The pair hadn't wasted time. That same afternoon,they visited the market square, herbalists, and any other store liable of carrying ingredients, walking away with most of what Niala needed, bar one last component.

  David had expected to be asked for a specific plant to complete the recipe, but here, the advantage of a compound alchemist became apparent.

  The usual courier posting asking for rare ingredients did just that: They asked for a specific rare ingredient. Instead, Niala was giving him a list, all valid combinations as far as she was concerned.

  It was going to make his job so much easier.

  The last hurdle was figuring out which of those ingredients would be available in the region, and so they set out for the town's library. They pored over herbalism books, reference material, and even the Ruinlands adventurer's reports that the library clerks had collected and compiled over the years.

  As a final source of information, they sought out the various establishments around town where said adventurers congregated, asking them directly.

  By the time they were done, they had filtered the list down to three possible candidates:

  The Five-petalled Dark Lily. Often confused with the five-petalled black lily, Niala explained that the dark lily was actually coloured with multiple shades of black, whereas the black lily was a single shade. The stem was the important part for the panacea, but she'd said to bring back the entire thing since everything had a use.

  The Cackling Beauty. So called after its beautiful white-and-blue flower and the sound the long, hard-tipped stamens made when knocking on each other during gusts of wind.

  And finally, the Last Breath. An incredibly poisonous plant. Its flower only bloomed a single time a year, and only for a few bells, but exuded an overpowering pheromone which attracted animals, making them breathe in its toxic scent and succumb within minutes at the plant's foot. The corpses enriched the earth, feeding the plant.

  Much to David's chagrin, they were all rumoured to be relatively easy to find within the Ruinlands and Hungerwoods, much further north than he had gone so far. This would be an expedition which would last more than a single day.

  The rest of the day was spent at home, Niala assembling a collection of potions for David to take with him into the Hungerwoods, both taking from her ready stock and brewing as needed.

  Late into the evening, as they rechecked David's supplies for the third time and found nothing amiss, she looked up at him, biting her lips, ears pointing down.

  “You shouldn't do this. We can put up a posting and ask for those plants. You don't need to go risk yourself.” Niala told him.

  “If we do, we could be waiting weeks, if not a full season.”

  “It's just a bit of time...” She countered, gazing downward.

  He smiled, his eyes gentle. “It'll be fine. I'll take things slowly, and if anything happens, I can run away very fast. Besides, I'll take Karline with me.”

  She looked up. “Karline? Isn't it even more dangerous for her?”

  He shook his head. “From the time I spent with her, I can tell she's got good courier instincts. She can also run very fast, and it'll be safer with two people. We can keep a lookout at night, and it'll be good training for her.”

  Niala twisted her mouth, her ears wiggling. “Are you really, really, really sure you'll be safe?”

  Smiling, he held out a hand and ruffled her hair. “Safer than anyone else you could ask to go.”

  She grabbed his arm, forcing his hand to stay atop her head as she walked up to him, putting her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his chest.

  He began stroking her hair.

  “I don't like sending you out into danger...” She said.

  “I'm glad. It'd be a strange relationship if you did.”

  She pinched his back, her lips thin. “I'm being serious.”

  “And a little bit hypocritical, with the whole Panjo thing.” He admonished.

  “... I ... can't refute that.” She admitted.

  He moved his hand to her chin, tilting her head upwards, looking into her eyes. “I'll be fine. I'm doing this because I want to, for you. You don't have to feel like you're forcing me.”

  She didn't answer, only staring back at him.

  They kissed, a wish and a promise exchanged without words, more meaningful than anything they could have said.

  “As happy as I should be that you trust me enough to bring me along on an expedition into the pits-bound Hungerwoods this morning, I'm still not sure where we're going. You just told me we were looking for some plants?” Karline said as she gave her equipment a once-over, making sure everything was on properly.

  “Are we just going to roam around until we find them? If so, I hope you have the saints' own luck; the Hungerwoods are very large.”

  David finished tightening the straps on his leather boots, unsheathing and examining the holdout dagger they concealed. “No roaming. The Hungerwoods are only mostly unmapped. I have a general idea of where we need to look, or rather, which environment we're looking for.”

  Sheathing the dagger, he got up and walked over to Karline, giving her leather breastplate a good tug, nodding when it didn't move.

  “And do you have a general idea of where those environments are?” She asked.

  “Yes, north.” He started walking in that direction.

  “Of course. North!” She rolled her eyes.

  “Hmm. The lily and the cackle grow mostly in shaded areas with open ground, so near cliffs, hills, bluffs, or singular trees with large canopies. The last breath will be found in shadowy areas with poor soil, so near caves, forests on rocky ground, and so on.” He explained.

  “And where to find places like that? Maybe we could have hired a guide?”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  He glanced back at her. “Have you ever heard of a successful courier that relied on guides?”

  She shrank somewhat. “Well... no, not really. I get your point, but it still doesn't help us. What's the plan?”

  “We find someone who knows the area and we ask them.”

  “How is that different from hiring a guide? And again, how do we find anything in this green blood pit?” She argued.

  “Because couriers find things, my apprentice. We don't hire things. It's fine if we find a guide. As for where, when Niala and I asked the adventurers yesterday, they told us there were a number of semi-permanent camps out there, sort of like base camps for their expeditions. We're heading to one right now.” David said.

  “Oh, that's...”

  “Well informed? Thought out?”

  “Yes?” She hesitated.

  “Take it as a lesson. Half of a courier's job is talking to people. How do you figure I found the missing heirs during the Ballatino heir hunt in two days when some of the couriers had been running like headless chickens for weeks?”

  “I'm guessing the answer is that you talked to people.”

  “Very good, you learned the lesson quickly. I talked to all the estate staff, then to their families, then to their kids, then to the kids' friends, then to those friends' families. That's how I found out they hadn't gotten kidnapped like everyone thought. It's how I figured they had run away for a day of exploring the extensive mana-crystal caves at the edge of their estate, and there had been a landslide that covered up the entrance.”

  “That... seems rather mundane. You didn't use any of your special courier tool? Secret techniques?” She asked, taken aback.

  “Only to track down the mana-crystal caves. Your brain's the biggest and most powerful tool you have, and nobody can take that away from you.” He explained.

  Karline mulled David's words over as they trekked north, soon entirely losing sight of Riverwall.

  They navigated the woods at a decent pace, on alert for signs of wildlife and other dangers, for the rest of the morning, stopping for a quick Niala-prepared lunch of marinated meat sandwiches.

  The afternoon took them farther north than the moon chapel was. They began noticing signs of ancient civilization strewn about the woods; a mostly crumbled wall there, some rusting fences there. They even came across a sort of mausoleum surrounded by a few above-ground alabaster-coloured rocky caskets, which were strangely well preserved.

  They gave the mausoleum a wide berth.

  “Wait, I saw something,” Karline whispered as she crouched.

  David did much the same, scanning the forest. “Where?” He whispered back.

  She pointed ahead, to the left. “Something shone red, over that way.”

  He squinted. “Not seeing it. Let's get closer, quietly.”

  She nodded and followed after him. For his bulk, David was surprisingly quiet, barely making any noise as he filtered through the vegetation. She did her best, but anybody or anything that was actively listening was going to detect her.

  They arrived at the edge of a tiny clearing, where Karline saw the flash once more, coming from the moss-covered, misshapen trunk of a large tree at the clearing's edge.

  She tapped David's shoulder and pointed at it. He followed her finger and nodded, unsheathing a dagger as he did so.

  He moved forward a few steps before stopping, turning his gaze down. With his gloved hand, he brushed aside the topmost dirt at his feet, revealing a deep bronze metal part of some kind. He dug it up and brushed the dirt off of it. It looked broken but not deteriorated. Frowning, he pocketed it and approached the mossy lump ahead.

  Karline shuffled next to him, keeping an eye on their surroundings.

  He carefully started scraping the moss off in small patches. What they thought had been a tree trunk turned out to be something made out of the same bronze metal he'd just picked up and was leaning against the tree.

  The scrapping soon revealed a blocky humanoid form, and the source of the red glow revealed itself to be a red gem inset into the thing's head, giving it a one-eyed face. He guessed the sun had caught the gem at the right angle to have it shine into Karline's eye.

  She made to grab the gem. David clamped his hand over her arm and shook his head.

  “Why not? It looks expensive. And dead.” She whispered.

  “Another courier lesson. We're not treasure seekers. You find the thing you're after and avoid picking up anything expensive or important-looking along the way. The places we end up in, expensive and important things are usually guarded by something.” He murmured

  “Doesn't seem like it's dangerous, so let's keep moving.” He started making his way back out of the clearing.

  She gave the gem one long, lasting look before sighing and following after him.

  Behind them, the eye shone once more. And again. At regular intervals, it shone.

  As the sun started to set, David finally caught glimpse of one of the red cloths that he'd been told by the adventurers in town delineated the edges of one of the expedition camps.

  They soon began catching snippets of conversations and various sounds.

  Crossing over a small creek brought them in view of a small glade. There was a log cabin overlooking several tents and lean-tos, with various small crates or barrels strewn about in small piles, and maybe a dozen people busying themselves with dinner, setting up camp, or just lounging around a campfire.

  Someone whistled, catching everyone's attention. The camp's occupants turned their heads towards David and Karline, the chatter dying down and several hands finding a weapon to grip.

  Nobody moved. A log snapped in one of the fire pits.

  “Friends?” David asked out loud.

  “What's the password?” A gruff woman with a brown bandana asked, scowling.

  David blinked. “They didn't tell me there was a password.”

  The woman's scowl slowly turned into a smile. “That's because there ain't one. That means you did talk to ta' guys in town and they cleared ya'! Welcome ta' Camp Freshmeat. Grab a log, throw some grub into a pot!”

  That was the signal for everyone to let go of their weapons and resume whatever they had been doing, chatter and clinks filling the air once more.

  David and Karline shrugged at each other and approached the gruff woman's little clique.

  She glanced at them from the side of her eye as she drank from a tankard, wiping her mouth on her sleeve before staring them down properly.

  “I'm David, this is Karline. We're free couriers.” He introduced themselves.

  The woman raised an eyebrow. “Free couriers, huh? Don't actually see a lot of you's around these parts. Name's Manda. Big guy's Russell, and that shifty henfucker's Ervin.” The two men nodded in turn. David and Karline nodded back.

  Manda motioned to some unused logs. They sat down. David retrieved a pack of cut vegetables and dried meat from one of his cargo-cloth, and threw it into the boiling pot, as previously instructed.

  “Woowee, honest to saints storage rags. You guys the real deal?” Manda asked.

  “Cargo-cloths, and yes, we're real, free courier.”

  “Plaque, out boy.” She instructed. They complied.

  Manda nodded. “You's free courier alright. Whatchoo deliverin' out here?”

  “Retrieving.”

  “Pards?” She blinked.

  “Retrieving, we're retrieving something, and I'd like to know who here knows the area the best.” He said, pulling out three large bits from a pocket.

  “Hrrm. I reckon that'd be us. Log cabin's ours, we've been traipsing around them woods for years. Used ta' be five of us.” She raised her mug, mirrored by her two compatriots, and they all took a swig.

  “But don' go an' take my word for it. Go ask around!” She said with a glint in her eye, almost daring him to.

  “No, that's fine,” David said, slinging her the money. She caught it with a sweep of her hand and grinned.

  “That earned you some answers, courier boy. Whatchoo want ta' know?”

  He smiled. “We're looking for flowers.”

  Manda's eyes opened fully before blinking a few times. “Out in the Hungerwoods lookin' fer flowers?”

  “That's right.”

  “And how much ya' said you were gettin' paid?”

  “Oh, I'm doing this for free.” He said nonchalant.

  “An' I thought free couriers were smart,” Manda mumbled.

  David just smiled. Karline gave him a side-eye.

  girl!

  you're a girl!

  I'm sorry.

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