Chapter 30: Omen of the New Sun
Mitty had been spending the day learning how to make candy with Rain. It wasn’t too difficult once she got the trick of it, but the sheer variety of flavors and combinations he had at his disposal made the task of experimenting with the various flavors a day long task. Her little guide had stayed a time, but when it had been made clear she would receive no further candy, she ran off to play with a friend before she be coopted for menial tasks by Rain.
She was already beginning to feel better, pain fading like memory. She’d tasted all sorts of magic traces, however faint, and her mind was abuzz with possibilities. The base of the candy was always honey. She learned they specialized in that here, which made sense what with all the bees. When the village was done recovering, they would allow them to venture out to graze upon whichever flower patch Marigold decided would make the most interesting honey. She could smell the magic on it rich and heavy, like a cloud over her mind, but comfortable, thick with [Healing] and [Slowness]
She also tasted dozens of other magic traces that gave her a few ideas, but so far, nothing actionable. She recognized she could probably make some joke candies, like pepper candy that made your steps jingle like bells, but nothing overly inspiring. She supposed she might make a few like that… though she would need fresher ingredients.
It seemed she needed prepare every aspect of dishes from ingredient to final product to get any respectable effect, since Rain’s prepared items had lost almost all of their power before she’d had the chance to try making something herself.
Of her creations, only her hazelnut orange candies were an acceptable result, the faintest of magic popping across her tongue like she’d swallowed a thousand tiny fireworks, though much tastier. She wondered idly what fireworks did taste like. Probably fiery.
With much of the day now behind her, she half limped out of Rain’s candy shop to greet Dantes, who was dragging behind him a frankly massive amount of… sunflower seeds, it looked like, the leafy pallet leaving a shallow furrow in its wake.
She wasn’t particularly surprised to see Dantes return with another girl making eyes at him, as it seemed to be the trend as of late. If two women could make a trend, she supposed. At least this one seemed competent, and not… frilly.
“Hey Mitts. This is Violet. She was showing me around today. We climbed these huuuuuge sunflowers and saw a big hummingbird, and ate a really good sandwich” he blurted, a big smile on his face.
“You certainly look like you had fun. Hello, Violet, I hope Dantes hasn’t offended you too deeply after only a few hours. He means well” she said as politely as she knew how. Rain had taught her the local customs, and not introducing yourself to someone you just met was near the top.
“Well met Mitty. No offense was intentionally given, though much might have been taken by another” she said, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly, giving the vaguest hint of a smirk. “Dantes had much to say about you, including that you are an excellent chef. I would invite you to join our expedition tomorrow, though it appears perhaps some rest would serve you better.”
The wiry girl spoke stiffly, as though to avoid betraying any emotion lurking underneath.
“Zinnia says I will be healed tomorrow” she lied. “I will join you.”
She felt as though she hadn’t been doing adventures with Dantes so much as adventure in the same direction as him. Something she intended on changing.
The two exchanged a few more stilted words before heading in their own directions, she to Zinnia’s house and Violet to her own. Dantes joined Mitty, which pleased her at first before the fact it pleased her annoyed her.
They relayed the events of their own days to each other on the way back, Dantes trying to help her up the steps but getting shooed off before settling in for the evening. Food was uninspiring, consisting mostly of chopped vegetables with some sort of sweet dressing on them, along with chopped sunflower seed. Too green for her preferences, more fit for a rabbit, though Dantes seemed to enjoy it enough. The seeds did give her an idea though.
“Dantes, what’s the expedition tomorrow? I was hoping we could get some fresh ingredients for something interesting. I found some yeast at Rain’s house that I’d like to try making bread with.”
Apparently, they usually had more variety, but the storm had wiped their stores, and all that remained was some vegetables and honey. The honey was kept underground, and so was immune to the ravages above.
“We’re looking for Silver Saffron. When I mentioned a hummingbird was looking for some, Violet wanted to go right away. She has to stay the day to help the village though, so we’re going first light tomorrow.”
“Ugh, fine. Anything to get something better than leaves on a plate. I think saffron would go well with the bread I have planned anyway.”
She could see that interested him, but she decided not to supply further information, and Dantes, in a rare moment of sagacity, chose not to push for it. After a bit more friendly banter, Mitty retired early for the night to the little fairy lights dotting the ceiling of her room hoping the early start wouldn’t wreck her day on the morrow.
***
As expected, that was too much to ask for. She scowled at the sun peeking through her window, but otherwise got ready without complaint. She took a moment to appreciate the dress Zinnia had gifted her. The material was soft and supple, almost velvety, but had a matte look to it. The bottom hem had streaks of white poking upwards, but best of all, it had pockets. Not magical pockets or anything, but they were generously sized, and well concealed. Overall, the whole thing felt sturdier than most cloth she’d worn and felt much nicer. It smelled nicer too.
Her bruises had quickly faded to a sickly yellow, and were still tender to the touch, but she felt as though she could push through the discomfort for the day.
She exited to find Dantes and Violet already waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. Giving them both a morning scowl, they set off to look for some saffron lilies. Apparently the Guardian Lily did not have any lilies of the variety they were looking for, so they set off slightly to its left, where Violet said she knew a grove of smaller lilies grew.
The trek might have been remarkable if she were a plant eater, or particularly fascinated in biodiversity of green things, but she was not, so time passed unremarkably.
After a time, she saw Dantes talking with Violet up ahead, who frowned and gestured her to catch up.
“Dantes says he can smell some Saffron already. We should still be a ways off though. You said you were collecting ingredients, right? We’re near a patch of Pepper Mint, as well as a Cauliflower bush. There’s also some other peppers a bit ahead if you want to check those out.”
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She wrinkled her nose slightly at how Dantes had told Violet first but rolled her eyes at herself for caring about it. Harvesting some ingredients would be nice to break the monotony of the hike anyhow.
“Lets get a little of everything. Rain says the key to candy making is trying new flavours.”
The hunter nodded at that.
“I’m sure Rain would know. His candy is well liked by our neighbour groves, so much so that they often send parties to trade wares for his candies on the summer solstice.”
They stopped by a grassy glade dotted with red and white leaves, of which Mitty plucked several. They had a
After picking several Refresh Mints, they stopped and got some cauliflower, which was not magical, but at least looked like it might add variety to her dinner that night. At least it wasn’t green.
Finally, they stopped by the peppers. She harvested a Bell Pepper, seeing Dantes bite into another one, cutting off its pleasant ringing early. She also grabbed a couple Chilly Peppers right off the vine, but when she went to grab a Ghost Pepper, she found her hand passed right through.
It shivered with disapproval, but otherwise said nothing. She tried closing her cloak pocket around it, and found it slipped right through the enchantment. She noticed it smelled
“Those are ghost peppers. Rustles in the Wind harvests some on occasion with his magic. They make for good kick in soups or a miss in Candy Roulette.” She chuckled at that last one.
She decided going about it in a normal way wouldn’t suffice, so she snuck around the bush from where she decided was the back and shouted “BOO!”
A shiver ran through the pepper, and it promptly fell off the vine, right into her open pocket.
Violet seemed impressed and Dantes amused.
“I’ve never seen that technique before, traveller Mitty. Did they use that from where you came from?”
Mitty chuckled and shrugged, amusedly noticing Dantes trying her same technique on another one to similar effect. From look on his face after the nibble he took from his pepper, she figured it might be best to put off a taste test.
They moved on, and soon enough, she smelled
This seemed to excite their guide, and she ran ahead, leaving Dantes and Mitty pushing through the underbrush alone.
“That’s the hummingbird, Mitts. Violet said she really wanted to meet one, so that’s why we’re here today.”
She had nothing to complain about as she’d gotten her share of ingredients she’d set out for, so they pushed on ahead until they came to a small glade. Here the canopy was sparse, a few large petals casting colored beams onto the clearing below where silver lilies bloomed.
The lilies were not extraordinary in size or shape or beauty or even color, though the silvery tint did please her. They simply were. Covering every inch of the forest floor, sometimes finding a crevice in a tree flower to climb, simply existing.
She bent down for a moment to pick one, though it felt almost heretical, as though she had robbed the forest of something vital. Just one, when there was a whole field of them, but the loss still felt meaningful. The hole in the floral carpet where it once lay stood bald, its former neighbours crowding in as though in mourning.
As the feeling of loss, or maybe guilt faded, she noticed the humming had stopped. Dantes seemed to be able to follow Violet’s scent well enough, so she followed him, thinking about what flavours of candy she would make upon her return. Not saffron, surely. It seemed too precious to use in casual consumption.
Stepping carefully in the spaces between patches of lilies, they came to a ridge where, looking down, they saw a strange sight.
Violet lay unconscious in a flowerbed, though no visible injury could be seen. Opposite her stood a black cloaked figure and behind them, two more with a thick net wrapping around something thrashing.
She heard something akin to a growl beside her as Dantes’ face scrunched up in focus and a promise of violence. She tugged on his sleeve and whispered to him to wait and watch, but quickly realized that he wouldn’t heed her words. Rather than do something foolish, she donned her hood and slipped off to get a better angle.
She heard snippets of conversation as she circled around to a dead trunk behind the dark figures.
“…the locals you think?”
“No shit, Dara. We’d best get going soon. Hunters often travel in pairs.”
“What do we do about her?”
“Nothing. We have what we came here for; The Master of Ceremonies will be pleased. No need riling up the local rabble for… wait. Who goes there!”
She froze before she noticed Dantes walking into the clearing, striding in on frosty steps, a darkness shrouding his brow and a feral look on his face.
The lead cloaked man raised a hand to indicate he stop.
“Begone stranger. The Followers of the New Sun have no quarrel with you.”
As he spoke, he pulled a blade from his belt, long and jagged, like torn paper.
With no further words spoken, she saw Dantes flicker forward, staff in hand and the man in black blurring to meet him with his sickly green sword. The two weapons clashed in midair with a sickening scream.
“This one knows some moves. Tallow, flank him. Dara, you stay in back.”
The other figure flanked around Dantes, backstepping a shallow backhanded swipe neatly. Obviously, he knew his stuff too.
Now would be the best time to make a move. From the way they positioned, they were protecting the smaller one called Dara who was currently standing next to the net that was still writhing on the jungle floor.
Forcing herself to ignore the ongoing fight, she focused on what she could do. She skulked forward, the shadows parting her presence reluctantly as she stealthed into the glade proper. The canopy rustled above, sending dappled rays of light piercing into the jungle floor, but none of them met her.
She withdrew her kitchen knife from her cloak pocket. Sneaking up behind the slip of a girl seemed almost too easy, nearly unfair, but with Dantes’ life on the line, she steeled herself.
She grabbed Dara who shouted in surprise, and placed the knife across the side of her throat, where she would still be in danger should the girl try something stupid like headbutting her. She thought she heard the words ‘Shadow Walker’ escape from the girl’s lips, but she couldn’t be sure in the commotion.
The fight had slowed down to an impasse, she saw, as a nasty cut ran down Dantes’ leg, but in return she saw the other man limping. They were in a loose triangle when the leader froze and saw her.
“Priestess!”
So, she’d captured someone important. Her intuition had been right.
The two men dropped their weapons on the bed of trampled lilies and got down on both knees. Dantes seemed inclined to keep fighting, but a scorching glare from her settled him for the moment.
Still having no idea what was happening, she probed for information.
“What in the dog brained hells is going on? Why did you attack our companion?”
The men on their knees trembled a bit, but the leader responded.
“Greatest apologies, Priestess. Had we lowly ones known these peasants were your followers your humble servants would not have touched them. Please. These wretched followers of yours deserve not forgiveness, but we beg of you it regardless.”
She blinked twice. What? Were they confused?
Taking her silence as disapproval he blabbered on.
“Please spare Dara, she is new. If you must express your displeasure, please allow this worthless one to take her place.”
By now Dantes had been shocked out of his rage and was looking between her and the weird man confused. She decided not to disabuse these weirdos of any misconception they might have that would lead them to act this way.
“As long as you understand. Leave my presence posthaste, and should I see your wretched hide again, you can be sure you’ll be leaving without it. Now go!” she added, spurring them into action.
The men scrambled away, as did the woman when she released her trembling grip.
“Hey Mitts, did you know those guys? They seemed to know you.”
“Yeah, no clue what that was about. How’s your friend?”
Suddenly remembering the reason he’d fought to begin with, he quickly rolled her over, but found she was breathing fine, just dazed. A splash of water and some sputtering and stunned blinking later, Violet was on her feet, and glaring somewhat peevishly at her.
“Where’d those thugs go? Is the baby hummingbird safe?”
As though in response to her concerns, the creature trapped in the net flailed once more.
Violet rushed forward, unwrapping the tangled creature, who at first resisted with more flailing, but soon realized her intent, and sat mostly still while she cut away the thick vines.
It appeared like a normal hummingbird, she saw, though bigger than any she’d seen before, being about as tall as her. And it was a baby? Everything around here was bigger, it seemed.
As soon as it was free, the humming sound returned, and it soon flitted around fast as the eye could see, as though to get a good look at its saviours from every angle. It stopped for a time to drink from the lilies, before darting away, no trace of it evident in the now silent jungle, save the wind blowing through the petals above.