Chapter 70: The city we left (Second Part)
I stayed beside Alianelle with my eyes closed but without daring to take an ounce of sleep. My senses were spread as far as possible while my head was furiously trying to figure out a way to help Jazor.
It’s only when an hour had passed that I started to make some noise to wake both Alianelle and Jazor.
A bit of drool could be seen at the corner of her mouth that she hurriedly wiped away with a red face when she noticed my gaze. I restrained a smile as we both stood up and walked toward Jazor who was longer to emerge from his sleep.
His face was less pale than before but the rampaging mana inside him showed no sign of stopping.
“How do you feel?”
“Like shit, what did you expect?"
His answer at my show of concern toward his well-being gave me the impulse to kick him right here and now but I restrained my impulse lest it aggravated his condition.
“Even so, we can’t waste anymore time.”
I turned my gaze to look alternately at Jazor and Alianelle, waiting for their opinion.
“I know a place. It’s a hidden beast tribe camp. It’s not too far away from here even by foot. The miss will be safe there.”
Jazor was the first one to talk and, considering his lack of hesitation, it was clear that he also gave our current predicament much thought.
“You want to implicate them? If they follow our trail back to their village, it will be disastrous.”
No matter what kind of investigation there will be, they will obviously try to know what the last thing the victim did. Therefore, Alianelle was one of the last links to the victim and a living disaster for whoever was found with her.
Alianelle understood the meaning of my words and simply lowered her head in silence.
“Don’t underestimate them. You don’t truly realize what it means to be a free Beast man tribe nowaday. The Ryunno clan took away their motherland for themselves and allowed the other races to treat them as slaves which both the Humans and the Dwarves used to their full advantage. It may even be worse for the Dwarves because, contrary to Humans who also give this terrible fate to many other fellow Humans, we exclusively use Beast tribe members as forced labor.”
“So they can really help us? Do you know them well enough for them to take this kind of risk?”
“I helped many of them escape slavery along the years I spent in the Advanced town so I think it’s worth a shot. Either way, it’s not as if the young miss can return to the town.”
Alianelle opened and closed her mouth without uttering a single word as if she was afraid to speak. She obviously had trouble to immediately argue after Jazor spoke with such confidence as if it was our only available option.
However, after a few seconds of hesitation, she nervously pulled at my jacket, too short for her, and finally spoke her mind.
“Can’t we return to the town? Sillath must wait for his parents there.”
“Well, he can’t do that anymore, can he?”
I didn't have the time to dissimulate the bitterness written all over my face and could only helplessly nod when they both turned their head toward me. There was no denying the harsh truth in Jazor's words.
Alianelle’s kidnapping by this dead Ryunno clan member was seen by the whole town so she couldn’t go back there no matter what.
It was for the same reason that I couldn’t stay in the Advanced town to wait for my parents anymore.
Someone like me who was seen trying to defend Alianelle against the Ryunno clan member, couldn’t hope to escape from a dangerous investigation. If nothing happened to this Ryunno clan member then returning to town was possible but now it was too dangerous.
I didn’t hurt this Ryunno clan member, but I had to act as if I was the one who killed him. The worst case scenario for me happened without making any mistake.
Fate was playing a cruel trick on me, but I didn’t regret my decision to run after her. If we didn't come to get her, Alianelle would have probably died in the wilderness while trying to find her way back to town.
“Even so, we can’t let my father behind. Who knows what they will do to him?"
This time it was Jazor’s turn to hesitate to speak his mind. He nervously looked at me for a few seconds as if waiting for me to explain his thoughts to her.
However, Alianelle’s blue eyes full of expectation were completely turned toward him.
She was a little taller than him but her slender figure and youthful face didn’t leave any doubt about the difference in age between them.
Even so, the usual easygoing and rude dwarf seemed to have trouble to meet the blue eyes of this young girl.
After what seemed like an eternity, he finally opened his mouth to answer her plea.
“We can’t go back.”
Her face visibly became paler after his cold words devoid of any kind of hope.
Even if they made things difficult for him, Paul was totally unrelated to what had happened. Therefore, they were unlikely to hurt him.
However, they will definitely keep an eye on him in case Alianelle eventually came back. She was the last person who saw this Ryunno clan member alive after all.
Alianelle probably understood what this meant.
If we couldn’t go back to town before the investigators, then she would never be able to meet her father ever again.
“No… We have to go back! ”
Her previous shy attitude was gone, replaced by a new stubbornness borned from her fear of being left alone. Her eyes filled with hope and pleading made my heart beat with shame when our gaze met.
I could only tighten my fists in anger and frustration.
If I was stronger, everything would be different.
However, reality was not so kind. Jazor’s magic was too complicated for me to imitate even if I was able to precisely observe him use it.
Without Jazor’s magic, we could only walk back toward the town.
This would take us at least a few weeks by foot if everything went well. Jazor needed around a week of complete rest without using his magic to recuperate. Even if we could survive an entire week with only my protection and rushed back after that toward the town with his magic, it would still be too late.
"We don't have much of a choice. We must give up on Paul…"
Jazor's declaration put an end to my thoughts. Alianelle who simply sent hopeful but silent gazes toward us after her previous outburst finally couldn’t stay quiet anymore.
"No… Please Jazor, you can't do that! We can't give up on my father."
Long sentences filled with despair and her will to save her father continued to flow out of her mouth for long minutes. Jazor continued to deny her pleas for just as long with many rational arguments.
However, in front of the rampant emotions of this young girl, any one of his rational arguments fell into deaf ears.
I silently watched their arguments without intervening.
I didn’t want to risk aggravating Jazor’s state while we were this deep into the wilderness with only me to count on, but Alianelle’s desperate pleadings finally defeated my last doubts.
I closed my eyes for long minutes to organize my thoughts while listening to their now distant voices.
Alianelle and Jazor's argument was still ongoing when I finally opened my eyes with a complicated expression on my face.
"Sillath! Don't stay silent like this and help me. Tell her that we don't have any choice left. We can't save Paul!"
Jazor's helpless voice reached me while I was deep in thought.
Alianelle also turned her reddened cheek and tear filled eyes after their long argument toward me. Her blue eyes looked at me with hope. The kind that was extremely difficult to disappoint.
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"Jazor is right."
"No…"
"Time is against us. We don't know what kind of investigation there will be, but we can be sure that they will sooner or later follow the Ryunno clan member tracks back toward the Advanced town. If we were fast enough, we could go back to the town to fetch your father. However, if we delay too much, none of us will be able to escape."
Jazor sighed in relief when he saw that Alianelle finally chose to stay quiet after my words. However, his face showed a surprised expression when I broke the silence and reignited the hope in Alianelle’s heart after extinguishing it myself.
“Unless…”
I didn’t finish my sentence and simply walked toward Jazor who was still sitting on the ground with his massive back against a large tree.
With my eyes closed, I extended my hand and put it above his head.
“Don’t move!”
After this simple instruction, I sank deeper into my thoughts with my mana sense completely released. Alianelle and Jazor chose to stay silent in front of my strange behavior.
Jazor’s situation was clear for me. I knew quite precisely what was happening, but I didn’t have any confidence in being able to influence his state with my own power.
This was something I had never tried before.
Therefore, I didn’t waste any time with useless explanations or comforting words.
For long minutes, I continued to observe Jazor before suddenly releasing a large amount of raw mana. I hoped that this foreign mana would help Jazor fight against this strange mana coming from the earth.
“Ahhh…”
Jazor couldn’t prevent a scream of pain from escaping his mouth.
I opened my eyes and saw that the brown scars on his face and arms seemed to expand faster than before. I immediately stopped my action and wryly laughed with my hand still on Jazor’s head.
“Sorry, my mistake…”
“You!”
“I will try something else, don’t worry.”
“You’re not using me as an experimental subject, are you?” Finally screamed Jazor with indignation in his voice.
I completely ignored his anger and Alianelle’s stunned face as I once more closed my eyes.
Injecting raw mana didn’t help Jazor at all. On the contrary, it served as a nourishment for the foreign particles of mana.
Influencing and nourishing Jazor’s mana with my own to help it defend against the corruption didn’t work probably because it belonged to someone else. However, this failure helped me understand that I could at least influence the foreign but mindless mana from the earth with my own.
I couldn’t strengthen Jazor’s mana to help him defend himself neither could I destroy the source of the corruption but I could try to influence Jazor’s newly contaminated mana.
However, to be effective and beneficial for Jazor, I couldn’t just use such a rough method as injecting a large amount of raw mana.
I had to be smarter.
After organizing my thoughts, I tried to directly influence the movement of these contaminated particles of mana.
My experience with the sacred magic of ice helped me force the slowing particles of mana from Jazor to accelerate once again. I didn’t just send raw mana, I used it to influence Jazor’s contaminated mana just like this foreign mana was doing.
In a sense, I was replicating in reverse the action of the foreign mana.
After a few minutes, Jazor’s brown and scary scars started to recede. His face was still deathly pale but it was far better than before. After half an hour of work, I stopped and slowly opened my eyes to look at the result.
“You did it!”
Alianelle’s excited voice sounded behind me, but I immediately shook my head in denial.
“This is only a temporary solution. I used my own mana to fight the corruption of the earth coming from the overuse of your magic. However, Jazor is the only one who can completely fight off this foreign mana and the sole way for that is to properly rest.”
Jazor slowly nodded his head after hearing my words. The look he was giving me was incredibly irritating as if it was the first time he was seeing me.
“You’re really full of surprises, sissy!”
“Don’t call me that!” I exclaimed with a sigh while forcefully rubbing my brows to suppress my irritation at his usual nickname.
Jazor seemed to enjoy my reaction, but even if he was playful by nature, he also knew when to be serious. Therefore, he quickly regained his seriousness as he deeply stared into my eyes.
I knew he understood what we were asking of him.
I could fight off the unwanted consequences of his magic, but in the end, I wasn’t healing him. I was only delaying his symptoms so that he could once again immediately use his magic.
However, this way the foreign mana will continue to agglomerate. If he used his magic beyond reason, he could very well be unable to deal with the terrible aftermath. If that happens, even I would be powerless to save him.
I gave him the opportunity to use his magic once again. It was henceforth possible to go fetch Paul before the investigator reached the town.
However, he will have to put his life on the line for that.
Neither I nor Alianelle had the right to ask something like that from him especially after everything he had already done.
“I was able to suppress the aftereffect of your magic, but in the end all I did was to give us another choice. This choice is yours to make Jazor”
Alianelle who fiercely tried to convince Jazor before now stayed quiet with her small hands tightly clenched into fists. She was inexperienced in many things especially in magic, but she also seemed to have understood what I was implying.
She was also clearly aware of what kind of risk we had already taken to save her.
There was no doubt that she wanted to save her father more than anyone, but she didn’t dare to ask for more than what was already given if it means taking this kind of risk.
Long seconds continued to pass under the pressure of this new silence. Jazor turned his head to look at Alianelle but she stubbornly refused to meet his gaze and didn’t dare to say a word to sway his decision either.
If I was in her situation, I would probably be more selfish than her.
She was just too kind and innocent for her own good.
Finally an unrestrained and familiar laugh broke the heavy silence.
“What are we waiting for?” Exclaimed Jazor with his usual rough voice.
His appearance was still deathly pale while many thin brow scars still remained on his body, but he finally chose to completely ignore it and quickly stood up.
I knew his character, but even I was surprised by this choice.
“Jazor…”
Confronted with Alianelle’s quiet mutter filled with emotion, Jazor simply waved his large hand to prevent her from saying anything more.
“Don’t say anything. If we can’t save your father then I would be stuck with two kids and honestly this one already gives me way too much to worry about!”
Neither I nor Alianelle contradicted him. Instead we both helplessly smiled at the same time.
He really was a good man.
This thought must have also crossed Alianelle’s mind who let out with an emotional voice two simple words.
“Thank you.”
Without another word, he pulled us once again in his embrace to use his magic. After a few seconds, we disappeared, swallowed by the earth to return to the town we left just yesterday.
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On the vast grassy plain almost completely disfigured by the violent confrontation that took place not so long ago, the heavy and unnatural silence slowly dissipated. After a couple of hours without any sign of life, some of the bravest animals around finally started to walk toward the carriage to eat the fresh corpses still lingering on the plain.
The four massive Vrapy were particularly attractive for these animals. Of course, the bodies of the guards lying on the grassy plain weren’t spared from their hunger either.
This was the law of the wilderness.
No matter your strength or status when you were alive, once your heart stopped beating, you became just another source of fresh meat.
The only corpse spared from this fate in this instant was the one suspended above the ground with an hideous expression of unwillingness still lingering on his pale but beautiful face. The red tattoo on his motionless face gave him a ferocious appearance even in death.
Finally a couple of black birds with strangely long and sharp beaks reflecting the light of the sun landed on the large spike of ice penetrating through Alusha’s chest. The spike was so firmly stuck in the carriage through his chest that even the weight of these few undesired visitors wasn’t enough to free Alusha from its cold grasp.
However, they didn’t have the time to get closer to eat their fill when a bright red light frightened them.
With hurried flapping sounds and a furious clapp of their respective impressive beak, they flew away.
However, the red light coming from Alusha’s strange tattoo didn’t stop. On the contrary it strengthened until it completely bathed the entire grassy plain with its overbearing red light.
The animals who rushed to enjoy this banquet hurriedly left when they saw this violent and bloody light.
Probably only the most intelligent magical beasts who had formed their core and overcame their frenzied period understood who this man was and what he represented.
Nevertheless, many more animals far less intelligent could still feel that it wasn’t wise to get close to this person even in death.
The light went on long after it had scared away all the ordinary mindless animals, driven by their hunger but overcome with their fears. The bloody glow continued to grow stronger until it abruptly stopped without any warning.
The elegant tattoo on Alusha’s face quickly lost its new and strange red luster to regain its old majestic golden color. However, the original color of this mysterious tattoo didn’t stay for long either. Like a painting under the rain, it slowly faded from his face.
Few people understood nowadays what this tattoo represented.
Too many years had passed since the establishment of the Racial law putting the Ryunno clan above all the other races.
For numerous years, no Ryunno clan member experienced Alusha’s cruel fate.
Time was merciless and led people to forget the lessons of the past especially for short lived races like Humans. A few rumors still existed but the listeners of these stories quickly dismissed them as fairy tales made to scare children.
Few people would have understood what was happening when the last part of the golden tattoo disappeared. However, the unexpected eerie silence that followed quickly replaced by a distant rumble noise in the sky would have been enough for many to remember.
Remember why none dared to disregard their existence for so long.
Remember why they were the rulers of this world.
The distant rumble in the sky continued for long minutes and appeared as if the stars themselves were angry at his death.
A member of the most noble clan in the world was killed.
The Racial law had been broken.
It was time to let everyone remember the true meaning of fear and domination that they forgot along years of servitude.