The Memory of Darkness (on hold until October)

38 - Herbalism for Beginners

Arianna stood in front of Gretchen's door, hoping that this time she would be there. Lorcan was occupied with fixing or improving one of his many enchantment projects, and she had taken the opportunity to find some sane company.

Usually on such occasions, Gretchen was nowhere to be found, but on this occasion the door swung open before Arianna had a chance to knock. Both stifled a cry of surprise.

Gretchen recovered first. "Was there something wrong with the laundry?"

"No," said Arianna, surprised by the question. "Can I come in?"

Gretchen nodded, ushering her into the room, and gesturing to take a seat.

"I've been trying to find you," Arianna began. "I haven't had many chances. He's quite demanding of my time, and I don't want to make him suspicious."

"I spend a lot of time going out of my way to avoid him," said Gretchen. "I'm worried that he'll see me and say "I've just realised you're a danger to my nefarious plans! Come here so I can snap your delicate little neck," or some such thing." She grimaced, her hand touching her throat as if in discomfort.

"I keep telling him you're a little slow," said Arianna. "It fits his narrative of you being a tavern servant so he's still happy to accept it."

"I can cope with that." Gretchen sighed, fidgeting with the material of her sleeve. "How have you been?"

Arianna gave a weak smile. "It's hard to say. The last couple of days have been rather trying." She sat down, taking a deep breath before continuing. "First, I found a room with four dead bodies, all with their souls kept in jars, or reliquaries, or whatever you'd call them. He seems fond of taking gruesome revenge against people he doesn't like. One of them was his brother."

Gretchen's eyes widened in horror. "Not Father Dominic?"

Arianna shook her head. "Definitely not. Malachi, or something like that. I'd say they've all been there for years, probably decades."

"That's a relief of sorts," said Gretchen. She gave a bitter chuckle. "Things like this shouldn't come as a surprise to us. After all, what undead necromancer worth his salt wouldn't remove the souls of his enemies and keep them all as trophies?"

"Perhaps he woke up one day and thought "how much chaos can I bring to the world?"" mused Arianna, her smile still faint. "He also has a doorway to the Afterworld. In a cave, somewhere close by. It's closed, so don't worry about anything coming through. Trying to open it is what killed him in the first place."

Gretchen's eyebrows knitted together. "The Afterworld? Have you seen it?"

Arianna nodded, silently.

Sweet Divines!" gasped Gretchen. "He did it, the bastard!"

"Did it?" queried Arianna. "How did you know he'd even tried?"

"I didn't," said Gretchen. "Uncle Felix told me that they'd discussed the possibility of it. The Afterworld, indeed. It makes our portal exploits seem a little mundane, though cutting through into a Divine realm would be a huge affront to the Gods. It might be why he can't enter holy places, he could be tainted by what happened. Though that's just a guess."

Arianna thought for a moment. "It sounds like quite a sensible guess. I wonder if it affected his sanity too, though I think you'd have to be mad to try it in the first place."

"Mad, or so full of yourself that you don't think anything could go wrong." Gretchen twirled a lock of hair around her finger. "Uncle Felix didn't tend to talk about sil Vaddrin, though I guess he'd been keeping an eye on him for some time. It was only when he started lurking around you like a bad smell that I found out anything of interest. I failed to grasp what we were getting ourselves involved with."