Septimus moved first, throwing his stick out and presenting the first masked man with an almighty blow to the head. He spun around, jabbing the stick into another of the four assassins. Aksel was caught up with Septimus' sudden out burst, when one of the hooded men struck him from the back, knocking him to the floor. Verity ran at the assassin who'd attacked Aksel, but was pulled back by the assassin she'd discovered. Septimus slammed his foot into the second assassin again and sent him to the floor. Pleased that he'd knocked two of the assassins out, using purely the element of surprise and his own knowledge of Bajitsu, he turned to Aksel and Verity. Verity was being held back screaming as Aksel was threatened with a knife. Septimus saw the advantage they had, and so backed off, throwing his stick to the ground. The assassins turned to him, releasing Verity and Aksel and advancing on him. Aksel realised what was going on and grabbed Verity, pulling her out. Despite her loud protests, the assassins didn't turn to Verity, and so they escaped mostly unharmed, apart from a cut on his arm, where dark droplets of blood was leaking out.
They couldn't find Sebastian so they ran back to 29 Grimmer Place. They'd been attacked many times since their parents had left, and the plan was always the same. Septimus would fight the villains off, allowing Verity and Aksel to escape. They didn't really agree with it, but their father had made Septimus swear to protect them. But this was different. Septimus was in as much danger as they were, if not more, so they were going to find him. They started investigating the next day, waiting outside the house in the park and then tailing the postman, after he'd delivered the squares letters. They followed the short ugly guy, who wore a blue suit with a hat that could be associated with the sound 'toot', into the market, where he was made his way down an alley, where a shadowy figure awaited him. He had an eastern european accent and his face was obscured by the shadowy gloom of the alleyway. The two Laurisdens were hidden by a market stall, but were in perfect business to observe the proceedings. And how curious those proceedings were.
The postman seemed nervous, as if the Obscured Man was really scary. "I did as you said, now give me. Now give me." His words faltered.
"Now give me what?" The eastern european voice asked.
"Give me the things you promised me."
"What things?"
"The euphoria, the divine lights. The God dust."
There was a long silence, as if there was a sudden revelation that had left everyone silent. But it was soon resolved as the Obscured Man started laughing. It wasn't necessarily an evil laugh, more of a girlish giggle, but it frightened the postman greatly.
The obscured man laughed further. "This is the euphoria. My euphoria." A man stepped out of the shadows, behind the obscured man."Here are the divine lights." The Obscured Man announced, his eastern european accent powerful.
"I see no lights." The postman said.
"Oh I'm sorry." He took lit a lantern and held it over the other mans face, revealing him as the resurrected cadaver, from Bazarains room. "Is this better?"
The postman screamed. "I saw you die from too much of the god powder. How can you be alive?"
The Obscured Man seemed to have smiled. "Ah, the God Powder. You'll have to ask the man himself."
The walking cadaver placed his hand around the postman's neck and squeezed. The postman was dead within minutes.
The Laurisdens walked briskly to Grimmer Place and Aksel took everything they'd received to his laboratory quickly. He'd explained to Verity, on the way, that he'd wanted to experiment on the parcel, but she hadn't realised just how far fetched the experiments were. His first move was to cut away a bit of the inside box and burning it, smelling the scent produced. There was definitely a strange smell, but the question was what?
He conducted his experiments for a few hours until he found what he was looking for. Iron Chloride. Salt created from the reaction of Iron and Hydrochloric Acid, which meant that the parcel was sent from someone who'd been using both. Iron appeared in a lot of places, but Hydrochloric acid? That wasn't common.
"What have you found, Aksel?" Verity asked, having observed the excitement on her brothers face.
"The box has traces of Iron Chloride on."
"What does that mean?"
"Iron Chloride. It's a type of salt produced when Iron and Hydrochloric Acid is reacted together. We're looking for someone who uses both. A factory maybe. A factory which uses hydrochloric acid to dissolve things."
"Which factories do you think would use it?"
"I don't know. But I know how we could find out." They made their way out of Grimmer place and to the river, where a boatman was busy, playing cards. The boatman, once he'd seen them, walked over and smiled. "How can I help you two?"
"We were wondering if any fish have died recently?"
The boatman thought for a second. "I believe so."
Aksel nodded. "Alright. Write me the address and we'll be on our way."
The boatman shook his head. "No address, lad. You can't have addresses in the water."
"Can you take us out there?"
"For a fee."
"Of course."
"How does tonight suit you?"
Aksel conferred with Verity. "Sounds good. Shall we meet here."
"Perfect. I could take you now, if you wanted."
"No, we've got things to do now."
"Alright. See you tonight."
The Laurisden children walked away and, once they'd got out of earshot, Verity asked the question on her mind. "What things have we got to do?"
Aksel grinned. "We need to test a theory of mine."
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