Soft voices intruded into the peace and darkness. Yaric could feel he was in a soft bed, with gentle light just barely visible through his eyelids. It was only the incessant talking nearby that prevented him from falling back into a deep sleep.
“The Draugr!” Yaric blurted, sitting up abruptly.
“Whoa,” Lloyd chuckled, breaking off his conversation with Healer Stamp and moving quickly over to Yaric’s bed.
They were in the private ward for the plague victims, with both Raymond and George present as well. It was also midday based on the light Yaric could see through a window, the curtains pulled around his bed misleading him with its filtered light. His bow was set on top of the blanket, stretched out beside him.
“Healer Stamp insisted you get some sleep after he healed you, but you can rest assured that the Draugr is dead.”
“Quite a remarkable achievement,” Ron said, drawing a snort from Raymond. “More so than your Sponsor’s fumbling attempts at healing you, but I’ve corrected his errors and erased the damage you suffered. Contusions, burns, cornea damage, everything is healed now, though you should have a few good meals and some rest over the next three days. It was still a shock to your body.”
“What did the Draugr hit me with?” Yaric asked.
“Ha!” Lloyd laughed. “Nothing. From the way its one arm was almost blown off I believe it caught your arrow. But that particular arrow used a shaped charge at the tip and had a secondary explosive behind the head. I’m guessing Arnold used an explosive with aluminum powder along with the heat spell,” Lloyd added, a frown showing itself as he did. “You charged the arrow all the way and stepped even closer to your target, so you got hit by your own weapon.”
“My arrow did that?” Yaric asked disbelievingly.
“And lucky for you, too,” Ron said. “That Draugr is ancient. I’ve never seen one so old. Its arm is shredded below the elbow, yes, and the primary explosion put a large hole through its chest, but otherwise he’s still in remarkable condition. The level of durability it displayed is far beyond anything I’ve heard of Draugr achieving. If you’d had experience with Draugr and chose the power of your attack based on that experience, well, let’s just say we wouldn’t be talking right now.”
“Not to mention its ability with mind magic,” Lloyd grumbled.
“Yes, I didn’t want to sound rude earlier, but what did happen?” Ron asked Lloyd.
“No idea,” Lloyd replied with a shrug, though he looked far more concerned than he sounded. “I’m pretty sure it was stalking us long before it attacked, which means that it could avoid our detection spells.”
“That’s not overly difficult,” Ron pointed out.
“No, but it’s still a Draugr. The confusing part is how it weaved through all my defensive spells.”
This made Raymond stand up straighter. “Weave through?” he asked. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know. I’m still trying to work out what it did to me.”
“Wait,” Yaric said. “Why doesn’t it make sense? And what happened after I fired that arrow? How did we get here?”
Yaric’s question seemed to break Lloyd out of his internal musing, as he actually smiled again and moved to sit on Yaric’s bed.
“To answer your first question, mind magic must be blocked entirely. You can’t simply make a wall, or some spells will move around it. Because of this almost all defensive spells entirely encase the mind from all directions, somewhat like a bubble. We layer different defensive spells over each other like shells around our mind.”
“Then how could it weave through solid shells?” Yaric asked.
“Exactly! I still don’t know exactly how it did what it did. The only thing I’m sure of right now is it was something highly conceptual. It very clearly had some way of looking at my defensive spells that made them vastly less effective than they should have been. And on top of all that, their magic works differently to arcanists.”
“Mind magic is intrinsic to Draugr,” George said, speaking up for the first time.
“Yes,” Lloyd acknowledged. “And just like any creature with intrinsic magic it would instinctually be capable of exceptionally intricate spells, and their magic works differently to ours, but this goes beyond that. Even if it studied my defensive shields as I believe it did, it weaved through gaps in solid walls, and it did so through dozens of layered spells, faster than I could react. I watched it walk through doors and revoke voluntary control of my body, yet I couldn’t close those doors because as far as I could see they didn’t exist.”
“This Draugr must have been exceptional amongst its species,” Ron admitted.
“And old,” Lloyd said. “My defensive spells were going off uselessly and I couldn’t lock it out, so I tried to simply blast it out by channeling huge amounts of arcana through its spells. Didn’t work. The power difference was too small.”
For the first time, Raymond seemed genuinely disturbed. “Are you serious? You couldn’t disrupt the spell forms?”
“There wasn’t enough of a difference in our power levels,” Lloyd admitted.
Raymond glanced at the curtain around the other side of Yaric’s bed, looking deeply unsettled.
“Is the Draugr here?” Yaric asked, gesturing to the same curtain.
Lloyd smiled again. “Ah, I still have to answer your second question. After you killed the Draugr I patched you up enough to get you up, but city guards responded to the explosion, and they helped carry you here. They also took over carrying the Draugr.
“I woke Healer Ron, he fixed you up, and you slept while I filled out the reports. The mayor or his representative will be here shortly to view the body and to hear our findings.”
Yaric pulled himself to the top of the bed so he could lean against the wall and started going through everything. “But I don’t understand,” he said after a few seconds of thought. “The victims have been taken for years now. That should rule out the undead.”
“Yes, I thought the same. I still don’t understand how it has been getting rid of so many bodies.”
Ron looked confused. “Wouldn’t a creature like that be an expert at disposing of bodies?” he asked.
“There has to be a way first,” George answered, excited to be explaining something he was clearly passionate about. “Undead always move on within a few weeks. The risk of discovery grows exponentially over time as they have to dispose of the bodies of their victims.
“Carrying them outside the city poses its own risks, and too many trips will start raising questions. Even if they are successful, it’s not as simple as getting the body outside the city. You can’t just dump bodies outside the gate after all. They still need to take the body far away and get rid of it in a way that doesn’t draw attention.
“Inside the city is even worse. Burning bodies or trying to hide them somewhere will just lead to smells and certain discovery. So undead always balance feeding well with moving on before the body count makes discovery inevitable.”
“Which leads us to the problem this one poses,” Lloyd said, gesturing to the curtain. “How has this Draugr survived for so long while staying in one place? Depending on how well it fed, there must be anything from two hundred to four hundred bodies. And we only estimated around sixty kidnapping victims based on the increased disappearances.”
“I have a theory,” George said, speaking up hesitantly.
“Go on.”
“What if he really is rich?”
Lloyd and the others stared at George for a moment.
“No, really,” George continued. “You said it’s ancient. What if it’s amassed enough money to move into one of the larger estates? We know Draugr struggle to keep their illusions consistent over multiple encounters, but if it purchased property and lived as a wealthy recluse it could stay right in the center of the city. No one would raise questions and it would live in luxury. The property would also give it the space to hide bodies, maybe even bury them.”
“Amassed money how?” Yaric asked.
“Robbing victims,” George replied, looking like the answer was obvious. “It might even target very wealthy people just for their money. And it is in a prime position to swindle people given how effective its mind spells are.”
“Hmmm…” Lloyd mused. “The city could always search properties bought in the last few years to see if that’s the case. With the Draugr dead there would be an empty property somewhere. It could take time to confirm that it remains empty, but...”
“I’ll ensure that it happens,” Raymond said. “Although it looks like our work was unnecessary this time,” he added, moving toward Lloyd with his hand out. “We may as well get going and look for another appeal that can replace this one.”
“Why?” Lloyd asked, ignoring Raymond’s hand. “You two still have so much work to do here.”
Raymond looked skeptical, but he lowered his hand hesitantly. “What do you mean? The city can search properties without us. We offer no real value in that regard.”
“True,” Lloyd acknowledged, “but what of your Apprentice’s other discovery? The disappearances from a century back… what if there was large property purchased just before those disappearances began? And perhaps sold or abandoned around the time they stopped?”
George leaned forward excitedly. “You think this Draugr might have been here before? And my theory might be correct?”
“It’s certainly possible. I would never have thought it likely, but it fits far better than any other idea. And a Draugr this old is unlikely to be trying something completely new right now. I’m certain that if it’s found a way to settle down for years at a stretch, it’s probably been doing it for a very long time.”
That did perk Raymond up considerably. “This would require many hours of digging through records,” he said, turning to his student with a wide smile. “Are you sure you’re up to it?”
“It would mean discovering and solving century-old crimes that no one even noticed!” George exclaimed.
A loud rumble from Yaric distracted them from their planning.
“Ah, yes,” Ron said, “there is food in my office at the far end of the ward. Everyone else has already eaten.”
Yaric climbed out of the bed cautiously. He could still remember how nauseous he’d felt the last time he woke up, but this time he felt perfect. There wasn’t a single sign to indicate that he’d recently been injured.
The same couldn’t be said for the Draugr. Walking past the bed, Yaric could see the crater in its chest, with a smaller but still large hole right in the center. In the daylight it was readily apparent that the clothes it wore were of extremely high quality, and it was certainly dressed the part.
‘They’re also clean,’ Yaric thought. ‘There’s no way that thing was living on the streets.’
The sight of the body didn’t diminish his appetite in any way, however, although it did give him pause while he slowly ate his meal.
‘That thing was intelligent. It asked questions, showed curiosity, had emotions. And I killed it.’
Yaric had killed several different creatures before, mostly dangerous creatures originating in the Abyssal Fields. There were arguments over whether Draugr originated in the Abyssal Fields as well, but that wasn’t the point. None of the other creatures he’d killed had been sapient. None of them had proudly dressed themselves in fine clothes, or created networks to keep up to date on the best hunting grounds.
‘None of them were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people either,’ Yaric reminded himself. ‘More,’ he thought, realizing that the Draugr would have had to have fed regularly throughout its life.
Still, the feeling was unsettling. As were the circumstances of his survival. And he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing.
He finished up and quickly made his way back, afraid that the mayor might arrive before he had a chance to speak with Lloyd.
“We were just talking about you,” Lloyd said when he returned. “We’re going to take it easy today, so you can recover, and then tomorrow you have your appointment here. There’s no reason to rush. Besides, the Healer doesn’t want you sparring or doing anything strenuous for the next couple of days.”
“Okay,” Yaric replied, knowing he didn’t have much choice in the matter. He could still practice his spells though.
Yaric examined his bow while Lloyd and Ron spoke, looking for damage. It seemed completely unharmed, with its pristine surface still looking well-polished despite the explosion and subsequent short flight.
Raymond and George had already left while he ate.
“Sorry Yaric,” Lloyd said, returning when Ron went back to his duties. “We’re going to be stuck here until the mayor arrives.”
“That’s okay.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Lloyd watched Yaric examine his bow for a minute. “What’s wrong? You should be celebrating right now. That Draugr would have kept on killing, but you stopped it.”
“Yes, but it was an accident,” Yaric complained.
“An accident? How can you think that? You had the presence of mind to power up that arrow and use it effectively even in the face of that Draugr. I haven’t mentioned this before now, but the mere existence of that Draugr is going to cause a stir. It’s so old and so powerful yet no one had any idea that Draugr like it were walking around. Not even rumors. You put a stop to it and supplied the evidence proving its existence. How many more are there like it?”
“But it was an accident,” Yaric protested. “What if I didn’t have this shield?”
“Then we’d be dead,” Lloyd said.
“Yes. I only killed that thing because of whatever this is. And it’s the same with the skathári.”
“It was not,” Lloyd insisted. “Skathári use their magic together, merely using magic is enough to trigger the others to join in. And they can’t move while using magic. So yes, you had an advantage, but no, it wasn’t why you managed to kill them. It just helped. You would have certainly been uncoordinated and struggling to fight them after their attack, but you wouldn’t have been incapacitated. Look at your friends, they all fought with you even after being hit. And that was the only other time your shield has helped you before now.”
“But if I have to rely on my shield then how do I keep up with the others?”
“Today was the only time you ever relied on your shield, Yaric. And you faced a monster capable of matching High Wizards. The shield didn’t cover your weaknesses, it covered the impossibly large gap between you and a monster that could wipe out your whole class. It evened the playing field.
“If there’s anything you should be worried about, it should be how often this kind of thing happens to you,” Lloyd added with a smirk. “You fought those skathári and killed a Draugr. But you also faced a Wizard involved in a crime syndicate and somehow walked away, and you exposed the true scale of their crimes to boot. If it wasn’t for Sandy, I’d have pulled you off appeals a long time ago.”
“The Council Head defended us?” Yaric asked, sounding surprised.
“Not exactly. She just pointed out how I was making a similar mistake to the one you’re making now. Sure, you keep running into appeals that rapidly escalate, but how many regular appeals do you take as well? It’s easy to forget that clearing undead wolves or settling disputes make up the majority of what you do, because I always remember the fights with gangs or monsters you have no business fighting. You and your friends do your jobs well, and on the rare occasions when you inevitably run into something far above your grade, you somehow handle that as well.”
Yaric thought over everything Lloyd had said. He knew he’d only benefited twice from having the shield, and it had only made the definitive difference when facing the Draugr, but it still seemed like a crutch holding him up when the others managed just fine without one.
Lloyd noticed the expression on Yaric’s face.
“There’s something else you should keep in mind,” Lloyd continued. “Everyone has their own unique gifts and talents. Everyone is born with something that others don’t have, and that doesn’t mean they rely on their advantages to carry their weaknesses. We all have our own advantages, and one of the most important things we can do is learn how to lean into them to use that advantage to the best of our abilities.
“You’re also talented with magic, just like your friends are. Being better than others isn’t something to be ashamed of. Sven has a reach advantage over most, and you don’t see him trying to pull back so things are more even. No, he keeps you back so you can’t threaten him while he strikes from safety. You have your shield, and wherever applicable you should lean into that advantage. Particularly since your specific advantage is something that would bring great peace of mind to others.”
“What do you mean?” Yaric asked.
“I’m surprised you’re asking. We discussed the dangers Mind Mages posed to arcanists very recently, so I know you’re aware of how vulnerable mind magic makes us. It’s one of the reasons the undead are so respected amongst arcanists, even when next to far more powerful creatures. Mind magic makes the ideal anti-arcanist, and you’re an arcanist who is immune to mind magic. Think about that for a second. Anyone or anything intending to target arcanists would ideally use exactly that which you’re immune to. You’re a counter to our greatest threat.”
“Like when the Draugr got through your defenses?”
“Exactly like then.”
“But then how can you copy my shield so it won’t happen again?”
Lloyd laughed loudly. “Don’t worry, it won’t happen again. I might not have been able to do anything about it at the time, but I got a good look at how it circumvented my spells. Just because I don’t understand exactly how it did that, doesn’t mean I won’t work it out with time. I’ve already got several ideas for how to improve my spells, and in a few months I should have a lot more. By this time next year I’ll probably have the strongest mental defenses of anyone short of Arch Mages, and possibly not even then. No Mind Mage I’ve ever met would have been able to even come close to what that Draugr did, so how will they even threaten me if my shields are improved enough to stop what happened earlier today?”
“I guess,” Yaric replied.
They were interrupted just then when three people arrived. The mayor himself had come through to see them, along with the guard captain. The third man held several notebooks and a bag, giving Yaric the impression that he was there as an assistant.
“You discovered a monster in our city?” the mayor began, getting right to it.
“We did. My student here killed it, but there are still several unanswered questions.”
“Yes, I’m aware that you believe it may have purchased property like a citizen. I was informed of the need to search certain properties on the way here.”
Raymond had no doubt run into the mayor before he’d arrived.
“That’s one of them, yes. Come and see for yourself.”
Lloyd showed them the monster and gave them a rundown of what they had discovered. He made sure to keep facts from speculation, but he did make sure that they understood their suspicions as well. Each theory needed to be looked into.
“And you’re certain there aren’t anymore?” the mayor asked nervously.
“I am. This particular Draugr might have surprised us with its behavior, but certain traits of the species are unavoidable. One of those ensures that they live and hunt alone.”
“Right, well, I better see to the announcement. It will have to be worded very carefully, of course.”
Lloyd handed over the appeal, along with his report. The mayor didn’t simply sign like most other people did but sat down instead and read through every page. Once satisfied, the mayor added a couple of his own notes and closed the appeal.
“And this one as well,” Lloyd said, taking the report back and dropping a second in front of the mayor.
“What’s this?” Shaun asked, reading through the first page. “But this is an official complaint on behalf of the Academy?” he said, looking up with a frown.
“Yes, yes it is. During the course of our investigation we came across some homeless children, likely orphans. They hadn’t eaten in some time and were living in an alley. I take it you are aware of the Emmerson Law?”
“Of course, but you can’t seriously be complaining about some -.”
“And what does that law require of the city?” Lloyd asked, cutting the mayor off. He didn’t look happy.
“The city is to ensure food and shelter for all children until the age of majority, I know. But official complaints involve the duke, and these are just a few orphans, surely…” Shaun began saying, only to trail off when a heavy pressure descended on the room.
“I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt there and assume you were going to say that you would surely follow the law. As it is an actual law, it is to be followed. It is not a suggestion.”
“But do you have any idea how much it costs to have meals ready for all those children?” the mayor complained. “We do have kitchens available; it just costs too much to have them in every area of the city. And sheltering that many children is simply out of the question.”
“I don’t think you’ve fully understood what following a law means. This isn’t optional,” Lloyd said, his voice growing cold. “I will hand deliver this to Harry, the Duke. Or perhaps I will take it straight to a personal friend, someone you would know as our King. Because let me be clear, you will ensure every orphan is housed, clothed, and fed, or I will ensure you are replaced by someone who will. Difficulty is no excuse for incompetence or dereliction in your duties.”
“But they’re just… the cost…” the mayor stuttered, looking trapped.
“I’ll tell you what, let’s compromise,” Lloyd said. The relief on the mayor’s face was palpable. “You sign and date this complaint, and add a reasonable deadline for when you will fix your oversight, and I won’t submit it to Harry.”
The mayor was extremely reluctant to put his signature on the complaint, but the alternatives would be far worse.
“Great,” Lloyd said, snatching the complaint back. “Now this is how things will go from here. I’ll be back by…” Lloyd trailed off as he quickly scanned the note the mayor had added. “I’ll be back in two months. I’m going to be going through the streets and talking to the children I find, making sure that they are all fed and know where to get food and shelter if they choose. Winter is coming, so you had better be done by then.
“If everything is going as it should, great. But if not, I’ll be submitting a new complaint, with this one attached, showing how I’ve already brought this up with you, and yet you still failed to meet your obligations to the people in your city. If I find the city’s orphans are hungry and cold, you’ll soon discover that you’re homeless as well.”
The mayor seemed to be completely taken aback, but he didn’t try to defend himself either. Not that he could, as Lloyd completely steamrolled him. Even Yaric was surprised, since Lloyd had never once mentioned filing any kind of complaint. And he seemed to be taking the matter very personally.
All previous goodwill seemed to evaporate, and the mayor left almost immediately after. Yaric and Lloyd soon followed, heading back to their rooms to recover after their late night. Yaric hadn’t had a full night’s sleep, and Lloyd had had almost none, so they were both tired.
The day had stretched into mid-afternoon by the time they arrived back at the Grouse, forcing them to choose between staying awake for the moment or struggling to sleep through the night. Both chose to settle into the sitting room. They worked through the previous events, breaking down everything they could have done better and trying to work out everything that had gone wrong.
It was a good exercise, particularly as Lloyd pointed out multiple things Yaric had overlooked, ranging from the possibility of kids telling the kidnapper about the questions they had been asked, just as they had told Yaric and Lloyd about the reverse, to how they had watched the streets around them without ever leaving spells behind them when they left for a different street. Doing so may have exposed the Draugr before it had a chance to ambush them. It may have even prevented it from so adeptly dismantling Lloyd’s defensive spells by preventing it from analyzing them in advance.
Lloyd also went out of his way to examine similar situations where Yaric might be able to use his shield to his advantage. The vast majority of those situations either involved the undead, or hostile arcanists. Simply existing seemed to throw the Draugr, as it backed away when it realized how well-shielded Yaric was. It didn’t seem capable of accepting that something like his shield could exist, let alone being in the possession of an arcanist.
Eventually they couldn’t put it off any longer. Each had a large meal before bed, and Yaric took the opportunity to thoroughly wash himself. He’d been marching around all night, burnt, thrown down the street, and then spent the entire day sleeping or following Lloyd around, all while wearing the same clothes.
The next day was slow as well, as they weren’t meeting Ron until after lunch. Still, Yaric managed to get a few hours of spell practice in. His new space spell was getting close as well, and Yaric could already use the original version whenever he felt like it. It wouldn’t be much longer before he could try using the spell at the archery range.
Ron was waiting for them when they arrived, with actual medical devices laid out ominously on a table. At first Yaric thought he might have taken Lloyd’s jokes seriously, but it soon became apparent that the devices were magical in nature.
Yaric was poked and prodded, but for the most part he sat still while diagnostic spells were cast. Ron also had Yaric try several exercises at the same time. Nothing triggered any reaction, not until Lloyd asked Yaric to accept a connection.
“What?!” Ron blurted, flinching back. “How did you appear like that?!”
Lloyd laughed, having expected the surprise. Even Arch Wizards had been caught out when Yaric tried to connect.
That led to another round of measurements, this time while connecting and disconnecting, over and over again. There wasn’t anything in particular that Ron could confirm, however, despite using several different devices. What he could confirm, however, was that no arcana was involved in forming the shield. Whatever it was, it was certainly magical in nature, but it didn’t involve any spells.
Moreover, Yaric was also functionally invisible. That wasn’t something the others had thought to test, and Lloyd in particular was very interested in the implications. None of the devices would detect Yaric on their own. They could take measurements when pointed his way, and even try to push through weakly within their normal parameters, but that also required Ron to point them at Yaric before activating them. They couldn’t detect him on their own.
The revelation tied up in part with the Draugr’s reaction the day before. It didn’t seem to have detected Yaric either, and even when looking at him it had remarked that he wasn’t really there.
Lloyd felt that there were many possible applications when scouting or hunting, and it might even be an advantage if he ever did covert work inside population centers. It was certainly an all-new approach to stealth.
“The same thing happens when I use the Tech Duinn,” Yaric explained. “I have to push a connection, or it just keeps powering up.”
“And is there any kind of security check when you connect?” Ron asked, intrigued by the idea of someone needing to connect manually.
“No, it just connects immediately.”
“Fascinating…”
Ron had run out of tests to do, but he did ask them to wait while he fetched on more thing. He returned two minutes later with a small stack of paper and a serious look on his face.
“This is a proposal,” Ron explained. “I’d like to continue examining you in the future, you could be a great help in my studies. For fair compensation, of course,” he added. “This proposal outlines everything I’d like to achieve, both of our responsibilities, and your remuneration.”
“Uh…” Yaric stammered, taken by surprise.
“He will give it serious consideration,” Lloyd eventually said, taking the proposal from Ron. “This is a bit sudden for Yaric to give you an answer now.”
“Of course, of course. Take your time. Just be aware that you could help prevent more cases like this,” he said, gesturing to the occupied beds around them. “Or maybe even help develop a cure.”
“I thought it was obviously from the Draugr though,” Yaric replied.
Lloyd sighed. “Haven’t we been over this?”
“Yes, but we didn’t know there was a Draugr at the time,” Yaric countered.
“Which doesn’t change anything. Ron tested for evidence of arcanists and there was no magic involved.”
“Arcanists, yes, but not Draugr. Didn’t you say that their magic isn’t the same as ours?” Yaric asked.
Ron paled slightly while he and Lloyd looked at each other.
“It’s never been tested,” Ron admitted. “We don’t know if Draugr would test positive with the diagnostic. It’s not like anyone ever had a live one casting spells for us to check against.”
“How could we know then?”
“Would you lower your spells?” Ron asked. “I’d like to try and detect the magic it used against you.”
Lloyd was surprisingly comfortable with lowering his defenses.
‘Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise, they didn’t help much last time.’
Ron cast several spells to check for undue influence. Lloyd had so many of his own spells in place that they naturally obscured signs of previous spells, but all of Lloyd’s spells had their own particular flavor. And as he himself admitted, the Draugr had used phenomenal power when launching its attack.
“Nothing… I can’t detect any sign of the Draugr.”
“So it’s possible?” Lloyd asked. “The Draugr may have been the cause?”
“I can’t rule it out,” Ron admitted. “It’s far from proof, but it’s certainly possible. I don’t see any motive though. Why cripple people without feeding?”
“Maybe it was accidental?” Yaric suggested. “If it’s so powerful it might have pushed too hard on occasion.”
“It might have been practicing. Keeping itself sharp,” Lloyd said.
“Maybe,” Ron replied. “But that is all speculation. The fact that I can’t detect its magic doesn’t mean that it was present. And these are guesses. But I am going to have to open a new line of study, just in case.”
“You should try looking into where your patients were discovered,” Yaric said. "The victims were all disappearing in the same area. If the Draugr was involved in what happened to these people, maybe there’s a pattern with where they were found.”
“I know where a few were discovered, but not all of them,” Ron admitted. “I looked into the local environment at the start.”
There wasn’t much else for them to do, so Yaric and Lloyd said goodbye, leaving a very disconcerted-looking Healer behind them. It was late enough for a last meal, after which they packed their things and headed to the transporter, their job done.
Lloyd made it very clear that he wanted to meet with Yaric soon to discuss everything that happened, but he left it for another day. It was already late in the evening, and Yaric still had to drop off all his things.
Yaric was on his way to the food hall to meet his friends when he ran into them coming back the other way.
“Yaric!” Lauren called, smiling widely.
“How did it go?” Li Na asked.
“It was okay,” Yaric replied. “We found out what happened to the victims.”
Lauren frowned as she looked at Yaric. “No, it wasn’t okay,” she said.
Yaric wanted to deny it, but he didn’t know what to say. Instead, Yaric began to explain everything that had happened while he was gone, including his run-in with the Draugr. They walked to a nearby park as he talked, taking a seat on a bench under a large oak tree.
“It even boasted about how many books it had read. It knew where Clery was. The Draugr wasn’t some mindless creature or monster that ran on instinct. It actually seemed very intelligent,” Yaric said, hating how his words sounded like he was defending the Draugr.
“You did what you had to do,” Sven said. “It’s our duty to defend others from threats like that, and to kill monsters so others don’t have to.”
“Yeah, and think of how many people you just saved,” Li Na added.
Lauren didn’t say anything when it was her turn. Instead, she just wrapped an arm around Yaric’s shoulders and wordlessly pulled him into a hug. A few seconds later Li Na leaned against him from the other side.
Yaric didn’t say anything either. There wasn’t anything he could say. But he did finally realize exactly what had been missing while he had been in Andotin.