Chapter 202: Brotherly Affection

Artemus resided in a rented home near the headquarters of the Sanguine. He was one of those boring hardworking folks who failed to separate work from life. Work was his life.

So when his mother sent him a missive to visit home for dinner, the anti mage's first reaction to it was a refusal. There was no time for family dinners when one was being pulled apart in a thousand directions by the infinite responsibilities that fell on his shoulders.

In addition, he worried for his little brother, for Syryn, and the dangerous situations they got into. He was especially concerned about the corpse tree that they were nurturing. Of course, he had found out about it. Alka had been clever about concealing his activities, but all it had taken was a reminder stuck to the vase of flowers in the manor kitchen. That was where it had all begun.

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"3 drops in the noon, 7 drops in the evening." That was what had been written in bright red ink, bold enough to catch anyone's eyes. It was in Alka's handwriting. Salem and Riha were the only ones around because Syryn and Lucien were vacationing at Nua. It meant that the instructions were for the other two. 

Artemus hadn't given much thought to it but he had filed the information away just in case he needed it later. A few days later, a bill arrived at his home. It was Alka's shopping bill.

It came to the anti mage because the plant mage had a habit of putting his purchases on his brother's tab. The Elysium businesses knew this and sent a cumulative bill to him every month. It was a detailed bill that included every item Alka had purchased. The bill was after all going to a member of the Sanguine. It had to be meticulous and transparent.

The anti mage graciously paid for it every month because that was his responsibility as Alka's older brother. Maybe not really his responsibility, but Artemus was willing to indulge Alka.

The total bill amount he received that day was exactly 3 crowns higher than Alka's average expenditure. Nothing strange about it, but what caught his eye was the shop that caused the increase in expenditure. There was no mention of what Alka had bought. What was his brother buying from a blacksmith? The anti mage had wondered. All his tools were available in the botany stores. Artemus paid the bill and went about his day.

A few days later, Artemus visited the manor and found Salem reading a book whose cover was concealed by the blond's hand. When asked about what he was reading, the alchemist had smiled and said it was a book of botanical ingredients that were rare to find. The anti mage nodded but Salem didn't know that Artemus had already seen the diagram on the page he had just flipped.

He recognised the plant because he was a Sanguine with a strong memory for all the items that were banned inside Sigil's borders. And he knew that the plant he had seen was not an ingredient that Salem needed unless he was doing something he wasn't supposed to do. So the half-elf was either lying because he was secretive about his curiosity of illegal plants -which wasn't a crime- or because he had something to hide. Even seasoned criminals slipped up sometimes when they were suddenly caught in the act of doing something their own conscience deemed wrong. If the blond hadn't lied then Artemus would not have suspected him of wrongdoing.

The anti mage couldn't help but think about this incident whenever he was performing some mundane activity, such as having a meal. His mind drifted back to the note in the kitchen that was meant for either Salem or Riha. 

The very next day, his mother had asked Artemus to pass on a message to Alka because the plant mage hadn't visited home in two weeks. It was a quick trip through the path so Artemus had gone to meet his brother. When he arrived there, Salem told him that Alka wasn't home, that he had gone to buy something at the Mill. An acceptable answer. He told the alchemist to pass on their mother's message to Alka. Artemus also noted that Salem had blinked twice rapidly just like he had done on that day when he'd lied about the book.

When Artemus met his mother for the planned family dinner the next night, Alka was already seated in the dining room, chatting with their mother about his boyfriend's weird behaviour.

"What did you buy yesterday?" Artemus interrupted the plant mage.

"What?" Alka had replied. "Yesterday? Oh, I needed some seeds."

"What seeds?"

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"King Asters."

Their mother smiled. The brothers were getting along well.

"Ah, so I'll get the bill for it next month."

"They're just seeds," Alka replied. "Cheap seeds. I paid for them myself." 

His brother never paid for anything if there was any possibility of pawning off the bill to the anti mage. Yes, Artemus decided, it was time to find out what was going on. With his little brother's predilection for courting trouble, the anti mage found himself rightly concerned.

"Are you still making your brother pay for your purchases?"

"It's fine, mother. Alka hardly makes a dent in my pay. I might as well fund him if no one else."

The anti mage made a trip to the smithy mentioned in the bill. He was informed that Alka had ordered a custom made metallic pot. What kind of plant was Alka planning to grow in a metallic pot? Why metal? To protect the plant from damage? Or was it to protect the pot from damage? Either way, it was a big red flag to Artemus. He could ask Alka about it but he preferred to find out for himself. The only place that the metal pot would be at was the manor.

Artemus was back at the manor again. He was wasting far too much time with this but it had to do with his brother and so Artemus was duty-bound to snoop. As Alka's older brother, he needed to ensure the plant mage's safety.

"Salem, let's take a walk around the greenhouse. I want to look at Alka's plants."

"Sure, but Alka isn't around. Maybe you should ask him to lead you on a tour after he gets back."

"I just want to take a look, that's it. Come with me, Salem."

One long tour around the greenhouse and several other areas all around the manor later, Artemus still hadn't found the metal pot. Where was it?

"Are we done?" Salem had been very calm during the tour.

"Thank you, Salem. I wasted your time."

Artemus was a high ranking member of the Sanguine. He had access to special magical tools that could sniff out specific metals. All it took was an arcane crystal, a small piece of metal of the same type he was tracing, and knowledge of how the tool worked. It took him only 15 minutes in the garden before Alka was busted.

A corpse tree. Cold rational calmness took over when he felt his anger spiking. Alka wasn't alone in this operation. Salem knew about it, and Syryn most probably did too. The anti mage put away his tool and headed back to the rift. He would wait and see what the troublemakers intended to do with the corpse tree.

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