The Blood of Alchemy

Chapter 6: Alder

Tharon, Tally and Gadriver were just settling into one of the small towns of Alder. The people of Alder had known about everything that had happened when they arrived, and had sent out a lookout party to find survivors from Ficus. There were some in Cypress, and some in Alder, and even a few in Hackberry Ford.

When the scouts from Alder found Tharon and Gadriver they almost shot Gad because of the armour. Upon approaching and recognizing Tharon and Tally's clothes, they brought them back - tired and hungry - to Alder on horseback. The three were happy to hear that some of their people had survived.

Gad decided to sell the armour off for any money he could get when they got to Alder. The people of Alder paid him well for it - a hundred rupees and forty stone - and put the three up in a cozy hutch for their stay. Merchants that represented Alder would take the suit to Smithsport for melting and selling. In the forest land there was little use for jewels and the flashy panoply attracted far too much attention.

They were just getting ready to head to the fire for lunch when a woman in a tattered grey cloak knocked on the door of the hut, and then entered before Gad could check to see who it was. She had long grey hair with a streak of red throughout it. It was straight, but hoarse and frizzed. Her face was wrinkled and her cheeks drooping, and Tharon thought she looked surely to be a witch.

Tharon and Tally were frightened at first, but she noticed and said, "Do not fright, my children. For I have come to well, not harm you. Your thoughts are correct," and the woman looked at Tharon dead in the eyes. "But I do not practice dark magicks my boy. My name is Senya Quercus Alba, the village shaman."

The two were relieved and Gad looked to be as well. Gad had a bad burn on his shoulder that he hadn't said anything about until then. He peeled off a layer of his clothes and revealed a pussing red patch on his arm that looked well on its way to festering.

"A nasty one. Of the second status, mind you, so it isn't needing of anything besides some ferments and veras aloes." The shaman, who Tharon still wanted to call a witch, came close to Gad and opened her hand with a chant.

Veras Aloes,
Alchos, Veras.
to pink of skin,
in palm, repair us.

The witches hand was now covered in a translucent white slime, and she rubbed it onto Gad's burn. Gad squinted his eyes tight and breathed in a long slow hissing breath as she applied the substance. It burned worse than it ever had, but Gad had been through similar processes before with other shamans. Living a forest lifestyle was bound to end you up with cuts and burns and broken bones at some point in ones life, whether it be falling from a tree, or slipping with a carving knife, or grabbing the wrong end of a burning log to stoke the fire with. Gad thanked her and she bowed a graceful bow.

"Now, the boy. I hear he is blessed with the old blood." The woman said to Gad as if Tharon wasn't in the room. Tally shot him a look as if to say, 'aren't you going to butt in?', but Tharon wanted to hear what she was going to say before he interrupted.

"It would seem to be true, at least," Gad said, and looked at Tharon with a smile. "Shaman, do you know anything of the old alchemists?"

"What I do know is little more than the rest of the folk you will find, or than you already know yourselves, but I can tell you that I know of two branches of the Magick, like the Black and White arts of common Magick, and that every alchemist must pick his side. There are often very grey grounds when it comes to these matters, it is commonly known, the pun forgiven."

"Shaman," Tharon cut in. "What even is the difference, of Black and White Magick? And for that matter, how is alchemy different than Magick?"

"It is very similar, my boy. Good questions. It would seem that one is on the paths of wisdom. This, my boy, is a common trait of separation from White and Dark wizards. Those are lamens terms anyhow. Nothing in the world is black and white, now is it? No. It is more aptly coined 'good and evil' and even that is too 'black and white' for me."