An Order of Death | ONC 2024

Chapter Two

As soon as the royal guard left Deathly Delights, turning towards the exit of the village, I ran and flipped the sign swinging in the front door to closed. Panic swelled in my chest, closing tightly around my lungs and making it difficult to breathe.

Why in the Gods' names had I agreed to this? Noxol was only found in the deepest parts of the Ivory Forest. Even if I could get there and return successfully, how was I going to manage to do it on time? If I didn't, now I would lose my life.

I willed my heart to calm, steadying my breaths. Perhaps I didn't need to head into the forest to get the poison. There was an apothecary on the outskirts of the village, so maybe there was a chance they had the poison too? The gold the guard had given me was surely enough to buy it off them.

Chewing the inside of my lip, I shoved the money pouch into the hidden pocket of my skirts and grabbed a scrap of paper alongside a pencil to bring with me. It was worth a try.

Our village was encased in a protective circle of trees, the houses and other buildings settled into a clearing in the middle. We were small compared to the other villages in the Kingdom of Yuris, but we held the most secrets in our blood. I left the quiet street where Deathly Delights resided and turned into the market that formed the centre. Crowds gathered around colourful stalls, each person quarrelling over which goods they needed. Shops sold fresh fish from the Southern Sea that left a pungent smell to drift through the air, crops from another village in the north that the soil in our area couldn't cultivate, we even had jewellery from the kingdom's largest city.

Everyone walked with purpose, knowing exactly what they needed. However, that also made navigating your way through the ocean of bodies difficult.

I pushed my way through the market toward the message board. Various pieces of paper were already pinned to the cork, entailing the requests that some villagers had. Was requesting a rare, dangerous poison on a public message board the smartest plan I had in the world? Not at all. But, if the apothecary didn't have what I was looking for, this was my only hope.

"Morning, Tae!" A high-pitched voice greeted from behind me. The owner of Forsaken Remedies — the village apothecary — peered over my shoulder and glanced at the request I was about to stick into the cork with a spare hairpin. "There's not much of a chance you'll get someone to help you retrieve that on the message board," she continued with a grimace.

"Hey, Mystal." I glanced down at the request and then back up at her entrancing, sapphire eyes. "Are you sure? I really need this for an order." If there was anyone I was comfortable talking about Deathly Delights' true nature with, it was Mystal. We often had supplies the other needed and we learnt to never question what the other was up to.

"You'll need someone willing to risk their life to gather it," she explained with a frown.

"I assume you don't have any then." My smile faltered second by second, the thin strands of my determination slipping away in the light, spring breeze. "My next stop was Forsaken Remedies to check your stock."

"I don't believe we've ever kept that... herb." Mystal changed her wording at the last moment to fend off any prying ears. She placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, squeezing it gently with her clawed fingers. The long talons had each been painted with an azure, floral design.

"Do you have any idea where I could find someone willing to risk their life? I wouldn't mind going by myself, but I don't want to get lost or run into who knows what in the Ivory Forest."

Mystal hummed under her breath as she thought. Turning her head toward the sun to figure out its placement in the sky, she finally had her answer. "You could try the tavern. There should hopefully be a bounty hunter drinking himself to death called Oryal. From what I've heard, he's been there a few times for animal pelts, rare meats and other plants."