Though Hugh is missing, the message leads the boys to a workspace hidden beneath a mausoleum. The Guild members try to reassure Christopher that, although there is no Cult, apothecaries are trying to find the Fire of the Archangel, an incredibly strong substance that would give them inhuman powers.Īs the action rises, Christopher begins to decode Master Benedict’s message. Oswyn was responsible for seeing Christopher’s potential and placing him as an apprentice.
To do this, he turns to the Apothecary Guild’s council, which includes Oswyn Colthurst. Christopher must find the real murderer to avenge himself. However, authorities (including Lord Richard Ashcombe, working on behalf of the king) believe that Christopher may have killed Master Benedict for mistreating him. There are no immediate clues-except for a coded message Master Benedict has left for Christopher on a ledger page.Ĭhristopher begins the search for his mentor's murderer. By the time Christopher returns to the shop, Master Benedict has been murdered. Striking him, Master Benedict sends Christopher on an errand for an ingredient he claims Christopher has forgotten, but which Christopher is sure he did not. The tension rises when, the following day, the normally kind Master Benedict suddenly becomes enraged at Christopher in front of a group of customers. As Christopher treats his wounds, Master Benedict asks if Christopher is happy or would rather have a different life-but Christopher is content.
However, later that day, Master Benedict and his former apprentice Hugh go out when Master Benedict returns, he is injured. While this scares Christopher, it does not immediately affect him. From this conversation, Christopher learns that six men, primarily apothecaries, have been murdered by a group publicly known as the Cult of the Archangel. Christopher cleans it up, in the process overhearing a conversation between Master Benedict and Nathaniel Stubb, a competing apothecary. When Christopher goes too far and deciphers his master’s code for gunpowder, Christopher and his friend Tom Bailey create a mess in the shop. Furthermore, Master Benedict educates him about everything an apothecary needs to know, from ciphers to Latin. While Christopher’s experiments sometimes get him into trouble, Master Benedict treats him strictly but fairly. Fourteen-year-old orphan Christopher, the first-person narrator, recognizes his good fortune at being chosen as apprentice to Master Benedict Blackthorn, a talented apothecary.
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