Darkwing Duck Bushroot นิยาย & เรื่องราว

Aria pointed at the dark crimson streaks running through the sample. "I've seen this before." Her heartbeat quickened. Years ago, while serving as an apprentice healer in Nightclaw Pack, she had studied poisonous plants. One particular herb had always stood out. It was a rare flower known as Bloodroot Lily. When mixed with certain fungi...Its effects became far deadlier. The chief healer's eyes widened. "You think someone altered the fungus?" Aria nodded. "Not just altered it." Her voice hardened. "They created it." The realization sent chills through both of them.

"Oh, this?" She held up the glass jar. "You've got some wonderful fungi growing on a few of these pine trees. Its scientific name is Croartia Quercuum. Most people call it Fusiform Rust. In Wiccan circles, it goes by Heart Skin. Deadly to the trees but incredibly useful for attack potions. Poison, essentially. If you administer it to someone and perform the right spells over the mixture, their hearts will literally burst right inside their chests. Like pop, you know?"

“I have some here already. But I will need more, so I will need your guards to fetch them from the Moonshade Garden for me.” I gave a slight nod and released her from my grip, then gestured for two of his guards to step forward. She faced them, “Listen carefully. I need five specific herbs. They must be fresh.” The guards nodded, “First, I need moonshade leaves,” I began. “They are pale silver-green and soft to the touch. You’ll find them growing closest to the heart of the garden.” “Second, get the duskroot. It grows low to the ground, it has deep purple stems with a single black blossom. It’s bitter, I suggest you don’t bring it with your bare hands.”

For a moment, I wasn’t sure if he was still alive, but George assured me that he was. “I’m not sure I can stop the infection without the antibiotics. It’s spreading too fast. I need a specific ingredient to make it,” he informed me. “What is it?” “Witchroot,” he replied. “It grows in the forests to the east, where the soil turns black from iron ash. We used to keep it in storage, but the last of it was burned during an attack.”

A thought that wouldn’t go away but over time it grew teeth. I couldn’t stay hidden forever, hiding felt like slowly fading away. So I started moving again. I followed whispers. A woman selling dried roots spoke of a witch who lived deep in Black Hollow, surrounded by thorns, guarding things no one should touch. A half-starved rogue muttered about a book with red-stained pages he’d glimpsed in her hut years ago. That night, I didn’t sleep. I gathered what I needed in silence… nightshade berries crushed into a dark, sticky paste; valerian roots pulled from wet soil under the thin light of the moon; the last pinch of sleep-dust I’d traded for months ago from an old woman on the trail.

The kid was pretty much permanently attached to Flossie, which Dudley seemed to be keeping a close eye on. As evening rolled around, we had caught a number of fish — well, Pitt had, we’d managed to fire a couple of warning shots — and enjoyed another superb meal. As we sat around feeling full and lazy, Nabbo lit his pipe and took a big puff. “What’s in the pipe?” I asked him. “Pondweed,” said Nabbo. “It grows everywhere. You just have to dry it out and stick it in your pipe.” “It rots the brain,” said Pitt.

He said, and I knew he was telling the truth. "Is Pacwater willing to join his territory with ours the same way?" Mason asked, and Lucius nodded. "Why didn't he come with you?" I asked. "He was slightly poisoned with synthetic monkshood. He would live. Humans have been trying to replicate the chemical produced by the plant. Derin told them the Willows grow it, and it grows well on their land. I believe once they have taken over our territory. The Willows would be next. They feel Monkshood is needed to balance a drug they are working on called DTX3," he said and looked at me.

“You know what it is?” I pressed enter on the keyboard once, bringing up a document page. The name ‘Duskwither’ and a purple plant were at the very top. “That’s the one. It won’t kill anyone, but everyone who comes in contact with it will be down for at least three days, even with the antidote. Without the antidote, the poison evaporates off the skin after about a week.” “So we can just wait this off?” he asked, clearly wary but still choosing to listen to me.

I wrapped the pieces in cloth and secured them in my pack. One down. Two to go. And maybe eight minutes left. My wolf surged forward again, pulling me north this time, along the stream's edge. The water led me to a place where the ground dipped into a natural hollow, and there… growing in the perpetual shadow beneath an overhang of twisted roots… I found pale flowers with midnight-blue centers. Moonshade Root. I harvested it quickly, my hands trembling with a mixture of relief and mounting panic. Two herbs. I had two of the three required ingredients.