Esau let out another loud groan as he crushed the dehydrated leaves of k-grass and spirit lily in a palm-sized mortar.

His wrist was sore from pounding the plants over and over, pressing down on the pestle for minutes without pause.

"Tell me again. . ." he rolled his aching shoulders and scowled at his sister, "why you insisted on helping soldiers?"

The boy held up a stem of whispering jade, plucked it's leaves and tossed the stalk into the pot of boiling water in front of him.

"Why not let them die?" He blew on the heap of blazestones the pot sat on, fanning the invisible flames and coaxing wisps of heated blaze to rise.

Edythe ignored her brother's whining and squeezed the wet strip of cloth in her hands before putting it against the bleeding chest of one of the soldiers. Both men were unconscious so the twins weren't afraid of being overheard.

"You promised, remember?"

"Ha-ha," Esau wiped away the sweat streaking down his blonde brows and stretched his arms. He didn't forget the promises he made to her. He never did. "You never expected us to succeed in leaving on our own, did you?"

Edythe let out a snort and pressed hard on the wound with her palm to staunch the bleeding. "Like two children can survive a forest filled with monsters. Have you ever seen that before?"

"You tricked me."

"I didn't ask you to be stupid." Edythe got up and walked to the counter, a coy smile on her lips and an arrowhead clutched lightly in her gloved hand. "And no, I didn't."

"But everything we did tonight was for nothing." Esau watched his sister come closer and frowned. He pressed his fingers hard against the countertop. "We should have gone to the soldiers in the first place."

"It wasn't for nothing and we couldn't have gone to the soldiers. Just think about it." She tossed him the bloody arrowhead then grabbed the bowl that rested by the mortar. "This guy was poisoned."

Esau held the broken arrow up in the air then tilted his gaze to his sister. "Do I look like a poison expert to you?"

Edythe didn't laugh. Instead she crossed her arms, gave him a dark look then took the bowl away and walked towards the dark haired soldier slumped in the corner.

Esau sighed and set down his pestle.

"Okay then." He pulled a jar from beside a set of wooden hammers on the floor and dropped the arrowhead into it.

Turning back to the mushy pulp he had pounded, the nine year old took the stone mortar in his hands and tilted it above the pot, letting the liquid he had forced out of the herbs dribble down into the steaming water below.

Setting the mortar down, Esau took the pouch of blazestones in the drawer and threw it to the ground with a tired swing.

Let's get this over with, he thought and watched his sister work, chuckling when the soldier jumped and startled himself awake when the smell of the concoction in Edythe's hand finally hit his nose.

A smile touched Esau's lips as Edythe forced the awfully bitter liquid down the man's throat, effectively saving his life.

When he finally turned away, he reached for the reddening pouch on the floor, wincing slightly as the heat of the leather radiated into his palm. He pushed past the counter and headed for the soldier that had been hit with the arrow.

For a second he considered letting the man freeze to death, then Edythe's nagging voice pulled him back to reality. If he did that then she would make him suffer. She had reminded him repeatedly.

She still hadn't completely forgiven him for his betrayal. Apparently it wasn't cool to keep things as big as killing and dying before away from your twin.

With a reluctant sigh Esau dug his hand into the pouch and pulled out a handful of little sugar-like crystals of broken blazestones. In one quick movement—before they burnt off his skin—he tossed the crushed stones over the soldier and watched the frost on the man's skin fade away.

He repeated the process until the sizzle of melting ice was replaced with the crackle of singed clothing.

By the time he was done his fingers had almost joined the scorching process.

I should have worn gloves. Esau flexed his singehd hand and sniffed at the thawed man by his feet, grateful that the ice had sublimed directly into fog.

He wasn't in the mood to mop the floor.

"This one is awake." Edythe's quiet whisper made his head turn and he saw the soldier behind her struggle to get up, using the walls of the workshop to stand before finally looming over her, his legs trembling.

The man's eyes were blue, a deeper color than Edythe's but a shade lighter than her brother's.

Immediately, Esau wanted to throw up. A million things must have passed through his mind in that second and none of them were comforting. He swallowed the bitter taste of bile down his throat and focused on what to say to his sister.

This is great, he decided at last. If the solider was fine then he could carry his friend away and leave them alone.

His heart pounded painfully against his chest and it took all he had not to rush over there, grab Edythe and hide her away forever.

"That's great." he tried to sound as enthusiastic as his sister looked, but her falling expression told him that he wasn't even close.

Choosing not to do anything else to upset her, the boy stumbled back to the counter, aware that he was falling apart under her gaze. I'll have to tell her. . . one day.

His mind still in chaos, Esau's gaze accidentally fell on the jar by his brewing herbs. Wisps of purple and yellow floated above the arrowhead, twisting alongside the neck of the container but never actually escaping.

The sight made him freeze.

Esau rushed to cap the jar, his hands shaking slightly as he held his breath and quelled the emotion in his heart.

The poison is airborne. Why didn't I think of that? With an annoyed frown, he flicked the glass and the colors settled, the yellow now trapped below a thin film of purple.

This was supposed to help him know what sort of antidote he needed to make and yet. . .

"What's wrong?" He heard Edythe's worried voice echo behind him and automatically his panic disappeared, instantly replaced with fear.

How could he tell her that there was a chance that they were all poisoned? The boy shuddered at the thought of losing his sister to a mistake he made.

"Nothing," he turned on his heels and smiled at her, knowing that as long as he made an antidote this lie would be forgotten, "just tell the soldier that if we save his friend he'll have to—"

"I'll do anything," an unfamiliar voice cut him off, the same voice that had begged for help and gotten them all into this mess, "just save him."

Esau sighed and opened the jar. He picked up the arrowhead and tossed it into the pot. He really hated soldiers, they were as much poison as what he was brewing.

Still, he couldn't help but wonder—even as he racked his brain to remember the right herbs to mix and detoxify—why someone would lace an arrow with poison that needed to be inhaled to be effective?

It just seemed so pointless.

†〰†

This is dedicated to OmaimaAkbar because she slays and her latest chapter of Ghost killed me. Please check out the story, it's also SciFi ;) If you're interested in genius banter, wonderful criminals, a bunch of queens who you didn't expect, and finding great ways to break space law, then this is the book for you

Now, can anyone guess who the two soldiers are? (Yes, it is obvious).

This chapter was short, but it was very informative. The poison is airborne, why would anyone do that? It means that touching the arrow won't affect you but breathing around it will.

Blazestones are really nifty crystals, they are fragile and heat up when acted upon by a force (e.g breath, touch... telekinesis) and they also dispel the fog and all fog related substances (e.g fog ice).

Do you think all of them are poisoned?

Why do you think Esau hates soldiers so much?

Question of the chapter

How do you think Edythe plans to leave Lacau? How are the soldiers involved?