Savri

She wasn't surprised to see Lilyth recoil at her touch when she tried to heal her. They were currently in the bathroom on the upper floor of Ireela’s house. Luckily they managed to locate all of Lilyth's gear, so she was able to retrieve one of her spare sets of clothes. The one she wore today needed to be thoroughly washed several times before Lilyth would wear them again. The spares were currently waiting for her to finish her, probably very long, shower. Still… she needed medical attention first.

‘With your permission,’ Savri said softly.

Lilyth gritted her teeth and nodded.

Sav delicately put the fingers on the back of Lilyth's hand. Her friend once again tried to retract it but stopped herself and closed her eyes. Sav resumed the contact and with a soft green glow sent healing magic into her friend’s body. All the bruises slowly disappeared and after a short while, no more damage was visible on her body. Next, Savri moved her hand slightly over Lilyth’s womb area. Her friend closed her eyes and gave her a weak nod. Once again Savri touched her as delicately as possible and cast the [Contraception] spell. Just to be sure, she recast it two more times. She knew it was irrational… but, for Lilyth's sake, she had to make sure absolutely nothing survived. She briefly wondered whether the slimeling could actually get pregnant but then again… with stuff like this Savri took no chances, which, sometime later, Nyx would confirm to have been the right decision as Lilyth could create fully functional analogues of the female reproductive system.

She removed her hand and said:

‘All done.’

‘Thank you,’ Lilyth whimpered.

‘My pleasure. I’ll let you take that shower now.’

Savri turned to leave but was stopped by Lilyth's hand on her shoulder.

‘Can you please stay? I don’t want to be alone.’

That broke the wall of Sav’s cold professionalism and tears began to flow down her face.

‘Sure thing,’ she whispered. ‘Sure thing.’

Aki

I was grateful to Ireela for the fresh clothes she got me. They were actually Ren’s, but our new friend did not mind. She understood. The ones I got from Lady Madness would need washing. This wasn’t strictly necessary due to them being soulbound, but I saw that Lilyth was having similar thoughts about hers. Though her expression implied that burning them was also an option she was seriously considering. They were badly torn and stained… from her ordeal. Hell… even I wanted to burn them.

After I got dressed, I remembered having a spare set in my bag, but Rennie told me not to stress it.

‘We all went through a lot,’ she smiled. ‘I think we have bigger worries than this.’

Before going to take care of Lilyth, Sav gave me a quick check-up, and declared me in dire need of “a hug”, “few weeks of rest” and something called terhapi. It sounded like some herb, but I would need to confirm that with her later. Caei was happy to provide me with the first thing on the list. The remaining items would take time, especially with how lonely I felt while one of my wives was receiving medical attention and the other was hunting for a monster. I am not proud to admit that I was praying to all the gods that the hunt would fail. I did not want either Caei or Ren to end up in Kojiro's hands.

So for a while I just sat there with Ren’s mom, watching the men from the village remove the bodies. I wanted to help, but I was told by one of them that it was “not something a young girl should do”. Then the families of Ireela's staff came for the bodies of their loved ones and even watching proved too much. I thought I would never hate anyone more than the Inquisitor… but then Kojiro happened. Both were monsters… but at least Vanek only killed people.

A total of twenty-one Red Masks died during the battle. I was told by Ireela that Kojiro also had four lieutenants with him, but the five of them left after they had discarded Lilyth into that tent.

That monster had twenty-five other men rape her. By the gods…

The more I learned about what Lilyth had been through… the more I hated myself for asking her to…

‘It’s not your fault,’ I heard Irmen say in a hollow voice, ‘You couldn't have known.’

That didn't stop me from breaking out crying again.

It took two hours for Lilyth and Savri to return. We were sitting in the dining room then, unsure what else we could do. I looked Lil up and down and while she did look better, her dead eyes said it was only a superficial improvement. By then Ren and Caeileera also were already back, bringing news about their failure. My wife felt bad because it was her fault that they got away, and I had to do my best not to show how happy I was about that result.

I could see something else was really bugging them, but they refused to elaborate.

I moved to finally hug my slimy cutie and then something weird happened. Savri raised her hand to stop me but Lilyth shook her head and Savri relented. Lilyth walked up to me and wrapped her hands around me. I reciprocated but I felt my wife tense briefly when my hands touched her body.

‘Thank you,’ she whispered. ‘Thank you so much.’

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She then repeated the procedure with Caei and Ren.

From the outside I could see how much discomfort touching us caused her.

What have they done to you, my love?

‘At no point, you should touch her uninvited,’ I heard Savri whisper to me. ‘In general, give her as much space as she wants. It will likely take a very long time for her to recover.’

Lilyth then turned towards Ren’s mom, who was just sitting there grief-stricken.

‘I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced. My name is Lilyth.’

‘Ireela of the Bloody Perch clan. Let me thank you for saving my daughter's life.’

‘My pleasure, I guess,’ Lilyth said, a bit unsure.

‘For things that happened here… I can only beg your forgiveness.’

What?

‘I’m not sure I follow…’ Lilyth shared in my confusion. ‘You are not responsible for your son’s actions and I was here on Rennie's request, so since I don't blame her… I can't blame you.’

‘But…’

‘I will not absolve you of your guilt, Ireela of the Bloody Perch Clan,’ Lilyth said in her “paladin voice”, though I felt no presence of Ereshkigal this time around. ‘Nor will I punish you for this.’

‘The cruellest of options then.’ Ren’s mom sighed.

I offered Lilyth a chair and she sat down.

‘How are you feeling?’ Ren asked.

‘Fine, I guess. At least as much as I can… given… you know.’

I realised that in the end… I had to know…

‘How did you…’

‘I made a mistake and paid a heavy price for it,’ she cut me off and told us about what happened in the tavern.

‘I think it was Zalikh root,’ ashen-faced Ren said when Lilyth was done. ‘It blocks you from using magic when ingested. It’s rare and quite pricey… but I guess that wasn’t an issue for my br… Kojiro. Probably, they mixed it with the usual stuff that ensures a woman… won’t resist.’

I felt cold fury rise inside of me once more. Kojiro would burn.

‘So I was right,’ Lilyth said meekly. ‘But also horribly wrong. That's actually a great weight off my chest. Thank you, Rennie.’

‘I think it was a stupid risk, but that's in hindsight, ‘Sav shook her head. ‘I don’t blame you one bit. Like… if I knew I was immune to most… normal substances I would have also kept my cover. If anything it would be a good way to surprise your assailant. Truth be told… I wasn't aware that Zalikh root was a thing. Now that I know… ‘

She shuddered.

‘I guess sometimes even a seemingly right decision can have horrible consequences.’ Lilyth sighed and began to cry.

I felt an urge to go to her side but what Savri said stopped me. But then I saw the pleading in Lilyth's eyes.

I slowly approached her and offered her my hand. She took it and squeezed it tightly. Ren moved up a chair for me and moments later Lilyth was crying into my shoulder while hugging me tightly. Delicately, I wrapped my hands around her.

‘There there, my love,’ I cooed. ‘You are safe now. I am not going to let anyone hurt you.’

That only made Lilyth sob harder.

Caeileera

I never felt more useless than when I saw Aki’s weak attempts at trying to comfort the woman we both loved. I wanted to rush to Lilyth’s side too, but I… couldn’t. Because whenever I tried a new memory of the abuse Leera suffered at that bastard’s hands surfaced. The feelings of intense self-hate, the guilt that she was responsible for what she was going through… what I was going through because of how she… how I am. There was also fear there. Both her and mine. Of what he would do to her if she refused. And now I knew… and the relief I felt that Leera avoided this fate… only filled me with more shame. As did wallowing in self-pity while my wife just…

So it was of great relief when eventually after calming down a bit, Lilyth indicated she would let me into her space too. So an hour later three of us were sitting on a couch in the library, Lilyth between me and Aki. Initially, she was very reluctant to come between us and I think she suffered a minor panic attack when we did sit down, as she began hyperventilating, sweating and whimpering. When Aki tried to comfort her, Lilyth batted her hand aside and said:

‘Please… please don’t touch me…’

Her reaction and the utterly anguished expression on Aki’s face would haunt me for weeks to come.

So.. we waited until Lilyth calmed down and simply said…

‘I’m sorry… it’s just… it’s just…’

‘Don’t be,’ Aki interrupted her forcefully. ‘We can leave you be for a while.’

‘Please stay… I don’t want to be alone… I don’t…. That's when the memories… Please don’t leave me…’

So we just sat there with her, in awkward silence until Lilyth regained some semblance of composure.

She then asked me what I thought was the most difficult question I ever had to answer:

‘When you called him a “murderous raping bastard” before… You meant that he did that to you too, didn't you? To Leera?’

Aki took a sharp breath of air.

‘Y-yes…’ I weakly stuttered out. ‘It wasn’t anything like this… but…’

Lilyth just wrapped her hands around me and we both cried.

‘I’ve been wondering, my love,’ Aki began when that particular batch of tears ran out. ‘Why haven’t you changed into the fox form?’

‘I can’t,’ Lilyth sobbed. ‘I’ve lost all ability to use magic. Even my interface stopped working. Back when I broke out my first attempt to summon my daggers knocked me out… I thought… I thought… then… that was it… I lost… and I would be… his… toy… f-forever…But then… wh-when the f-fighting b-broke out I-i mana-managed to d-do it. So… the d-drugs are s-slowly…’

I hugged her.

Losing actual control over her body… losing her powers… will this Nightmare never end for her?

‘It will,’ I heard Akh’ret’s gentle voice. ‘At least this part will, though it will likely be a few days, if not weeks before she can safely use magic again. Zalikh root is a terrible poison for magical creatures, as it disrupts their very self. And she was given a very high dose. A few more in a short time and it’s possible she would have died.’

And just as I thought that I couldn't hate those people any more than I already did…

‘Quite. Also, as much as I don’t want to say this, be prepared that some of the damage might be permanent. Both mental and magical.’

I… I suspected as much. Is there anything I can do?

‘Be with her. Help her and Aki. Though the girl might never admit it, this burden may be too much for her to bear alone.’