《The Silencing of Esteria》Chapter 2
Advertisement
After dropping off the water at home, Toland set off for work.
The local herbalist was a small building, set almost as far away from the rest of the houses as was possible, last only to the Querth, the woodcutter.
The man inside was surprisingly young for a village healer, barely even 30, yet here he was, sat at the end of a long workbench, wearing a battered pair of spectacles and watching a flask of a strange green liquid bubble.
Many of the people of the village thought what he did was magic, probably because they had never seen any of the equipment he had bought back from the capital.
Looking at him now, intricately working away with absolute precision, Toland felt the need to ask what had made him return to this tiny village. Before Toland was born, Kinic left the village to study at the royal college of medicine, he turned down a life of luxury in the capital to come back here and ply his trade as the village healer.
Kinic looked up from his potion for a moment to see Toland enter.
"You're late... again."
"Sorry..." Toland said, abashed.
Kinic rolled his eyes, then pointed to a small wooden box, filled with berries, "Those are careen berries, they need to be crushed, mixed with the hilde moss over there. Please do not eat one, they are quite poisonous."
Toland nodded and picked up the box and moved it to the other end of the workbench. He then fetched the jar of hilde moss from the shelf of ingredients as well as the mortar and pestle and set to work.
After about two hours work, he was done, leaving him with four wooden beakers of red liquid. He then found lids for them and placed them on the ingredients shelf. Lastly, he found a label and wrote 'careen berry juice' on it.
Advertisement
"If you've done that, you can brew Gena's headache medicine."
"What are you making?" Toland ventured, as he went over to the ingredients shelf.
"Oh, nothing much, just distilling down some flowers for the smell. Can you pass me the lubrec?"
Toland passed him the lubrec then retrieved the items he needed.
After a few moments of careful work, Toland finished the medicine, a fine, green powder that he placed in a small wooden bottle.
"Done," he said.
"Excellent, I think that was all for today, but, I will need you in a few minutes. This next part requires an extra pair of hands."
Toland nodded and took a seat on a stool, watching the young herbalist work and once again he found himself burning to ask why he wasn't working in the capital.
"Kinic..."
"Yes?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"No, you cannot have a raise."
"That's not it. I was wondering, why you didn't stay in the capital?"
Kinic glanced over at him, an eyebrow raised.
"I mean, you went to the college place and you are the best healer we've ever had in the village..."
Kinic sighed, "I didn't stay because I couldn't. I don't have a license to practice medicine in the capital. There was no work for me."
Toland frowned, "But, you went to the college, doesn't that give you a license?"
"It does, if you pass the final examinations."
"But you're really good, how did you fail?"
"I didn't fail, I never went to them. I stood outside the examination hall for three hours, shaking in fear."
Kinic's gaze drifted away from the here and now, looking off with a haunted expression and Toland realized why no one ever talked about his time in the capital.
Advertisement
Kinic eventually snapped back to reality, "Get the benera and the nighturn, then come round this side of the table."
Toland obeyed and then watched as Kinic picked the flask up with a pair of metal tongs.
"When I pour the flask out into that bowl of herbern, wait until the mixture turns blue then add the vials."
Toland nodded and Kinic poured out the contents of the flask. There was a brief moment of bubbling then a blue color began spreading through the mixture. Toland quickly added in the ingredients and the mixture returned to its original green color.
"Does that make you think less of me?" Kinic asked and Toland almost physically recoiled in shock.
"No, of course not," he spluttered.
Kinic gave a rueful smile, "There is not a lot that can go wrong with a person that I cannot treat, but if a person has a broken spirit there is no potion or operation that can fix it. Some think of me as a great coward, others just look at me with pity. But, this is where I belong, this is what the gods made me for. The capital is just a step too far for me."
Toland nodded.
"Well, that's this done. It just needs to be left in the fire for a while and let the water boil off. If you want to go, that's fine."
Toland looked up at him.
"Kinic..."
"Yes."
"Why are you brewing Stenshium?"
Kinic blinked twice, shocked, then chuckled.
"I guess it was a little too much to expect to be able to get you to help brew it without you realizing what it is... Two nights ago, Querth found prints in the woods, big ones."
Toland's eyes widened, looking between the bowl and Kinic, "There's... a direwolf out there?"
Kinic laughed, albeit slightly forced, "Almost certainly not, but, better to be safe than sorry. So don't go spreading rumors. If one is out there, it will smell this and leave the area. Don't worry. Nothing bad is going to happen."
Toland raised an eyebrow.
"I promise. But anyway, it's impressive that you guessed from just three ingredients. You really should take me up on my offer of becoming my fulltime apprentice, you have a gift, you should use it."
"I still don't know," Toland cringed, "It's just not me, I guess."
Kinic sighed, "Well, you are going to have to choose something soon, you should have chosen something a year ago really. But, I understand, rushing into things saw me standing on the steps of the royal college thinking I was having a heart attack. So..."
He shrugged and Toland gave him an understanding smile. With that, Toland left the healer's house and jogged on to his next set of chores and odd jobs.
As he went, he took a furtive look over his shoulder at the forest on the edge of the village. Suddenly, it looked a lot darker between the ancient trees.
Advertisement
- In Serial80 Chapters
Echoes Of Memory
Vealand's jewel twin cities of Portin and Brinhold fell to terror fourty years ago. During their fall a man rose up and saved them. He took the survivors of the fall of the Veaish coast and brought them inland, setting up his new empire inland in the mountain stronghold of Fiell. The Emperor singlehandedly saved the people of Vealand. Everyone knows that and everybody in Vealand adores him as a hero and the savior of their nation. Dren though, says differently. As a Memory Mage and the leader of the Rebellion, he's desperate to prove that the Emperor is a false savior. He bets his life on it. He fails that bet and fails in his last attempt at transfering his memories into the mind of one of the Emperor's Inquisitors. Now it's up two the two most unlikely people, Aris Ravenscroft, the head of Fiell's city guards and Kestrel, a street rat, to save Vealand from a monster that it worships as a savior. Notice, this is a High Fantasy novel, there are no LitRPG or Cultivation elements in it.
8 190 - In Serial33 Chapters
The Not Supposedly King
An orphan who is having a good life after of all his hard work.All gone in an instant.You took the body of a fool king.Your kingdom is worthless and dying.What will you do?---------------------------------------------------------------------follow our not so lucky mc on what he will do.This story is more comedy and funny misfortunes. The mc is good/nice type, if you`re looking for op,violent or mc that became unreasonable! This is not the fiction you`re looking for. There is nothing special here just another work from a noob author. Sorry if this story disappointed you.Warning: Don`t mind the grammars.Additional tags[18+]: Foul language,gore and 18+ stuff..
8 85 - In Serial40 Chapters
Jupiter's Rising
Living a regular life as a college dropout, a self employed internet addict with a lack of a girlfriend since his whole carreer change, Jupiter finds himself alone and uninterested in anything really. It all changes when he impulsivily buys an item from a not so smart pirate which turns into an unexpected meeting with slime god. Follow along to find out just how, what and where our buddy Jupiter potentially loses his sanity on this adventure of dimensional proportions! Genre: Fantasy/Sci-Fi/ Game Elements ------------------------------------ Author's Note: Hello, Just leaving this note here to say this is my first fiction and I am happy to see where this goes and hopefully the people who read enjoy my megalomania put on paper and lived through my little buddy Jupiter~ Happy Reading!
8 66 - In Serial23 Chapters
Birth of the World Tree
An amnesiac reborn as a tree. An adventurer cursed by bad luck. An incoming calamity, one with the potential to end the world.Our MC wakes up one day as a tree seed, with no idea how they got there, but all their knowledge intact. Visited by a god, they are warned of a coming disaster that has apocalyptic implications. But their new body (as well as a gift from a mischievous god) makes them one of the few beings able to prevent the world’s end. Of course, in order to do that, they’ll have to grow into a tree of great power, one that could consume the world before whatever’s coming has a chance to.Meanwhile, a routine mission goes off the rails when Maria stumbles onto a massive conspiracy, putting both her and her companions in danger should those responsible find out.All while the countdown to destruction ticks down.——————————————————Updates Thursdays and Sundays at 5PM UTC-5 Discord link can be found at the end of a chapter Art by EeveeAroAce on Tumblr Cross-posted on ScribbleHub (currently ahead)
8 273 - In Serial9 Chapters
For King and Kin: A Fox's Journey
Two fox-kin siblings set out to serve a human king, hoping to secure ties with the royals that had formed in times of war. Yet, much is demanded of them as their father's reputation precedes them. They find the King struggling to keep his vassals from breaking the terms of the armistice. With reports of smuggling increasing and the nation's strategic resources at stake, their father is sent to oversee the border. The king, fearing for his own children, hopes for six more months. Meanwhile, tavern brawls turn bloody as a cry spreads across the land, "Loyalty? Or bread!". What to expect: - cold steel weapons with magic- colonial-esque era- elements of strategy (including logistics)- powerful mages that can't block a crossbow bolt. Except for some earth mages.- realistic depictions of violence. I don't care to focus on it. - other races introduced eventually, if they fit. - Australian english, except when I slip. Not much slang though, I reckon.
8 128 - In Serial29 Chapters
A Place To Call Home (Richie Tozier X Reader X Bill Denbrough)
Y/N L/N... is a 13 years old girl with a very hard past. Her parents passed away due to a tragic accident. Having to follow her aunt, means she have to move to a town called Derry, Maine. In order to protect herself from further loss, she chose to keep her distance from everyone. This makes everyone judge her as the Quiet Kid as they know nothing about her but her name. But one event with a group called The Losers Club, change her life. What happens if she catches the heart of a certain trashmouth and stuttering boy. Who will win her heart? Read and follow her journey in...A Place I Call HomeDisclaimer: I don't own IT. Following the movie and adding my own version. DO NOT COPY MY WORK!!
8 59