The bed was soft. A thin blanket covered his body up to his neck. Lucullus looked around. A tent? How many dreams have I had? I must be in the Kampfergilde camp. But I already fought through Wolbung. He threw back his blanket and sat up. As he swung his legs around and tried to stand, he grunted in pain. Looking down, he saw many hideous scars across his torso and legs. His legs were to weak to stand, but he tried again. Once more, he failed, and let out another grunt, coughing as he fell back down onto the bed.

It definitely isn’t the Kampfergilde. Their tents aren’t white. He looked down at the ground. Unless I’m on Immergrun’s beaches, there’s no way sand would be all over the ground in this tent. Just as he was about to try another attempt to stand, the tent flap opened, and Johannes stepped through.

“Lucullus!” He exclaimed with a grin. “I had my doubts, but it looks like those women truly can work miracles.”

“What women?” He asked as he tried once more to get up.

Johannes rushed over. “Easy. Easy.” He tried to catch Lucullus before he fell back down, but was a second too slow. “You’ve come quite a long way since you gave us that scare by the roadside, but you’re in no condition to stand. I heard that commotion you made a minute ago.”

Lucullus took a few steady breaths as he recovered from the failed attempt. “I’m inclined to agree with you at this point.” He let out a few forceful coughs. “I have a lot of questions.”

“I can only imagine, but it’s probably best if you refrain from leaving that bed for a while.”

Lucullus looked down at his scarred legs. “Oh. I probably should put my legs back under that blanket.”

Johannes nodded. “I know those women have been used to working on your wounds, but they put you under that blanket for a reason.”

“I still would like to know who these women are that you speak of,” he inquired as he tucked his legs back under the blanket. “I think I know why I’m missing everything except a loincloth, but where are we?”

“One thing at a time,” he joked. “We’re actually not far from where you passed out on the roadside. More specifically, we are somewhere along the main road of Mahjur’s western coast. We have a decent land buffer between us and the sea, but it’s still technically the western shores.”

Lucullus pointed up. “What about this tent?”

“Part of an emergency camp set up by these Dayiran women.”

“Locals?”

He nodded. “Aela says they must be part of some religious order in Mahjur.”

“Why does she say that?”

“You’ll find out later.”

Lucullus chuckled. “I guess Aela could explain it better?”

Johannes shrugged and stepped aside as the tent flap opened. “Something like that, I guess.”

Two women entered the tent. Their skin was green like a basil leaf, and their hair, what little of it wasn’t covered by their habits, was black as coal, but not curly like Aela’s hair. The habits they wore were white with plain purple trims. As they entered the tent, seeing Lucullus sitting up and talking, they stood motionless with their eyes wide as they glanced to each other, then back to Lucullus.

Lucullus gave Johannes a confused look. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Well,” he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, “you had been laying there like a corpse for the past few days.”

“Days?”

“Yea. Aside from your labored breathing, the only way anyone could tell you were alive the past few days was all the mumbling you did in your sleep… I guess coma would be more accurate.”

The two women slowly approached Lucullus, and pulled up wooden stools to sit by him. They spoke with each other in a language that Lucullus assumed was Mahjur’s native language.

“Can you understand them, Johannes?”

He shook his head. “Aela managed to find a limited amount of common ground.”

“I assumed she was the ambassador.”

“But even her vast knowledge of linguistics has its limits. She got us as far as getting you some desperately needed medical attention, as well as some treatment for the rest of us, but her only method of communicating is through some ancient language that these people apparently have some familiarity with.”

“Surely someone can—”

One of the two women put her hand on his chest, and motioned for him to lay down. He obliged despite his obvious confusion.

“It seems they’re ready to give you another healing session. Aela told me such things need a lot of concentration, so I’ll come back when they’re done.” He waved as he exited the tent.

Lucullus struggled to remain still as the women got to work. To the casual observer, it would seem he was fidgeting for no reason, but he felt the effects of their Mystiko. It was different than the Chaodites, and even than Aela. There was an unpleasant feeling stirring in him whenever they would pray. To his senses it was like eating bitter fruit, but his spirit felt stronger than it did when he woke up. It wasn’t long until he began to sweat profusely, and his breathing became erratic. Each slight shift in his body felt like someone was twisting a knife in him. His vision blurred, and everything went black.

Only a small candlelight from a short end table by his bed provided any visibility in the tent. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. Either my vision is worse, or it’s night. He lifted up the blanket. Still just a cloth. Throwing back the blanket, he sat up and winced as he tried to stretch his arms. The stiffness in his back made him groan as he tried to shift around.

A soft gasp came from somewhere in the darkness.

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“Is someone there?” He had hardly finished the sentence before a woman emerged from the shadows to hug him.

“When Johannes said you had talked to him, I thought he was just daydreaming.”

“Olivia?”

She smiled. “None of us thought you were going to survive with those injuries.”

He grunted. “Johannes already told me that.” He let out a forceful cough. “If you could loosen your grip, that would be appreciated.”

“Sorry,” she said as she released him and pulled her stool closer to his bed. “This is the first time I’ve been able to talk to you in three or four days. Even after Johannes spoke with you, when I entered the tent, you were still laying there like a corpse.”

“I think those Dayiran women had something to do with it. I guess the healing has been working, but swallowing a sword would be more pleasant.”

She giggled.

“To be honest, I wasn’t expecting anyone to be in here this late. Well, perhaps one of those healers, maybe. But I assumed you would be asleep.”

“I was… until I heard you shifting around and groaning. Before Johannes said he spoke with you, I thought nothing of it…”

“We’re almost complete strangers, so I didn’t expect you to be sitting in the darkness.”

She looked down and twiddled her thumbs. “You did save me from the Chaodites. I thought I could at least pay back some of that debt before we get to Lucium.”

“I’m just surprised at how quickly you got used to me.”

“Most people I know didn’t save me from human sacrifice as an introduction.”

He chuckled as he laid back down. “You make a good point. Maybe I’m just not as amiable as you.”

“I think gregarious is the better word.”

He shrugged, memories of the shipwreck flooded back into his mind. “I’ve been so distracted by the sudden change in scenery that it’s almost made me forget what happened in the desert…”

Her smile quickly disappeared. “To see you in such a desolate state… You had just saved me, yet it seemed as though all of us were waiting on a savior.”

“I tried to keep the darkness out of my mind, but it was just too much. I’m sorry you had to see me in such a state.” He rubbed his eyes. “I shouldn’t have brought up such a depressing topic. I’m here, and not dead, so let’s not have such a dreadful conversation. The tent already provides enough darkness.”

She giggled through the tears. “I understand. I had many such occasions when I was a hostage. Sometimes I was fine, but in an instant all the worst thoughts filled my head. But I’m sure we’ll have more cheerful topics to discuss while you’re recovering.”

“Since you mentioned it, how long am I supposed to remain bed ridden like this?”

She gave a subtle shrug. “Aela hasn’t told me anything. And I certainly can’t understand those women. Though, Aela should be here to visit you in the morning, so you can ask her tomorrow.”

He yawned and pulled the blanket higher over his chest. “I guess you’ll probably want to sleep in your own tent, now that you’ve seen proof of me being among the living.”

“No,” she replied, shaking her head. “I decided to do the night watch in your tent. It won’t be a problem for me to return to my bed roll over there.” She pointed into the darkness.

“If that’s what you want to do, I won’t try to scare you away. I just don’t want to be a burden to you.”

She laughed. “I’m supposed to be the one saying that.”

“I would ask you how we plan to leave Mahjur when we can hardly communicate with its people, but I’m sure the only thing on all of our minds is to heal our wounds first.” He closed his eyes.

“Aela mentioned something about traveling to Bol.”

“Bol?” He echoed. “How are we going to get there?”

“Following the main road will take us close to the border, from there we can reach a port and take a ferry to Admare.”

He chuckled.

“What?”

“Even if I could get up right now and run the whole way, we wouldn’t make such a journey. We have no supplies. If we can’t communicate well enough to board a ferry, we can’t buy supplies either. Not that fluency in Dayiran will get us free ferry tickets, we still need to find some way to pay for it, but it does help if we understand what they’re saying, and they understand us.”

She sighed. “We can’t go anywhere right now, so there’s still time to think about it.”

He rolled over. “Maybe some sleep will help.”

A bright sliver of light streamed through a gap in the tent flap. Lucullus rubbed his eyes, and looking over, he saw Aela slumped over by the wall of the tent with her arms were crossed. And despite being asleep, she looked as if she could spring into action at a moment’s notice.

He sat up and stretched his arms. His joints popped as they stretched, causing Aela to be stirred from her sleep and almost jumped up from her spot on the floor. “Good morning, Aela.”

She relaxed as soon as she saw Lucullus. Going over to him, she gave him a brief hug. “How are you feeling?”

“Stiff.”

“That’s to be expected. I can only imagine how it feels to lay in a bed for four days, and to be asleep for most of it. How are your injuries?”

“I seem to be the least informed about them. Sudden movements hurt. Any attempt on my part to stand ends in an agonizing failure, so I know my legs haven’t recovered their strength.” His stomach growled, sounding like rumbling thunder. “Having no food for a few days doesn’t help either. I’m amazed I haven’t experienced any headaches since yesterday morning.”

“Whenever it’s been my turn to watch, I always prayed that prayer on your behalf. I was able to convince the other two to do it, but I don’t know how much they did it.”

He smirked. “Somehow, I’m not surprised that was the first thing you thought of.” His stomach growled again. “Can you tell one of those women to bring some food next time they enter this tent? I might be able to stand sooner if I eat something.”

Aela chuckled. “It might help, but from what I understood from those women, you’re probably going to be stuck to that bed for the next two weeks.”

“What?” he shouted. “Two weeks?”

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure if you would live. When you collapsed, I thought you were taking your final breath. Truthfully, two weeks is a miraculous recovery time.” She shuddered. “Since I was our best option for communicating with these Dayiran women, I saw how you looked on that bed when they took us in. I think that blanket was put over you for more than just modesty’s sake. I was there to witness almost everything they did in here. And what they did was nothing short of a miracle.”

“So, you were the one who convinced these women to help us?”

“I’m sure they probably thought of us as a group of crazy vagabonds, but after enough frantic beseeching in every language I knew, and Olivia trying the international business language, I finally got through with Ancient Savronian.” She shrugged. “I didn’t expect it to work, but it did. No doubt, it had to be the strangest thing they’ve encountered traveling along the road.”

“I would be impressed to come across someone speaking that many languages,” he joked.

“I appreciate the reassurance, but your recovery wasn’t the only miracle that happened.”

“What was the other one?” he asked jokingly.

“Them not running away from us.”

He laughed, and coughed from the pain he felt in his abdomen. “That still hurts,” he groaned.

“I’ll see if the Dayirans have some food for you, since you seem to be able to stay awake more reliably.”

“If you see the other two, tell them to stop by if they want to talk.”

She turned back to him as she opened the tent flap, and nodded.