Black Blossom Lotus

From CerebusWiki

The Black Blossom Lotus first appeared in issue 10 and had the sort of background reserved for legendary items. According to the narrator, the magician Herces made it for the new ruler of Amstanat. It disappeared during a period of strife, while being transported to a hiding place in Eshnosopur. Several years later, alleged pieces of the lotus began to appear.

According to Red Sophia, however, this version was not entirely correct. The grand vizier of Amstanat had a copy of the lotus made, and it was this copy that disappeared. (This copy may have been the source of the pieces that later surfaced. Then again, those pieces could have been copies themselves.)

The vizier never profited from his perfidy. Bandits took the real lotus from him. Without knowing what they had, they sold it to a jeweler in Ress, who likewise never knew what he had.

When the jeweler died, a merchant from Unshib came across it in his wares and bought it. The jeweler's son Miergen was suspicious and identified the lotus, but too late to stop the merchant. He recruited Red Sophia to help him steal it back. While trailing the caravan, they encountered Cerebus, whom they easily recruited. Unfortunately for them, the aardvark double-crossed them.

Cerebus took the lotus to Palnu to sell it (issue 11). A merchant bought it but promptly dropped it in the river; he explained that he wanted to keep powerful magical items out of the hands of magicians.

The lotus, while still laying on the river bottom, made brief appearances in the Flight book.