I watched the hatch, unease filling my mind. I could barely move, standing had already failed, so if it came to a fight, I doubted my chances of winning. Still, no matter what was coming from the hatch, I'd face it with the barest amount of decorum. I heaved myself up, not to stand, but at least to lean against the bed that I'd fallen off. I'd at least face whoever brought me here directly, not by lying on the floor like a worm.

  The stairs on the hatch shook before the mechanism vanished below the floor. I heard the thunk of the stairs hitting the floor below, and then the thumps of boots on wood as someone climbed the stairs. The first thing I saw was thin, dark hair as the individual's head poked through the hatch. Then I saw a pair of sharp, focused grey eyes, no longer filled with desperation to take in the world, instead filled with compassion and confusion. Finally, the rest of his face came through the hatch and confirmed who I suspected was responsible for my current position.

  I still didn't know his name, not that I could use it, but I wouldn't forget the face of someone I held a conversation with just recently. The man who'd climbed all the way to the top of the castle, on a feeling that something was wrong, stared back at me from the hatch.

  I went to write out something for him to read as a greeting, but I found my mana reserve still as empty as before, preventing that. I had other ways to communicate, but even speaking was out of the question, my throat still in shambles from before. So, for now, I opted to simply wave at the man while I pulled mana from the air to fill my reserve. I needn't fill what appeared to be this man's home with tainted energy, the atmosphere more than rife with excess mana, but it would still be a few minutes before I could form any words.

  "Glad to see you're awake, I did what I could up on the roof, but my wife rechecked my work when I got you here." The guard's voice revealed he was trying to cut some unseen tension only he felt. "I woulda taken you to a healer, but something told me that was a really bad idea, haha." He chuckled, but he lacked any humor in his voice. He sounded nervous, not that I could do anything about that yet. He stared at me as if expecting me to say something, but the most I could form at the moment was around two letters, barely enough for a short word, let alone a sentence, so my only reply was a slight tilt of my head.

  "Uhh, are you alright?" He asked, concern overtaking the nervousness in his voice.

  I replied by lifting my hand and tilting it in a so-so gesture.

  "Right.." His voice trailed off, clearly unsure how to deal with the situation. "I'm gonna go get my wife. She knows a bit more about this kind of thing than I do. I'll also fetch your familiar. He's been antsy the entire time you've been here." With that, he turned and almost ran down the stairs, leaving the hatch open this time.

  I didn't attempt to follow him, but I did take the opportunity to lift myself back onto the edge of the bed. I expected a price for my actions, but not one so severe. Either fate was playing a cruel joke at my expense, or what I'd pushed for was beyond my expectations. Regardless, with a price enacted, fate would align to my goal, even if the events surrounding me appeared to the contrary. So I sat, content to gather mana and see what events would unfold within my sight.

  I didn't have to wait long before the telltale sound of steps on the stairs told me someone was coming. The steps sounded significantly lighter than before, so it wasn't the guardsman, but they sounded a little too soft to be his wife, a child perhaps? It didn't matter; I'd deal with them the same, small gestures and head motion until I could write something worthwhile.

  It took a bit longer for this individual to make the climb into the hatch, but I was a little shocked by the figure that came into my vision. I'd expected a child from the light footsteps and apparent height difference from how many steps it took for them to come into view, but what entered the room was a Gnomish woman around the same age as The Guardsman. To my credit, some gnomes look more like human children than some are comfortable with, but she didn't appear to fall into that category.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  She was of average height for her race, but that still placed her at just under chest height for many humans. Her hair was a golden color reminiscent of straw, and it was tied neatly into a bun with a black band. Her nose was pointed like a knife, matching her thin lips curled into the slightest smile. While her ears stuck out slightly, they didn't make her head appear small. I took in the details of her face with little interest, simply noting them in my mind until I turned my gaze to her eyes. Those orbs revealed that she wasn't as Gnomish as I'd first taken her for. Her eyes gleamed with an unnatural green unique to one race in the world; they looked sharp, predatory like I was a meal to her, not another person. Somewhere in her lineage was the blood of goblins. I could tell it wasn't her parents, but that particular shade of green meant she'd still have access to some of her lineage if only the barest amount.

  "I nerer thawt I' mee mor o a monsta thahn me own dah, but ere yuh ahr." She opened the discussion with a thick accent and a no-nonsense attitude. "Hubby sayd yuh was girin im duh silen treatmen; any reaon fo dat?" She asked, her tone more than a little abrasive.

  I had enough mana at this point for around five characters at once, the process of filling my reserve without consequences still slower than oozing tar. With that, I did try to answer her question. "No man." I ran out of mana mid-word, so I quickly rewove it to finish the sentence "Mana." I wrote out my responses, trying to link them together readably.

  Comprehension donned on across her expression at the sight of the glowing letters, but so too did a little agitation.

  "I knaw yuh ave uh vois, whey don' yuh use dat den?" She barked at me.

  Under ordinary circumstances, my concern would be with my voice carrying the unnatural fear beyond the protection provided by my coat and mask. Currently, my issue was that my neck was still damaged, and even if I wanted to ignore that concern, I couldn't. So, to respond to her, I didn't form any letters in the air but instead tried to mime the issue. I put one of my hands to my neck before taking both hands and squeezing them together, creating a disturbing cracking sound with the joints within.

  "Fuhks dat sposse tu mean." She responded to my miming with blatant confusion.

  I wanted to sigh at her response, but I couldn't blame her. I was the one choosing roundabout methods of communication without having tried all of the traditional ones first. I hadn't confirmed if The Guardsmen could understand handsign, and the same was true of the gnome in front of me. I'd have to look into that lapse in judgment, see if it was connected to my missing leg or just a mistake. But for now, I tried to see if she understood handsign to communicate.

  "Throat, crushed, can't, speak." In turn, I formed the signs for each word, cautious about going too fast if she knew the signs but wasn't fluent.

  "Wall, dat's nu gud." She exclaimed. "ere, I was ohpin to feil som o dat storybook fear me da tahked bout." She sounded immensely disappointed.

  I felt a tingle from the wound on my leg, but it was dwarfed by the opportunity whose tail-end flashed into my mind. "Can, still, provide" I signed the words.

  "Ohh?" She indicated her interest.

  "Not, free." I signed.

  "Ell, nahme yur prise." She said, a giddy glint of glee leaching into her eyes.

  I didn't form any signs or words this time, instead choosing to gesture at my leg. Gnomes often replaced their entire bodies, and I had a feeling that replacing my lost limb would be a considerably easier task than replacing one's own heart.

  She looked at my gesture, and the rather disgusting looking stump for a minute before comprehension dawned into her eyes. "HAHAHA," She cackled at me, with tears in the corners of her eyes. "Yur soh cheep, I wa gonna giv yu a neww one rgardles." She chuckled again before turning to the hatch of the room. "OY, RUS, BRING DA GOO ONE!" She barked down the stairs then turned back to me. "No goin bak now, bsides, yu stil gotta finish talkin with me hubby." She flashed a bright smile across her face, showing a few slightly sharper than regular teeth.