“…Sorry boss… I just… it got me! I'm sure of it! I drank some water and now my insides… I’ve got the poison! Please, I need help!”
Looking at Hakon for a long moment Sigurn turned to Erika and raised an eyebrow, Erika rocked her hand back and forth and hummed. “I’ve probably got enough, but I'm charging you extra for leaping out at me.”
“Of course, of course, anything anything! Oh, you are most wise and merciful and power and…”
Erika tuned out the stale flattery and gingerly reached out to cast her galdr upon him, for a moment it seemed to stick against his skin, Erika recognised it from Sigurn, a powerful Hamr the part of the Sal that was your physical form, veteran delvers tended to gradually strength it without meaning to over a lifetime of fighting which could make their shape hard to shift even with galdr. Erika stuck to just examining him rather than going straight for the unravelling, pushing through his Hamr would be a nightmare and drain her well dry
“…just down past the second level and running of a few wargs that were attracted by the chaos, you know how those things smell weakness, but as I ran, I felt my skin begin to crawl and my stomach twist, I realised I was dying…”
But luckily, she didn’t even need to… he was entirely healthy? The pale skin wasn't being caused by anything Erika could see and the hair loss was just the result of him pulling it out, she could recognise the muscle strain in his fingers and the stress lines in his teeth, also the liquid of fear was pouring out of his glands and filling up his blood but… why this man was a bronze rank? A living weapon who was equal to an entire squad of normal soldiers.
“…The merciful and wonderous vitki would of course be able to heal me if only I could return in time, luckily the centurion was very understanding and even escorted me here since in my poisoned and weakened state even one warg would surely prove my end, thus…”
Erika stopped as she remembered something her mother had taught her, she wasn't sure if it was the case here but mother had told her about a certain type of client, not the worst ones, not even slightly, but ones that always bothered life shaper vitki and wise women alike, a hypnocodiac? Hyperboriac? Highstep condriac? Something like that, people who thought they were ill when they weren’t and wouldn’t leave till, they were cured even though nothing was wrong with them, her mother said just to lie and claim she’d healed them and then charge them double, Erika saw no reason to ignore her mother’s hard-earned experience.
“My well is drawn nearly dry upon you Hakon, you will owe me a fist of hacksilver for this understood?”
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Hakon nodded in relief as Erika allowed a tiny amount of odium to flow out of her arm and into his skin, then she immediately cut it off and stood back. “It is done, the curse abated.”
“… uh with the others didn’t you have to peel them apart?” Hakon asked gingerly running his fingers across his stomach.
Erika deliberately flared her nostrils and glared. “Do not question my methods!”
“Sorry sorry!” Hakon was nearly twice her height and more than double her age but such was the reverence of vitki that he barely managed to meet her eye let alone disagree with her. Deciding she needed to finish it off Erika shook her head and scoffed theatrically. “Good… but if you must know I figured out a way to clean the blood without discarding it after I practised my galdr upon the other injured.”
Skin already colouring again in obvious relief Hakon accepted the lie like a lifeline, grasping Erikas hand and shaking it enthusiastically he reached into his belt pouch and drew out a handful of long silver bars. “Oh, thank you thank you merciful vitki, here this silver should reach a fist weight together, I can feel the cold poison dying in my veins replaced with the warmth of health! Oh, how wonderful the world looks today after being granted a second chance at life!”
Erika honestly hadn't expected this much and was a little creeped out and a lot worried, surely a bronze shouldn’t be this mentally fragile? Or maybe normal stable people settle down with a career instead of becoming a delver.
Erika nodded to the man and went to walk away before she noticed something, stood behind the man, lurking in the shadows was a… person? Erika couldn’t tell their gender; they were surprisingly short only nearly the same height that she was but also very very broad but that could be the armour. The armour was the first thing Erika noticed, it wasn't a breastplate and helmet or a chain shirt like a normal huscarl might wear instead it was a full suit… of armour?
Erika wasn't sure what the word was or if there even was a word for what looked like a full second skin of metal. Greaves, gauntlets, boots, pauldrons, even a chain kilt, all layered on top of each other and joined together in such a way as to leave not a single scrap of natural skin visible, nor even any normal clothes just armour layered atop more armour, the helmet was the oddest piece and at the same time the closest to a normal skin, a full cover of course with a wide brim and a strange metal spike protruding directly upwards (were they afraid of birds? Indoors?) and articulated bands of metal along the neck all covered by plates and swathes of chain, its face was a mask carved into a caricature of humanity with wide eyes filled with smoked glass and a grotesque smile that stretched from ear to ear worked directly into the metal, speaking of metal it was a very strange metal.
It was green… Erika wasn't an expert but as far as she was concerned armour came in two colours, grey iron or silver steel and maybe bronze if you were in one of those a traditionalist clan that lived near the trunk of Yggdrasil, this armour was green colour so dark it was nearly black and it glistened slightly, it looked more like sap or some expensive syrup than any metal Erika had seen.