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2022-06-14
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2022-12-11
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Snowdrop

Chapter 33: All the Rage

Notes:

They're all catching on!!

Chapter Text

The fight was tough and long, since these two could heal themselves and each other, but they beat them and the kid was safe. 

It was only after did Alfyn realize that one of them ran away. 

Then the other ingested poison after mentioning a Savior.

Alfyn rushed to his side when he collapsed, but the damage was done. The man lay dead before Alfyn knelt on the ground. He only touched him to check his vitals to confirm the death, then he pulled back. 

“That’s a strong poison,” he told the others, “don’t touch ‘im unless ya hafta.”

“Noted,” Cyrus acknowledged. 

Alfyn looked towards Ophilia and watched her comfort the little girl, then stood up and walked past her and their group. 

“Theri?”

Therion trilled and came out from behind a rock outcropping. He jumped into Alfyn’s open arms and climbed to his shoulder. Alfyn chuckled as he settled in and kissed his head. 

“Glad you’re safe, pal.”

 


 

“So when’s the kindling?” Alfyn asked Ophilia as the group walked back to the inn. He was exhausted. The day was full of emotional ups and downs and he wanted nothing more than to give Therion his brush down, have dinner, and go to sleep.

“The bishop said it will be in a few days, to give the townspeople time to recover,” Ophilia smiled.

“Well, with Vanessa on the case, I think he might need to hurry up!” Alfyn chuckled, “Her stuff works fast!”

 


 

The next morning, the group headed to the church, but Alfyn paused after the first set of stairs into the manor district. 

There was a group of people, all around Vanessa, begging her for her help with a cough. He overheard the symptoms and bit his lip. The Gaborra whooping cough was hard to treat… He could do it for sure, though, with the right ingredients, so it should be easy for Vanessa.

Then he heard her price and his jaw dropped.

“Is everything alright, Alfyn?” Ophilia came back to him, the rest of the group behind her. 

He shook his head. “Somethin’ fishy’s goin’ on.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a few things.” Alfyn reached his hand to pet Therion. It helped calm his nerves. “The cough, for one. The Gaborra whooping cough is a sickness from the south. Far south. It shouldn’t be here.”

“But it is?” Ophilia asked. 

“Yeah, and in big numbers,” Alfyn’s frown deepened. “Makes no sense. It was all fever yesterday, an’ Vanessa cured it.”

“Fever?” Ophlia frowned, “low grade or high?”

“High grade.”

“And now the cough?”

“Yeah, a strong one.”

Ophilia’s frown deepened. “That is not how the Gaborra whooping cough works.”

“Yeah,” Alfyn nodded, “and everyone got it at once.”

“That is not how illnesses work, either.”

“Um,” Tressa interrupted them, “how do illnesses work, then?”

Alfyn smiled and petted Therion again. “People’s bodies work different than each other,” he explained. “Say someone sneezes at you an’ me--”

“--ew!!” Tressa interrupted. He laughed. 

“I getcha! But just for example. Say someone sneezed at the two o’ us. We definitely caught what they had, right?”

“Right,” she nodded.

“Except, it doesn't show up at the same time. Say, you start sneezin’ next day mornin’, and I start sneezin’ the next night.”

Tressa frowned, “that’s not a lot of time. If Vanessa finished working in the afternoon, then there was plenty of time for others to get sick.”

“Right,” Alfyn nodded, “but the example’s just the two o’ us. Imagine all seven of us getting sneezed at. Phili might not feel it for a week. Olberic might not feel it at all. Prim and H’aan might feel it after a few days. Cyrus might feel it that same night. It’s different for everyone.”

“Ohhh,” Tressa looked back to the plaza, where Vanessa stood, surrounded by a group of nobles begging for her cure. “So everyone getting sick overnight is wrong.”

“Yep,” he nodded. 

“The symptoms also do not match up,” Ophilia added, “the Gaborra whooping cough starts with a gentle cough that worsens over time, and there may be a low grade fever, but it is not guaranteed.”

“And she’s the only one with the cure.” Tressa’s eyes narrowed at the crowd. “Something’s fishy.”

“Yep,” Alfyn nodded, “I don’t like it, but there’s not much I can do ‘bout it. Don’t have all the information.”

“So what do we do?” Tressa asked. Just as she did so, a woman passed by their group and headed towards Vanessa. Alfyn recognized her as Ellen’s mother. She has a meager sack of leaves on her, and Alfyn knew exactly how this was going to go. 

 


 

It went exactly how he thought it would. Alfyn followed the poor mother down the steps and watched her collapse and pray in front of the column of flame. Therion jumped off of his shoulders and cantered over to her side. He meowed and trilled to get her attention, which made her stop crying. So Alfyn took a deep breath and walked over.

“Mind if I drop in for a bit?” he announced himself. He gave her the time to wipe away her tears and stand to face him. Therion went back to his side and climbed back up to his shoulders. 

“You’re…” her eyes widened in recognition. 

“One scraggly, scruffy-looking apothecary at your service,” he smiled. Therion meowed and he pet his head. “And his mangy cat.”

“Oh, I--” she looked apologetic and Alfyn chuckled. The woman hesitated then asked, “Can you really help my Flynn?”

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly, “from what I’ve seen yesterday, Miss Hysel is out of my league, but a checkup never hurt anyone.”

“Call me Marlene,” she nodded. “Come with me, please.”

“Right behind you.” 

They turned to leave the area and found his group waiting on the side. 

“I’m gonna give Flynn a look over and see if I can help,” he told them when he was close enough. 

“Do you want us to come with you?” Tressa asked. 

“If I need ya, I’ll call,” Alfyn smiled.

 


 

Therion left his shoulders as soon as they stepped inside and went to Flynn’s bedside. Alfyn knelt by the girl as the cat started to purr. He tried to examine her, but she couldn’t stop coughing long enough to breathe, let alone talk. The only thing he could figure out was that she had no fever. 

“Alfyn?” Ellen asked when he stood up, tears in her eyes. Both her and her mother looked visibly distressed. Alfyn patted her head and bit his lip as he thought over what to do.

“Please,” Marlene asked, “is there anything you can do?”

“Honey helps soothe the throat,” Alfyn recited, “but I’m not sure she can even swallow it right now.”

“My poor Flynn,” she started to sob. “How did a disease from a far off land make it to her? Why her?”

Alfyn opened his mouth to comfort her, but just then, he remembered how cagey Vanessa was with her methods. 

“Vanessa’s medicine cured your daughter from her fever, right?” he asked. 

Marlene blinked her tears away and nodded. “Yes, it worked like a miracle.”

Alfyn crossed his arms and frowned in thought. “Do ya know what kind of medicine it was?”

She frowned as her eyes widened. “Wouldn’t you know?”

“There’s lots of medicines that reduce the fever,” he explained, “so I can’t know which one it was without asking.” 

“There might be a few drops left in the phial,” Marlene replied.

“Let me see it!” 

She nodded and led the way to the kitchen area. There, she opened a drawer and pulled out the phial, which she handed to him. Alfyn held it up to the light of the window. There were indeed a few drops left. The liquid looked yellow-greenish in color, which made Alfyn frown. He unstoppered the phial and sniffed it, and the smell was unmistakable. That, with the color, gave him a very bad feeling.

“This is brewed from a Gaborra evergreen,” he said as he handed Marlene the phial. “It’s a potent fever reducer, but…”

Alfyn walked to the small chest drawer and put his satchel on top to search for his almanac. He pulled it out and flipped through it until he found the entry on the Gaborra evergreen. He read the entry out loud, from the uses of the plant until the end of the side effects and conclusion. He ignored Marlene’s shocked expression as he packed away the almanac. He himself was trying to stay calm, he wanted to shout, to yell, to swear. Vanessa knew exactly what she was doing. She hurt everyone on purpose to make money, and Flynn might die if not helped. She left people to die if they couldn’t pay her--

Therion meowed from in between his legs. Alfyn snapped out of his thoughts and looked down at him, then picked him up and kissed his head. He lingered there and took a deep breath and calmed down immensely. Once he pulled back, Therion meowed at him, eyes filled with question, and he smiled back gratefully. 

“Moss,” he said automatically once his thoughts were in order again. “There’s… shucks, what color was it?” he pulled out the almanac again and flipped through it until he found the right entry. “Miss, have you ever seen a moss around here that glows blue?” he showed her the picture sketched in the almanac. Ellen stood on her tiptoes to see, so he tilted it down so she could get a look too.

“Moss? I… I’ve never heard of such a thing--” Marlene started, but Ellen cut her off.

“I’ve seen it before!” Ellen said, “It’s in the Caves of Azure, out east!”

“You’ve seen it before?!” Her mother turned to her, face stormy. “You aren’t allowed outside of town!”

“We go out with the other kids!” Ellen beamed, “the moss looks like there’s ghosts!!”

“Gotcha!” Alfyn laughed and put his almanac away. “I’ll be back--with just the thing I need to cure Flynn’s cough for good!”

 


 

Alfyn went to the guards first. Then he searched and found his friends at the tavern. They were gathered around a table, various foods and drinks in hand. 

“We need to go to the Caves of Azure right now.” He told them in greeting. 

“What happened?” Primrose asked, already pushing away her plate and standing up.

“Vanessa’s a scammer and there’s moss in there that’ll cure her fake sickness,” he explained as he headed to the door, all six behind him.

“What is she using?” Ophilia asked. 

“Gaborra evergreen.”

Cyrus gasped, scandalized. “The constituent compound in the Gaborra evergreen has been known to cause inflammation of the throat, which induces severe coughing,” he lectured.

“Which resembles whooping cough,” Ophilia added. 

“And the blue moss in the caves can cure it,” Tressa concluded. 

Alfyn paused and looked back at them with a fond smile.

“What?” Tressa asked. 

“Nothin’,” he beamed, “just proud o’ y’all for fillin’ in the blanks so well!”

“Well, between you and Cyrus, we have good teachers,” Primrose smiled, “now let’s find those caves.”

 


 

The path to the caves was beautiful. The caves themselves were gorgeous as well, but Alfyn didn’t stop to admire the scenery. He took note of it and wondered if he could come back later, but right now, he had things to do. 

Things like taking down Vanessa and her sellswords. Things like giving her a verbal dressing down that she laughed off. 

“The weak, the ailing, the injured… They’re all tools to an end,” she laughed. “Just like the kittens I test my tonics on.”

Maybe she said the last part because he had Therion on his shoulders. Maybe she said that part because it was true. Maybe she said it carelessly. He didn’t know.

All he knew was that he saw red. Between her attitude towards the weak and vulnerable, between seeing Flynn cough so hard she couldn’t breathe, between her comment about Therion--

--He pulled out his ax and lunged.

 


 

It was a good thing he had six other people with him, because Vanessa had five other people with her.

She was good with her concoctions, but she didn’t have anywhere near enough noxroot or sleepweed to keep anyone down, especially not with Alfyn around, except…

Except he didn’t help them himself. He had many antidotes brewed for things like this. This wasn't the first time any of them had been poisoned or put to sleep with powder. It wasn't the first time he handed off the vials to them to deal with it, which is what he did the entire fight. He handed the potions to those on his sides and kept his eyes focused on the fight. The sellswords weren’t his problem. The others dealt with them. He went toe to toe with Vanessa. She was fast, swift, and she dodged his hits well. 

She also had that look in her eyes, sharp and menacing. She grinned as she dodged away from him, hand going into her satchel to grab something new to throw at him--

--He dodged. Fire exploded behind him--

--He saw the red of it reflected in her eyes--

--Miguel.

The sellswords ran away. The battle turned in their favor. Alfyn got a good hit on her shoulder and Vanessa turned to run. Alfyn raised his ax and aimed at her back. Always hit the biggest target, he was taught, and the torso was the biggest one. He drew his arm back, winding up for the throw--

--Sharp pain at the top of his ear--

--He threw the ax and missed completely.

H’aanit didn’t miss, however. She shot Vanessa with an arrow through her leg. The corrupt apothecary collapsed with a scream and started to sob. 

“Damn it all!!” She snarled. “Damn you all!!”

“Hold her down,” Alfyn said, ice in his words. Linde obeyed and sat atop the corrupt apothecary while she screamed expletives at them. Alfyn ignored her. He put away his ax and reached a shaky hand to his ear. He pulled it back when he felt it was wet, and he found blood on his fingers.

“Alfyn? Art thou well?” H’aanit asked. She clasped a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. 

“I’m… I’m fine,” he nodded. He… needed a few minutes. But he didn't have time right now. He needed to collect the moss and make sure Vanessa didn’t hurt Linde or get away. So he dug into his satchel and pulled out a folded cloth. He unfurled it and kept its contents inside of itself, then walked closer to Vanessa. 

“W-wait!” She froze, horrified, when she saw what was in the cloth.

“Slumberthorn’s the most powerful sleep inducing substance in the realm,” he said evenly, “one prick, and the next thing you know, you’ll wake up on the gaol floor.”

“And it’s a nightmare inducer!” Cyrus piped up as Alfyn pricked her with the thorns. 

“Sweet dreams!” Tressa snickered. 

Vanessa swore a few more times at them as she fell asleep. Alfyn watched her fade away and stood up. He needed a minute, but there was no time to think. People needed the cure. Flynn needed the cure.

… Vanessa’s leg needed patching up.