The Stained Brothers and Ryckel set up camp in the ruins. Reason was because it's an Amphictony site. No one would dare trespass on it in fear of running into the Amphictony.
No one except for the Stained Brothers.
Hood and his men were around a campfire, with the fat man that Ryckel tagged as 'Cook' was simply making some soup.
Cook scooped up the soup with a wooden bowl, tasting some of it. "Ahh.. do you know what would bring out the taste of this."
"What?" Brandy asked.
"Herbs. Specifically Half shade." Cook answered.
"Ohh I see how it is." Vega yawned.
"The taste is simply to die for. Quite literally. It's a poisonous herb y'know." Cook sat back down, allowing the soup to simmer over the flame.
Poison?
Ryckel's interest was picked even though he was still acting docile.
"Then why add them in the first place? Have you gone mad?" Brandy chuckled, sipping on some rice wine from a leather pouch.
"Don't you talk as if you haven't had them before. Heck you all have. Don't you remember the porridge I made for my daughters birthday last year?" Cook waved his hand.
Vega and Brandy slowly answered. "Yeah…"
Hood then chuckling. "You used Half shade in it, didn't you?"
Cook smiled. "Yup and you all are still alive if my eyes aren't deceiving me. The thing with Half shade is that the leaves are highly poisonous but as a way to not kill itself, the plant has it's own naturally produced antidote in it's stem."
"The trick is to cook both the leaves and the antidote at the same time." He continued, trying to visualize it with his fingers.
"And where do you expect us to find it huh?" Hood asked, relaxing against the dirt and looking at the open sky.
"Us? Whoever said anything about us? We have our boy here." Vega laughed, pointing at Ryckel who was sitting by the corner of a tree.
"I also saw some Half shade not too far from here as we were traveling. So it seems like they're in the area." Cook urged on.
"I see… and you're saying it'll make the soup better?" Hood asked.
"Don't you remember the porridge?" Cook went up and checked the soup again.
"It's decided then."
"But wait… won't the boy just use it as an opportunity to run?"
Hood laughed. "To where? He has no mask for the Bleeding Hour, we're not that close to any town. He also has no map. If he runs, Zhenren will be picking his teeth with those his bones by dusk."
"He needs us." Brandy said softly.
Hood then looked at Ryckel. "Don't stay too long, or there's going to be even more food to go around for us."
Ryckel bowed diligently and set off, his legs felt heavy. He wandered through the woods and passing tilted over stone structures and pale blue stones in the dirt.
He found eventually found a patch of Half shade. It was a short plant with red and veiny leaves.
His hand shook.
I could poison them. Crush the raw sap into the pot.
No.
He dismissed himself.
Cook would be watching. They all would be.
I can't run also… no gas masks and I wouldn't reach the nearest town without getting turned by the mists…
Damn it!
Out of a sudden, blinding burst of rage, Ryckel kicked a stack of crumbling masonry.
The ground below him rumbled. Then it cracked. Then vanished.
---The End of Chapter 9---