Bloodflowers Bloom (The Astral Wanderer Book 2), D'Artagnan Rey [essential reading .txt] 📗

enough away to not notice, the three friends studied the dagger. “It looks like the ones Wulfsun said they attacked with,” Devol pointed out.

“Hopefully, it is. If not, we stole someone else’s,” Jazai responded and ran his hand over the handle. “It’s enchanted, but not an exotic. The spell makes it more durable and it loses its edge at a slower rate.”

Asla lifted it to her nose, sniffed it, and gasped. She moved it away and wafted a hand around her nose. “It’s poisoned, although little remains. My nose tells me it’s a mixture of black caps, vantalace, and death root.”

“That last one is no surprise.” Devol folded his arms. “I’m not sure if there is a fatal poison that doesn’t use at least a little death root.”

“Most top-graded assassin recipes call for it but it doesn’t make it plentiful, though,” Jazai commented and looked at Asla. “Liquid or powder?”

“Liquid. There isn’t enough residue for it to be powder, and it left…” She looked around, picked up a small pebble, and rubbed the blade to bring up a dark, inky gunk webbing. “Grime?”

“Baggage 1S!” an attendant called and startled Devol.

“That is us. I’ll be right back!” he stated as he jogged to the cart. “Head to Wulfsun. I’ll catch up!”

“Got it!” Jazai shouted as he and Asla began to head out of the station. She held the dagger by the handle, careful to avoid the blade. “Illusion,” he whispered and distorted the weapon to look like a wand-shaped curio. “It won’t last long but we won’t be stopped unless someone is watching us closely.”

She nodded and slid it under her shawl. “That might be a possibility given that assassins were sent after us.”

The diviner shrugged. “Agreed, but hey, that means we’re making our way in the world now, right? People have to care if they are trying to kill us.”

The wildkin frowned but a small chuckle escaped as they proceeded through the crowd. “That might be the most optimistic interpretation I’ve ever heard you put on something.”

“It’s nice to potentially have fans out there, right?” Jazai quipped with a devious smirk. “I only hope we get to meet them soon. I’d like to return the favor.”

Chapter Nineteen

“Oy, over here!” Wulfsun shouted to Jazai and Asla from the western archway. “I’m glad to see you finally. Where’s Devol?”

The diviner pointed to the train. “He offered to get the luggage. While we were waiting, we found this.” Asla brought the knife out, still camouflaged as the curio.

“A wand.” The Templar looked at them in confusion. “Are you collecting souvenirs or something?”

Jazai chuckled, then muttered, “It seems simple tricks can work on veterans as well.”

“Touch it,” Asla said and held it up handle-first so he wouldn’t brush against the blade. The Templar touched the wand and frowned. “Metal—is this one of those knives?”

“Most likely. A couple of the conductors found it in the luggage area,” Jazai explained and motioned for the Templar to lower the item. “I’ll release the illusion but keep it out of sight.” He snapped his fingers and the illusion dropped and the wand transformed into the jagged blade.

Wulfsun nodded as soon as he had examined it. “No doubt about it, this is one of the daggers those ghouls had on ʼem.” He frowned and resisted the urge to run a finger over the blade. “I should have made sure I tossed them all out, but the other one disappeared inside the goop.”

“I’m not sure if it tells us much.” Asla sighed. “It doesn’t appear unique enough to give us any indication of what it could have been made of. Jazai said it was enchanted, I suppose for durability or sharpness, and the poison coating it is made of black caps, vantalace, and death root.”

Even though his hands were protected by his gauntlets, Wulfsun flinched and made a disgusted face. “That’s the mixture for basilisk venom. It causes your body to freeze before it eventually shuts down—nasty stuff.” He took out one of the small pouches on his belt, opened it, and slid the knife in, although the hilt still protruded a little. “Maybe our correspondent can tell us about anyone who might have targeted the client and gotten us mixed up in this. Otherwise, it seems the most likely reason behind this is these were assassins sent by those who created the disturbance we’re investigating.”

“I’ll go with the second idea,” Jazai said quietly. “If someone wanted to kill the count or lord or whoever hired us, there’s no reason to include us unless they are simply spiteful.”

“I still don’t see how they would know who we are,” Asla continued. “I would imagine the client received our details several hours ago. It seems too short a short a time to discover our mission, make a plan, and find people to try to assassinate us—unless they were expecting the Templars to send someone.”

“Well, if they are using ghouls, they probably have enough bodies,” Wulfsun reasoned before he sighed and shook his head. “Sorry. That wasn’t meant to be a pun or anything like that.”

Jazai shrugged again and tapped his foot. “What the hells is taking Devol so long?”

“I’m here!” the swordsman shouted and followed it with a grunt of effort. They all looked to where the boy struggled with several different bags and satchels. They dangled from his back and arms and a smaller one was even slung across his neck. “I forgot how much we brought.”

“You can push those two heavy doors in the order hall open but can’t manage a few bags?” Jazai teased.

“It’s not the weight. They are awkward to carry,” Devol explained with a faint frown. “Do you want to try to carry all of this?”

“Yeah, sure.” The diviner waved a hand and all the bags glowed with a faint blue light. All but Devol’s bags elevated off him and moved to their respective owners.

The swordsman’s frown deepened. “Show off,” he mumbled and tightened his pack. “Next time, you’re the bag carrier.”

“It’s probably wise,” the other