Moments later the buccan was back, his thin, faded-red-leather healer's book in hand. Riffling through the pages, quickly Beau found the one he sought. "Here it is." He showed the drawing to Bekki.
The Dwarf grunted and looked up from the picture. "Perhaps it is what I saw." He glanced again at the page and then frowned in puzzlement. "These words, I cannot read them."
"The book, it's written in a simple code," said Beau. "Here, I'll read it for you." Beau took the book back and, his brow furrowing in concentration, read, " 'Gwynthyme: a trefoil with serrated trifoliate aromatic leaves and nearly regular pale yellow flowers.' " Beau looked up to see Bekki yet frowning.
"The yellow flowers I understand," grumbled Bekki. "But the rest of it…" Bekki shrugged.
"Delgar writes like that, Bekki: jaw-breaking words and all. It took me awhile to learn what they meant."
Bekki raised an eyebrow. "Delgar?"
Beau nodded and tapped the red book. "The Mage who gave me this."
"Ah. Mage talk. I see," growled Bekki. "What is he really trying to say about gwynthyme?"
Beau gestured at the sketch. "Think of it as an ordinary mint, Bekki, but with three jagged-edged leaves at each stem, golden in color with a minty odor. Is that what you saw?"
Bekki looked again at the picture and then nodded. "Aye, as near as I can remember."
"Oh my. Oh my," said Beau. "Then that's just what we need, I think. This place where you saw the mint, can you find it again?"
Bekki scowled at the Warrow. "Did I not tell you I am Chakka, wee one, and cannot lose my feet?"
"Oh, right."
"Look," said Tip, "Agron's muster isn't until November, nearly eight months from now, so I should be able to go along. What do we harvest, the flowers or the leaves?"
"The leaves, Tip. The flowers are gone by the time the mint turns golden."
"And when is this? Now? In the springtime? Oh, Beau, what I'm really trying to ask is when do we harvest it? When do we have to be at Nordlake?"
Beau glanced at his red book, and then his face fell and he groaned. "Oh, barn rats, I had forgotten."
"Forgotten what?" asked Tip.
"One of the reasons gwynthyme is rare is that it only flourishes between the moons of August and September, and by then the plague may have a death grip on this city."
"Even so"-Tip looked at Bekki-"that's well before Agron's muster in November. We should go after the mint, can we get there and back ere then. When are these moons?"
"The moon of August occurs on the tenth," said Loric. "The one in September shines full on the ninth."
"Well," said Beau, looking at his book, "according to this, the mint turns golden on the full moon of September following the August full moon, and it must be harvested before the following dark of the moon occurs."
"The dark following the September full moon?" asked Tip, shaking his head, slightly confused.
Beau nodded.
Tip turned to Loric, the Alor answering his question ere it was asked, saying, "The dark of the moon falls on the twenty-fourth."
Tip looked to Beau. "So we've got between the ninth of September and the twenty-fourth to harvest it?"
Beau looked up from his book. "Right, for on the dark of the moon it turns brown and becomes deadly poison."
"Elwydd," exclaimed Bekki, "ruin and rescue in one?"
Beau nodded and said, "Aye, and it's vital you get there in time to harvest the rescue and not the ruin." Beau closed his book and asked Bekki, "Where is this Nordlake, and how long will it take to get there and back?"
"Just a moment," said Tip, "I'll get my maps and then we'll see."
"Here is a ford," said Bekki, jabbing a forefinger down to the sketch.
"Wait a moment," said Beau. "What about using the Kaagor Ferry? Wouldn't that way be shorter?"
"It is burnt," said Phais.
"But Valk left behind crafters to rebuild it ere he brought his army here. That was a month or so past. Surely it is done by now, or will be when it is time to go for the mint."
Loric nodded. "Even so, it may fall prey again unto the Spaunen, whereas the ford may not."
Tip stroked his chin, remembering. "Beau may have a point: the maggot-folk could have wards set up at the ford, just like they did at the Hath River in Rell."
"And the Crystal River into Aven," added Beau.
Bekki shook his head and pointed once again at the ford. "Unlike the ferry, there is nothing vital nigh these shallows: no cities, towns, holts, passes… nothing-not even Squam strongholts, I ween. It is not likely the Grg will think it worthy to spend their forces there. Nay, I deem they will not ward it, though they could use it to cross over to do ill in distant parts."
Tip frowned and pointed at a spur of the Grimwalls. " Tis moot, I think, for here the mountains must be rounded; hence, by ferry or ford, I gauge the ways nigh equal."
Beau peered at the map. "Oh well, never mind."
"All right," said Tip, "ford it is." Then measuring with his thumb- "Um, that's some two hundred seventy, two hundred eighty miles to the ford, and"- he measured again-"another hundred twenty or so to Nordlake." He looked up at Bekki.
"A day or two to get to the face of the mountain where I saw the mint," said the Dwarf.
Tip nodded. "By pony, then, I make it some two weeks to the ford, another week to the lake, and a couple of days to the mint: twenty-three, twenty-four days altogether."
"Add leeway for unexpected delay," said Bekki. "Squam may yet roam between here and there, with Squam in the mountains as well."
"Perhaps more than just you four ought to go," said Beau.
"You're not going?" asked Tip, surprised.
"I've got to stay here, Tip, and help out. This dark scourge will get much worse before it gets better. But Phais and Loric can go with you and Bekki."
A frown crossed Loric's face. "Nay, we cannot."
Tip looked up at the Alor.
"Elvenkind does not fall ill to this scourge," said Loric. "And if it is as Beau says, then we will be needed here in the days to come. Yet King Agron could lend whatever aid is needed to harvest the mint."
Bekki shook his head. "It is better that just two of us go than a large band, for as I said, Grg may lie between here and there, and two alone have a better chance of slipping past their wards than would an entire company."
"Look," said Tip, "we can cross that bridge when we come to it. But for now we will plan on going alone, just you and me, Bekki… in, what, mid-July?"-Tip counted on his fingers-"Say, fifteen weeks from now?"
Again Beau groaned at the length of time.
"According to your book, Beau, it can't be helped," said Tip. "I mean, if the mint doesn't come to fruition until the September moon, then I can't see setting out from here before mid-July. That will give us four weeks or so to get to Nordlake in time for the August moon. And then we'll have another four weeks to find all the places where the mint grows, and be entirely ready to harvest it. And lastly, two weeks or so to gather it in. Then three weeks from Nordlake to Dendor"-again Tip counted on his fingers- "that'd make it around mid-October when we return. That's plenty of time for me to get to the muster in Alvstad by mid-November. -Oh, I say, Beau, we'll need a drawing of what the mint looks like before it turns golden… and tell me, just how much of this mint do you need?"
"As much as you can bring, Tip, but according to the book you also have to leave enough behind so that more will grow in subsequent years."