[Everdawn]

Avanill

Avanill sat with his back to the fire, and to the others. The more he htought about what he had gotten himself into the more his stomach began to ache with anticipation and dread. The young man reached for his bag which contained all the poisons etc that he had acquired form their friend Tallas.

Slowly he began to blend herbs and potions of different sorts. He lay out an array of bottles before him and shuffled over to the fire, placing a billy upon the flames which contained a deadly poison which when boiled and added with the right ingredience would produce an energy potion.

Evidently he became more confident and almost forgot that there were other people there. Avanill was proud of his abilities, Apothecarictic activites were among the few things which his mother had not taught him,l he had supplied her himself to clients of hers until she retired form her craft. He grinned to himself as the potion sizzled down into a thin white powder. He then noticed the others watching him.

"Poison? or Provision?" he asked Toby off-handedly, the hobbit seemed stunned and unable to answer the question. He nodded at Avanill, "It can be both, might test it to make sure it works... would you like a drink Toby?" he asked. "No Avanill!" he remarked uneasy. "Of course not, Do you think id really kill you like that?" Toby sent a look of horror in his direction. "Yes!" Avanill shook his head and laughed at the same time. "Well, my friend, your probably right, Yes, i would kill you like that, if you owed me money." he paused like the young man he was and sat back from the fire. "I dont remember it so well, but whatever it was you ordered a lot and were two weeks late with payment."

Avanill could see Toby flinch from his place. "Would you look at him Barrold! scared as a rabbit, I tell you fellas, im not the worst of my house you know..." he trailed off and watched the stars. After a short while he turned to Barrold, "Why did we kill that old man Ferney, what did he really do to us which was that wrong?" Barrold snorted "Nothing he wouldnt 'av done to us boyo, Id think you are a darn sight dangerous when you are provoked m'boy, why'd you get so worked up?"

Avanill had forgotten about what Tallas had said. "Nohting, it was nothing," he muttered to Barrold and returned once more to staring at the sky. He thought about Naiore's reward, but would it be enough to buy his friends out of the jails in which they were captured? This was only one of the reasons that he agreed to this venture, his friends were good men, sure they were involved in black market trade, but was it such a crime really? Avanill thought not but raised and checked on his potions so that they were ready for Naiore for the morning.