My heart is already beating fast, he thought.

There was fear there, but there was also anticipation.

Jessamine… I am coming for you.