Chapter 84
Brutal Healing
Erin’s group, now led by Zeldana, whose services they had managed to acquire, were now heading towards said healer’s house. Erin had once again been placed on the stretcher that was being dragged be Durge.
As they were walking, the redhead’s companions began to talk among themselves, wondering what had happened between her and Zeldana.
“So any idea what Erin might have told her?” Arkay asked. “It must have been quite the story to get Zeldana’s help.”
“No idea, but it must have been quite something. She doesn’t seem the type to be moved just by any sob story,” Lexton said before turning his attention towards Ryle. “You’ve known her longer than any of us, Ryle. Do you have any ideas?”
“None at all. I’m just as stumped as you guys are,” the blonde answered with a shrug. “In all honesty, I don’t know all that much about her. The only reason I ever met her was because I was after the bounty on her head.”
“That’s strange. Those who are hunted don’t usually befriend their hunters,” Durge said. “How were you two able to cross that bridge?”
“Well, she kind of saved my life and I owed her, so I took her to where I was staying with my brother. After that, we kind of ended up working together, eventually moving on to our mutual revenge quest against Lune,” Ryle explained. “I guess you could say that we were made into friends by the situation that we found ourselves in and just rolled with it. There’s not much else I can say about it.”
“Has she ever talked to you about herself?” Arkay asked, curious to find more about his friend. “Like about her own family or where she is from?”
“Not really,” the blonde answered, until she remembered something. “Although… I did meet her once, before I really went after her bounty. That time we simply talked with each other without knowing who we were.”
“Did she say anything back then?” Lexton asked.
“Not much. She was mostly lamenting her situation at the time. You know, the basic “my life sucks right now” type of stuff,” Ryle said. “But she did say something else. She said something about having betrayed some friends of hers in such a way that it could never be forgiven.”
“Any idea who those friends are?” Durge asked.
“Not a clue,” the blonde replied as she shook her head. “Outside of us, I don’t know any other friends that she has ever had.”
Having heard Ryle’s story, all of Erin’s companions began to think about it. Could it be that what she had told Zeldana be related to what she had told Ryle? And if that was the case, a lot more questions rose up. Who are these friends that Erin had mentioned? How did she betray them? And what were they doing now? Not to mention, what was it that made their whole story so interesting to Zeldana?
“You know, it’s pretty impolite to try prying into the business of someone else,” Zeldana suddenly called out, snapping Erin’s companions out of their thoughts. “What happened between me and your friend was a conversation meant for just the two of us. Whatever we discussed is supposed to stay between us. Got it?”
“We understand that, but we cannot help our own curiosity, Ms. Zeldana,” Lexton said. “Erin is our friend, yet we know only very little about her. Surely you can understand it, if we would like to know more.”
“Sure. But you should take note of the fact that she herself wanted to keep it between the two of us,” the elf said. “In other words, she was worried that whatever she said could have been bad, if it was heard by any of you.”
“What the hell could she ever say that would be that bad?” Ryle asked.
“Once again, that is only for your friend and I to know,” Zeldana said with a somewhat smug smile on her face. “However, I will tell you all this much. I am sure that if you keep traveling with her, she is sure to tell you all one of these days what she told me.”
Erin’s companions shared concerned looks for a moment among each other. While they had seen their friend put herself at risk for their sake, to hear that she had some secret she was afraid to share with them was honestly concerning. She was able to entrust her life with them, yet one secret was something she couldn’t share? It didn’t make much sense to any of them.
However, despite feeling a bit disappointed over something like this, Ryle soon said what they were all feeling.
“You don’t need to tell us something so obvious,” the blonde said. “We’ve risked our lives together with Erin and faced deadly situations one after another. Of course she will one day tell us what she told you. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it was soon.”
“Good for you. Now I hope that you don’t need to keep talking among yourselves like a group of gossiping teen girls,” Zeldana said. “Anyways, we’re finally here.”
The others looked at the place they had arrived at and saw a rather large mansion ahead of them. Despite the fact that it was being used, one would mistake the building for being abandoned, as the signs of neglect would lead you to believe that. The paint was falling off, some of the structures were visibly on their breaking point and the whole place was covered in dust and grime. In all honesty, it looked your typical haunted mansion.
“...Are you sure we should go in there?” Lexton asked. “That place looks like it could fall on top of you at any second.”
“Oh, it’s not that bad!” Zeldana said as she rolled her eyes. “I know it’s a bit underwhelming, but I can assure that this place is more than capable of operating as a decent home!”
To emphasize her words, the elf lightly punched the wall. However, this caused one of the roof tiles to get dislodged and fall down right next to her, just narrowly missing landing on her head.
“...Okay, that was just a coincidence,” Zeldana said.
“Coincidence, my ass! That place is nothing but a giant death trap!” Ryle yelled. “Not only that, but it looks like a goddamn haunted house! I bet there a tons ghosts and spooky shit in there!”
“Don’t be ridiculous! There are obviously no ghosts here!” the elf shouted back.
“Oh really!? How can you be so sure!?” the blonde asked.
“Because I am easily far scarier than any ghost could ever be,” Zeldana answered. “If they’re smart, no ghost would ever get even near where I live.”
Erin’s companions shared looks of concern with each other, not feeling all that confident over trusting this person with the redhead’s treatment.
“...Lex, are you sure this is the person we were looking for?” Arkay whispered to the kobold. “I can’t help but feel like she isn’t a healer at all.”
“Yeah, I agree with Arnie,” Durge whispered. “She feels more like a murderer instead of a healer.”
“I get what you’re both saying, but this is the place we were told about. Remember what that con artist we busted said, Durge?” Lexton whispered back. “Apparently, she’s a very famous healer, but not exactly for the right reasons. While she can heal pretty much any injury or illness, she also had some… eccentric qualities to her, which made her an outcast among the community of healers.”
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“Those eccentric qualities wouldn’t happen to include murdering those she’s treating, would they?” Ryle asked in a sarcastic tone. “I’m starting to get the feeling that she was made an outcast for a very good reason.”
“Look, I get that she’s a bit… odd, to say the least,” the kobold responded, struggling to believe his own words. “However, what else can we do? Erin needs a skilled healer and this is the only person we can get. All we can do is place our faith in her and hope for the best.”
Despite still having doubts, the others couldn’t help but agree with Lexton. Their friend’s life was on the line and they couldn’t risk trying to find anybody else to heal her. They would have to take their chances with Zeldana, no matter how much they might dislike it.
“Hey, if you want me to actually help your friend, I suggest you bring her inside before she ends up dead,” Zeldana called out to Lexton and the others, having already gone inside her house. “Also, could you please stop whispering about others behind their backs? You’re acting like a bunch of mean girls in high school.”
After being called out by the elf, Erin’s friend quickly brought their unconscious friend inside the house.
Once inside, they saw that the place looked a lot worse there than it did outside. Everything was covered in dust and cobwebs, showing years of neglect. Some of the wallpaper seemed to be peeling off, revealing holes left by pests that were scurrying around. The mist disturbing thing, however, was the fact that there were signs of battle all around. Furniture was smashed and broken, holes left by bullets could be found in different spots and there were even old bloodstains of different sizes in various places. It seemed like whoever used to live in this place had perished in violent manner.
“...Yeah, this just became a million times creepier!” Ryle said as she covered her nose to block the smells that came from the horrible condition everything had been left in. “Are we sure that this place isn’t actually haunted!? I’m sure the people that left their marks here are probably pretty pissed over what happened to them!”
“Well, if they are still here, I sure haven’t seen them,” Zeldana replied nonchalantly. “I’ve been staying here for quite some time now and the only tenants are all the little nasty critters that like to run on the floors and inside the walls.”
“Have you ever considered cleaning up a bit?” Durge asked. “I doubt living surrounded by all this filth is exactly healthy.”
“If there are any health related problems, I can easily fix them,” the elf answered. “Besides, I have always hated housework, so I’d rather live like this than even touch a broom or any other such tool.”
“And my brother always told me that I needed to get better at household chores. I finally see why…” Ryle said with a sigh. “At least now I know there’s someone worse than me. Besides Lex, that is.”
“Excuse me!?” Lexton asked angrily. “And just what the hell do you mean by that!?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” the blonde asked. “Don’t you remember how stinky that car of yours was? I can’t believe you were able to live in that moving garbage pile!”
“For the last time… It was full of INGREDIENTS AND MATERIALS!” the kobold yelled. “I need those things in order to make things like potions and weapons!”
“Here we go again…” Arkay said with a sigh, as Ryle and Lexton got into another argument.
“I take it that this is not the first time this subject has come up between those two?” Durge asked as he watched the argument break out between his two companions.
“You have NO idea,” the cat boy replied. “Ever since Ryle was introduced to Lex’s mobile workshop, this argument came up almost every day. I was hoping for it to be over and done with the destruction of his car, but I guess I was naive to think that…”
“...I’m sorry to hear that,” the orc said.
“I don’t see what either of you are complaining about. This seems kind of entertaining,” Zeldana said as she watched the argument while eating what seemed to be peanuts. “I don’t think I’ve had this much entertainment since I read that book by Ulik Dicks.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re having fun,” Durge said as he rolled his eyes, before looking at what the elf was eating. “Hang on a second, what the hell are those?”
“Not sure. I just grabbed the first thing that looked like a snack I could find and started eating them,” the elf explained as she kept putting the “peanuts” in her mouth and chewing on them. “They have a surprisingly nice bitter taste to them.”
“...Shouldn’t you be preparing for Erin’s treatment?” the orc asked.
“Oh right. That was a thing I was supposed to do,” Zeldana said as she threw away her snack. “Alright, enough goofing around! Your friend isn’t going to last much longer, so let’s get to work with her!”
Erin’s friends watched as the elf proceeded to prepare her “work station”, which didn’t fill them with confidence in her skills. Zeldana walked up to a nearby dinner table and simply tipped it, so that everything on it fell to the floor. Plates and glasses shattered, yet the elf didn’t seem to be bothered at all. Instead, she just went on to put a white cloth over the table, as if to mask it as a real hospital bed. She also put on surgical gloves and a mask.
“Alright. We are ready for business over here,” Zeldana said in a voice that sounded a bit proud, like she was admiring the way she had set things up. “Bring your friend on the table, so I can start working.”
Ryle and Durge looked at each other, still feeling a bit unsure about the whole deal, but decided to obey the elf’s command. They carefully lifted Erin’s body up and carried her over to the table.
“Okay. First things first,” Zeldana said as she proceeded to take off Erin’s shirt. She undressed the redhead, until she was only wearing a bra to cover the upper half of her body. “Hmmm… Not too bad looking, but I’ve seen better. I’d say she’s still a solid seven.”
“W-What the hell are you doing!?” Ryle asked angrily with a blush on her face, as she covered Arkay’s eyes with her hands. “You’re supposed to be healing her! Not checking her out like some pervert!”
“I’m just making some casual observations here. Nothing more,” the elf said nonchalantly, as she suddenly took out a red suitcase. “Now we can get to the real fun part.”
Lexton took note of the suitcase and immediately got curious about it. After all, healer’s mostly used simple healing magic to treat their patients, so tools were largely unnecessary.
“Ms. Zeldana, what is that suitcase for?” the kobold asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” the elf asked in return, as she took out a scalpel. “This is for all my tools.”
“That’s pretty much my point, though. Why do you need tools?” Lexton asked. “I thought healers simply use their magical powers to treat their patients. That doesn’t require tools.”
“That’s only true for total amateurs,” Zeldana answered. “A lot of healers simply pump healing magic into a patient’s body, until they are all fixed. The problem is that this can have long term issues. Think of it like pouring more than the needed amount of medicine into a body. If you’re doing it recklessly, you can end up causing more harm than good. The symptoms might not appear right away, but the overuse of healing magic can lead to your body degrading from within.”
“I see,” the kobold said thoughtfully, having heard of such a thing for the first time. “So how exactly do you heal patients then?”
“That’s very simple,” the elf said with a maniacal grin, as she looked at her scalpel in glee. “I get my hands on the problem itself.”
Without any warning, Zeldana used her scalpel to cut open Erin’s torso. What followed after that was a nightmarish show of blood and guts, as the elf proceeded to inspect every internal organ she could get her hands on. The elf was like a hyperactive child in a toy store, grabbing anything she could and looking at it with a gleeful look on her face.
Meanwhile, the redhead’s companions were absolutely horrified by what they saw. Their faces were pale and frozen in terror, like they were facing their worst nightmares right in front of them. Even Durge and Ryle, who had seen their fair share of violence and brutality, couldn’t help but be shocked by what they witnessed. Lexton was so disgusted by the show of gore that he was struggling not to throw up. Arkay simply stood frozen still, as he watched the horror show before his eyes, unable to move or say anything.
image [https://i.ibb.co/nnFDdrZ/Ch-84-Pic-1.jpg]
The most terrifying aspect about Zeldana’s “treatment” was that she hadn’t done anything to ensure that Erin was unconscious. In fact, there were a couple of moments where the redhead seemed to wake up briefly, only to black out soon. Most people would die from the sheer shock, but there was a certain aspect in the way the elf treated her patients that prevented this from happening. While one of her hands was looking through the patient’s body in an effort to find what was wrong with them, her other hand was continuously pumping healing magic into their heart, thus keeping them alive.
After what felt like an eternity to the ones watching, yet just a brief moment to the one performing the treatment, it was finally over. Zeldana put everything back to where they were and used her healing magic to close up the wound, making it look like nothing had happened at all. Once it was all over, Lexton couldn’t hold it in anymore as he threw up in a nearby trash can. Arkay had also reached his limit and passed out. Ryle somehow managed to catch his body, despite the shocked state she herself was in.
“There we go! A job well done!” Zeldana said with a satisfied smile on her face. “God, it feels good to get back to work once in a while.”
“THERE’S NOTHING WELL ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST DID, YOU FREAKING PSYCHOPATH!” Ryle yelled angrily, as she was still holding Arkay. “What the heel did you just do to her!? You opened her up and played with her organs like some sort of a maniac!”
“What was wrong with that? I told you that I get my hands on the problem itself,” the elf stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Your friend’s magical within her body was damaged due to the drug she took. I had to get my hands on it in order to repair it. That thing isn’t exactly all that easy to get your hands on, unless you get your hands a bit dirty.”
“I don’t think what you just did constitutes getting your hands “a bit dirty.” I saw you holding her lungs and other organs,” Durge said as sat on the floor, feeling weak in the knees. “And I thought the people in my tribe were ruthless… None of them would even think about doing what you just did.”
“Oh grow some balls!” Zeldana said as she rolled her eyes. “Besides, I got the job done, didn’t I?”
“BULLSHIT YOU DID!” Ryle shouted. “I don’t think anybody could survive-!”
Right then, Erin sat up on the table, shocking everybody other than Zeldana, who simply gave a smug look at the people that had just questioned her work. The redhead had a slightly bewildered look on her face, but seemed to be otherwise fine.
“E-Erin?” Ryle called out to the redhead. “Are you okay?”
“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine,” Erin replied. “In fact, I feel really good! I don’t think I’ve felt this well ever before in my life!”
“Are you serious?” Lexton asked, having finally composed himself. “You don’t feel wrong at all? Even slightly?”
“No. Like I said, I feel really good,” the redhead said as she got up from the table. “It’s almost like my body works far better than before. Like there were these invisible weights attached to me that are now gone.”
“Yeah, I took the liberty to fix a few things here and there,” Zeldana said a bit smugly. “Hope you like it.”
“Thank you so much for your help, Ms. Zeldana,” Erin said as she bowed to the healer. “You’ve been a great help to us and saved my life.”
“Meh. It wasn’t much, but you’re welcome,” the elf said with a shrug. “Also, you can just call me Zel.”
The redhead nodded, before turning her attention to her friends.
“Thank you guys as well. Had it not been for all of you, I wouldn’t have survived,” Erin said, before she noticed that her companions didn’t look to be doing all that well. “Although, are you guys okay? You all seem a little pale… And why is Arkay passed out?”
“Ummm… Do you remember anything about what just happened?” Lexton asked awkwardly.
“Well… I sort of have these hazy images in my head, like I was halfway between awake and unconscious,” the redhead said as she struggled to recall said images. “However, when I try to remember them, I get this feeling of terror, like I’m about to witness something horrifying and-”
“Yeah, it’s actually best if you don’t remember it,” the kobold said.