Chapter 71: Let It Go
I could only roll my eyes at that; there had been little to do except wait, ever since I woke up in that empty void.
[Item template selected.
Commencing calibration.]
Any minute now, I thought to myself, feeling a sudden shiver of anticipation. That was when some unknown force rammed a jagged spike through my stomach. It didn’t hurt as much as I’d expected, given the force of the blow, but what pain did exist quickly went on an aggressive marketing campaign, spreading from my lower abdomen to cover my entire body in the blink of an eye. The shivering continued, and only then did I realise that it wasn’t from anticipation, I was just really cold, and whatever had kept it at bay before (most likely the Law of Winter I’d rejected) was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t all bad however, as with the return of true sensation came my other four senses as well.
Taste returned first, filling my mouth with salt and iron. Blood, I realised immediately, and a lot of it, even more than the time I took a door to the face on the way home from school, courtesy of a spectacularly ill-timed bin round. Naturally, I spat it out, the simple reflex evolving into a lengthy, hacking cough that nevertheless left me feeling a lot better once I’d gotten it all out of the way. Smell was back too, though as always it differed little from taste; given my general state of congestion, I was pretty sure I had a nosebleed as well.
“Harvey, he’s waking up!” Pumpkin exclaimed, his voice making me relax even as the volume made me wince.
He was a remarkably expressive cat, so if he had the time and inclination to make inane comments like that, the situation of the caravan couldn’t be too dire. Finally, my eyes cleared for the first time since the storm descended, and I finally returned fully to the land of the living. I was neck deep in a bathtub, albeit not one built of ceramic but rather carved out of the earth itself, its walls demarcated by smooth round stones. The size was honestly pretty good, beating out my en-suite bathroom back in London, though it paled in comparison to the hot tubs and jacuzzis common at the high-end conference hotels and member’s clubs I liked to frequent. Still, it got the job done. I was in rough shape too, my skin more purple than any tone typical of human flesh, and more than a couple lacerations on the small of my back that I was only now able to feel.
We were still underground by the look of it, a circular dome being visible overhead through the light of a floating red fireball, the product of one of Harvey’s remaining summons. Another was tending to me, a white robed man kneeling by the bath with both hands glowing, the familiar green of healing magic rippling out into the water and charging it with restorative power. There must have been an anaesthetic element to the spell, as I was pretty sure that frostbite to this degree was meant to be agonising, to say nothing of my back that was mending in real-time. As it was, the previous pain had dulled down to a full body throb, hardly comfortable, but bearable when the end of it was clearly in sight.
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“You’re finally back with us?” Pumpkin laughed, floating upside down as he did a decent imitation of a human backstroke.
“How bad was it?” I asked immediately, because Pumpkin hated water with all the stereotypical fervour of his species, so if he was willingly keeping me company in the tub, then that said a lot.
“Most of the damage is gone now,” the healer replied. “You were in terrible shape earlier, without a doubt. Harvey had to cut you out of your clothes, the swelling was that bad at first. Your gambeson and underclothes were damaged beyond recovery, I’m sorry to say.”
“Clothes can be replaced,” I shook my head. “Lives are a bit more difficult, so I can’t hold it against you.”
That said, I’d have been far less sanguine if I didn’t see a replacement set by the side of the tub; it was one thing, not being picky about my clothing, but I certainly had no desire to wander around stark naked.
[Calibration complete.]
As if waiting for my thoughts to drift in that direction, the System finally finished procrastinating and delivered the last part of my reward for nearly dying. A crystalline necklace appeared around my neck, ending in an elaborate, oversized blue snowflake. On its own, it represented a rather gaudy ornament, albeit one with a potentially significant market value. I wouldn’t ever sell it, of course, not with the extra line of text that accompanied it.
[Silent Night: The wearer’s actions are silent when they are not under observation.]
Dubious Christmas theming aside, a stealth item was undeniably a welcome addition to my growing arsenal; whilst I was confident in holding my own during battle, I was now part of a criminal organisation, so there would almost certainly come times where discretion was the better part of valour.
“Can I get out now?” Pumpkin whined, not sparing my new reward a second glance as he turned plaintively towards the healer.
“Not for another hour at least,” he replied sternly. “While you weren’t injured as badly as Will, you still took your share of internal damage from the shockwave. I’m actively monitoring your vital state, so rest assured, I will tell you when it’s safe to leave, and not one moment before.”
Ah, I realised belatedly, Pumpkin wasn’t just sitting in the pool to keep me company. Go figure.
—
Amelia Dawn blinked once, dismissing the call with a hand on her chin. She stayed like that for a good long time, deep in thought.
“First the changelings, and now an ascended elemental? It’s been nearly fifty years since one ventured so close to civilisation, are we going to have to evacuate again? It took a lot of work, setting up a nursery for heroes like this, but it might not be helped: a century is a pretty good run, all things considered..”