A Little Drop Can Go a Long Way

Noble had sensed the protector coming through his emotions, but Nickel must have seen him from the top of the wall.

Nic had called him a lapdog. How rude! Noble would have chastised him, but the mysterious wraith was already out of range of her emotional radar and wouldn't hear her anyway.

"Counsel," Noble welcomed the handsome man. "I missed you this morning."

The man flourished an elaborate bow while holding a small container in one hand. "I have been busy working. Thankfully I at last have something to show for it."

Noble raised her eyebrows. "Oh? I hope it is not another proposal on stricter punishments for former slave owners. I know things aren't moving as swiftly—or violently—as you want, but…"

She stopped when she saw Counsel's excited expression darken.

"It isn't that this time."

Noble bit her lip. To her credit, he had been pushing for the death of a lot of people lately.

Probably people who deserved it, but Noble had been unwilling to pull that trigger without the due process of law.

"I spoke rashly, forgive me. What is it that had you running through the garden like a wanted man?"

While Counsel did not like the analogy, he could not deny his eagerness must have looked strange. He held up the vial in his hand. "This!"

Nobles smiled weakly. "And 'this' is?"

"You have been looking for a weapon to use against the Tyrant. This will help!" Counsel beamed.

"That is wonderful but it doesn't exactly answer my question." The queen's smile faltered.

But her protector remained unfazed. "You know that I found my first master's sorcery books among the archives in the library."

It was true. Almost as soon as Noble had permitted Drune to let Counsel have access to the entirety of the palace's resources, the head librarian suddenly remembered about the existence of the ancient books.

Counsel had gladly accepted the reading material. It seemed he was putting it to good use.

But doing what?

"Was the vial with the books?" Noble tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

Counsel coughed lightly. "Uh no. But the liquid inside is based loosely on something I found in one of the books. You see, my Master was a man with many talents. In addition to sorcery, he was a renowned healer. But with that knowledge came its dark counterpart."

Noble clenched her jaw. "The opposite of healing is hurting…poison?"

"That is correct!" Counsel was excited that the queen finally seemed to be on the same page. "I took what he wrote and modified it. Look what I created!"

Waving the vial in the air, Counsel looked like a proud father showing off his firstborn child.

At last, the pieces fell into place in Noble's mind.

"You made a poison for the Tyrant?"

"Yes!" Counsel held out the container for Noble to view, but she simply stared.

'Is he being serious?'

"I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but isn't poisoning the Lord of the Mountain basically impossible? You said that Kosi couldn't be poisoned and the Tyrant would be even more powerful."

"That was before I found out I could do this…"

Uncorking the bottle, Counsel allowed a single drop to fall on the ground.

"Step back!" he added belatedly, though, the words were not necessary. 

Noble was already getting as far away as she could from the vile liquid. 

The drop hit the earth and immediately the verdant grass withered. But that was not all. 

The ground at the spot began to be eaten away as if devoured by some invisible monster. The hole that formed grew wider and wider. 

Noble lifted her body higher off of the ground as she continued to move away. She could fly over the hole, but what about Kosi?!

The Symncus retreated to the far corner of the garden. If needed, he would jump over the wall and continue to flee. The demon could face off against all manner of monsters, but a growing hole in the ground was not something he could battle. 

And the hole continued to envelop more ground every second.

"Make it stop!" Noble cried.

At this rate, it would devour the whole city!

But just as her words came out, an earthquake rattled the ground. The hole stopped growing with a sizzling sound like human whispers. 

Half of the garden courtyard was in disarray, a large crater present where beautiful flowers had once been. 

Thankfully it hadn't eaten through to the caverns that Noble assumed were below. Then the hole would have been impossible to fill. 

Moving around the edge of the crater, Noble scowled at her subordinate. "Have you lost your mind?!"

Counsel furrowed his brow. "It is just a garden. It can be fixed. You have an Awakened gardener on the palace staff now..."

"You think this is about some flowers? You caused an earthquake!" Noble screamed. 

The man wondered if having a temper was mandatory for being queen. He took a deep breath.

"That was an unfortunate side effect. But I think you are missing the bigger point. If one drop can do all this, then a few would eat out Kosi's insides like it was slicing through butter. The whole vial? I think not even the Tyrant would be immune."

"What is keeping it from eating through that glass in your hand?" Noble pictured Counsel's fingers melting away like the ground. She shivered.

"Don't worry. Due to the nature of the poison, glass is immune to the effects."

Noble had many questions on how exactly that worked, but she did not have the depth of knowledge on magical poisons to ask them with any intelligence.

Anyway, there was a more pressing concern.

"So it is glass then? What if it breaks?" Noble felt the man's emotions spike.

"That would be…unfortunate." He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I will take good care of it."

"You had better!"

'What kind of person makes a weapon like that without at least consulting someone else? Counsel has lost his mind! What if it were to fall into the wrong hands?'

Taking a deep breath, Noble tried to look at the positive.

If they finally had a weapon that could weaken or even kill the Tyrant, that was good, right?

"Impressive work. I did not know such a thing was even possible."

Counsel smiled, happy to see that the monarch was finally coming around.

"More things are possible than the human mind can comprehend, Your Majesty. We simply need the right key to unlock the door."

Pressing her lips together, Noble shook her head.

"I have more than my fair share of experience with keys. They don't always unlock the door that you think they will." She sighed. "Hopefully this one works exactly as intended."

The Lord of the Mountain was powerful, but every source of power had its natural limit. With any luck, this would be beyond what the Tyrant's tolerance.

There was one issue though. Noble furrowed her brow.

"How do you plan to get the poison to the Lord of the Mountains?"

Counsel looked surprised by the question. "Don't you see, Your Majesty? I won't. You will."