The horrific events of the morning came in form of a nightmare while Lumia slept. The sound of people screaming, the sight of the Sigumanju slaughtering farmers out in the fields, the moment she saw that Hunter was about to be killed. That was when she woke up.
She suddenly lifted her head off the table she had been sleeping on, nearly knocking a few bottles of potion in the process. She was sitting on the bedside chair in Hunter’s room. fire lamps hung from the walls and the darkness outside the window showed that night had fallen. She had been waiting for Hunter to wake up. She must have fallen asleep in the process.
She turned and found him lying on the bed. He was shirtless. His eyes were closed and his chest rose and fell with every breath. There were bite marks around the left side of his torso. Deep gashes from when one of the widow makers had bitten down on his shoulder and tossed him aside. She had tried her best to heal him, but the scars were still there. She was just glad she was able to get to him on time in order to stop his internal bleeding. Any later and it would have been too late.
The Calvary arriving at the very last minute was nothing short of a miracle. With out their intervention, Lumia was certain they would have all died. Hunter, herself, the people hiding in the barns, all of them. Although she recognized this fact, she also knew that there most likely wouldn’t have been anyone left alive in the farm lands if it wasn’t for the swift response of the vanguard. Every man and woman who had made up the initial 21 rider company sacrificed themselves so the farmers in the fields could go home. She would forever pray for their souls to find everlasting peace.
Lumia continued to observe Hunter as he slept. She suddenly remembered the first time she saw him. A few farmers from the fields brought him in to the temple. He was severely injured and was bleeding profusely. Even back then there were bite marks all over his left arm and elbow. She could tell he had been in a fight with a widow maker and had narrowly escaped with his life, and the life of the little girl he had brought with him. She was able to heal him but it had taken a lot of mana and concentration on her part. She almost lost focus a few times during the healing process, but she was able to stay calm and keep herself grounded during the critical part of the treatment.
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She was all but certain now that Hunter was not a normal human being. After surviving and fending off an ambush by a widow maker at his cabin, and after killing one of the creatures during the attack on the farm lands all by himself, it was clear he was some kind of professional monster slayer. Also, the way he had summoned his weapons before the fight. He had simply said what he wanted and they appeared. That wasn’t a kind of magic Lumia had seen before. She was going to ask him about it when he woke up.
She got up from the chair and headed for the front door. She needed to check up on the little girl before getting to bed herself. She opened the door and stole one last glance at Hunter over her shoulder. He looked peaceful as he slept. His dirty blond hair was cropped short, and he had a pointy nose she thought was cute. She smiled to herself before stepping out and closing the door.
When she opened the door to the little girl’s room, she was shocked to find her still awake. She had been sitting on the side of her bed playing around with something in her hands. When she turned and spotted Lumia however, the little girl immediately came running towards her. Lumia lowered herself to her knees in order to be at eye level with the girl while she spoke.
“He’s still sleeping, but he’s fine.” Lumia said to the little girl, holding her gently by the shoulders. She had simply anticipated what the girl wanted to know giving how worried the little girl was for Hunter when they first arrived at the temple. The little girl constantly kept coming to check up on him, so much so Lumia started to think they must have been related somehow. But she had asked the little girl, and she was able to confirm to Lumia that she wasn’t his daughter or his little sister.
“What do you have there?”
Lumia looked down at the little girl’s hands where she was still holding what she had been playing with. The girl opened her hands and Lumia saw that it was a bangle. Lumia recognized the bangle as the same one the little girl usually wore around her right leg. it was part gold and it was usually clasped around her right leg, just above her ancle. Lumia could tell the bangle was enchanted. But she couldn’t tell what it was for or why the little girl had it.
“It’s pretty.” Lumia said to the little girl, staring up at her and smiling. “But you should get some sleep now. It’s late.” She tucked the little girl in for the night then headed for the front door. On her way out, she spotted a bowl of water in the corner of the room. Inside was the little girl’s silver blue water lizard fast asleep at the bottom. She had heard about the little critters before, and how hard it was to find them. The little creature had made the girl into sort of a celebrity in town, as other than the royal family who had a water lizard of their own, nobody else had one.
She stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. She briefly considered checking up on Hunter again, but she recognized she was just being silly. She went to her room and took off her gown. She took a shower, got dressed for bed, and laid down on her mattress a minute later. She was exhausted and she needed to get some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a very busy day for her. She was going to learn more about Hunter.