Darkefyre (On Hold)

Six

I handed her the napkin, and she busied herself with looking for whatever was on it. I watched as she stooped to pick up a worn brown book, possibly bound in pigskin. Her fingers flipped through the yellowed pages feverishly, until her eyes squinted.

"Keldur's curses," she muttered. She motioned to me to look over her shoulder. I followed slowly, not sure if I wanted to find out after all.

I gazed down at the page itself and recoiled. I beheld a rough sketch of the devil currently occupying the king. The short, dark lines depicted an eight petalled flower, in a virulent shade of lilac. It had elongated, but dagged leaves and an unusually thick, black stem. I scanned the cramped writing pushed to one side.

Lamentia...

I quickly scanned the writing again. It wasn't good. Whoever had wanted to grab my attention had gone about it the wrong way. In small doses, Lamentia was fine. It was even usable in love tonics and spells. In bigger quantities; it caused violent coughing, severe stomach cramps, headaches, mood swings, and other various negative side effects. If prolonged use was present; death was said to be imminent.

I looked to Yeva, and grimaced.

"Dosage, what was it?"

"Depends, show me the decanter you have hidden in your robes." I twitched, but withdrew said decanter anyway.

Yeva took the decanter to the tiny sink and tipped the contents down the drain.

"What the-"She held up a hand. I watched. I was about to open my mouth again when she spoke. Her voice was quiet, barely loud enough for me to hear.

"There's no milky white film in the decanter, which would have been present if the decanter had been the vessel of choice." I gulped down my fear. I had drunk from the same decanter. I breathed a sigh of heavy relief, but Yeva was not finished.

"I suspect whoever did this, poisoned the King's glass deliberately, and looking at how little of the Lamentia is on the napkin, its not fatal. I'd even go as far as saying he might enjoy the side effects tonight...."She raised her sparse eyebrow at me suggestively.

"I do not care for how little was in his drink, I care because it shouldn't be there at all..." I drifted off.

"There's no telling how long this has been going on, and if this is only the first occasion, i'm damned sure its for pleasurable reasons. Who are you to stop the king from enjoying female companionship?" She laughed.

I wanted to desperately argue the finer points of treason with Yeva, but she was right. I had no evidence to prove this was a prolonged occurrence. I felt my shoulders droop and walked over to her chair. I flopped into it and closed my mouth. I shifted my weight around a little, her chair was uncomfortable.

I jumped as thunder sounded in the distance, long and loud.

"Great... Just what I needed." I muttered. Yeva cackled and looked at me with her milky stare.

"The gods and goddesses never send more than us mere mortals can handle, you'd do well to remember that."

I nodded vacantly, my eyes drifting around the room; looking anywhere but into Yeva's eyes. I paused for longer than necessary before I leaped out of the chair. I nearly tripped as my foot caught the end of the rug.

"Bloody rug." I muttered. Yeva's gnarled hands shot out to steady me. She was more spirited and quicker than a snake sometimes. Unusually so for someone of forty summers old. I gripped her hand anyway, and went to move forward. Her hand folded over the napkin, and shoved it into my pocket. Her grip was steady and hard, as she looked directly into my eyes. I tried to look away, but by some unbidden power I could not. We stared at each other for the longest moment, before she stepped closer to me and whispered into my ear.