Three days Lomberto knocked on the alchemy shop’s door once again and invited Damon out. This time when Lomberto entered he had a wide grin. Damon unable to refuse and forced to comply by his owl went to get his armour, weapon, and a water skin.

“Let’s go,” said Lomberto. This time when Damon stepped outside there were only three lizards, yet the same number of guards. Lomberto guided him to a lizard and helped him get on. After which he climbed on as well and took the reins.

Isn’t he a bit too bold? Thought, Damon.

When they arrived in the forest, they didn’t bother to search for a monster camp. Lomberto lead Damon into a clearing I the forest and told his guards to leave.

He sat next to Damon and their shoulders touched. Damon wanted to get this over with, so he pulled out his water skin, took a swig of wine and kept it at his sides next to Lomberto.

Lomberto took out the sandwiches his maids in armour prepared and gave one to Damon. They both ate in silence, however, as expected Damon soon felt the unsettling gazes.

Damon quickly finished his meal and took another exaggerated swig of the wine he had in his water skin.

“What are you drinking?” asked Lomberto.

“It’s just some wine. I thought it might go well with the sandwich. Do you like wine as well?” asked Damon.

“Of course. Could I get a swig?”

“Of course.” Damon gave the skin to Lomberto and confirmed that he drank the concoction. “Do you like it?”

Damon saw Lomberto’s face contort. The taste of the wine wasn’t bad, nor did the poison taste or act quickly. He just didn’t like wine. “If you don’t like it you don’t have to force yourself,” said Damon.

“No, it’s fine I love it.” Lomberto finished the wine.

Damon shook the water skin to make sure none was left. “I can’t believe you didn’t leave any for me?” He said with the largest smile yet. He could soon end this stupid play.

“Don’t worry I brought more,” said Lomberto

“That’s great, let’s drink some more. We elves love wine. It’s the water of nature after all.”

“Yes, that’s right,” said Lomberto as he grabbed more wine. He poured the wine in two glasses. Damon finished his drink in a gulp. He didn’t care if he became drunk. If Lomberto became too drunk to touch him, all the better. Lomberto finished his drink as well. While Damon filled his own cup, a hand started to play with his hair. He stopped pouring the wine and his hair stood on edge. He quickly finished pouring his drink, took a sip and said, “Since we can’t be intimate let us at least share the same drink.”

Lomberto smiled, slide his hand out of Damon’s hair onto his lower back before he pulled it back and took Damon’s drink. Yet, his eyes were still locked on Damon’s lips.

“Should we go and look at the trees and flowers?” Damon took the wine bottle and glass with him.

Lomberto’s eyes left Damon’s lips for his eyes. “Yes, we should. There isn’t anything more wonderful than flowers after all. I’ve even learned floriography.”

What a god damn grade A sick fuck. How long does it take to get unconscious drunk on medieval wine?

Damon already poisoned him with the strong curse made by Alexandrose. Anything else that happened from here on out would be a pure loss for Damon. As such Damon led Lomberto around by the nose while making him drink wine. When they finished a second bottle Damon said, “We’ve finished the wine, we should go back. I’ve had a really good time with you. We should do this again.”

Lomberto nodded. He couldn’t talk very well, or at all. Damon guessed he didn’t usually drink since he couldn’t manage alcohol at all.

The guards came and took Lomberto and Damon back to the city. They didn’t seem to mind since they’d probably been out drinking with their master before and knew what to expect.

When Damon got back home, Alexandros was uncharacteristically at the register. When Damon entered, he gave Damon a look to which Damon answered with a nod. Alexandros didn’t give let out a sigh but looked much more relaxed and left for his room.

“I can’t stay here,” said Damon, “I avoided him today, but I don’t know if I can next time.”

“You’d imagine he’d leave you alone with that charisma of yours.”

“I think I could have a charisma of a snail and he’d still come for me. It doesn’t matter to him; all he wants is to fuck an elf. Since I’ve acted the part, he thinks he’ll get with me in no time, but if I refuse, he’ll drug me and tie me to his bed.”

“Then leave now, you’ve done your part. All the religions in that town are under the eldest brother, so he shouldn’t be able to recover once the curse starts taking effect. Now take your stuff and go.”

Damon had no reservations about this latest order. He packed his bag full of the sleeping equipment, his extra sets of clothes, and food rations. When he reached the exit Alexandrose was already ready.

The moon had taken the place of the sun in the sky. Damon didn’t bother using his dark magic since he couldn’t cast it on Alexandrose and if someone noticed him the use of dark magic would make him thrice as suspicious as someone wandering the streets at night.

The pair passed a guard on their way out of town, but since they had seen Alexandrose enter the viscount’s abode. They told him that due to the failure in the creation of a potion for the viscount they needed to go get new ingredients. The guards didn’t question them too much and let them pass. Outside Alexandrose and Damon ran towards the forest in the direction of the Tree. They didn’t stop till they couldn’t run nor walk anymore. Half a day had passed, and the midday sun told them to eat.

They sat on a fallen tree and chewed jerky and hard black bread.

“What kind of curse is it, and when will Lombert start to feel something wrong.”

“It’s a curse which makes anything one eats, or drink turn into an ingestible liquid. At first, he will think that he has diarrhea. But within three days he will die of dehydration.”

“How do you cure it?”

“That is something a priest would know. There are too many curses out there, and the best defence against them for us is to have a black mage of higher or equal level than the caster. The only cure I could think of for that young man would be for him to crawl to me and ask for me forgiveness.”

“I guess it’s common for black mages to run away as soon as they’ve cursed the target then.”

Alexandrose nodded. “Once the curse is cast, it’s the client’s task to make sure the target doesn’t meet a priest who can cure him. If he does find a good enough priest to cure him then that’s the client’s problem. Well, that won’t happen this time. Remember back to the dungeon and who restored those nails of yours.”

“So, we can expect someone to come looking for us soon enough.” Damon took a bite of the hard black bread he had soaked in water.

“Unfortunately, so. And in cases like these, when the black mages are caught the clients are already dead. It’s a waste of good talent. It’s easier to think that once someone finds it suitable to pay a black mage to curse you, your life is already forfeited.”

The black mages kept their pace quick and continued in a straight towards the tree. They’d reach it within ten days at their current pace.

#

Two days later Damon heard the muffled stamps of lizard mounts in the distance. He instinctively climbed a tree and so did his companion. Alexandrose took out a small container in his bag, unsealed the cap and dipped an arrow in the viscous liquid. He notched the arrow on his bow. Since he didn’t have much aptitude in offensive magic, he placed his hope on physical weapons.

In his field of vision, Damon saw two soldiers on lizard mounds. They weren’t Lomberto’s guards. He’d never seen these two. The first one wore leather armour and a hide helmet. The second had gambeson armour and a round metal helmet.

Alexandros released his arrow. It pierced the first soldier’s face. The second one reflexively turned to look at Alexandro’s position; however, Damon dropped from above to bludgeon the soldier to death with the hilt of his sword; however, Damon hit a shield and not a helmet. The next thing he knew, his body was sent tumbling a few metres away.

Damon cast smog and shadow meld and limped behind a tree to try and recover his breath.

Soon after he heard the screams of Alexandros; he didn’t dare look around the tree. The man seemed to have a martial skill. Although martial classes were weaker seen as weaker than mages, however, that only applied behind the fifth level. Before that the mages were still learning the basics of the basics and couldn’t properly fight.

A minute passed, two minutes passed, five, and then ten. Damon didn’t hear anything. He decided to peek around the tree, but he couldn’t see anything other than a dead lizard. Alexandros and the last soldier weren’t anywhere in sight.

Did he just take Alexandros? Thought, Damon. The soldier probably deemed it too dangerous to keep two enemy mages with him even though they were weaker than him. He only needed the one who cast the curse after all.

Damon tried to get up but felt an incredible pain in his chest. The blow he received from the soldier most likely crushed his ribs and his will to move.

“Stolas, they took Alexandros,” I called out telepathically.

“You’re still alive, and he’ll be fine.”

“Be fine? How.”

“The target is at death’s door. I can feel his soul drifting towards me. When the soldier gets there, he’ll find a corpse in a casket.”

“Won’t he just kill Alexandros in revenge?” Asked, Damon.

“Well, maybe, but since Dandalone is effectively the new viscount he’ll get him out somehow. If the man wants our assistance in the future, he’d better make sure none dies under his watch. We do more than just assassinations after all. Plus, he won’t get in the good graces of any sect if he treats us like disposable tools. Although we might not get along, in the end were all black mages.”

Damon drank a recovery potion in his bag and felt his chest tighten. The broken ribs were now probably only fractures and not broken. With this he dragged his body to the tree.

He reached it within two weeks. In those two weeks, he encountered three wolves and two goblins, which made him reconsider his strength as they nearly overwhelmed him in a few minutes. Each thrust or swing of the sword made his chest burn, and each blow he blocked made his ribs crack.

When Damon reached the tree, Alexandros had already returned.

“What the fuck is this?” said Damon. In both of his hands he held a long branch, he used as a support to travel the forest.

“What did I say he’d get back here without any issues?” said Stolas.

“No, why the fuck did no one come and get me. I could have died.”

“No, it’s your fault. How do you expect someone to find you if you leave the path? Or do you think he could have found a lost bunny like yourself in such a large forest?”

“If those soldiers found me then he could have as well. You did this out of pleasure.”

Stolas laughed, “No I’m just training you. This is something you must learn to like because it will happen again.”

“The reward had better be good this time. At least seventy-five gold coins.”

“You must be crazy.” Stolas laughed once again. “That was a one-time thing, the pay for this quest was a hundred- and twenty-five-fold coins. If you think I’m going to hand out nearly fifty percent of the pay as a reward, I’d turn into a spirit.” Stolas threw a coin pouch to Damon’s feet. “Your pay.”

Damon crouched down with difficulty and opened the pouch. There were fifteen gold coins inside. “That’s it?”

“What do you mean by that’s it? A commoner makes that in a year. You know what, I’ll send you to a town and make you work as an actual alchemist for a bit. You don’t understand the value of money.”

“I’m not heading to another human settlement anytime soon. I’m going on an expedition in the forest.”

“Suit yourself. However, don’t expect me to pay you.” He flapped his wings and disappeared into the sky.

Soon after Gargalone came out of the Tree with a bucket filled with water and a clean tunic.