The Cave Part 28

Word traveled fast in the goblin community. Every member of Dropdrip seemed intent on passing news as fast as it was in their hands. I had confided to Glip and Bjardon the news about Tharkin coming to assist us in the hunt of the creature, and that I needed to speak with Ipda before that. It could have been Glip, or it could be that you need to keep voices low when surrounded by goblin waiters in their own tavern, but word flew regardless. In fact, I was not out the front door before I was already receiving directions to which shop I would find the healer in.

Light streamed through four beautiful round windows, illuminating the shop and feeding the numerous plants that the goblin healer kept at hand, tended with minute care and patience. Ipda was leaning over one of them now, a dark green vine snaking down from its suspended pot hanging from the ceiling. Along its many shoots, little white flowers bloomed and gave off a strangely aromatic scent as Ipda snipped them off with little silver scissors. I paused at the front of the shop to wait for her to finish.

"So you have come to learn things I expect?" she asked, her back still to me. "Come in and sit down, here by the fire."

A small hearth fire with a hidden funnel that expelled the smoke outside the cavern through one of the many holes in the rock, burned cheerfully and added to the light in the shop. Above the fire, a small flat cleft of stone had been chiseled, upon which a metal pot sat, boiling from the heat below. Clearly the healer was always cooking something, for there were many other metal containers stored in cupboards nearby the fire. Row upon row of finished products sat waiting on shelves for purchase, held in containers of crystal and glass, some things wrapped in leather or kept in wooden boxes. It was a bit much to take in all at once, but I did not have long to look.

"Well now, that can simmer for awhile and we may talk," declared the healer with an air of dignified authority, having let several of the white blossoms fall into the brew she was cooking over the fire shelf.

One thing that I had noticed distinctly about Ipda from the first meeting at the council of the goblins and the shared words afterwards, was that she made a deliberate attempt to speak clearly and with precision unlike many of the other goblins. From time to time there might be a slip into the loose common tongue, but she made the attempt. Additionally, she was the most controlled individual I had met in Dropdrip, holding herself with dignity and grace, robed in white cloth, and meticulously clean for someone who dealt with plants and possibly other materials that should have soiled her clothing. It was not an attempt at perfection, but of self respect, I determined after a moments thought.

"I expect you want to know about the sleep potions?"

"Yes," I replied, "that was the thing that affected the creature right?"

"Perhaps yes, perhaps no," said she, reaching a long fingered hand to stir the brew on the fire. A very pleasant fragrance drifted in the air as she did so, and I felt my head clear even as I felt relaxed enough to shut my eyes and doze. Was this the very potion she was working on now? It certainly seemed effective.

"The flowers of the Astrad Vine are quite potent, a gift from the elvish people and graced with their healing magic long through the ages. That is what you humans would call it, though it is not quite magic. Blessed with the love of light might be another way to describe the virtue. As with all things of this sort, description defies words."

"So maybe antithetical to shadows?" I queried.

"Precisely!" She smiled as she looked me over, and I felt quite conscious of my unkempt appearance. "Tell me, what do you think of my son?"

"He is very friendly and helpful. Apparently not a bad hunter, and his shape shifting abilities are enough to fool me, but I am no great judge. I think he is the first with that ability I have ever met."

"And a little fool hearty I fear," said she, her expression a little clouded as if seeing into a future she did not approve of. "I am concerned about his going on the hunt for the creature in the mines. He was not apart of the warrior band that fought it the first time, and even I did not combat it in person so much as throw everything I had at it until the elders erected the earth barrier."

"Would you like me to ask him to stay behind when I go after this thing?" I asked, wanting to do right by her, even though it would deprive me of a valuable ally. The odds were already stacked against victory, but I wished to do right by her.

"No," she replied with a shake of the head and resignation in her eyes. "He is of age, in fact older than you. I would only ask that you remember he is dear to me, and not bait as some other humans might make of him."

"I would never!" I protested, raising my hands in surprise at the idea. "I don't want to go in myself to tell you the truth, but here we are. Is there anything you can teach to help us?"

"Nothing to kill it, but perhaps something to help you move a little faster and keep your head."

Ipda rose gracefully, and produced a volume from a shelf of books that remained partially obscured by the plants growing around it, like a protective curtain of shimmering greens. The particular volume was old, and she carried it with careful hands, the cover resembling aged faded leaves from an autumn many years ago. However, looks were deceiving, and even as she moved back to her seat to open and look for the recipe she wanted, I could feel a slight heat from the book. There was power bound within this work, and for a moment I wondered to myself if a copy of this text could be found in the hidden library. If we survived the coming ordeal, I would have to inquire.

"This potion is expensive considering the ingredients, but for you and Glip, we must all do our part. Fetch me down those dark red roots, and we will get started." She pointed at a strand of long blood red tubers and I hoped this concoction would be palatable when we were done.

As it turned out in the end, the smell of the finished product was not so bad. We had worked on it for many hours, all the while Ipda gave careful instructions and allowed me to write down notes. I saw quickly what she meant about expensive. It was not so much the rarity of the ingredients, but the time invested in acquiring them. Most were found in the mountains, but a few came from much further afield.

"These will give you a temporary advantage in speed and lucidity when you need it most, however not as long as you might like," said she, placing the two vials of dark red liquid in my hand. After all the things that had been cooked down and condensed, I feared it would have a very potent taste. They were still warm even as I put them in my satchel. Before I could ask to taste a little of the reside leftover to prepare myself for what I was going to drink, we heard a commotion in the great cavern.

"There ya be!" cried Glip, running up his mother's shop breathlessly. "The venerable hermit has come!

"Tharkin," I replied with a sigh of relief.