Psychic

47. Toxicity

Earlier the same day when Kiyo arrived at the Niji Gardens, he was told it would be very simple for him to trade for Ariadne. The place was a botanical garden open to the public. They displayed and sold plants in all stages so they were frequented by alchemists, herbalists and families simply who were just visiting the grounds. Everything at the location seemed content to Kiyo. People roamed the brick paths between the patches of various colored grasses and bizarre plants he had never seen before. Nothing seemed out of order or dangerous.

The owners were brought out to meet him. They were a wealthy elderly couple, dressed in clearly expensive clothes. As they walked Kiyo through the grounds to where he could find Ariadne, the husband explained how they came to own the land.

He had once been a butcher's apprentice attempting to convince his wife's father to let him marry her. Shortly after being rejected, the family was taken as prisoners of war for sheltering a pregnant soldier from another region. He tracked the convoy, killed the driver and a soldier with poisoned darts. He killed one of the soldiers by driving the carriage over him. The other, while in the process of pleading to be spared, offered him the plot of land as a place for the family to disappear to. The gardens were his wife's idea. Under her green thumb, the plants grew so grandiose that they began to garner attention from the public which allowed them to turn it into a business.

Kiyo was so captivated by the story that he never noticed the grounds becoming less populated. They approached a tall wooden gate, surrounded by dense, equally tall shrubs. The man stopped talking and Kiyo now noticed that they were alone.

"I didn't tell you that story for no reason," the husband told Kiyo. "I know who you are."

"Yeah, I get it," Kiyo was clearly unconcerned. "A threat. I've heard soldiers talk about you but you're mistaken if you think I have any reason or desire to turn you in. Unless something's happened to the kid I came here for but if that's the case, I won't waste time turning you in when I could deal with you myself."

"Do you really think it's best to be making threats when you haven't even seen her yet?"

"You're in no position to expect anything from me. The men you killed were only grunts. They fight each other and deal with petty shit on a daily basis. You've never dealt with an artist. Generals bring in psychic prisoners, tame animals the size of houses and this..." He pulled his sword from its sheath and imbued its blade with ice. "Was custom made to work just for me. Now, show me the kid before I show you how it works."

The wife closed her eyes and sighed, stepping up to the locked wooden gate and patting it. "You see those guard towers around this garden? The plants in here are deadly. Some emit toxic gasses, others are fatal to the touch and some are carnivorous. Some are just... violent."

"And?" Kiyo said slowly. "Look, this kid is important to someone who's important to me. If anything's happened to her, my reaction isn't going to be my fault."

She waved him off, "no, she's fine. Thing is, this kid befriended some of the older girls here. They talked her into sneaking in there. Now they're stuck between the stinging whips of the chimes and the velvet leaves."

"You've got chimes in there?" Kiyo sighed.

"I told you it wasn't safe. No one is meant to go in there but me."

"So why don't you go in and get them?"

"They're already agitated. They won't listen to me now."

"And you don't happen to have any kind of plant poison on hand?"

"No." The woman seemed offended and held a hand to her heart. "Even if we did, they would be carried on the wind and infect the rest of our plants or soaked into the soil. It wouldn't be an option. We've called a team to put this garden down. It'll have to be sown again but it's better than losing everything else too."

"Well, I could do that and it wouldn't cost you a thing. Except for the kid."

"How toxic to the land would your method be? Even with professional help, the top soil here will have to be replaced."

"I'd be technically cauterizing them. They'll just die. No toxins for the air or soil."

She smiled and nodded. "That sounds perfect to me. Then you slay the garden and you can have her." She approached the gate to unlock it and Kiyo followed her. "You do realize these plants are going to attack you, right?"

"I'll deal with it."

She opened the padlock and held it in her hand but was still in his way. "Why do you want this kid? You're not her family. She's gyptian."

Kiyo let his eyes slide from hers. "She's my... girlfriend's cousin."

The woman's husband told him, "you should know that if the girl refuses to go with you, I am going to put you down."

"That seems fair. Now let me in so I can do this."