Chapter 15: A Herbal Helper

Alcar stepped forward peering down the stairs. Golgrasanna had called his name, but she didn’t seem to be coming up the stairs.

Not yet, anyway.

“One minute, my good friend!” he responded, trying to sound as calm and cheerful as possible. “I’m just making sure the dog won’t get out. Thanks so much, Gol!”

He now crept through to the sorcerer’s large study, and began to open more cupboards that he hadn’t previously tried. Soon he found an array of bottles of herbs, spices and potions. One in particular was sitting near the front of the cupboard, the lid having been removed and left off:

Ogram Leaf

Alcar read the label, which was handwritten in red ink, neat but spidery:

A near-flavorless herb which can be used to induce sleep, or, at higher doses, a period of unconsciousness such as may be useful for surgery etc. Add to drinks or soups, or mix with a fruit tincture. Be sparing, as effects take some time to emerge, and unconsciousness can be permanent – no more than three leaves at a time. Preparations made with ogram leaf can develop a foul smell over time.

The jar was empty.

“Shit,” he muttered, taking a glance over his shoulder towards the stairs, and then beginning to look through other jars and bottles for anything that looked like it might act as antidote to the herb; Lox’aar needed his help.

At last, something caught his eye – a name that sounded familiar.

Loris Root

Again, Alcar turned the jar around to read the label:

A powerful stimulant; prepare as a tea or place under the gums. Small doses are ideal when there is a need to wake early. Can have a mildly beneficial effect on creativity and help the user to focus on scholarship. Larger amounts can cause mania. Also useful to counteract liquor and other depressants.

Alcar grabbed the jar and hurried back through to the bedroom; Brutus was already at the door and jumped up and licked him excitedly as he entered. “Good boy, Brutus,” he said, patting the dog. “Very good. But just sit down. Sit.”

The dog sat by the door.

He hurried over to where Lox’aar was still lying, almost motionless, pulling out several strands of loris root as he moved; the rest of the jar he shoved into his pocket. He briefly reflected on what the jar had said as he reached the stricken warrior’s side... yes – ’under the gums’ was the instruction.

Where exactly were a lizardwoman’s gums?

With a shrug, Alcar pulled at Lox’aar’s lower jaw, shoved in four or five strands of loris root, and then pushed her mouth closed again. It may not be perfect, but it would just have to do. Just as long as she didn’t choke on it. Twisting the couple of strands that remained in his hand, he shoved them under his own lower lip.

Just then, Alcar heard a scraping noise behind him. On instinct, he ducked low, and pulled away to one side, just in time for a long thin dagger stabbing towards the space where his neck had been moments before.

“Golgrasanna – how could you do this to us?” he cried, backing away, and reaching for the knife that was tucked into his breeches.

“It’s simply professional, Alcar,” she said, stalking towards him, purple eyes intent. “I get no pleasure from killing the likes of you, but I have been hired by the Ironrock Dwarves.”

“Man, I never knew dwarves were so evil.”

She smiled. “They just want to collect their debts, and will pay me to help them do so. That meant disrupting your plans to free the sorcerer, I’m afraid. I hoped you would harmlessly drop off, but that wasn’t to be. And so...” She tailed off, then crouched and slashed out with the blade. Alcar dodged again, but this time he was too slow – the knife jammed into his thigh. He screeched in pain, staggered backwards into the large wooden armoire, and fell to the ground clutching his leg.

Golgrasanna stepped forward, standing over him with the knife dripping blood in her hand. “I am sorry. You would have made a terrible sorcerer, but you never did anything to offend me personally. This is just my work. I’m a professional.”

“Brutus, here!”

As Golgrasanna slashed down with the dagger once more, a shape flew across the room and she was bowled over as Brutus thumped into her. Golgrasanna smashed into the table beside the bed and knocking its little candle holder onto the floor. Her dagger flew from her hand as she fell and slid right under the bed. After the initial contact, Brutus paid her no heed, instead licking eagerly at Alcar’s face, but the young man was already rising, getting to his knees despite the waves of pain from his leg, and raising his knife in a shaking fist with the hope of forcing the demonic woman to surrender.

But Golgrasanna was already rising too, and even unarmed, she looked unconcerned by the threat that Alcar might pose. “You’ll need to do better than that against a trained assassin like me, if...”

She didn’t finish her sentence. Instead, her big purple eyes lost focus, and she slumped to the ground. Behind her, Lox’aar had risen, and was holding the butt of her own dagger – a weapon that she had brought down with immense force in-between the horns on Golgrasanna’s head.

“Jeez, talk about showing off.”

“Lox’aar!” exclaimed Alcar, hurrying forward. “You saved my life! Though to be fair, I may have saved yours as well.”

Lox’aar now sat down again, putting one hand to her head and then spitting the several strands of loris root out onto Maluhk’s bed. “Ugh – what the hell was that in my mouth?”

“It’s loris root – counteracts the sleeping herbs you were fed in the stew.”

The lizard woman looked at the prostrate figure of Golgrasanna, and then back at Alcar. “Makes sense, dude. I heard enough, about her being an assassin and working with the dwarves and all that. Sounds like Maluhk really took his eye off the ball when it came to recruiting apprentices.” She sniffed, put her dagger down, and then clutched her head in her hands as if suffering from a terrible migraine. “No offence intended, by the way.”

Alcar snickered. “None taken. Anyway, you are right. Three of the seven recruits were enemy infiltrators that appear to have worked together in his kidnap, and one ran off to get a cleaner and never came back. I suck at anything to do with magic, and I can’t even keep my master safe.” Brutus was back at his side, and Alcar stroked the dog’s head absently. “Well done, boy.”

Lox’aar stood up from the bed, limping, and restored her blade to its sheath. “Don’t put yourself down, dude. You figured out what had happened to me, protected yourself against this assassin, saved a dog, and found a suitable remedy. I’d say a good day’s work, overall.”

“Thanks, Lox’aar!”

Alcar felt genuinely pleased – despite Maluhk’s kidnap and the ongoing trashing of the sorcerer’s tower, maybe it wasn’t all bad. “And I just remembered something – her blade went under the bed.”

“We need to do something about Golgrasanna, anyway,” said the lizardwoman, as Alcar fished under the bed and retrieved the thin dagger. “If that’s even her name. Why don’t you keep that dagger, and search her to see if she has anything else dangerous about her person. Then you can help me move her. I think Maluhk’s basement can be locked.”

The pair proceeded to pull the unconscious demon woman out to the landing, after which Alcar took on the role of carrying her downstairs. Golgrasanna was surprisingly light. Lox’aar limped after him with Brutus at her heels; true to her word, she found a key, and was able to lock the door to the basement with Golgrasanna safely inside

“That should hold her,” she said.

Alcar nodded. “She had these two spiked stars in her pocket, and also a length of wire.

“Those are throwing stars, very popular in the Confederacy,” said Lox’aar. “As to the wire, I don’t know – but you might as well keep a hold of it.”

“Perhaps she used it to throttle her victims.”

“Yes. Perhaps.” Lox’aar looked around. “Where are the others?”

Alcar’s eyes widened. “The others – they have gone to rescue Maluhk. But they all ate the doped stew as well. They could been captured.”

“Then let’s go after them!”

Alcar looked Lox’aar up and down, and shook his head. “No. Warlik was very clear that you should stay and rest. You’re injured. He entrusted the task to us. Etienne and Olynka are with him, and I will try to catch up with them.”

Lox’aar pointed to Alcar’s injured thigh, which he had barely remembered in the excitement, though had been aware of a dull ache from his leg the whole time. “That looks pretty nasty too. I’m not sure if you’re up to it either. You’ve lost quite a bit of blood.”

He tried putting his weight on it, and winced. “Blood I can cope with, for a while at least. But I don’t know if I can run.”

She nodded, then reached into a pouch at her waist and pulled out a crimson-colored potion that looked like it was full of tiny suspended golden flakes. “This is a healing potion,” she said. “I took one myself after my fall. Not powerful enough to fully heal a fractured leg, but I think it would fix you up. Here – take it.”

“Are you sure? I can’t pay for it.”

“Just take it.”

He nodded, taking the potion and removing its stopper. Soon he had poured the entire contents down his throat. “Ugh. It’s sour!”

“Yes. But it’s good stuff, I promise.”

Alcar nodded. “Then I will do my best to find the others. I have more of the loris root if I need it. Please – stay here with Brutus, and keep an eye on things here.”

Lox’aar narrowed her eyes, then glanced at the locked basement door and nodded her scaled head. “Very well then. Thank you. Hurry – and don’t let anything delay you!”