CHAPTER 39
Longinus wasn’t happy. Not happy at all. He glared at the little man standing in front of him, blinking through his thick optics. Dr Howshinger licked his lips, eyes darting between the goblet Longinus was holding in one hand and the alchemy formulae he held in the other.
“Hurry up about it,” said a guard behind him, “or we’ll make you drink it.”
Longinus downed the contents of the goblet and slammed it on the bench.
“My dear colleague,” said Dr Howshinger, “I really do think that between us —”
“Do not trespass on the territory of familiarity, sir,” replied Longinus. “I am not your colleague. I am here under duress. I have been coerced in the basest of ways. Colleagues,” he spat the word, sending a spray of spittle on Howshinger’s optics, “do not poison one another. Colleag
