Chương 28: Elixirs and Tinctures

Gully's apothecary was a short stroll away from the Nag's Head. Aaron probably could have found his way there eventually with some help from the locals, but he needed Paige's cunning and expertise to navigate the town safely, especially if there were more hounds nearby. He still didn't know for certain whether they could smell his necromancy or not. The building was modest, about the size of Aaron's house, spanning over two floors.

The storefront was open, with wooden shutters opening upwards and suspended on large wooden poles, like a canopy. It provided a shelter from the elements to display various potions. Shelves of tonics, potions and herbs were on display at the front of the building, but you could smell it well before you arrived. At that moment, Aaron realised he had been conned. Paige would have probably taken him here to buy the herbs on the list anyways. Either way, the deal was done now, and Aaron was true to his word.

He'd agreed to animate some corpses for her. A tall, slender man was standing just inside the shop as they entered. He wore a white apothecary's shirt which crossed over his body and buttoned up under his right arm. And an apron over the top with several pockets full of tools and vials. Most vials in the shop were made of metal with tightly sealed caps. The disadvantage being you couldn't see what was on the inside, although it did protect the products from sunlight, which was known to spoil potions over time.

If he sold glassware, it was probably locked up out the back. It took an extremely hot flame to make glass. Few very powerful mages had the ability to produce it, hence the material was expensive and sought after. The Sacred Library had an entire wall made of glass where its elders could look out upon the city. This must have come at unimaginable expense.

"Good day, Sir and Madam, is there something I may assist you with?" The man smiled at them as they entered. He smiled sharply, accentuating his coarse facial features.

"Hello," Paige said, "If we may, we would like to peruse your wares. Do you have any herb samples?" Aaron had never heard Paige speak with such a posh inflection. It was jarring every time she or Gidden suddenly shifted into character. They were clearly well practised.

"Of course," the man said, "what do you need?" Paige handed him a list of herbs. He traced the parchment with his finger for a few moments and cleared his throat.

"This will take me a few moments, please feel free to browse at your leisure." He gave a seedy smile and walked off. Something about this man left a sour taste in Aaron's mouth. They quickly got searching. The peacekeepers had mentioned that a corrupted crow was with Gully, although they might not have meant in his shop. He searched around the downstairs area first, but it was just shelves of various unmarked cylindrical metal vials. There was a staircase at the back, leading upstairs.

Based on the smell, this was where the herbs were kept. It smelt grassy and fragrant and reminded Aaron of the ferns which grew around his farm. They walked through the rows of herbs. Some were plucked, bound with thread and packaged into small paper bags, and some were still growing in long planters which ran in parallel rows, like pews in a temple. There was a walkway through the middle that led to a simple wooden door. Judging by the floorplan downstairs, there couldn't have been much space behind it.

Aaron turned the door handle, but was promptly interrupted.

"Would you like to see my potion room, sir?" He'd completely missed Gully plucking herbs in the corner of the room. He must have been so focused on looking for the bird that he didn't even register his presence.

"Oh, yes please," he said in his best posh voice. He was thankful Paige was with him. The botched accent he was putting on couldn't have been convincing. And he decided to let her do the speaking from there on. Gully glided across the room and gestured for the pair to enter the room. There was a wooden benchtop spanning the entire back of the room. Herbs were neatly arranged in various metal pots as well as several glass vials and plenty of heating and mixing equipment.

Aaron also recognised a few magical reagents, similar to those used in his curse removal ritual. On the far right of the room, a crow sat in a cage, its feathers were patchy and ragged looking. A few feathers were missing on its front and he could see down to the skin, all the way to its ribs in some places. Aaron instantly recognised him as Cuthbert. Partly because of how he looked, but the connection he felt with the mana flowing through the bird was unmistakeable.

It was as if a cool wind was blowing him towards the bird. He couldn't have been happier to see him.

"I trust you are familiar with my research on corruption." Gully rolled his R's with an eccentric trill, like the actors in the city. Aaron zipped his lips and turned to Paige, silently gesturing for her to take over.

"Ah yes," she said, "truly a scholarly feat. Father talks about you with such veneration!" Gully ruffled his coat and tapped his fingers together at the compliment. Paige's ability to deceive was impressive. She was so convincing, it sometimes made Aaron question her authenticity around him and Tim.

"I see that my crow has caught your eye, young man. Have you ever seen a corrupted beast before?" Aaron coughed to clear his throat, "No, sir. Quite remarkable." Aaron had been scouting the room for a way to get Cuthbert out. He was in a wooden cage, fastened with a simple clipping mechanism. The room had no windows, which was strange for an alchemy room. He had enough experience with alchemy to know that the alembics would produce noxious gasses when creating most potions.

Perhaps he used some sort of spell to ventilate the room. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"I have been searching for a cure. So far, my concoctions simply kill the beasts. The weaker ones anyways. This crow is remarkably resistant." Aaron felt relieved that he hadn't realised Cuthbert wasn't corrupted. The crow still had a portion of its soul remaining. It was more akin to an undead, but the appearance must have been similar to the corrupted.

Aaron hypothesised that the mana signature and scent of his necromancy spells might be similar to the corrupted, if Giddeon's warnings about the hounds were anything to go by. Necromancy and corrupted beasts might appear similar to mages hunting them, but he didn't know for certain. It would be difficult to test the theory without dangling himself in front of a Mana Hound and that was a bad idea for obvious reasons.

"May I enquire as to the contents of your experimental remedies?" Paige asked. Gully straightened his jacket, "I'm afraid not, my dear. It is not perfected and it is a trade secret I am not willing to forgo."

"That is such a shame," Paige feigned a disappointed look by frowning and pouting her bottom lip. It was very convincing.

"I suppose, if you are interested, you may come to my demonstration tonight. Out the front of my shop, I will be showcasing my latest advances in alchemy. I have an exciting surprise tonight, so keep it quiet. I am now going to include a demonstration of my most lethal tincture yet." It took a lot of willpower for Aaron to withhold his shock. He swore that a vein had bulged up on his forehead.

"How delightful, we will be sure to attend." Paige smiled sweetly at Gully, pinched her dress gracefully and curtseyed before bidding him farewell and leaving. Aaron followed quickly, trying to avoid meeting Gully's gaze.

"Mam, you forgot your herbs," he called after them. Aaron clenched his jaw before turning around. He was overwhelmed with the thought of Cuthbert being harmed. He wasn't sure if this connection with its mana was causing these feelings, or just the companionship he had developed over those few short days.

"Oh, of course. Silly me!" Paige responded sweetly. They met back downstairs and she handed over a large handful of silver coins as payment. Aaron tried his best not to gawk at his month's wages being handed around so casually.

"We're coming back tonight," Aaron insisted as soon as they were out of earshot of Gully's shop.

"Yes, of course we are," Paige replied as if Aaron was an idiot for asking.

"We had a deal." Aaron signed a breath of relief. Paige was focused and true to her word, although Aaron was beginning to second guess his promise of raising the dead for Paige's target practice. She would certainly hold him to it, and he knew for a fact that he needed to develop his heart and flesh mastery AND gather enough mana to allocate some power into learning the Lesser Animate Corpse ability. The pair spent the rest of the afternoon collecting supplies for the journey.

They purchased so many rations from the market that the shopkeeper supplied them with a small push kart for free. Aaron insisted on going back to the Nag's Head to purchase a barrel of mead directly from the tavern. It was much more expensive than from the brewing company or from a distributor, but he felt guilty for putting them at risk with his stunt earlier. It was a good excuse to check if more grunts came back.

Thankfully, they hadn't It was early evening by the time they were back at Giddeon's house with the supplies. Paige got him to stock up a large wooden carriage. It was blocky and spacious, with enough seating on the inside for four people. The food fit nicely into a storage space under the floor of the carriage, through a hatch only accessible from the inside. There were a few other items stored in there, but it was dark and Aaron didn't take the time to peer in and look.

The keg of mead wouldn't fit, so it had to take the place of one of the four seats. No one was home yet, except for Aaron and Paige. If Giddeon was meeting with some powerful men in the town, they would likely be eating and drinking until late. From Aaron's time with Harrold, he learned that nobles liked to take their time and conduct business after enjoying themselves first. He didn't expect to see them until much later and Paige didn't appear surprised or concerned that they weren't back yet.

It was dark outside Gully's shop, except for a couple of braziers set up out front. There was a crowd of well-dressed people fanned out around the front of the shop. A few tall, muscular men stood around the edges, presumably turning away the common folk and looking out for thieves. They didn't struggle blending in with Paige leading the way. Aaron was getting better at acting noble, but he still left most of the talking to Paige. As they got closer, Aaron could see Gully stood over two tables.

He had changed into a smart black suit, although he was far too tall and gangly to fit into it properly. The sleeves came up just short of his wrists and the jacket didn't quite reach his beltline. He had two tables next to him, filled with an assortment of potions contained in glass flasks. The contents of the tables must have been worth multiple years of Aaron's wages. It made sense why he'd hired grunts. Cuthbert was in a cage above Gully's head, suspended from a hook embedded in the tip of the roof of his shop.

He was well out of reach of Aaron to jump up. And even if he could, it was too busy and there were too many guards. Aaron desperately searched for a solution. He considered sneaking inside and cutting the rope and hoping the cage would break as it fell, but it would be impossible to sneak past Gully into the shop. Perhaps Paige could cast her light spell to distract them, but what if the upstairs door was locked? Or if Cuthbert got injured when the cage fell?

He wanted to free Cuthbert, but if he got caught, he would risk getting captured, or even killed. And what good would that be for Tim? Gully started addressing the crowd before Aaron could formulate a viable plan. He was talking about his potions and using technical language beyond Aaron's understanding. He knew a bit about alchemy as there was some crossover with spirit healing. They would often consult alchemists for tricky cases where spirit healing wasn't enough.

Because of his Cleanse Spirit ritual, he knew more than most healers about potions, but still not enough to really grasp what Gully was saying. The lanky man drank a sip of one of the potions. It was an off-brown colour and glowed slightly. Gully proceeded to jump freakishly high in the air and perform a backflip, landing perfectly with his feet together in exactly the position from which he took off. Shocked gasps rumbled from the crowd followed by a round of applause.

Paige was rolling her eyes so much that her pupils almost vanished into her skull. It must have been a dexterity potion, giving a temporary boost in agility and nimbleness. No potion Aaron had heard of was anywhere near potent enough to allow an untrained man to perform a backflip. Aaron suspected he had some other magic or prior training and was using it to make the potion look more powerful than it was. Aaron shuffled around on the spot as he became acutely aware of his time running short.

He needed an answer quickly. It was only a matter of time before Gully started testing his potions on the crow. He paused on the spot and stopped shuffling. He had an idea. Aaron turned to Paige, smiling at her. This was swiftly returned with a suspicious frown. Aaron pulled out a ham sandwich from his bag, one he had bought from the market earlier this afternoon.

"Paige, do you think you can throw this onto the roof?"