Cold water splashed down on Orrin, waking him from his sleep. He’d been exhausted from the multiday run to rescue Brandt and drifted off while going over his escape options.

“Get up,” the voice belonging to a new guard ordered. He dropped the bucket he carried and let it roll away. Orrin caught a glimpse of the clothes that had been stripped off him the day before. His small pile of possessions was crumpled against the wall opposite his cell door.

He tried to push himself to a standing position but took too long. The butt end of a spear cracked on his shoulder, sending fresh waves of pain into the broken arm.

“Faster!”

“Lucas, the order is to bring him upstairs, not kill him.” Orrin could barely make out the second guard’s form as she opened the door to his cell and knelt over him.

“He’s got weapons on him.”

The female poked a finger under his makeshift splint and huffed in annoyance. “He set a break on his arm… and his leg, too? Strong little shit. Lucas, I know your family had the coin to heal every little boo-boo you had growing up, but even you should know the difference between a field splint and a shank. Get in here and help me pick him up… Why is he wet?”

Orrin got his breathing settled in time to see Lucas’ satisfied smirk. “He needed a shower.”

While Orrin had a faint hope that the nicer guard would help, he was quickly disabused of any dream of escape. The female guard kicked his good leg when he didn’t move fast enough. Lucas cheered her on and Orrin caught her name. Imani.

Orrin filed the names away for later.

The two guards dragged him from his prison and up the stairs to Lord Sanerris’ house. His cries of pain were ignored and he was tied to a chair in a small room he hadn’t seen before. It wasn’t as richly appointed as the rest of the castle. The one door, stains on the ground, and sheet-laden table with menacing shapes underneath let him know where he was.

Lucas spit on him as he pulled the ropes tight on his broken leg. Orrin grit his teeth and let [Mind Bastion] wash the pain into a numb background noise.

“You’re not so strong alone, are you?”

Orrin processed his words and noticed the quiver in the man’s voice.

“You knew someone who died? One of Sanerris’s mages?”

His guess landed solidly. Orrin didn’t see the fist that hit his face. The room spun and the next thing he saw was Imani pulling Lucas back.

“Leave,” the commanding voice of Lord Sanerris broke over Lucas’ curses.

The leader of Odrana entered the room with an old woman. Orrin could barely make out her face under the heavy hood she wore. The guards quieted and left without complaint. Orrin rolled his jaw.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I haven’t killed you?” Sanerris started talking. He snapped his fingers and a servant carried a plush chair inside the room. He waved a hand in dismissal before sitting down across from Orrin. The door clicked shut. Orrin was alone with Sanerris and what he hoped was not a torturer.

Orrin had a plan. He was going to be cool and collected. Sanerris was the kind of person who kidnapped people he wanted and killed those he didn’t care for. Torture was a given. Orrin was going to do what Daniel would and not say a word to him. His smile would be the only response Sanerris would get today.

“This will go much easier if you answer me. You were unfortunate to see my… less controlled state earlier and I apologize for that. Do you require healing?”

Sanerris waved the old woman forward. Orrin clenched his teeth and sat straighter in his chair. Her hand touched his head and she let out a gasp.

“What is it?” Sanerris sat forward in his chair.

“How are you… my lord, he’s… I don’t know how he’s conscious right now.”

Sanerris turned away in what Orrin would have called a guilty look in anyone else. “Heal what you can.”

“This is beyond what I can do alone. I’m going to need two, maybe three days to set his injuries.”

“That long?” Orrin let the words slip out and closed his eyes at his stupidity. His curiosity had gotten the best of him. Keep your mouth shut.

“Do what you can for today,” Sanerris ordered. “If you are well enough to speak, we have some things to discuss. If you will not answer my questions, it changes nothing. You will be executed for assaulting the Lord of Odrana on the day after next. I afford you this bit of respite from the injuries I gave you for my own conscience. I despise beating a child such as yourself but I am… not used to losing. Twice now, your friend Daniel has evaded me.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Orrin focused on the way the healing magic entered his body. It felt different than his own. When he used [Heal Small Wounds], he focused on the specific area and imagined the wound closing. He could see his mom’s medical books and pictures in his mind as the flesh closed or the bones reset. This lady’s magic permeated his entire body without focus. He tried to reach out and direct the mana to his leg and arm but felt the collar restrict control. He listened to what his capturer was saying but continued to try and give a gentle nudge to the woman’s magic.

Orrin noticed she was paying more attention to what Sanerris was saying than he was. Focusing down more, he turned to his own body. [Mind Bastion] was still running.

Maybe…

[Mind Bastion] was one of his first skills and still something he didn’t fully understand. The description was something about controlling his own mind and part of his body.

If I can’t use the mana, maybe I can block her magic off from everywhere but the broken bones. He visualized the bones, muscles, and nervous system and squeezed the muscles of his good arm. He imagined the mana being blocked by [Mind Bastion], forcing it to consolidate elsewhere in his body. The steady stream to his fingers slowed and a minute later, Orrin had to repress a smile.

He’d done it. He wasn’t controlling her healing but redirecting it by setting up roadblocks. He clenched different parts of his body and felt the healing triple to his shattered bones. He left a little flowing through his chest. Sanerris had done a number on his ribs.

“I was informed you could [Teleport] but don’t know how you were able to get to my city so quickly. I had multiple groups watching the roads for the three of you but nobody saw you. You didn’t hire another [Locationist]. Tell me how.”

Orrin’s lip twitched. The bandits they’d evaded were likely one of those groups. Smart of them not to report their failure to this kind of guy. He wasn’t one to reward incompetence.

“A smile? So, someone did find you. Did you pay them off or kill them? I’ve finished a dossier on Daniel and Lady Catanzano but you are a mystery. A [Healer] but you can [Teleport]. The spells you hit me with in the elven forest were unique. I’ve been unable to find a targeted debuff like that in any book. Before you die, would you like me to record your class? It would be a shame to lose that kind of knowledge.”

“My lord, I am almost out of mana,” the lady interrupted. Her hand was shaking. “I was made to leave my supplies at the front door. I’ll need a mana potion to continue.”

Sanerris smiled politely at the woman. “Of course, Margery. I’ll have one brought. One moment.”

He stood and knocked on the door. It opened and he began to have a hushed conversation with someone outside.

The healer, Margery, leaned in close and spoke so quietly in Orrin’s ear that he felt her breath raise the hairs on his neck. “The Lord of Dey is coming to rescue you. Hold out for one more day.”

Without [Mind Bastion], Orrin would not have been able to control the smile he felt rising up in him. Of course, Daniel wouldn’t let them kill me. He probably had Silas [Teleport] them all right back to Mistlight. Sanerris wouldn’t risk a political debacle.

His heart alight with the thought of rescue, Orrin refocused his energy on better blocking her mana to unnecessary parts of his body. He wanted to talk with her but Sanerris was already on his way back, holding a vial not unlike Orrin’s own.

“One of my own, it should restore your entire mana pool.”

If Orrin didn’t know any better, he’d swear the man was nice. He treated Margery with respect. A far different attitude than how he’d treated Daniel… or Brandt.

Orrin couldn’t take it. “If you’re going to kill me, why have me healed? You kept Brandt in that cell near death for however long and didn’t care. What’s your game here?”

Sanerris settled back on his chair and watched Margery work for a bit more. In five minutes, she’d pushed what Orrin approximated as six hundred points of healing magic through him. Something he’d noticed over the last few months of healing was the health points of a person didn’t directly correlate with an injury. Someone could have full HP and be hurt. Silas was the perfect example. Orrin knew that something must be wrong in the man’s spine to make him wheelchair-bound but he could only guess at how much mana it would take to fix that. A broken bone that was set healed easier than a protruding bone. Now he was wondering if his knowledge of the human body, however rudimentary, was helping his own healing. His friend, Amir, had commented on it once but Orrin had brushed it aside.

“That will be all, Margery. Thank you for your service. I’ll send the usual donation to the Hospital later today. You can return in the morning for another round if you are up for it.”

The old woman was hesitant to leave. Even Orrin could see and he didn’t want Sanerris to get suspicious.

“Thank you for the healing,” Orrin said, nodding at her. I’ll be fine.

“I’ll take my leave then, my lord.”

She paused at the door but thought better and left.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Sanerris said, turning back from watching the door close. “You answer a question of mine and I’ll answer one of yours.”

“Why do you keep trying to kidnap Daniel?”

Sanerris laughed. “Your first question isn’t about your own life? What does this [Hero] have that inspires such loyalty?”

Orrin wiggled his arm. The pain of the fracture was gone but he knew from experience that a recently healed break was fragile. Margery had fixed his arm and his leg was about halfway to healed but he had a long way to go still. If he focused again tomorrow while she healed him, he could probably be in decent enough shape to fight when they came for him.”

“You’ll answer my question first. What is your class?”

Orrin reasoned there was no harm in giving out the name of his class. He’d created it with the System, so it wasn’t something that Sanerris could learn more about. Plus, he was pretty sure he’d told a lot of people the name by now. “[Utility Warder].”

“Interesting. I’ve not heard of that class before. As for your question, I need a [Hero] to save the world. None of the other leaders on this side of the Pass seem to care about what is happening. I have a plan and it involves your friend. What are the names of your spells?”

“I’m not telling you the names of all my spells,” Orrin said and rolled his eyes. “I might as well ask you how do I get out of being killed.”

“You aren’t being killed.”

Orrin stopped trying to fiddle the rope undone. “What?”

“You are not going to be executed. I know that Margery is a spy for Dey. I know that Lord Catanzano is in my city. Tomorrow, a criminal wearing a [Glamour] of your face will be executed in the town square and his body thrown out to sea, as is custom for criminals in Mistlight. I will keep you here and chat with you from time to time. My question about the names of your spells doesn’t need to be answered today. We will have months, maybe years, to get to know each other.”

Orrin’s heart dropped.