“PUUUUU--UUUUUY!”

They all looked round, startled by the sudden muffled shout.

The bounty hunter in black had begun to writhe around where he lay tied up on the ground, violently throwing his head this way and that and shouting something so loudly that they could hear it through his gag, although it was still impossible to make out what he was saying. In their heated conversation they had completely forgotten about him.

“PUU--UUY!” cried the man as he twisted on the ground, contorting his body inside the ropes. “PUU--UUY!”

“What’s wrong with him?” said Cid, concern raising the normally deep pitch of his voice.

“He’s a damned poppy addict,” Sagar said with a dismissive wave. “I promised him I would give him some if he told us the way to Nonts. Now the fool’s having a tantrum.”

“No,” said Cid, his bushy brows pushing together, “don’t you understand? Poppy addicts experience terrible withdrawal symptoms if they don’t ingest again within fourteen days. They have fits, and it feels like utter agony. Their whole body can flare with terrible pain and convulsions. Sometimes it can be so bad that it kills them. If they come off it, they have to cut down gradually. He needs some poppy seed.” He reached into his leather satchel and began to rummage around.

“So what?” said Sagar. “Who’s going to give it to him? I don’t have any. Let the bastard die. He’s served his purpose. I don’t know why he is still alive, anyway. I don’t even know why the pup wanted to keep him alive in the first place.”

Ryn bristled and his pulse quickened. “He did tell us the way to Nonts,” he said defensively. “And he told us about the poison he used on his sword.”

“If you hadn’t kept him alive for that, this young lady would be dead,” said Cid, glancing at Nuthea as he knelt down on the ground next to the squirming bounty hunter. He carefully held the man’s head in place with one hand, and with the other untied his gag.

The cloth of material fell away from the man’s face, and Cid tugged the bottom of the man’s headscarf down too, exposing his blackened mouth.

“POPPY!” the bounty hunter shouted in an inhumanly shrill voice, like he was being tortured. “GIVE ME POPPY!”

“Shhhh,” soothed Cid.

“What are you doing, old man?” said Sagar.

“I carry poppy with me in my healer’s bag,” said Cid. “It’s not just used for pleasure--in smaller doses it’s useful as an anaesthetic--to numb pain. In fact, I gave a very small amount to the young lady earlier.”

“That explains a lot…” Sagar mumbled. Nuthea didn’t respond.

Cid produced a small glass phial of many round, black objects--seeds-- unstoppered it, and tipped a few into the bounty hunter’s mouth.

“GIVE ME POP--” the bounty hunter shrieked again when he had swallowed, but then stopped mid-word. Immediately his grey eyes went glassy, his pupils grew bigger, and his body went still, no longer convulsing and wriggling. He lay his head back on the ground and stared up above him, though his eyes had lost focus.

“Ahhhhh…” A long, blissful sigh escaped the bounty hunter’s lips.

“What’s happened to him?” asked Nuthea.

“He’s gone into a poppy trance,” Sagar said scornfully.

“What’s that?” asked Ryn.

“Ain’t you seen one of these either?” said Elrann. “You need to get out more, farmboy.”

“It’s good that he is tied up for the moment,” said Cid as he watched the bounty hunter enjoying his reverie. “A poppy trance, when you ingest a large amount of poppy all at once, is a state of euphoria--bliss--unlike any other. It is supposed to be the most wonderful and amazing sensation that can be experienced in Mid, though I have my doubts about that. And it comes at a terrible cost. Once a person has experienced a poppy trance, they almost without fail become enslaved to it. Once the trance wears off it is only a matter of time before the person’s body, mind and spirit desire to experience the trance again, and so they become addicted to it, trapped in a never-ending cycle of craving and acting more and more desperately to obtain their next ‘hit’ of poppy seed. If you say this man is a bounty hunter, I would not be surprised if he became one in order to feed his poppy habit.”

“Why is it ‘good’ that he’s tied up, then?” asked Ryn.

“Some people can actually do things while they are in a poppy trance--get up, walk around, and so on--and they can last quite a long time, depending on how much the person takes. Peculiarly, you also have heightened senses, and are actually slightly stronger and faster during a poppy trance. So it’s very good that he is tied up. Though you better make sure he is properly tied up.”

“You seem to know an awful lot about poppy trances, old timer...” said Sagar as he bent over the bounty hunter and pulled on his cords to check they were tight enough. The bounty hunter moaned merrily.

“It’s my job to know,” said Cid. “I’ve treated many a poppy addict in my time.”

“What, get a lot of them in small town Nonts, do you?”

“I have not always lived in Nonts,” said Cid with a wry smile.

“Hey,” said Ryn, remembering what they had been talking about before they had been interrupted by the poppy-addict bounty hunter. “What did you mean you’re ‘coming with us’, anyway?”

“Yeah, old timer,” said Sagar, “who said you were tagging along?”

“Well,” said Cid, “just now I heard you say that you’re journeying to prevent a war and to do something for this young lady here. That sounds like a noble cause to me. It’s been a while since I’ve been adventuring and I’m itching to have one more adventure before I pass into the furtherlife. I have no living relatives left alive in Nonts and my apprentice is ready to take over at the Healing House. Now that Imfis has been invaded I have little desire to work as a healer in the service of the Morekemian Empire. So, I would like to come with you on your journey.”

The four of them--Ryn, Nuthea, Sagar, Elrann--all looked at each other, silently conferring over the possibility of adding this fifth member to their party (sixth, if you counted the captive bounty hunter).

Sagar ran his tongue along his upper lip. “I’m not buying this,” he said. “You’ve only just met us, old timer. You did us a favour healing me and Nuthea, I’ll grant you that, and we still need to pay you, but you’ve no good reason to suddenly join us on the turn of a bronze piece. You don’t even know what we’re doing, really. What’s really going on here?”

Cid’s smile grew even deeper, and he closed his eyes as he spoke. “Ah, you have me there, mister ‘captain’. I have my own personal reasons for joining you. But I would rather keep them to myself, for now. Suffice to say, my intentions are purely noble. And you need not worry about paying me for the healings--I have plenty of coin.”

“Oh, do come with us!” said Nuthea, clapping her hands together. “Do come with us, grandfather!”

Sagar slapped his hand to his forehead. “Not this again…”

“I will say,” said Cid, opening his eyes, and now they seemed to shine, though Ryn saw no colour in them except white light, “that from the way that this young man threw fire, and you, young man, commanded the wind, I assume that each of you is Jewel-touched. Therefore I also deduce that your journey has something to do with the Primeval Jewels, whether or not you know it yet. I discern here the Will of the One. Therefore, I would come with you to assist you.”

“Look,” said Sagar, “that’s all well and good, old timer, but not all of us buy into your religious mumbo-jumbo. Some of us may be ‘Jewel-touched’, or whatever you call it, but that’s got nothing to do with what we’re doing. I’m escorting the princess here back to her home country so that I can be handsomely rewarded.”

“Yeah,” said Ryn, feeling the need to speak up too, “and I’m trying to find the Imperial Officer who killed my parents and burned down my hometown, who’s probably headed in the same direction, so I can get revenge on him. I’m just tagging along with these guys until I can find him.” As he said it, he knew that it was no longer the whole of the truth. But he wasn’t about to admit that to everyone. Mother. Father. Hometown. Find Vorr. Get Vorr. Kill Vorr. Stay with Nuthea?

“S’right,” said Elrann, “and I’m just sticking around with these guys ‘cause they’re the last contract I took before the invasion, till something better comes up.” Ryn wondered if that wasn’t the whole truth, as well.

“Ahhhhhhh…” said the bounty hunter from somewhere in his poppy trance.

“Be that as it may,” said Cid, “two of you are Jewel-touched--”

“Three, actually!” said Nuthea happily. “I am Lightning-Crystal-touched.”

Cid’s bushy eyebrows nearly jumped off his face.

“Why would you volunteer that information, princess?” Sagar said, shaking his head at her. “You need to be a lot more careful who you go around telling that too. You’re far too trusting.”

Nuthea bit her lip, but then she said “It’s alright. He is a grandfather in the faith. I trust him.”

“Three of you are jewel-touched!” said Cid. “Well, that settles it even further. I would come with you to serve as your healer. And what of this ‘war’ you are seeking to prevent that I heard you mention?”

“I’m trying to get back to Manolia as soon as possible,” said Nuthea in her refined, royal tones, “to warn them that the Morekemian Emperor has gained knowledge of the Jewels, and is seeking them. I hope that this may prepare them for whatever he is planning.”

“What could be a more noble cause?” said Cid. “Truly, I discern the Will of the One in this. Again I tell you, I would come with you to serve as your healer.”