Chapter -102: A Poisoned Lure

Carmine and Brine walked along the shoreline together on their hunt for the truth. Carmine had dried off quickly thanks to his water absorbing clothes.

He then looked out towards the sea and didn't notice until now that he was smiling ever since he was rescued.

"Hmm." He hummed with delight.

"Enjoyin' yerself out here?" Brine inquired.

"I am," Carmine replied before turning to face his new friend, "You have a remarkable view, though it is a little bright on the eyes."

"Heh! Yeah, I getcha. You should see this place at nighttime!"

"I wish I could." Carmine replied with a tinge of melancholy.

"Eh, what's preventing ya?" Brine perked up.

Carmine graced him with a sweet innocent smile and told him sincerely, "I have an early bedtime."

Brine stood there staring at him with a few blinks of the eye. Then he hung forward and chuckled, "Ha, that makes ya sound like a little kid!"

Carmine gestured his hand out as he asked, "You get to stay up late at night?"

"'Get to'? Nah, I ain't gotta ask permission from my parents anymore, chum. I live in my own place."

Carmine's eyes widened until they were the size of sunflower cores, "You can do that?"

"Of course!" Brine said without a biting comment, mild or otherwise.

"Huh," Carmine expressed with a hint of awe, "Most homes in Tanglefae are arranged to accommodate whole generations of family members."

"That sounds neat," Brine replied sincerely, "But I'm glad that I finally set out on my own. Who knows? Maybe ya'd get a lot of it too."

The vine at Carmine's side started wiggling around and he turned to address it, "Don't worry, I won't leave you."

Brine perked his brows and wondered, "Uhhh, I've been meanin' to ask, chum. Who ya talkin' to?"

Carmine graced his chest with his hand and chuckled warmly, "This is a fragment of my friend, Ividae."

"Ividae? Ya mean the Titan of Tanglefae?" Brine said in a dull and frankly unsurprised tone of voice.

"...I was expecting a bigger reaction than that." Carmine admitted.

"Heh, I think being around Sarajin so much turned me into a quick believer." Brine said, waving his hand at the vine, who waved back.

"He does have that effect on people," Carmine said with a deeply fond voice, then closed his eyes before continuing to heap praise on him, "He's like a ray of sunshine, bringing good will to the ungrown seed and helping it blossom higher and higher until it reaches it's true potential."

Carmine opened his eyes to find Brine blown back, stunned. Then he pulled back with a halfway humored remark of, "The way ya talk about him constantly ya'd think ya had feelings for the guy."

To which Carmine closed his eyes again with a wide smile and said without hesitation, "Maybe I do. He's a very important person to me."

Brine was stunned into silence and after a long, quiet pause brushed his fishing rod against his back and then glanced out towards the sea with a sigh, "He IS a pretty swell guy."

"Ya be with him long enough and ya just feel...motivated to get up every day and do yer best, even if ya stumble and fall face first into the water."

Brine glanced across his shoulder and remarked, "No jab at you intended."

"It's alright," Carmine chuckled, "I had a lot of fun falling."

"Heh, ya make trauma sound delightful..." Brine said with an uneasy shiver. He then jostled his rod in place and perked up with a smile, "Well, enough chit-chat about our friend! We need to figure this problem out so he'll be able to come back without any worries!"

Carmine nodded and the two continued on their way.

Midway to their destination Brine wondered aloud, "So, what do ya think's going on 'ere anyways?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why would someone wanna sabotage something as minor as a trickle of water flowing into the forest?"

Carmine turned around and the two stopped to converse this further, "The water's pure because it comes from your Titan."

"Yeah?" Brine said, tilting his head.

"As it flows through the forest it gives extra nutrients to the plants and helps them grow faster and healthier, keeping Ividae from having to work as hard to maintain the forest."

"Guess even a Titan's gotta rest their mind every now and then," Brine thought long and hard to make sure he was getting it, "Soooo, what yer sayin' is that when the water stops, Ividae has to work harder?"

"Which means they won't be able to protect the forest at their best."

"Sounds like someone lookin' to invade yer Tribe would benefit a lot from this."

"That was my first thought," Carmine gestured his hand out, "And I suspect they were hoping for our people to get desperate enough to attack Aquamoria."

"And they would have soon enough, had I not mustered up the will to leave the forest."

"Yah, the last thing we'd need is another Tribe breathing down our necks," Brine crossed his arms and wondered aloud, "What kinda jerk would try'n force a fight like that?"

"We don't know. We have to see the manner in which the perpetrator has stopped the water." As Carmine made that remark he felt the vine shriveling against his ear.

He glanced aside with worry and a whisper of, "Huh? You...might have gotten an idea on who it is?"

There was a small, frightful chill coming off the vine and left goosebumps on the back of Carmine's hands. He clenched his fists, turned to Brine and nodded, "No more breaks. We need to get to the site."

They thus made their way to the edge of the forest where the water was barely trickling in. The only things they had to examine at first glance were the trench the water went through, the small arrangement of palm trees, and the sea itself.

"Haven't been out here since I was a wee skipper!" Brine commented while settling his fishing rod down in the sand and crossing his arms, "Hmmm..."

"You noticed something already?" Carmine said as he gestured his way.

"It's ticklin' my brain, just gimme a little bit." Brine rolled his eyes back into his head over how deep he was thinking about this.

Carmine nodded and then headed straight towards the trench in the sand, weaving through the many trees along the way. He was smooth, gliding his hand along the trunks without pausing to think.

"Are these what palm trees are supposed to feel like?" The vine at his side nodded.

"Hmmm..." By the time Carmine made it to the trench Brine ran up by his side and got on his knees. There was so little water flowing through here now that spitting in the trench would probably provide more to the forest.

Carmine sank his finger into the wet sand and glided it left to right. There was a temptation to test the grains he brought back like he did the dirt, but something in his brain told him he should hold off...

He rubbed the sand off his finger and then turned to Brine, who was lightly splashing the little water left into the air, "The water don't feel off..."

They both stood up and looked out to the sea, where no water was coming through at all. And it was as blue and radiant as the rest of the sea.

"This don't make any sense." Brine deduced, a sentiment Carmine agreed on silently.

"There's no signs of change in the trench or the sea," Carmine brushed his hand up towards his friend and asked him, "Brine, do me a favor and put some water in the trench."

Brine did a sharp 180 and then firmed his eyes with determination before nodding. He then extended his hand out towards the trench and poured water out of his palm until there was a one inch creek flowing between the sea and the forest entrance.

Carmine then froze up like he was a tree and stared down at the trench, while Brine prodded him for answers, "What do ya think'll happen?"

Carmine stayed silent.

"Carmine?" Brine grumbled a little then joined him in observing.

Minute after minute passed, and Carmine stayed rooted in place while Brine wandered off and did some stretches to keep himself spry.

It was a full hour before Brine thought to check and see if his new friend was alive.

"Hey, ya awake there?" As he was about to put his hand on Carmine's back, they winced and pointed at the trench.

"Look."

They both observed the water had gone down a tiny bit, but more importantly, there was a subtle movement in the sand at the sides of the trench.

"There's something...string-like wiggling into the water." Brine commented.

"String...like?" Carmine puckered his lips with curiosity and then cautiously bent down to examine the tiny holes being poked into the sand.

And from those holes emerged a familiar sight for Carmine: Root tips.

"How is this possible?" Carmine whispered.

"Eh?" Brine added.

Carmine squinted hard and then concentrated on the roots but he felt...nothing. The vine at his side shriveled up again, like it was shivering with dread.

Carmine let out a long, worrying gasp and then stood up, glancing aside at Brine to say, "There's roots in the sand that are absorbing the water at an abnormal rate. And on top of that..."

Carmine gave a stern and serious glare that sent a chill down his friend's spine, "They are laced with poison."

"P-Poison...?" Brine stuttered, "What's...poison?"

"There's no easy way to describe it. It's bad. And this particular poison can be lethal to humans if ingested."

Brine grit his teeth in anger and shouted, "Someone's defiled our water?!"

Carmine shook his head, "No, I don't think that's quite it. The water's being drained out, so any impurity that would've gone into it has been absorbed into the sand along the trench."

Carmine glanced concernedly along the trench and murmured, "What we're missing now is the 'How'. Roots can't function without a plant. So the source has to be..."

He caught Brine's expression slowly shifting to one of revelation. He was turning towards the palm trees and sounded like he was regretting being a fool...

"I think I figured it out..." Brine whispered, extending his finger towards the towering tree arrangement, "The trees...I don't think there were this many around last time."

Carmine's eyes narrowed with mild disdain as he began to advance towards the nearest tree. It was like any of the other trees...except when one looked at the leaves. Under the sunlight, anyone could just barely make out that there was a light, purple liquid moving through the veins.

Carmine then stepped around and pointed at the ground, "Brine, can you dig up the sand here?"

"I'll do ya one better, chum!" Brine then punched downward and fired a pressurized water bullet to blow the sand away. There, the horrible truth was revealed...

Dozens upon dozens of brown and purple laced roots sprawled throughout the sand. It wasn't just the one tree causing it either, there were more extending from other parts of the beach, planted so carefully they never intertwined with the healthier roots.

"Holy mackerel..." Brine gasped.

Carmine felt his fists clenching and trembled all over glaring at the roots. Brine looked his way and said, "Y-You alright, chum?"

Carmine winced and then brushed his hand up against the side of his face, "I...don't feel so good. My body wants to lash out and hurt someone."

"Well we'll track down the perpetrator and give him the ol' what-for later!" Brine exclaimed, "Will everything be ok if we uproot the bad trees?"

Carmine turned to him with a quick, affirmative nod, "Yes it will. Can you do it?"

Brine flexed his right bicep and declared, "These arms aren't for attracting mates, mate!"

With Carmine's ability to follow the roots and Brine's muscles, the two were swiftly able to pick out the rogue trees and rip them out of the sand, where they carried them out to the wastelands for the Rot Walkers to consume.

It took upwards of an hour for them to get them all, upon which Brine threw the final tree in triumph and exhaustion.

"Whew...!" He dropped his hands onto his knees and shouted, "A job well-done if I say so myself!"

Carmine stayed in the back rubbing his chin while reviewing this whole mess in his head, "The palm trees had to have been grown over a period of time...And whoever planted them knew enough about nature to plan out which way the roots would grow so the tips would end up near the stream."

His eyes began to narrow with worry as he glanced towards the forest, "Is the enemy one of my own people, or...?"

Brine slapped him on the shoulder to make him alert, with his heart now racing as the fisherman shouted in delight, "We make a good team, chum!"

Carmine hesitantly faced him with a smile and dull remark of, "Yes, we did great."

Brine perked up with interest and said, "Something wrong?"

"I'm still thinking about the poison," Carmine gestured his hand out from his chest, "WHY were they in the roots to begin with? The condition of our crops was due to the water declining."

"Dunno," Brine said while shrugging to stretch his shoulders, "Didn'tcha say it's harmless if it's not ingested?"

"Of course, but-"

"Well it only got in the sand," Brine chuckled and patted Carmine on the shoulder, "So it probably got dragged out into the sea by the rising tide and then slowly purified by Coralcea's power."

"But what if the sealife ate it?" Carmine stated.

"Doubt it!" Brine chuckled some more, "The only sea life that slurps up sand are clams..."

Brine's hand stiffened on Carmine's shoulder as the two's eyes slowly opened up. Brine then bit his teeth down and muttered in a pale voice, "The festival...!"

He spun around and swung his head around in a panic, running forward to the edge of the sea with Carmine walking close behind.

Brine clicked his tongue and a moment later spun back around swinging his hands out towards his friend, "Clams gather around 'ere all the time! Teach's about to feed a bunch of poison-filled food to our people!"

Carmine firmed his glare and remarked, "Then we need to get back as soon as we can."

"Damn it, poor Teach..." Brine grit his teeth with determination and after running to scope up his fishing rod swung his arm out to Carmine and shouted, "C'mon! I'll carry you on my shoulder!"

Carmine followed the instructions without hesitation only to be brought to a state of frozen shock when Brine picked him up like a leaf and laid him atop his shoulder stomach-first.

"Hold on!"

"W-Wait...!"

Brine vaulted across the beach like a bird hungry for fish and left a heavy cloud of sand dust in his wake that Carmine had to block out with his leaf umbrella.

Even going as fast as he could it took Brine ten minutes before he made it back to the village, and the festivities were already underway judging by the mugs of fish juice and fires crackling in open sand.

"Are we too late?!" Brine shouted, accidentally dropping Carmine onto the ground.

"Ooof!"

"Ah, sorry!" Brine turned to help him up but he got on his feet just fine, brushing the sand off his clothes.

"Where's Lulu?" Carmine wondered.

Brine stretched his neck out and then brandished his finger to the east, "Over there! She's got a huge bucket of clams ready for the fire!"

The two hastened towards her side with Brine obviously being quicker to get there, "Teach! Drop the clams!"

Lulu plopped the heavy bucket onto the ground next to the fire and propped her hand against her hip, looking more than a little annoyed at him, "Where've ya been, boy? I needed yer help carryin' these buckets an hour ago!"

"We have to call off the festival. The clams are tainted!" Brine shouted.

"Call off the...! What do ya mean the clams are tainted?!" Lulu then turned her head and saw Carmine approaching him, which set her off even more, "And what's he still doin' here?!"

Carmine looked her dead in the eyes and said to her as calmly as his heavy breathing allowed, "Lulu, please listen to me. The clams you caught ingested poison in the sand that's unsafe for human consumption."

Lulu's pupils shrank and she eyed Carmine with a furious glare, "I don't know what kinda trick you're tryin' to pull on me, but-"

A disgusting retching sound came from nearby and the three were horrified to find an Aquamorian falling to their knees and throwing up their stomach fluids and food onto the sand.

Lulu hurried to their aid and when she bent down to support their back she saw that the veins on their neck were turning purple

"W-What the hell..." She uttered in a tone oozing with dread.

The first sign of illness jumpstarted symptoms across the others who had gotten ahead of themselves in eating clams. Now they were paying with their bodies and stomaches, turning what should've been a merry yearly gathering into the grotesque site of a pandemic.

Carmine immediately turned to the bucket of clams and thrust his hand out. Vines stretched out from his clothes and wrapped around the bucket tight enough to prevent entry.

He then marched towards Lulu who was becoming more disheveled by the second and bent to her aid, "Let me take a look at-"

Lulu grazed his face with a wild swing of her arm and faced him with utter fury, "Get AWAY for them!"

Carmine stood on the defensive and faced her full, unbridled wrath with his heart wrenching at her eyes full of tears, "YOU did this to them...! This is what ya wanted wasn't it? The stupidity, the concern it was all an act to lower my guard while you snuck a disease into our food!"

"I wouldn't do this..." Carmine whispered.

"LIAR!" Lulu barked, arming her fist to clobber his head right off his shoulders.

Brine intervened at the very last second and grabbed Lulu's fist to hold it back, "Teach, stop it!"

She growled and snarled and swung her head back, viciously declaring, "You'd take his side?!"

"We wouldn't have found the poison without his help! He's not our enemy!"

"Then who is?!" Lulu screamed tearfully, echoing into the ears of every person gathering to watch this problem unfold.

"Who is it?! Who is it?!" She flung her head back and forth to both sides, the tears flying out of her eyes.

Carmine gave her a pitying, sorrowful look and whispered, "I wish we knew."

He then clenched his fist tightly against where his heart beat, "But it's not too late. Your people are just sick. They can be cured. Our leader is an expert in medicine and he'd be able to make one up in a heartbeat."

Lulu has made a decent effort to pull her fist free from Brine's grip with vigorous grunts.

"Please trust me, Lulu, I'm not your enemy." Carmine stated from the heart.

A moment of silence was followed by Lulu ripping her fist free and thrusting it right before Carmine's chest. She hunched over and gasped, her sweat and tears lining the sand beneath her feet.

She squeezed her fist and her whole arm trembled, "I'm supposed to be the leader...And yet I can't do a DAMN thing about our problems...!"

Following a few hiccups and sniffles, she raised her tear-soaked face to look at Carmine and grit her teeth, "I'm beggin' ya...please cure my people...!"

Carmine laid his hand on top of Lulu's fist and nodded, "We will get through this, together."

He then glanced aside at the vine around his ear and nodded before looking at Brine to say, "Carry me back to the forest. Ividae can get me back to my village quickly through the canopy."

"What should we do about the sick people?" Brine wondered.

Carmine looked at the vine again and hastily remarked, "Ividae says to put them on their back and force them to drink sea water. Coralcea's healing properties will delay the harsher effects of the poison."

Lulu stood up and clenched her fists, swinging her head around to her people still standing, "Ya heard 'em! I need all able bodies scooping water yesterday! The rest of ya go around and make sure no one's eaten a single clam! MOVE!"

Her authoritative voice spurred on the urgency in her people's steps and they ran amok to keep the poison from reigning supreme over them.

Brine and Carmine then nodded at one another, with the fisherman grabbing his friend and hightailing it back over to Tanglefae.

From there Ividae commanded the trees to pick Carmine up to the top of the leaves and carry him along like he was riding a wave.

A quick drop to the village to explain the situation along with a little reassurance that the outside would be ok, Carmine was able to recruit Mos to check on the Aquamorians.

Then it was just a simple matter of getting back to the beach as quickly as they could, with Brine's handling of the new passenger leaving them a little dizzy afterwards.

They returned to see Lulu had guided her people to follow her instructions to the letter, and fortunately it seemed the outbreak had been contained to just a dozen or so people.

There was plenty of unease and groans in the air as Mos took his first look at the ill people.

"This is worse than you described it, Carmine." He said, trying, and succeeding, at keeping his cool in the face of pressure.

The two leaders of these Tribes met each other eye-to-eye for the first time and Lulu hurried up to greet him with urgency in her voice and steps, "You're the leader of Tanglefae?"

Mos perked up a smile and remarked, "Are you the leader here?"

"I am."

"You're younger than the last one was."

"You knew the prior guy in charge?"

"I don't think we have time to reminisce." Mos said sternly, advancing past Lulu to reach the closest sick body.

Carmine and Brine remained silent observers as the two leaders took over. Mos bent down and gently pressed a couple fingers against the person's throbbing neck veins, causing them to grit their teeth with a hiss and ooze a little discolored sweat.

"...Khh!" Lulu scowled.

"Mmm," Mos put his hands on his chin and used the other to pull up the person's vest so he can put his ear where their heart lies.

It was pumping rhythmically, two beats, followed by a pause, then two beats again.

"I don't have a name for this condition, but..." Mos stood and turned to face Lulu, "I'm familiar with this type of poison."

"It enters through the intestines and spreads throughout the body from there. If it's not treated fast enough, the illness will cause the body to sweat until they are completely dehydrated."

Lulu was turning pale until Mos delivered the good news, "Fortunately since it has to spread throughout the entire body it's slow-acting and can be beaten by a fast-acting medicinal gel drank through the mouth."

"Can ya make it here?" Lulu pondered.

"Of course. This is what I taught myself to handle," Mos then waved Carmine towards himself and said, "Help me prepare the leaves. We'll need to grind them into a paste and then put them in the water buckets."

Carmine nodded and the two grabbed a couple bowls from the nearby houses, combining their powers to make enough leaves for all the sick people. Mos ground the leaves down with a tool and added in a few herbal gels to help ease the stomach.

Lulu paced nervously as it looked like her people might not make it through.

But there was ultimately nothing to fear, as with Mos' careful care and Carmine's aid, they were able to get the medicine into all the patients before the sweating worsened.

They waited it out and gave the patients the proper space. It was a tense few minutes before the symptoms showed any signs of retreat. First the bodies stopped sweating, then the veins shrank to normal. Finally, the patients' breathing became less labored and they were able to sink straight into a state of slumber with a smile.

For the first time since this panic unfolded, there was calm, with only the waves disturbing the peace.

"Ya did it..." Lulu breathed a sigh of relief.

Mos faced her with one last bit of advice, "Just keep them on their back for now. Take them to their homes to rest and give them a little more of that medicinal water if they act up. They should be back to normal by morning."

Lulu looked up at him, then over to Carmine. Her eyes were finally allowed to let the tiredness overwhelm them, making it difficult for her to just make eye contact and say what was on the tip of her tongue.

"I-I don't know what to say..."

"Don't," Carmine raised his hand, "We were just here to help."

Lulu shook her head and said in disbelief, "I just don't get it. After all the harsh things I slung yer way...Why'd you help us?"

"Because," Carmine looked right into her eyes and gave his sincerest answer, "I don't hate any of you."

Lulu closed her eyes and drooped over in defeat with a sigh, then wagged her hand in the air to say, "Maybe I oughta just make ya the new leader. Seems yer better at the job."

"You were the one who rallied your people to action," Carmine chuckled, "You've got the kind of voice and spirit I wish I could have."

"If I may," Mos interjected, the two leaders facing each other, though Lulu did not feel like an equal in the moment, "If there's anyone who doesn't deserve to be a leader right now, it's me."

"I...was aware of the problem going in our forest, and what would be needed to help us. But I was too afraid to leave my forest home for our sake...Until Carmine approached me, having ventured out bravely on his own."

"His tale of bravery opened my eyes to the bigger picture that Sarajin was always talking about...That there's troubles beyond our trees, and the only way we'll be able to survive is not by wasting time fighting...But working together."

"Thus..." Mos reached out to Lulu and said softly, "I propose an alliance between our two Tribes. That way we'll be able to defend ourselves against the other Tribes, and put pressure on our mysterious adversary."

"And hey think about it, teach!" Brine interjected, "If we ain't keepin' the forest folk at arms' length we could always give 'em more water to feed their plants in exchange for more trees on the beach! I bet we could get a lot outta more wood!"

"Ya know..." Lulu propped her hand upon her hip and then faced Mos with a bit more spunk in her demeanor, "That don't sound like such a bad proposition."

She then grabbed Mos' hand hard enough to make his normally stoic face squirm, "Whaddya say we give this unity thing a try...?"

"I-It would be my pleasure, Lulu of Aquamoria."

The two shook hands on what would be the dawn of a new era for both Tribes.

Carmine had an increasingly wider smile as Brine walked up beside him and patted him on the back, "Wouldja look at that? Wish Sarajin were here to see this."

He gave a couple more light pats before grinning from ear-to-ear, "It's all on you, chum!"

Carmine's smile slowly faded out as his chin sank against his chest. Brine looked at him and muttered with worry, "What's up?"

"..." There was still an unresolved question, to which Carmine slowly panned his gaze towards the vine on his ear to say, "Ividae..."

The vine perked to attention as Carmine asked it, "You know who was behind all this...don't you?"

Brine's brows perked up in shock, "An ol' enemy of a Titan? W-Who would be crazy enough to try and target a Titan?"

"Please, my friend, tell us...Who is the identity of the one defiling our ways?"

"Unexpected struggles can lead to unexpected alliances. Carmine and Brine not only succeeded in saving their Tribes, but through the echoes of my husband's influence, brought their Tribes together in harmony for now..."

"However, victory belonged to both sides of this conflict, as while they were solving the problem, the instigator had wormed his way into the forest..."

A figure wearing a dark green hooded cloak covered in wilted leaves splashed a cloud of brown-purple pollen onto a tree trunk. Not the first time he'd done so today, and if allowed, would not be the last.

As the sunlight from above passed through his cloak, he remained concealed.

He peeled away from the tree and stared at it with his eyes. His deep, cold and horrific looking eyes, with sclera swirling with a dark purple liquid. The veins near his eyes were throbbing violet-blue, an effect which seemed to spread throughout his entire body.

He calmly waved his draping sleeve out towards the tree and added a little more pollen for good measure.

He then stepped back and raised his defiled hand up towards his hood. A voice was speaking to him over a magical link, the voice of his fellow Sage, Nimus.

"Yo, I was doing a quick fly-by of the beach and thought I'd let you know your palm tree plot's been uprooted hard, Glade."

Glade glared at the tree in front of him and spoke calmly, "I do not care. I have successfully re-infiltrated Tanglefae and pollinated most of the trees."

"So you'll be free to move around?"

"The Titan's prying eyes were diverted long enough. Now, I can focus on my true objective. Do not get distracted with yours, Nimus."

"Heh, don't worry. You just make sure you whip up something good for the boss, alright?"

Glade lowered his hand and the voice went silent. He then crossed his arms into his sleeves and looked at the pollen. Already, there were little bugs swarming the bark, letting the pollen stick to their bodies.

"That's right my little minions, spread my pollen throughout the plant-life," Glade murmured callously as the bugs dispersed throughout the forest, "The Titan boasts omniscience...But even a god can be made blind if their vision is strained."

"You will not lay an eye on me until the time is nigh, ill-consumed affront of Nature. But this time, when you do..." Glade let his sleeves droop and from within slid out a light green sickle and chain that grazed the leaves on the ground as he walked away, "I will let spill the poison you hide in your twisted heart."

Next Time: The Mystery of the Arctic Knight