Rise of a Legend

Chapter 46

  Boss looked around the empty room. It was the same, dimly lit room he always met his followers in. The lighting wasn’t too good, but he could see just fine with his jisbae eyes. There was a single bulb hanging from the center of the ceiling, right above the small table, where four different chairs sat around in disarray. One of the chairs had been knocked on it’s side. Boss took a seat at the largest of the chairs, a high backed, worn maple chair that had a broken arm, waiting for the three people he knew would come. He took a beestripe leaf out of a black pouch fixed to his belt and traced his fingers across the black and yellow stripes. He felt the odd, fuzzy covering on the leaf. Placing it on the table in front of him, he pulled a different leaf from another pouch. This leaf was large and waxy, with small spikes running along the edge. It was bright green, very pleasing to the eye, and had a pleasant smell. He fingered the waxy leaf before setting it down next to the other one.

  He leaned back in his chair, waiting for his followers. He didn’t have to wait long. The two men and the woman filed in and took their seats quietly, watching Boss and glancing at the leaves he had placed on the table.

  “Do you know what these are?” Boss asked, gesturing to the leaves on the table.

  “Yea,” Bryan answered, squinting to see better. He was just a lunimorf, and therefore couldn’t see as well as Boss. “They’re leaves. This one here’s a beestripe leaf. It makes a decent tea, but it has some undesirable side effects if you drink too much and you’re not used to it.”

  “Very good. How about the other one?”

  “I’ve never seen leaves like that in my entire life,” Natalie stated, “I have no idea what it is.”

  “It’s a majacka leaf. The plants only grow on Olhoe.”

  “No wonder we’ve never seen them before,” Mac stated, staring at the leaf. “What’s it used for?”

  “It’s poisonous,” Boss stated, “It can kill a grown man if it’s ingested. The others gasped. “That’s right. The plants are harmless to look at, smell, touch, and prune. They actually smell rather nice. But if you swallow the juices, even a drop, you’ll die. It’s that powerful.”

  “So is there any way to get Prince Orion to eat this?” Natalie asked.

  “I tried. Back when he was still here on Lunspae, at the palace. I made a sauce for his food using these leaves, but a chef was able to stop Prince Orion from eating it. Prince Orion’s food tester dropped dead after tasting it. I also heard that Orion was able to smell the majacka juice, too, but didn’t realize what it was. The only way to be able to poison him with it again would be to cover up the smell with something else he didn’t recognize. Hence, the beestripe leaf.”

  “You mean you’re going to make a tea with the beastripe leaves, and put majacka in it?”

  “Not ‘going to’,” Boss smirked, “Did. I’ve already given Prince Orion and his girlfriend some of the poisoned tea. I made sure the prince had at least one full cup. If he isn’t dead by now, he will be. Very soon.”

  “Genius,” Mac said, “Pure genius.”