“That’s why the basics are important,” Isabel said. “Master those and you’ll be able to apply them to any situation you face.”
Ayela nodded. “I’m so tired, but I can’t imagine I’ll sleep a wink tonight with all of these new ideas floating around in my head.”
“You might be surprised,” Isabel said. “Honestly, the best way to really absorb everything you’ve learned today is to put it out of your mind. Stop thinking about it and let your mind absorb it. You’ll be surprised how much clearer these lessons will be tomorrow.”
They found Hector and Horace in the cottage cooking dinner under Hazel’s close supervision. Isabel suddenly thought it odd that Hazel seemed to want to be close to the brothers, almost as if her charm spell required proximity. She made a mental note on her way to the table.
Chapter 35
The next three days passed slowly for Isabel. She was becoming increasingly anxious to be on her way, but Hazel steadfastly maintained that the soldiers were still camped in the vicinity, apparently believing that Isabel and her friends were hiding in the swamp and choosing to wait them out. Hazel didn’t seem concerned about the matter, going about the business of directing Hector and Horace in nearly a dozen projects around her little sanctuary, from mending the roof of her cottage to tilling compost into several garden plots.
Isabel used the time to teach Ayela everything she could about fighting. Ayela was a quick learner but there was only so much a person could learn in such a short period of time. Isabel focused on drilling a number of basic attacks with a knife, knowing full well that learning how to fight was as much about teaching the mind as it was about teaching the muscles and tendons of the body to perform complex movements in a blink. That took time and practice-a fact that Ayela accepted with resignation after discovering how grueling knife-fighting drills were.
She kept at it though. Isabel admired her dedication and drive. Ayela wanted these skills enough to do the work. Isabel had no doubt she would succeed in becoming quite effective with a blade, just not anytime soon. Mastery took years of work. Isabel had started drilling with the Rangers when she was fourteen and remembered all too well how difficult the exercises could be.
The morning of the next day, Isabel could tell that Ayela wanted to say something but was reluctant. Once Hector and Horace had gone to work under the watchful eye of Hazel, Isabel smiled at Ayela.
“Out with it,” she said.
“I’m so sore,” Ayela said. “Could we take the day off? My body needs to rest.”
“Of course,” Isabel said, chuckling. “I was wondering when all your hard work would catch up with you.”
“Yesterday,” Ayela said, stretching her arms. “I asked Hazel if I could pick some of her plants today and she said yes. You said you wanted to learn how to make blackwort, so why don’t I teach you?”
“All right,” Isabel said. “I’ll be the student today.”
They left the cottage and Ayela led her to the valley wall. “The first ingredient we’ll look for is bluecap,” she said. “It’s a type of mushroom that likes to grow under fallen logs.” She knelt down, peering under a rotting tree trunk and looking at the ground carefully. There were a number of different mushrooms of various shapes and sizes, but all growing in little patches of their own as if they were being cultivated.
“Ah, here we are,” Ayela said, pointing to a small group of mushrooms with long stems and dark bell-shaped caps tinged with an iridescent blue.
“When harvesting bluecaps, it’s important that you don’t touch the cap itself,” Ayela said, carefully cutting the long stem with her knife and pinching the stem against the blade so she could drop the mushroom into a jar without handling the top.
“What happens if you touch the cap?” Isabel asked.
“Most people spend many hours vomiting,” Ayela said. “Some get sick enough to die, but that’s rare.”
“Good to know,” Isabel said.
After picking three bluecaps, Ayela put the lid on the jar and stood up. “Next we need Fly Agaric,” she said. “They tend to grow in the shade of trees.” She pointed to a small grove across the little valley. It suddenly struck Isabel how out of place some of the trees were, given their location. Hazel must have transplanted them and carefully cultivated them since most weren’t native to the jungle.
“Fly Agaric is another type of mushroom. It has a broad red cap with lots of white spots, and the stem and gills are white,” Ayela said. “They tend to grow in small clumps of eight to twelve.”
After a few minutes of searching and discovering several different varieties of fungus, all growing in segregated patches, they found what they were looking for. Ayela unceremoniously plucked the cap from the largest in the bunch and put it into her jar with the bluecaps.
“These are harmless … unless you eat them,” she said. “Now all we need is wolf lichen. It’s a bright green, loose-hanging lichen that grows on the shady side of trees.”
While they were searching through the grove of trees, Isabel thought she saw a cave along one wall of the valley. It was covered in dense bushes with shiny green leaves. When she started toward them, Ayela stopped her with a hand on her arm.
“You don’t want to touch those,” she said. “You’ll be scratching for a week and the more you scratch, the more your skin will welt.”
“Oh! Thanks for warning me,” Isabel said, making a mental note of the location for future investigation.
“I think we’ll have better luck over there,” Ayela said, pointing to the north side of the grove. A few minutes later she stopped, pointing several feet up the side of a fir tree … yet another species of tree very out of place in the swamp.
Ayela used a stick to scrape off a chunk of the lichen, which she stuffed into her jar.
“That’s all we need, except for some water and a fire.”
They returned to an empty cottage. Isabel suspected Hazel had Hector and Horace hard at work mending a fence or something equally as mundane.
Ayela started filling a pan with some water to make blackwort. “First, we bring the water to a boil,” she said. “Then we add the bluecaps.” She’d removed the other ingredients from the jar, leaving only the bluecaps to dump into the boiling water.
“Let them cook for a few minutes until they get soft, then smash them into mush against the side of the pan. Let the mixture boil for another few minutes, then add the Fly Agaric and the wolf lichen. Set the pan off to the side of the fire and let it sit for about an hour, then remove the Fly Agaric and the wolf lichen. Reduce the liquid that remains until it turns black and starts to thicken, stirring frequently.”
Ayela worked carefully and attentively, explaining each step until she held up a vial of blackwort and handed it to Isabel.
“Cook some onto your blade and your enemy won’t survive,” Ayela said.
“Blackwort is dangerous, Child,” Hazel said from behind them. “Where did you learn to make such a thing?”
Ayela shrugged innocently. “My mother taught me. She taught me about most of the medicines and poisons I know how to make.”
“Ah, well, who am I to question a mother’s wisdom,” Hazel said. “Make sure you scrub that pot with sand before you use it for your dinner.” Hazel left quickly, almost too quickly.
“Thank you, Ayela,” Isabel said. “I’m always amazed at the wonders nature has to offer.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Ayela said, looking down into the fire and falling silent.
Isabel waited for her to continue.
“I’m going to miss you, Isabel. I’ve never had many friends. It’s nice to have someone to talk to who treats me like a person, like an equal.”
“It’s not too late to change your mind,” Isabel said. “You can still come with us.”
“I know, but the more I think about it, the more certain I am that my place is here, for now anyway.”
“I hope you’re right,” Isabel said.