For a brief moment, Exill forgot the pain gnawing at his leg and was awed by the nature of the amulet. The fact that price appeared as ‘???’ indicated it had never been sold before, or its value was too large to appraise.
Father Jonas was soon joined by the alarmed Priestess, who had swiftly returned after hearing the consternation. They both knelt in front of him, chanting prayers of benediction while their palms were bathed in a gentle golden glow.
Exill felt the pain in his leg slowly subside, and with it disappeared a numbing sensation that had been afflicting his mind. For the first time in a long while, he felt clear, sharp and awake.
“That is as much as we can do for now…” Father Jonas raised himself back onto the bench with a sigh. His knees hurt, and his back ached from the sudden exertion of faith. “It is a repulsive curse, designed to cripple and maim. You should recover after another session of blessings, but hold onto the amulet until then.”
The Priestess continued to channel her faith into his leg for a few more seconds, then returned with a warm compress that was anointed with holy water. Exill looked down at this leg and found the swelling had subsided greatly. There were still black tendrils of corruption surrounding the gash around his ankle, but it was no longer spreading.
“If you hadn’t bought me time back there when we were surrounded, *cough* I imagine I would be covered in such wounds…” Father Jonas patted his brows with a handkerchief, doubly tired from the nightmarish ordeal. “Pray to the Spirit for benediction every morning and evening, it should aid in your healing.”
Putting some weight on his injured leg, Exill realised it wasn’t so bad. He ignored the fussing Priestess and reached out to gather his belongings. “I should head back; I’m worried about the state of my clinic.”
Father Jonas, who had been dozing off, shook himself awake. “You should rest the night here, but if you can walk and are determined to leave, I’m sure the Priestess can arrange escorts to lead you back.” He subtly motioned the young Priestess to make the necessary arrangements. Once she was out of earshot, he continued, “I’m grateful that you went out of your way to indulge this old man’s search and escort me back safely... We’ll talk of your reward tomorrow.”
Exill hesitated, remembering the look of suspicion on Inquisitor Deroch’s face when his blessing was affirmed by the Oracle. He didn’t want to draw any further attention than possible with the Church.
“Would it be possible… to downplay my involvement?” he whispered to the Priest.
“Why would we do that? You were the one who took it down!” Genuine confusion painted the old man’s lined face.
“I… well, it’s complicated but I don’t want to draw unwanted attention from the Inquisition.”
“You don’t have to worry about that, I’ll report directly to the Oracle of what transpired here. She should have witnessed fragments of it in any case.” Father Jonas gripped his shoulder reassuringly, then motioned him to the entryway. “Now hurry home, I can hear the approaching night patrol. I’ll try to drop by tomorrow evening if I’ve recovered by then.”
Troubled by the Priest’s words, Exill reluctantly stood up and left the building. He was immediately recognised by a pair of night watchmen who agreed to escort him home.
Feeling the cool fresh wind drawn by the inactive volcano towering above them, he walked forward, trying to bury the claustrophobic nightmare they had overcome. His mind still reeled away from the memory of Verill, and how the spear had caused a sucking wound in his friend’s heart.
Lost in thought, he was momentarily surprised to find himself standing in front of a familiar door, a soft light emanating from the window to his side. The escorts turned away when he approached the front door, eager to call it a night and report to their commander.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He knocked softly, realising the keys had been left at home, expecting a swift return.
“Um, who is it?” a timid voice enquired.
“It’s me.”
Hearing his voice, the door quickly unlatched and Tsarra threw herself at him in a warm embrace, burying her face in his chest. Envy stood behind her, sheathed sword at the ready and a surprised expression on her face.
Wincing from the pain in his ankles, he waddled inside with the diminutive woman still clinging to him.
“I hear I’ve been gone for two days. Please tell me everything didn’t fall apart.”
***
It took some time for Exill to get washed, eat food, and settled down with a cup of tea. Tsarra fussed over the ankle injury, but her attempts to heal the gash was stymied by the latent corruption still residing in his flesh. Disturbed by the wound that would not heal, his apprentice covered it with poultice and hesitantly reported what had happened the last few days.
“We reported to the town guard that you went missing the next morning… Envy wanted to search for you, but I insisted you would return, and that it would be important to keep the Clinic running.”
Tsarra shrank back as Exill couldn’t hold himself back from affectionately patting her head. She had made the right choice, and he was incredibly proud of her.
“Um… so I treated the patients without you, and it was really difficult. People kept asking for the Witchdoctor instead of me. I would have given up if it hadn’t been for Dyna assisting me with triage, she came that afternoon when news spread you had disappeared.”
“It must have been difficult, but you did well.” Exill said, his emerald eyes sparkling with warmth.
“What happened?” Envy asked, still struggling to believe he had returned. The Vampire looked haggard from lack of sleep and worry, dark circles ringing her eyes. The hope that Exill has bestowed upon her had come crashing down with his disappearance… and it had struck her especially hard.
“Well, before we dive into the specifics I want to test a theory.” Exill groaned as he stood up and limped into Envy’s room, returning with the pouch of runic throwing bones. He channelled mana into them until their runes shone brightly, then let them slip through his fingers. A small smile crept up the corner of his mouth when he sensed the changed readings.
“We are no longer in danger at Virigo.” He said, finally feeling a weight lift off his shoulders. The expressions on the women in front of him relaxed visibly as well.
“Now, about what happened that night. I set out in the direction of the well with Father Jonas and…” Exill explained what had transpired that night, taking out the silver bracelet and coin pouch of their predecessor. He skipped over his encounter with Verill, his voice briefly faltering over the memory, and described the vile abomination that fell out of the egg sac.
Tsarra examined the bracelet, together with the receipt in the coin pouch. “This must be from that hunter who was missing his hand… so he wasn’t lying in the end.”
“Yeah, I will have to return it.” Exill said, reluctantly counting the coins in the pouch. The Hunter would have to be notified of this recovery and offered a partial refund, or a continuation of the therapy under his replacement. He set the two items aside, they could be handed in to the sheriff tomorrow.
Envy eyed the coin pouch containing 900 Denars. In principle, she agreed with the Witchdoctor’s judgement. On the other hand, there were four instalments to Diallo totalling 5200 Denars, and this would go a long way towards settling it.
She quietly motioned Tsarra to return to her room, and when they were the only ones in the common area she offered a counterproposal.
“Don’t tell the Sheriff we discovered the money and the receipt.”
Exill stared at her and pursed his lips. It was not as if the same thought hadn’t crossed his mind. However it went against his very principles, knowing how difficult it was for a normal Hunter to save up such funds. He eventually shook his head, denying her proposal.
“He tried to choke you! If you feel so bad, you can return the money later when you have the funds.” The edges of her amber eyes turned crimson with passion.
Shaking his head again, Exill refused to even entertain the idea. Yet he slowed, a sense of doubt creeping into his mind. ‘Do we have enough money to settle the debt when we return to Ark in a few days?’ He had forgotten to ask Tsarra their earnings while he had gone missing.
His muddied hesitation was broken by a strangely resonating sensation near his chest. The amulet had been resonating periodically to indicate the corruption was being resisted, but something about the recent sensation felt off.
Intuitively summoning his Card, the quickly fading silent notification caught him off guard.
Enthral Resisted
Exill slowly looked up from his Card, eyes wide in disbelief, presented with the greatest betrayal he had ever faced.
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Author's note: For those who are reading this on other platforms, I would greatly appreciate it if you could participate in a survey/retrospective on this cliffhanger in Royal Road.