Garrett awoke when Nannade was shaking him. "Hey Teacher, wake up!" She said repeatedly. He managed to open his eyes and tilt his head towards her voice. Worry was written all over her face. When he groaned sat up in his chair, her face relaxed. The sun shining through the window told him that it was well past noon. "What happened to you?" She asked.
He stood up and collected his thoughts. He felt a bit dizzy, as if he had stood up too fast. He staggered over to the bed and laid down. The bandage on his forearm seemed alright, a bit drenched in blood but the bleeding had stopped. He looked at Nannade.
"Show me your forearm, I need to check your bandage."
Hers was fine as well.
"What happened to you?" The girl asked again. Garrett just shook his head dismissively. "Don't worry. The spell was just really tiring."
"But you're hurt. Did you hurt yourself?"
"Yes, I had to, to finish the spell."
He wanted to slip away back into slumber, but she kept shaking him. "Don't die!"
"I’m not dying, I just need some rest."
"How much? You look very sick!" She sounded increasingly worried.
"It takes four months to recover all lost blood." He mumbled
"You can't sleep that long, I’m hungry!"
Eventually, she got him to the dining area by continuously pulling his arm. Of course, no food was being served at the time, so he fell asleep with his head on the table.After much begging and distressed calling from the girl, the maid put a bowl of cold stew and bread before the two latecomers. Somehow, despite his exhaustion, he managed to finish the meal and lug himself back to his room.
The next morning found him well rested. He still felt listless, but much more awake and aware of his surroundings. Nannade was spritely as ever, urging him to get dressed and get breakfast. Before that however, he taught the girl how to check and change bandages to make sure the wounds would not fester. He saw immediately that both their wounds would need cleaning and redressing. Especially in her case, a lot of hair that could cause infection had gotten into to the wound. With slow but steady hands, he cleaned the wounds, applied alcohol disinfectant and stitched the rather grizzly wounds he had dealt to them both.
At the breakfast table a maid stepped over to them. She looked at him with a stern expression, hands on her hips. "You scared me yesterday. What were you doing to that girl?"
He looked at her then put on an assuring smile. "Everything is fine, no need to bother." The maid seemed not satisfied with that answer but turned around anyway. He felt angry with himself for being so careless both with his apprentice's and with his own life.
They had finished their meal and headed back to their room. As he came close to the door, he saw that it was not entirely closed. Did he leave it open in his drowsiness? The girl had left the room before him, he would normally always close it. He gestured towards Nannade to stay where she was, drew one of his throwing knives from a hidden sheath, raised it above his shoulder and carefully pushed the door open. The room was empty and all seemed to be in order at first. He check their backpacks and found nothing missing, not even a single coin. He checked the closet and under the bed, all while glancing back repeatedly to check on the girl, who peered through the door frame. He found nothing. He came to the conclusion that he must have let the door open out of carelessness; he got even angrier with himself.
He sat back down at the table to clean the implements up when he noticed somethings were indeed missing. The obsidian blade, the crystal inkwell and the vial. A shock hit Garrett. The girl’s blood, the mother’s blood. They tracked them somehow using the mother’s body. He knew he should have incinerated it down to dust.
They must still be on the estate! He turned around. The girl noticed something was wrong by the lookon his face, she looked even more unnerved than before. Should he leave her in the room where she would be safe but unguarded or take her with him where she could be in harm’s way? He decided on the latter. He was back to full alertness, as if he had never lost any blood.
“Come with me, Nannade!”
“Why? What happened?”
“Someone has come for you; they stole the pendant. Stick close by me and do not leave my sight!”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
She did as she was told and together, they left the room. Garrett locked the door, just to be safe. He did not wander the corridors of the guest house with drawn blades, and so he rested his right hand just above his hidden sheath, on the inside of his left arm’s bracer. He tried to appear calm on the outside while remaining tensed on the inside. Every person that passed them by could be the one sent to find them. He had no lead to go by, but his best bet was checking with the estate’s owner, with whom he had arranged to have an especially quiet room when he stashed the equipment here before heading to Prannten for the last time.
In a leisurely stroll, as to not draw suspicion, he made his way to the main house of the estate, where the owner – a certain Mister Grolldinger – had his office. He entered the house and was about to head up the stairs when he heard someone dash around a corner into a nearby room. Someone was trying to evade him, badly.
He turned to Nannade and whispered to her “Stay here, don’t make a sound.” Then he drew his blade and dashed into the room.
He found the sneak and pinned her to the wall by her throat before she could react, pressing the flat side of the blade to her jugular. It was the concerned maid from the dining hall, still holding the pendant in her hand.
“Who do you work for?”
Her eyes sought for something to hold on for, trying to make sense of the sudden situation.
“Wha-?”
“WHO do you work for?” Garrett barked again. The room they were in seemed to be a kitchen, empty right now, good for them.
“Mister Grolldinger, the owner of this estate.”
“Who told you to sneak around my room!”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I was just concerned about the girl.”
“Were you offered a reward?”
“What? No! I just thought you might be doing something to the girl!”
Garrett could see in her face that she wasn’t lying. “I made an arrangement with Mister Grolldinger to have an especially private room. The girl is none of your concern!”
She nodded hastily. He let go of her throat and stretched out his hand. The maid emptied her pockets, giving the pendant, the inkwell and the blade back. Finally, he handed her a gold coin, probably twice her monthly salary, and made sure she understood their agreement. “I know where you live and you can’t run from me. I’ll know if you talked.”
She took the coin and disappeared into the corridor.
He found Nannade where he had told her to wait. She had a worried look about her and when she asked him “What happened?” He just assured her “Everything is alright, no one will come to claim you.”
They returned to their room and when he was sure they were alone, he took some time to inspect the objects the maid had taken carefully. All was in order. He turned to the girl and gave her the vial. "The ritual seemed to have been a success, your mother's last wish to set you free and protect you from her own fate has flown into the vial. From now on, as long as there is your blood in it, your mother's last sacrifice will protect you from any spells directed with ill intent towards you." She took the vial and turned it in her hand to observe it from all directions. A tear welled up in her eyes. She hung it from her neck, pressed it close to her chest and said "thank you".
"Now, get your stuff, we'll leave immediately. I don't trust that snooping maid."
They packed their things quickly. Garrett would have preferred to stay another half dozen of days to recuperate, but they were running out of time. He looked for a flask that contained a yellowish-brown liquid in his backpack. It was a tonic containing mostly liver oil and pig's blood, disgusting but his only resort for now. He downed the vial and followed it up with a shot of Korn from a small hipflask. It would take some time off the time his body needed to replace his lost essence.
They set out on the road running by the estate and headed down for a while. Then, when there were no other travellers in sight, Garrett took the path between the fields.
"We won't be staying on this road." He told Nannade.
"Why not?"
"I'm not taking you to a city yet. There is a friend who lives some time away, but we need to get to a river on the far side of that forest." He pointed to the heavily forested ridge flanking the valley. "We'll stay there for a while. I already sent a notice ahead we'd be coming some while ago.”
“Will we hide there?"
“Not just that. Your training will finally begin there. There are many things you need to learn and I can't teach you everything myself."
"Why didn't we go there from the farm?" The girl’s questions started to annoy him, but he had to make sure she understood the situation.
"Because then people would know that we're heading into the forest. Anyone hunting for us could deduce by that where we're headed."
She appeared to think for a moment. Then she replied. "You lie a lot."
"Yes. As I said, we're wanted people. Truth and lie are to my profession like thread and needle are to a seamstress'."
It would take them two days to reach the river port, three days on the boat and another half dozen by foot until they'd reach their destination.