Leonel's Stew

"You're back late," Adrian commented when Leonel Aelius entered the union leader's office. He didn't sound angry. He always knew that whenever Leonel was late, there was a good reason behind it.

"Something happened." Leonel sat down in front of him and bent forward. He dropped down the books Adrian requested him to bring on the desk.

Adrian raised a brow. He knew Leonel was being serious. "What happened?"

"Well, Adri, someone wanted you dead."

"I've gotten death threats before from our enemies. It's nothing new." Adrian's gaze returned to the book he had open in his palm.

"But those were only for scaring you. They were never really serious. This one seems different. They used a different method."

"What do you mean?" Adrian looked up from his book.

"There was a curse jar meant for you. That girl Olivia found it while she was destroying the curse jars at the offering site."

Adrian shook his head in dismay at Olivia's actions. "Why in the world would she do that? Did she want to die that bad?"

"She was helping this girl whose brother was cursed. Apparently, she didn't know that destroying the jars would anger the ancient spirits. Luckily, I was around to save her."

"That was a bad move for her, but I would have been dead if she hadn't destroyed the jars, so I'm thankful."

"We tried to gather information, but got nothing. We got sandwiches though as thanks for helping the girl's brother. You should try them! They're really good." Leonel raised the basket of sandwiches.

Adrian moved towards the window and looked outside. "Who would do this?"

"Whoever it did it was probably too weak to defeat you, so that person sought help from the ancient spirits instead."

Adrian was a little disturbed. "The ancient spirits could certainly kill a summoner, but not everyone knows that..." His voice trailed away as he was deep in thought. "The price of death curses is usually too high for a regular person to pay. Whoever did it probably had the money, had a magician friend, or knew how to perform curses. It's still difficult to narrow down the suspects."

"If they see that you're still alive, they're probably going to redo the curse. Be careful."

"We have to speed up this investigation."

"I fear the little lady Olivia will also be in trouble with the local witch doctors once they hear about what she did."

Adrian thought about the strange girl who seemed to appear wherever he went. "Send her a warning and my thanks as well."

"Gotcha." Leonel's gaze landed on the books they seized from the witch's hut. They still reeked of the witch's stench. "How is the translation going?"

Adrian sighed. "Truthfully, I'm not getting anywhere with these translations. I hope those new books you brought me will help. Still... I have a bad feeling about these books." He set the book down on the table and opened it for Leonel to see. "At the very least, I have a vague idea about what it contains."

"What did you find out?"

"Gates. Transformations. Advanced spells that shouldn't ever be used. Who wrote these? Where did the knowledge originate from? That's what I'd like to know." He closed the book. "If there are more copies of this out there, we must find them and destroy them at once."

Leonel slumped in his seat and drew a deep sigh. "My grandmother often told me never to delve into black magic. I can see why it's a whole lot of trouble."

Adrian nodded. "She certainly gave you sound advice."

***

Olivia woke up late the next day. It was her day off, so she was determined to stay in bed and enjoy the beautiful morning indoors. It wasn't long before she heard a knock on her door that interrupted her relaxing rest. She forced herself out of bed and checked to see who it was.

"Shina! What are you doing here?" She was surprised to find her friend at her doorstep.

"Good morning, Olivia. Leonel wanted to give this to you," Shina said with a smile. He was holding a container full of stew. There was a note attached to it: 'Sorry I got excited and made the stew. Hope you like it!'

"Thank you," Olivia replied as she received the gift. "Please tell Leonel I said thank you."

"Leonel left on a mission this morning after making that stew. He won't be back till tomorrow." Shina gave her some items wrapped in cloth. "He also wanted me to give you this just in case."

Olivia recognized the items. "These are the salts and that plant he used to get the ancient spirits off me."

"He thinks the witch doctors might try to take revenge after you destroyed the jars. For your safety, you should stay away from the town where the Alley of the Witch Doctors is."

Suddenly, Olivia was worried. "Thanks for the warning."

Shina was about to leave when he remembered one last thing. "Adrian says thanks."

Olivia's eyes lit up. "Is he alright?"

"He's still alive if that's what you're asking."

She drew a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness."

"Take care of yourself, Olivia. I'll see you around!" Shina waved and walked away.

"See you, Shina!"

Olivia placed all the gifts on the table and grabbed a spoon to taste the stew. It was thick and meaty, certainly a dish a grandmother would feed to her grandchildren.

"Delicious," she said after that one bite.

Mezolas appeared before her. "How generous of that mountain lion man!"

As Olivia took another bite, she recalled all that Nox had said to her and the events of the previous day. She was not safe. Neither were Adrian and Leonel. It would be foolish to sit and wait for the enemy to approach.

"Mezolas," Olivia called.

"Yes, my Lady?" Mezolas' reply was timely as usual.

"We're going out to purify the woods."