Elidi or rather, The Leader, as everyone calls her, is a healer and a shaman. She is distinguished by her extraordinary healing abilities and innovative methods, yet she is driven not by a desire to help others, but by money. For her, life has its price, and she is the one who sets its value. She is consumed by greed and a lack of compassion. She is capable of watching someone die even if she could heal them, but if they do not have what she wants, she will not help them. She is the opposite of Frankenius, who, regardless of who needs healing or how much money they have, will never leave anyone in need.
Thanks to her manipulative and alluring nature, she has managed to gather around her a large number of obedient followers and servants, who congregate at an all-female tavern run by The Leader, who attracts new women there.
By the time Magnus and Frankienius had become friends, Frankie approached him with an unusual request. He needed an extremely rare ingredient that Elidi possessed. She was the only person with access to the seeds of a very rare plant with powerful healing properties and the ability to evoke visions, which was essential for his ritual. However, she had no intention of sharing it with anyone. Frankie therefore decided that the simplest solution would be to break in and steal it. Magnus, however, immediately realised that his friend’s plan was full of holes and would end in disaster unless they prepared properly. So he came up with a better plan for them.
On the evening of their mission, the problems began even before they entered the tavern.
Frankienius decided that a great disguise would be… simply throwing a piece of cloth over his face. Magnus, on the other hand, went much further and dressed up as a woman so convincingly that Frankie didn’t recognise him at first when they met near the tavern. They had no time to waste, so Magnus had to improvise. He told Frankienius to pretend to be his shy, sick friend and not to speak under any circumstances. Most of the women in the inn knew Frankie all too well, so a single careless word from him could give them away and ruin the whole plan. That’s why Magnus Carpus took charge of the conversation.
As a master manipulator, he had no trouble capturing The Leader’s attention and winning her trust. After just a quick moment, he was engaged in a relaxed conversation with her. It soon became clear, however, that this woman was not as easy to fool as the other guests at the tavern. At first glance, she thought she was dealing with a trans woman, but she realised almost immediately that the new “woman” was in fact a man looking for something here. However, she showed no sign of this. Instead, she decided to play along. She gently steered the conversation so that Magnus would reveal for himself why he’d really come here. She had no idea, however, that the silent friend sitting next to her was in fact her sworn enemy.
The conversation turned into a flirtation surprisingly quickly. Magnus, keen to win her sympathy even more, began to paint Frankienius in the worst possible light. He portrayed him as an irresponsible maniac with not a shred of common sense or medical skill, who, through his own incompetence, had made his poor friend sick. Their shared grumbling about Frankie clearly brought them closer together. Frankie himself sat nearby, listening as his best friend publicly dragged him through the mud. The older medic had to summon an almost unimaginable amount of willpower not to utter a single word whilst The Leader nodded in agreement and laughed at all the insults pouring from Magnus’ mouth.
Everything was going according to plan...
...until Magnus made a cardinal mistake.
The conversation turned to family, and, sensing that what they had come for was within hand's reach, he drifted off into making up a story about the character he was playing in front of The Leader. He mentioned his supposed child, whose name was to be Negativius, as he couldn't think of another one on the spot. A storm raged within Elidi at the sound of his name, though outwardly she didn’t even bat an eye. She knew well that this so-called child of his was Frankenius’ son, and that the real mother was dead. Her suspicions about Magnus had turned into a feverish game of uncovering the truth, and she was finding herself increasingly drawn to both the man’s games and the man himself.
The leader convinced him that it would be better to continue their conversation in a more private place. She asked Frankenius to wait outside, then invited Magnus Carpus to her house, which was not far from the tavern. She led him straight to the bedroom, where she told him he no longer needed to hide, reassuring him that everything was fine. She drew closer and closer to him, offering him some wine whilst convincing him that they are not so different after all, which is why she couldn’t understand why Magnus worked for someone like Frankienius. A light kiss on the cheek, followed by another, turned into something more, and the man fell into her trap. When she pushed him onto the bed, Magnus had absolutely no idea what was about to happen.
Instead of another kiss, he felt a piercing pain. The Leader, sitting astride him, thrust a dagger straight into his stomach. The blade was soaked in a special mixture that weakened his muscles. The wound itself wasn’t fatal to Magnus, he would have had no trouble defending himself with a similar injury, but the poison took away his ability to fight.
She sat down on top of him calmly. “Tell me everything, I’ll heal your wound and let you live. Otherwise, you and your friend will end up as part of my bone collection!” she declared.
Magnus remained silent. He could not bring himself to betray his friend, especially now that he knew what the woman was capable of. Yet every drop of blood that fell meant he had less and less time left.
Meanwhile, Frankienius, concerned by his friend’s prolonged absence, decided to sneak into The Leader’s house and find the ingredient he needed for his ritual himself. Whilst searching, however, he heard a conversation coming from the neighbouring room. He realised that Magnus was in serious danger. Without wasting a second, he quickly prepared an improvised potion to put her to sleep and numb her senses. He managed to sneak in and incapacitate The Leader long enough to free Magnus and get him out of the house.
Frankie took his injured friend back to his house, where he was able to stop the bleeding and treat his wound in peace. Some time later, Magnus, clearly embarrassed, apologised to him. He admitted that he made a mistake, gave away their cover and, through his own carelessness, caused the whole mission to fail.
Frankie just smiled. He reached into his pocket and took out a small bundle. He slowly unwrapped it, and there in his palm lay a single tiny seed, resembling an ordinary bean.
Magnus stared at it in disbelief. Had he really been stabbed under the ribs just so his friend could steal… ONE BEAN!?
Frankie, however, was immensely proud. He explained that this was no ordinary seed, but the sole seed of an extremely rare plant that had almost become extinct. The leader was the only one capable of growing it and had guarded her secret carefully. Once he had planted the seed, he would be able to grow more plants and use their extraordinary properties to heal people and prepare potions that evoke visions. A leaf or a stem would be of no use. It was the seed he needed.
Magnus could only sigh as he looked at his cheerful friend. He didn’t know whether he should be proud of the mission’s success… or furious that he had nearly died for a single, inconspicuous “bean”.
However, one thing was certain. The Leader had no intention of letting this insult be forgotten...
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