said, jumping into his position as a natural-born warrior and leader. “Varon and I have a healthy squad. We were heading back from our own mission and just found Bryn earlier tonight. This is good fortunes. Let’s use them.” Nevyn looked around to see his warriors up, all waiting for their orders.
“How do ya want to play this?” Bryn asked.
“You know what? Do you still know how to make dreki ethir poison?”
Bryn grinned. “Yes, I do. We need some dreki for me to make it, though.”
“Not hard to find,” Mat said, still panting a little more than Bryn was okay with. He’d only ever seen the big male pant after Mave was through with him, not from travel, a mission, or training. “It grows like a weed.”
“It is a weed,” Bryn reminded him. “It’s just a deadly one, and I know just where to get it. It grows on riverbanks. I’ll be back.”
Bryn went back into the woods, easily finding a patch of dreki in the ravine. It liked moist areas, riverbanks, and marshy valleys. He couldn’t grab it with his hands, so he found his gloves in his bag, put them on, then yanked the entire plant out of the ground. It had shallow roots, and the soft soil made it easy. He jumped back into the air and flew to the top of the cliff before jogging back to camp.
“Everyone, be careful with this around,” he ordered.
“I’ve never heard of that stuff being used as a poison,” one of the warriors mumbled. “It’s just a weed. You brush up against it, and it gives you a rash.”
“The fluid in the stems is more toxic than the stuff that comes out of the leaves. If ya just bit into the stem, it would make ya sick for a week, and ya might die of dehydration if yer away from a village and a healer.” Bryn started his work, grabbing a cooking pan he had brought. He cut off the leaves to get them out of his way, then carefully cut into the stems, getting the fluids to drip out very slowly. “Concentrated, ya can make a deadly poison. Like, don’t cut yerself deadly. I don’t use it often. It didn’t grow in Olost, and it takes forever to make. I haven’t taught my scouts the recipe because it’s a pain compared to other options.”
“It needs something else, doesn’t it?” Nevyn asked, kneeling next to him.
“Nope. I just need to wrin’ out enough of the liquid. If ya notice, it’s only a drop or two at a time. Ya need it heavily concentrated to take down an adult male Andinna. For an Elvasi…a little less. It’s not the easiest poison to use because of how long it takes to get enough to be worthwhile, and it’s not the strongest poison. It can be a bit slow actin’. There’re dozens of other better options, but I don’t think we’re going to find any good ones right now.”
“How much would you need to kill a gryphon?” Nevyn asked.
Bryn looked at him, blinking several times, then back to the small pan.
“More,” he decided, nodding. “A lot more, but I like the way yer thinkin’. We’ll be doin’ this all night, and I’m going to need someone to yank up another bush. Please wear gloves, or ya will get skin rashes from contact poisonin’. You know the deal.”
He worked all night. After they brought up more, Varon knelt next to him and helped. The sun was beginning to come over the horizon when Bryn felt they might have enough.
Mat, Zayden, and their last remaining warrior, a male name Kick, had passed out at some point, and no one rushed to wake them up. They had dark circles under their eyes, and Bryn was certain every one of them had lost a substantial amount of weight while on the run. He was also impressed by their resolve. They hadn’t wanted to lead the gryphon riders to anything important, not even a guard post that might have been able to help them. The guard posts weren’t equipped to handle an assault unit like the Elvasi’s riders, and it would lose a strategic point for their defensives if they had been overtaken.
He would make sure they were well fed and rested once they got home. And he would make sure they got home.
“How do ya think this’ll work best?” Bryn asked Nevyn.
“Love?” Nevyn looked at Varon, who gave a silent sigh and started pulling arrows from his