Arturius has sent a group of warriors to take my castle. They are camped beyond the walls, preparing for battle. Kaz of Gormet rides at their lead. Helians of Gormet stands in my workshop, dressed for battle. I dismiss my servant who has brought the news that the men beyond the walls seem to be readying an attack.
“Do you think these plants will save you?” Helians asks me.
“Instead of you?”
He shrugs. “Lances and swords work far better than plants.” He smiles. “But I must confess, I know nothing of the power of an herbalist’s cabinet.”
I love his open mind. So few men possess one. “Since ancient times there have been many among us schooled in the secrets of the flowers, herbs, mosses, and bark. Circe, Medea, Hecate—all the great queens—were practitioners. Great harm can be done to a great many, if one knows how.”
“I’ve come to know that, if said by you, it’s a true statement.”
I smile at his confidence. “The Sorcerer, my teacher, showed me how to work with the gifts of the earth. There’s one group, the Solanaceae plants, that are especially powerful. Included in them are belladonna, datura, henbane, mandrake, and nightshades.”
I line up bottles on the table marked with those ingredients.
He watches, not in disdain or arrogance, but with fascination. “What can you do with these herbs and oils, my beautiful sorceress?”
“Defend my home.”
“Against my brother and his armed men?”
“Hopefully. You do know this is not of my making. Your brother has never forgiven me. He is using this opportunity.”
There are no secrets between us. Helians knows the history. Kaz, like his brother, carries the reputation of a brave, fearless man, but, unlike Helians, he’s insensitive as a lover and thinks little of women, expecting all to bow and please him. Roughness and demands are his staples, and he sees me only as Arturius’ half-sister, someone who might further his ambitions. Years ago, Kaz came to my home but, by the end of three days’ time an animal sense warned me that he represented a threat. So I sent him away. He was not amused at being cast off and vowed revenge. Now he’s found an ally in the anger of my half-brother and his wife.
“I didn’t start this battle,” I say to Helians again.
“Yet because of a slight that happened years ago, I could lose my brother.”
“Who has treated you less than well. Who has—”
“Stop,” Helians shouts. “He is still my brother.”
“Your enemy,” I say back.
“True, he’s chosen Arturius over me,” Helians says, sadness in his voice. “I wish this was different. A warrior owes his allegiance to the leader, over family, but if you had not cast Kaz out, Arturius would have surely chosen someone else to send. He assumes my brother has reason to fight harder than the rest. And he’s correct.”
I turn my attention to the bottles on the table and begin to mix the potion.
He watches me in silence.
“How will you use these concoctions?” he finally asks.
I point. “I’ll soak rags with this one, then set them outside, by the gates. When Kaz’s men approach, we’ll set them on fire. All who breathe the smoke will fall asleep. Anyone who makes it through the gates will be met with a spray of another potion, doled out through bellows.”
He seems intrigued. “What will those do?”
I look at him with grave eyes. “Render them helpless at first, then—” I pause. “They will forget.”
He does not react. “Forget what?”
“The entire reason why they are here.”
“I require something of you,” he says. “I have never asked much from you, but on this day I ask that you not kill my brother.”
“He threatens me. He wants to destroy me. And you ask me not to defend myself.”
“On the contrary. I want you to defend yourself, as I will do on your behalf. But I do not want him killed. He is still my brother.”
I nod.
“I want your solemn promise,” he says.
I love this man, so I have no choice.
“And you have it.”