Of Kings & Queens

Thank You For The Venom

"You're not bleeding, so I think we can leave it be for now." Ray spoke after examining the scratches on Mikey.

"Could I also get a second opinion? No offense, Ray, but after what happened in The Ghost of You, I just want to make sure."

"That's fine, Mikes, I'm not mad at all."

"Here, let me." Andy offered, moving over to sit beside Mikey so he could check the scratches. Pete was still examining the wall while the others sat, some looking through a few of the books, including the ones Mikey and Ray had originally brought to the security room (which Joe and Bob had retrieved shortly after their last Gervasius encounter).

"Ha!" Pete suddenly exclaimed, "I think I've got it now!" He then began pushing on random bricks, which actually moved inward. The others watched as he did this and after the last block was pushed, the room began to shake.

"AHHH!" Pete fell on his butt during the shaking while the other living men tried to stay in their seats and not fall over in a similar fashion. But then, as suddenly as it had started, everything stopped. The wall Pete had been investigating then collapsed, raining down around him. They crashed together and dust rose up, obscuring the view of Pete from the others.

"Pete!" Patrick got to his feet and raced over to his friend, as well as the rest of FOB and MCR. Much to their surprise, after the dust had cleared, Pete was completely fine. The blocks of stone had fallen around him in a circle, not having hit him once. And behind what used to be the wall of stone were shelves of various bottles filled with powder.

"...This must be the Poison List." Frank spoke, "Or what's left over, at least."

"All that shaking must have gotten Gervasius' attention, and I think it'd be a really bad idea if he saw all this." Gerard's mouth was set in a grim line, "He'll want me more once he finds this, if just to use these poisons against us somehow."

"All of these are poisons?" Patrick whimpered.

"Yeah, at least that's what we think." Bob said, "I mean, what else could these be?"

"Old foodstuffs, maybe." Joe pointed out.

"Well, here's the book." Mikey picked up the Poison List, "This is a book of poisons Spidantia and Scorxus apparently made together. There are illustrations in here of the poisons in liquid and powder forms, so it's possible some of these might be poisons."

"I looked through it and I'm pretty sure most if not all of them are poisons." Frank said, "Check if you don't believe me."

"But how can you tell?" Pete was helped to his feet by Andy, "There aren't any labels on these things, so does the book have colored drawings?"

"No, but I remember the descriptions." Frank pointed to a light green powder that was up at the top, which was several feet above their heads, "That one's called Harbinger, I think. I don't remember what it does, though."

"Here, I found the entry." Mikey had opened the book and flipped to a page, "It's supposed to be a paralyzer that only works if the person is asleep. Like really asleep, not faking-sleep, I guess."

"I'll get it and see if it matches the description." Pete took hold of the shelves and began to climb them like a ladder.

"I don't think that's such a good-" Patrick tried to speak, then was cut off as the only empty shelf bent under Pete's foot and a click was heard. Suddenly a block of stone from the wall behind the shelves shot out between some of the vials and hit Pete in the stomach, going down back to the floor with him and pinning him. Thankfully he hadn't climbed far, but it was still a nasty fall.