NOVEL NEXT Chapter 159 - Return to the Greenwood
When the time came for Lucas to return to the Greenwood, it was almost nostalgic. Heisenburgle was unwilling to send him out alone, even with their conspiracy to kill the Dragoness in full bloom. He sent Lucas with only a very small escort, though, who was instructed to obey him and help him with even menial tasks.
They didn't seem too happy about that, but then, Lucas didn't care. He had five guards, and he knew that half of them were spies for Heisenburgle and the rest were spies for the Prince. So, he couldn't even grab just the Wyrmsbane he was after. Instead, he made them stockpile all sorts of random things. The picked Wizened gnome caps, harvested Lampsur moss, and he basically had them pick any berries that caught his eye.
While they did that, though, he gathered whole bushel baskets full of Wyrmsbane Leaves. He told them that it was Dwarf Oak, which looked somewhat similar, but it was the Wyrmsbane he was here for. He didn't waste the opportunity to look around for anything interesting with his ability, but as time went on, he slowly ruled out everything he wasn't interested in, and in the end, nothing remained. So, he satisfied himself with stocking up on everything he needed to kill a dragon.
Wyrmsbane Leaves (unprocessed): Poison 4 (inhaled), especially effective on reptiles.
The leaves seemed to be the active ingredient, but he gathered samples of other parts of the plants as well, for further study.
Wyrmsbane Bark (unprocessed): Poison 2 (inhaled), endurance 1 (sturdy).
Wyrmsbane Seeds (unprocessed): Poison 1 (inhaled), healing 1 (revivifying), dexterity -1 (sluggish)
Wyrmsbane Roots (unprocessed): Inert.
It was only after spending the morning helping him gather a couple hundred pounds of various reagents that he finally let them off the hook. The guards were more than eager to return to the wagon and guard it when he went off on his own to goof around a bit.
Of course, Lucas doubted those were the only people tailing him in this situation, so on the way to his rendezvous, he went through soft glades full of moss that would let him see footprints, and through streams, not once but twice. Then, when he was sure he wasn't being followed, he used his own invisibility and moved that much faster toward the burned-out tower where he almost died last year.
Lucas smelled the group before he saw them. They'd obviously been here for hours and prepared a veritable feast for his arrival. While he couldn't make out exactly what they were cooking from here, his nose could identify the smells of roasting meat, succulent sauces, and the sharp scents of onions and peppers. He could even smell something that smelled dangerously like hot sauce, and that sped his steps.
Still, even though he was technically among friends, he didn't let them see that he could become invisible. He'd been betrayed too many times to fully trust anyone except for maybe Danaria, and only then, because she was a sweetheart.
Instead, he reappeared just inside the tree line and strolled in like he owned the place. The scouts they'd had set around the perimeter called out with various bird calls by the time they noticed him, but they were far too late.
"Well, look what the owlbear dragged in," Kar'gandin said with a guffaw. "Yere lookin' well for a prisoner, m'boy."
Nothing about the dwarf's appearance surprised him, and he smiled at his business partner. That smile was harder to hold when he saw Hura'gh. The half-orc was nearly healed, but the left half of his body had so many burn scars he looked almost like a comic book villain. Honestly, Lucas was surprised that he was alive.
He didn't say any of that, though, because he wasn't a prick. Instead, he smiled and shook the man's hand. "Looking good, big guy! How're you feeling?"
"Proud," the orc said, with only a mild speech impediment from his half-melted lips. "Not many orcs can claim to have survived a dragon attack."
"Ain't that the truth?" Lucas said, trying to gauge how the big man would react to his plans. He'd been planning to tell him, but suddenly it struck him that this might be a secret Hura'gh wasn't capable of keeping.
Instead, for now, Lucas looked around, greeting everyone, and noting a couple of familiar faces like Mort. "If all of you are here, then where's Dan… Where's our secret girl?"
"She's fine," Kar'gandin said. "We've got more good people than this. We could have even more if you'd send more Blue our way."
"I will," Lucas promised, "and soon. They just don't want to let me out of their cage just yet."
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
"Why?" Hura'gh bellowed. "You have done nothing. It is we who are wronged!"
"It is," Lucas agreed, "But the man doesn't see it that way. As far as he's concerned, this is Adin's fault, and by extension, my fault, so I have some digging to do to get us out of this hole."
"But why would you dig yourself out of a hole?" Hura'gh asked.
Kar'gandin ignored them and asked, "You say that like the man isn't already dead, me lad."
"Oh, he's dead," Lucas assured him. "I just don't get to do the honors until I've made nice with the dragon."
Both men burst out angrily at that. The dwarf was furious that Adin had survived after causing so much damage, and the half-orc was outraged that they would have to cooperate with the dragon in any way. The way they shouted, though, at ever-increasing volumes, though, Lucas couldn't understand either one.
Instead, after giving them both half a minute to rage, he raised his hands to silence them, and then said, "It's fine. I've got this. Anyone that fucks with us doesn't live to regret it. It's just about the future that it has been in the past, okay?"
Hura'gh tried to rage a second time, but Lucas stopped him again. "Listen, man. I get it. She fucked you up, and we're going to fuck her up, somehow, someway, but I didn't come here to talk about her. I came here to see you, so let's eat, alright?"
Food was something that they could all agree on, and ribs were quickly cut up and served. The chef had even gone to the trouble of making a spicy sauce that could have very easily been confused for real barbecue sauce, pleasing Lucas to no end.
The food was as messy as it was delicious. It was spicy too, so shortly after that, a keg of beer was tapped and distributed. While they ate and drank, Lucas gave them the highlights. He told them about his mistake with an intelligence potion and how it had made him stupid for weeks. He told them how his dueling practice was going.
Eventually, he even told him about his strength potion and the battle with an ice troll. That impressed even Hura'gh. "I would like to arm wrestle you under the effects of such a thing," the orc said. "You might actually be a challenge."
Lucas just nodded at that. He didn't have the heart to tell the man that
None of that was the highlight for Lucas, though. Instead, partway through the meal, with a twinkle in his eye, Kar'gandin produced a jar that looked suspiciously familiar.
"Is that my fucking salsa?" Lucas asked with a mouth full of food. "It is! How did this survive the fire?"
"Well, the cook called it spicy aged chutney," the dwarf said, "When she was going through the wreckage, she found it, but worried it might have spoiled."
"No way," Lucas insisted as he slathered it on his meat and desperately wished he'd thought to invent tortilla chips. "This is perfect. I'd say it's too spicy, but there's no such thing, right?"
He laughed, but no one else did. Then the dwarf continued. "The kitchens were the least damaged part of the entire manor. If we were inclined to rebuild—"
"We won't," Lucas clarified. "Not under the current regime. We aren't doing business anywhere the Prince of his dragon can find us, or this might happen all over again."
No one disagreed with that, and eventually they got around to discussing logistics and plans. Kar'gandin emphasized that they were getting down to it on product, and Lucas promised to arrange a shipment, but he wasn't concerned. As long as Lucas paid the Prince his cut, no one would stop the flow of such things anymore. They could practically open up a shop on High Street and sell it in fancy bottles if they wanted.
By the time Lucas decided that he'd stayed long enough, he didn't really say any of what he'd come here to say. He couldn't. He hadn't really planned to tell them that he wanted to get out of the drug business, but he could see how they'd take that.
While he knew that they'd welcome the idea that he was going to kill Skylara or die trying, he didn't think they'd be able to keep a secret. So he held that back, too. The only hint that he gave as Kar'gandin walked him out was, "Shit's going to hit the fan on some things sometime soon. I don't suppose dwarves have a long history of anti-dragon weaponry powered by firedust, or anything."
"I… that's not something I can elaborate to with outsiders," Kar'gandin answered, stonewalling him for the first time in a long time. "Might I suggest how ye heard of—"
"Forget it," Lucas said, "Finding a foundry to make what I need anyway might be impossible without alerting the Prince. What about Ballistas? Do you know anyone who could make those?"
"Depends on what you're hunting for, lad," the dwarf added cautiously. Despite his caution, Lucas could tell he was excited.
"Big game," Lucas answered, "Very big game. I was just thinking that if it tried to get away… perhaps we could launch some harpoons."
"Aye, that's possible," the dwarf agreed, "Though as I understand it, ye generally have to aim for the wings."
They talked a little more on the subject. Lucas never told the Kar'gandin that they were talking about Skylara, and he never asked outright, but they both knew. As to timing, all Lucas would say was "we're still weeks to months away. Things are in flux, but when I have a time and place, I'll send word."
After that, Lucas took a leisurely stroll through the Greenwood, but other than a near brush with a goblin who ran screaming in fear from him, he had no troubles. When Lucas returned to the carriage, he took more enjoyment than he should have in the frantic attitudes of the guards.
"I thought you died in those woods!" the guard captain insisted. "I've had men looking for you for hours. Where were you?"
"I was looking around for interesting herbs and spices, but got a little lost," Lucas lied, not caring what he thought.
The man spent several minutes blustering and trying to probe, but as soon as his men were back from searching for Lucas, they headed back to Blackgate, which was all he really wanted. It was a good day as far as Lucas was concerned. He'd gotten to touch base with the right people, and he'd harvested plenty of the reagent he most wanted to experiment with. He'd even gotten to taste his salsa, which was a dream he'd given up on ages ago, so other than the fact that the Prince was still leading him around by a leash, it was pretty much perfect.