Chapter 4 Lovecraft.
Lenna’s body was threatening to burn Isaac’s skin as he held her. “Healer!” One of the nearby guards called out as Isaac focused on Lenna’s condition. He sent a small trickle of death flames into her in hopes that it would help but he was at a loss. He could feel her aura lashing out wildly and he could hear the guards nearby backing away from them. The war cleric slid in across from Isaac and put a hand on Lenna’s head. His own power flowed into Lenna. Isaac and the cleric realized something at the exact same time and both pulled their power back.
“More foreign power is going to make her condition worse.” The cleric said aloud. His voice was deep but not overly so and clear through his helmeted face. “What is happening to her?” He asked Isaac and looked up so their gazes could meet.
Isaac tore his gaze away from Lenna and met the cleric’s soft green eyes framed in steel. “I think she’s leveling up.” Isaac explained. “She’s an Oathbreaker.” His eyes flicked towards Jallen’s corpse. “And her ancestors are furious.”
The cleric glanced at Jallen’s corpse following Isaac’s motion and then his eyes widened as the entire image came to light in his mind. “Got it.” He told Isaac and pulled his metal canteen from his belt before he poured it over her face and chest.
“What-” Isaac asked but cut himself off as he realized the cleric was just trying to keep her internal temperature down so she didn’t die of fever. “Shit, mine is at home.” He swore.
The cleric shook his head. “This is holy water.” He explained. “It should help keep the spirits at bay. She had an oath to her ancestors, correct?”
Isaac nodded. “Yes.”
The cleric nodded more to himself than to Isaac. He turned and looked around for something before shaking his head and turning back to Isaac. “Help me carry her to the temple of Halya. They’ll have the most holy water in the city.” He told Isaac and moved to loop Lenna’s arm around his neck.
Isaac got her other side and the pair started off in a fast walk. “This is going to take too long.” Isaac asserted before they had even taken a dozen steps.
“Agreed.” The cleric replied. “You!” He said while staring hard at one of the guards close by. “Run to the temple of Halya and have them meet us with a few buckets of holy water. We’ll head to the square and then up to them.” The guard nodded with wide eyes and then broke off into a run towards the temple. “You!” He called towards another guard. “Get a handcart, now!” The second guard did as he was told and bolted inside to find the closest cart that could be pulled by a person.
“Thanks.” Isaac said to the cleric as they continued to haul Lenna inside. “What if I healed her through the damage my mana would cause?” Isaac questioned. “I should be able to heal her through everything at once.”
The cleric shook his head. “No.” He replied. “Her mana pathways are being reforged in the crucible right now. Who knows what the outcome of cooling off the sword before it’s finished being forged would be?” He huffed and it was clear that he was still exhausted from the battle and its cleanup stage after it was over. The man truly needed some rest but had jumped to Lenna’s aid in an instant anyway. “It is never good to heal someone while they are leveling up and this is a dozen times more intense.” He explained to Isaac. “We need to let her body properly adjust or it’ll tear itself apart later. It isn’t pretty.” The cleric finished. It sounded like he was talking from experience.
“Understood.” Isaac said with a nod. He wasn’t happy about it but he wasn’t going to risk anything when it came to Lenna. “Why is it so bad this time?” Isaac asked more to himself than to the cleric.
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They continued on in silence for a short while until the second guard returned with a cart made to be pulled by a person. It was dusty and smelled of flour but it looked like it would work. “It’s the baker’s.” The guard explained. “He is expecting it back.”
Isaac nodded. “I’ll get him a dozen of them later.” He said and, with the help of the cleric, laid Lenna inside the cart. Her legs dangled off the end and drug on the ground behind the cart but that was fine. Isaac ducked under the bar, picked it up so the front supports were off the ground, and then started moving. He moved slowly at first but steadily increased in pace until he was moving at a fast jog.
“The new moon.” The cleric said from beside Isaac. He had let Isaac pull the cart. Isaac had set a pace and even though the cleric was huffing and puffing he managed to keep up. “She’s drow.”
Isaac thought about his answer. “But this shouldn’t be Dri’El’s doing.” He countered. “It should only be her ancestors.”
“That are, existing, alongside, Dri’El.” The cleric huffed out between deep inhales. A young woman, somewhere between the ages of twenty and thirty by Isaac’s guess, met them with a bucket before Isaac could reply.
“Here.” She said quickly and handed the bucket to the cleric. He took it and unceremoniously splashed it across Lenna’s entire front. “Is that?” She started to ask but the cleric wasn’t going to wait and answer her questions.
“There.” The cleric said and handed the bucket back to the acolyte. “That should keep her cool enough for a minute or two.”
Isaac, the cleric, and the acolyte all watched as the water steamed off of Lenna. “We need to hurry.” Isaac said and started speeding up again. The cleric continued with him while the acolyte just stood by the side of the road dumbfounded. “It’s never been this bad before.” Isaac explained. “Not even when she leveled up twice at once.”
“Was it on a new moon?” The cleric questioned.
“No, but even still, this is half a dozen times worse, at least.” Isaac replied.
The cleric nodded. “Two, maybe three levels, at once, on a new moon, you need to be careful in the future.” He instructed. “Expect this to happen again if you aren’t careful.”
“I will be.” Isaac promised before they met another acolyte with more holy water. This time it was a young boy in his mid teens who had spilled a third of the bucket on his way there. With a quick splashed they continued on for three more buckets and six more blocks before they came upon the temple to humanity’s patron goddess. The temple was made of white stone and stood twenty feet high before the flat roof began. The building was large and had large windows but it looked like it was designed to only waste vertical space. The corners were accented with columns built into them to give the building a more regal look and the double doors were propped open by a pair of bronze rods that fit perfectly into holes in the stone ground. “Finally.” Isaac said and set the cart down to haul Lenna out of it and inside the building. The cleric had his hands on his knees panting.
A priest met them by the door. He was middle aged and wore clean white robes. “What is the matter? The guard explained nothing.” He questioned.
“Holy, water, bath, now.” The cleric replied through gulping breaths. He finally undid his faceplate but to Isaac’s surprise, even with the mouth area open, the top half of the man’s face was still covered. His helmet covered everything from the cheekbones up, almost like a mask.
The priest nodded and ushered Isaac and the unconscious Lenna inside while directing acolytes to get a holy water bath ready. In a matter of minutes Isaac was finally able to rest Lenna into a stone tub ten feet long by five feet wide that was two feet deep. It looked like it had been made with goliaths like Claus in mind. Lenna’s face visibly relaxed once she was submerged up to her neck in the water. Isaac and an acolyte held each of her arms under her armpits to keep her from drowning in the stone tub. Isaac brushed some of Lenna’s hair out of her face and he could already tell that her temperature was dropping back down towards nonlethal levels. The risk of her organs shutting down from the heat had finally lowered enough that Isaac could breathe again. He let out a deep breath that he had been holding for only the gods knew how long.
“How is she?” The cleric who had helped them asked while he walked into the room.
Isaac looked down at the, luckily still clothed, drow woman who was actively heating the entire tub of holy water. “Better than she was but I don’t know for how long.” Isaac replied. “How long is this going to last?”
“Four to eight hours.” The cleric replied. “I’ll take over.” He told the acolyte who quickly handed her position away. “Get another tub ready and call for a wizard to cool this one down once she has been moved. We’ll be back and forth a few times before morning.”
“Yes, priest Lovecraft.” She replied and bowed on her way out.
“Lovecraft?” Isaac questioned. “Kind of ironic for a cleric of a war deity, isn’t it?”
The cleric chuckled. “Just call me Harry.” He replied. “Or Love, that’s what they called me in the army.”
“I’ll stick with Harry, I can’t imagine Lenna’s face if she woke up and heard me call someone ‘Love’.” Isaac replied with a chuckle and shake of his head. “Thanks for this.” He told Harry. “I mean it. I don’t know how I would’ve handled it without you.”
Harry nodded and leaned against the tub while he gazed at the ceiling with his eyes closed. “You probably would have managed, though, for what it’s worth, I’m glad I got to help you two.” He replied. “Now I won’t feel indebted to you as much. I was born in this city and it was you two that led to what happened tonight.” Isaac was silent for a long while after hearing Harry’s words and the two waited for the second tub of holy water to be ready for the Oathbreaker. Apparently all it took was genuine gratitude from a normal person to make Isaac Wexler speechless.