Percy dragged Nesha through the Whistling Woods, the two sprinting in the darkness. The moonless sky wasn’t doing them any favours as they struggled to avoid crashing into a tree. Plus, they were out of breath already. Still, he ignored the exhaustion, striving to buy as much time as possible as he contemplated their situation. Several scenarios flashed through his tired mind, each worse than the previous one.
Naturally, he was under no delusions that they would escape without a confrontation this time. If their enemies had managed to track them all the way here, they clearly possessed some magical means of locating them. Perhaps a specialized bloodline, or an artifact. Percy had no idea what it was exactly, but it didn’t really matter. The only thing they could control, was how to react once they were found.
Then again, he couldn’t exactly decide on the best course of action either. Not without knowing what they were up against. If the Root had sent any Blues after them, they were already out of luck. His training sessions with Galahad had made that abundantly clear. His only hope was that it would be overkill. Surely, even the Divine Root couldn’t afford to have their Blues roaming Remior for years on end, looking for them.
‘It’s not like we’ll have a much easier time against their Greens though…’ he smiled bitterly.
Unlike their carefully prepared ambush in Bogside town, he wasn’t in any condition to fight at that level right now. They hadn’t set any traps up, not to mention that he currently lacked the majority of his constructs. In fact, he was glad he’d even had the presence of mind to grab his two scythes before rushing out of the mansion, so that he wouldn’t be entirely unarmed.
His companions weren’t faring much better either. Nesha had dark bags under her eyes. A healing potion would help with that, but there was only so much she could do with a single spell in her arsenal. As for Micky, he was doing worse than either of them. The crow had already met up with them and was currently flying in their vicinity. Still, Percy wouldn’t even let his familiar fight a Yellow right now. Let alone a Green.
‘Also, these people are likely to be elites among elites. Even stronger than the likes of Rambert or Mordred.’
Worse still, was the fact that he couldn’t just run away. Even if he could come up with a way to ditch his pursuers, he didn’t only have himself to worry about. While he was certainly glad they’d managed to evade discovery for so long, this was arguably one of the worst possible moments for them to be found – smoked right out of his family’s mansion. If he failed to handle this properly, his loved ones could easily pay the price.
“Stop.” he muttered, pulling Nesha to a halt.
“We’ll have to confront them at some point, whether in a fight, or through diplomacy. Either way, I’d rather not be out of breath when it happens.”
Nodding, she accompanied him to a nearby tree, the two of them sitting by its roots. Micky landed some distance away too.
Next, the trio proceeded to go over various possibilities, discussing how to deal with each of them, all the while keeping their senses out for any intruders…
“Well, well… Who do we have here?” a snarky voice pierced through the cacophony of the whistling cones. “I was wondering why the two of you had stopped moving. Did you get tired? Or did you actually think you’d travelled far enough to ditch me?”
Percy failed to see the newcomer’s face, having put his blindfold back on while waiting for him. He’d take it off if he had to – obviously – but the situation hadn’t devolved that far.
‘Just one Green.’ he noted, not finding anybody else.
It wasn’t going to be an easy fight, given their current state. Still, it was about the best they could have hoped for. Then again, he’d rather try something else before falling back to violence.
“Who are you?” Nesha was the first to speak.
“Yeah... No. I’ve already done the ‘playing dumb’ routine once today. Don’t even bother wasting more of my time. Not after fucking my life up for the last two years.” the Green replied, his voice devoid of humour. “Right now, your best bet is to tell me who brewed the Aurora Dew, and where I can find him. Trust me, you don’t want to play games with me.”
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“That can be arranged.” Percy said calmly. “Before that, I also want a couple of reassurances from you. Or better yet, from your boss.”
“Do you honestly think you’re in a position to be making demands?!” he snarled. “If you wanted to negotiate, you should have done so two years ago!”
Ignoring the quip, Percy tossed him a gemstone vial, a turquoise liquid swirling inside.
“It’s me. I’m the one you’re looking for. I know it’s a little late, but two years aren’t that long in the grand scheme of things. I’ll share the recipe with everyone, and we’ll all get our happy ending. Do you have any way to contact your boss? We’ll gladly accompany you to the nearest town if you need to send a letter.”
A wave of amusement rippled through the Green’s soul.
“You?! Do you seriously expect me to believe that crap?!”
“Do you see anybody else with us? Or do you think we pulled the Aurora Dew out of thin air?” Nesha asked.
“How could he have possibly succeeded where every alchemist on Remior has failed? For thousands of years, at that?” the Green didn’t relent.
“It’s simple, really. I looked where nobody else did. It’s all thanks to my bloodline. I trust you don’t have the patience for my life story, do you?” Percy fired back.
“Wouldn’t you rather pass the responsibility of assessing the validity of our claims to your superior?” Nesha pitched in with a question of her own.
The man appeared to ponder their request for a few seconds.
“Fine. I’ll play along. We’ve already been in this ridiculous dance for years. I suppose a few more minutes won’t change anything.”
Taking something out of his pocket, he drew some mana from his core, pouring it into the object. A series of runes that Percy failed to identify soon lit up on the device. Though he was more focused on the man’s strange mana type than the item.
‘What affinity is that? I’ve never seen this one before. Is this how he was able to find us?’
On one hand, it was rather troublesome. Escaping would be impossible as long as this person drew breath. Conversely, it also meant the solution to their problem was standing right in front of them.
Oblivious to his thoughts, the man continued pouring mana into the device for a few seconds, until the rest of the inscriptions lit up.
“Jason? Any updates?”
The voice was a little difficult to make out. Between the whistling trees and the fact that Jason was standing over a hundred feet away, the quality was terrible. Still, both Nesha and Percy had advanced a few times, their hearing significantly better than a Red’s.
“Boss, I’ve caught up to the culprits. They haven’t made any attempt to resist so far.”
“Is the alchemist with them? What of Archibald?”
“The old man played dumb. I have no idea if he was actually involved with them. As to your first question, no. It’s just Nesha and Percy here. Percy claims he’s the mastermind behind the elixirs.”
A loud sardonic laughter rang through the device.
“Please tell me you haven’t bought that nonsense.”
“Naturally not. But they said they’re willing to come peacefully as long as they can get some assurances from you. I figured I’d let you make the decision. They can hear you.”
“Very well. Percy, was it? Have you any idea of the kind of mess you and your companions have created? How about you stop playing games with the fate of our world, and just spill the beans already?”
“With all due respect, sir. The Aurora Dew is a recipe of my creation. If you – or anybody else – wants it, you should ask for it nicely. What gives you the right to make demands, threats, or snarky comments?”
Jason swallowed hard. Hard enough for Percy to hear.
“YOU INSOLENT PIECE OF SHIT!!!” the man’s voice boomed through the artifact, causing the inscriptions to flicker violently. “Your grandpa wouldn’t dare speak to me this way! Let alone a trashy Red-born, still wet behind the ears!”
“Yeah, well… My grandpa doesn’t have the recipe you want. I do. I’m sure you can have your boy kill us, cripple us, or whatever else… But trust me. The easiest way for you to get what you want is to play nicely. Or would you risk me dying and taking the recipe down with me?”
“Can you even prove your ridiculous claim? You can’t seriously expect me to believe that crap just based on your word alone.”
“The primary ingredient for the Aurora Dew are the regular elixirs. The next step is to add a mystery ingredient that massively accelerates a core’s recovery. That’s what allows the Aurora Dew to be consumed three times as often. Finally, rainbow grass is the only secondary ingredient I found that is suitable to deattune the Aurora Dew a second time. It has to be mixed at a much higher temperature too. I’m guessing your alchemists have already figured much of that out by themselves. I’m also willing to bet you’re still missing the most important ingredient. Am I wrong?”
The man remained silent for a minute or two, seemingly digesting the information. At some point, Jason felt the need to interject.
“Boss, I forgot to mention that they also have some Aurora Dew on them. I still find all this a little farfetched, but these are the facts.”
“Well?” Percy asked, pressing the man for an answer.
“…I admit that you’ve crafted quite the story there. Still, you don’t need to be an alchemist to know all that. The real culprit could have told you and given you a few doses to turn you into a scapegoat. Frankly, I’ve no idea why you’d sacrifice your own future for somebody else, but I’ve seen people do dumber things before.”
Percy failed to suppress a chuckle.
“So what? Even if that was true, I could still tell you what the last ingredient is. And even if I don’t know it, I’m still your best hope of catching this imaginary alchemist. Either way, it’s in your best interest that we come willingly. Or are you so petty that you’d sabotage your entire mission just to hurt us?”
“Very well. What assurances do you want from me exactly?”