The Rainy Day Trip
Part XV
By Saphron (my name still isn't in the dictionary…::growls::)
A/N: Another long chapter! Well, our heroes discover a bit of useful 411 and everyone is happy. Read on, read on.
Relinquishment (ie: Disclaimer-hey that's a good word, kinda. Means to give up or yield. Now, for my 'oath.') On this 8th day of the month of February in the year of our lord, King Jonathon III of Conte, I do hereby solemnly swear unto my knight's sword that all characters are the sole property of One Tamora Pierce, Goddess of all fantasy literature for girls and the eternal deity of literary perfection. In short, I own nothing.
The first thing the three did once everyone was up was to run to Raoul and tell their story. They weren't sure if he would believe them, as even Cleon was still a tad bit skeptical, but they had to try.
They found him, Michael, Iness and Sam inside the library, studying and discussing and reading. They appeared more or less normal, which was a good sign.
They opened the door, lined up, and Joren stepped forward to tell what he had discovered. When he was done the four adults glanced at each other uneasily.
"You three drank some wine even though we told you not to, huh?" He said.
"What?!" They chorused.
"Come on Kel," her older brother piped up, "you know not to get drunk."
"Must still be in their systems," muttered Sam.
"Could be the fresh mountain air," Michael said more to himself, "high altitudes can do that you know."
Raoul shook his head, "you three had better go lien down for a bit."
Try as they might, Kel, Cleon and Joren could not convince them that they were telling the truth. In the end they had each been ordered to spend the rest of the day in bed drinking lots of fluids and getting plenty of rest. Sam even brewed up a potion to help, 'clear their minds.'
"Well that failed miserably," said Cleon as they walked out of the room, trying to get the nasty taste of sulfur out of their mouth.
"No kiddin' Kennan."
Kel rolled her eyes, "well we're not giving up. We'll just have to find out about this 'nox-noctris umbra' potion thing on our own."
"Where will we look?" Cleon asked.
"A book," answered Kel.
"No good," Joren muttered. "They're in the library, and besides, do you honestly think any information as important as this would be found just any commonplace like the library? No, if anything, it'd be in those upstairs rooms he forbade us to enter…"
*
First they checked to see where the wizard was; fortunately for them he was out with some of the men socializing her perhaps doing something else. They climbed the forbidden stairs and tried the door. No luck, it was locked.
Joren sighed, "I'll handle it." He took a long, skinny piece of metal and stuck it in the door luck. He crouched down and began moving it around.
Cleon was obviously a bit impressed, "where'd you learn to pick locks?"
"Picked it up as a kid." He didn't say anything more and thirty seconds later the door swung open and the three marched in. They were expecting it to be harder than that, but obviously the wizard didn't think anyone would intrude on his personal space.
The workroom was definitely not what you'd call full of normal décor. Books lined the walls all askew, much less organized then the library, and along shelves and tables lay little jars with Kel-didn't-want-to-know floating around in them. Littered along the ground lay heaps and heaps of papers and random writings in ruins and other archaic symbols. Crystal balls and scepters were randomly spread throughout the room, and other magical devices. But the most eye-catching thing that the trio noticed was an altar of blood.
In the back center of the room there lay a shrine of the most horrific things Kel had ever seen. Skulls hung atop one another in a dangling chain, blood splattered the black cloth and long burned-out incense let out a smoky, charred smell. Kel thought she was going to be sick.
They walked reluctantly forward, they really didn't want to take even one step closer to the chantry of evil, but they had to find out the antidote potion. They started pulling down books and papers and looking through anything and everything with writing.
"I can't believe I'm reading of my own free-will," Joren muttered, sure he opened books to do mandatory homework, but he hardly ever actually opened, much less read without reluctance, a book that was not education-related.
Kel tugged at the Yamani cat hanging around her neck, she had discovered a small hole at the top of the head and strung a string through. It made the perfect necklace and Kel liked to finger it and fiddled with it when she was nervous, which wasn't often.
For the next two 'n half hours they searched, and searched, and searched, and searched some-more, but to no avail. They could find nothing. The afternoon had slipped by; they hadn't gotten anything accomplished besides nearly hurling from the putrid odor radiating from the altar, and they were about to give up.
Kel sighed, "it's no use. Come on, let's go. Half this stuff we can't even read, either it's written in a different language or Vlas needs to work on his penmanship." Cleon, who was sitting right next to her, chuckled.
"What? You're giving up? What happened to our 'we're not leaving till we're done' Kel?"
"She's gone on a vacation, now let's go. I still haven't fed poor Crown."
Joren surprised them all with, "well you guys can scram if you like but I'm staying."
Kel sighed again and tugged at her necklace. "Fine, I just wish I knew were we could get the info we need."
Cleon tried to joke, "why it's right h-, right h-, right-" he stopped and scratched his head. Kel and Joren glanced at him. "Well I was going to say that it's right h-, I dunno, I just can't say it!"
Joren raised his eyebrows so they were nearly lost behind his light blond hair, "What? Stop kiddin' around Kennan, this is serious business."
"NO! I'm serious, I can't say that it's right, well, h-ugh! It's like I can't lie or something."
Right as he said that Kel felt a small itching/burning sensation on her chest. "Ow!" She exclaimed, as she reached into her shirt and pulled out the Yamani 'cat.' "What in the-?"
"Kel? What's wrong?
"I-I don't know, m-my cat, it just started hurting me!"
Cleon looked confused but Joren quickly grabbed it out of Kel's smitten hands, nearly choking her to death.
"Hey!"
"Let me see this a sec." He started examining it, turning it over this way and that, which was very uncomfortable for Kel, who had to lean over so he could see it. Finally he gave it back to her.
"It's magic. Powerful magic, I'm surprised you didn't know it before."
"Well I don't exactly have the gift do I?" She snapped.
He shook his head, "it's some kind of token or charm, and whenever you're in its presence, I don't think you can lie."
"That's crazy."
"Is not."
"Is too."
"Is not."
"Let's test it."
"Ok."
"Say, um…say, 'Joren is the high and mighty supreme ruler of the universe, and everyone bows down to him.'" And then added, "'plus all chics really dig him.'"
Kel rolled her eyes, but to prove him wrong, "fine. Joren is the, is the, is the-" She couldn't say it! She physically couldn't say it!
"See, I told you so," he said with a smirk. He loved being right.
Kel glared at him, "but that doesn't help us."
"Yes it does, here. He pulled the string over his head and stood up. "We can find out all about the nox noctis-umbra venenum in this room." He grinned, "see?"
"No."
"I just said we can find what we're looking for while holding the cat, that means that I must have told the truth."
"There's a first," Cleon muttered.
But Kel's eyes lit up in recognition, "of course!"
The next half-hour they played a game of hot & cold, that went more or less along the lines of, "I am three feet away from the potion info." Etc. etc., and eventually the game ended when they discovered a large leather-bound book peeking out from underneath a woven silk tapestry. They pulled away the wall hanging and lifted out the dusty book. Cleon took a deep breath and blew hard; a thick layer of dust flew off and drifted lazily through the air. After everyone was done hacking and gagging from a small coughing fit they opened up the old crankily yellow parchment pages and after flipping through a few pages Joren read aloud:
The Nox Noctis-Umbra Venenum
Antidote for the 'mens mentis tempero' potion, a powerful tonic used as a mind-control poison. The nox noctris-umbra venenum (potion) is the only known cure for this particular toxin. It is made using the petals of the nightshade flower, hence the name, an extremely rare plant found only in high mountainous altitudes. It only blooms at night, unlike most floras it drinks up moonlight instead of sunlight. Its soft petals range in color from a pale violet to a rich purple, but beware the deadly thorns, which bring only eternal sleep when pricked by one. It is rumored that the peoples of the ancient world often used it in many medical cures to help clear the mind and even restore lost sanity. Its existence is doubtful, for all of whom have gone in search of this magical plant have never ere returned to tell of it. Some believe that it has incredible powers unknown unto humankind, however these people are often discredited. Whether or not it truly does blossom is an uncertain fact, however prominent it may be in folk-legends of yore.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"Ok, so what we gotta do is go find this plant, grind it up, and spoon feed it to our elder superiors, right?"
"Right. Come on, let's go."
***
~*Saphron*~
A/N: There ya go peeps, another chapter. I hope this is still interesting enough to read. Ok, so what happens now? I haven't really gotten that far yet. But I think I've got a good set up where something exciting can happen. There's tons of possibilities, (like getting lost, or attacked or something) everything from action/adventure to maybe a little romance. I'm sure I'll think of something fun to write, but if any of you have any ideas…well, don't hesitate to tell me, anything you wanna see happen to our fav trio? If not I'll come up with something, but anyhow, pleez review and mebbe suggest an idea or two, I'll give you full credit and a special gold star! It's bright and shiny and yellow, and I'm rambling, so anyhow, goodbye. (Thanks to everyone who already gave idea, drop Joren in lake, huh metal mage? Good idea! Tho' I don't think it's likely, very funny! I commend you.)
A/A/N: I'm not sure there are any plants that can survive off of moonlight, which is only deflected sunlight, but I don't know. Anyhow it's magic or something; either that or I can use my creative license. Well ok, just wanted to note that. Bye again.
A/A/A/N: And thanks to everyone who reviewed, I luv y'all. Still undecided about joren or cleon…::sighs:: I'm keeping a tally though, if it's obvious who everyone rather have it'll for sure go that way, if not…well, they have a life of their own so we'll see what happens. Happy weekend peeps. J