Above me hovered the grim face of the city mage. Old and creased, he looked as you would suspect. A long nose, thin wire spectacles, but short beard and long hair. His hair was not white, but rather it was dyed a deep red. His thin, rickety frame pulled back as he saw me wake. I tried to get up, but found I was tied down to a bed. I struggled against the bindings but gave up shortly. I felt something warm running down my cheek. I turned my head violently to the side, splashing it on the white bedsheets. Blood. Just like Malachi I was bleeding from my eyes. I felt a strong force grip my head, preventing it from moving. I flicked my eyes over to see the mage with his book of spells out chanting an incantation. His lips moved, his hands made the motion. But I could hear none of it.

As my vision began to clear I saw I was in his home. Likely his very own quarters. It was barren save for a small table besides the bed, a desk against the far wall, and three massive bookshelves next to it. I relaxed and the mage let the spell drop as I layed on my head. I had the feeling he was saying something to me. I felt a rush of cold air and saw that the door had been opened. Out of the doorway stepped Sylvie, panic evident on her face. She saw my eyes open and looked as though she was about to rush over to me but paused. She turned her head slightly to her mentor and said a few words. I should have learned to read lips.

Slowly, and cautiously she approached the bedside. I could feel the blood still running down my cheeks. Correction, cheek. Unlike Malachi it felt as though the blood was running down only one eye. Suddenly there was a sharp pain behind my right eye.

“I only thought it appropriate to mark you as my follower. It should stop bleeding in a minute or so. You should have read the fine print.” Khaos’s voice reverberated in my skull and I grimaced. I looked over at Sylvie, who was looking at my right eye and saying something. “Is my hearing going to come back Khaos?!”

Almost as if those were the magic words I could hear again.

“-unlike anything I’ve ever seen. We might need to contact the Library for more information,” said the city mage scratching his head.

“Is he even there?! What if whatever this sickness is destroyed his mind?!” Sylvie cried out.

“I'm fine,” I growled, “Can you untie me?” Sylvei jumped slightly at my voice.

“Just hold on love. Senior Mage Ghiraldi wanted to try one more test,” she said, wiping the blood from my cheek. I rolled my eyes.

“How did I even get here? What the hell happened?” I asked, looking up at her.

“I found you passed out on the floor in the house. When I went to wake you up you began shaking wildly. Then you started bleeding from your eyes, nose, and ears. I thought you were having a seizure, so I held your head still but even after five minutes you were still spazzing out. I used a spell to hold you still then brought you here. Ghiraldi helped tie you down then he began testing your blood through magical means to try and find the cause. That was five hours ago,” She said, wringing her hands nervously, her eyes flitting from me to the sheet of paper Ghiraldi was holding. “Good news is you don’t have any disease, bad news is we don’t know what's causing your affliction. And so messere Ghiraldi wanted to test for one more thing,”

“And that thing is?” I asked, knowing the answer to my question.

“Possession Liam. Judging by the bleeding from the eye, the mark carved into your eye with purplish red lightning. Which I don’t think I need to say is not normal, and your spasms. Possession is the only thing that makes sense at the moment. Just give me a minute to cast the spell for this,” Ghiraldi said, going through his spell book.

Of course the detection spell was going to turn out positive. But to what extent I couldn’t know. After all, it seems it was less of a possession and more of a contract. In all the stories I heard and read spirits don't usually make you sign a contract before possessing you. They really are not big on the whole consent thing. But judging by the fact the Khaos just spoke to me in my head meant a small part of him had to be there. Ghiraldi finished casting the spell, the divining rod he was casting the spell through glowed a reddish-purple. He flipped through a separate book quickly but his shoulders slumped, not finding anything.

“You have the mark, or essence of a powerful… not spirit or demon but something more. You’re not possessed per se, but there is the influence of something on your soul. It doesn’t match anything in my compendium. But, I think it's safe?”

“I know what's going on ok? It’s fine,” I said. Sylvie facepalmed.

“That is exactly what someone possessed would say,”

“It’s true, I know what's going on and I’m in control.” I replied. I felt the bleeding from my eye stop. “You do know if you don’t untie me, I can just break out?” I said looking over at my wife. She looked at me with an odd look. It was time to test Khaos’s “gift”. I searched for Khaos in my body and found a feeling of insanity in my chest. It was like approaching a bonfire. I used my knowledge of magic to draw a thread of it out. I heard crackling, like lightning, and felt blood beginning to flow down my cheek once more. I felt a weight on my arm and looked to my side to see it wrapped in a purple glowing, iridescent, nearly ethereal chain. Similar to the way I aimed the bolts of fire I aimed the chain at the chain at the ropes.

The chains, quicker than the blink of the eye, slammed into the ropes. The chains cut through the ropes like they weren't there. Sylvie stepped back, eyes wide. She backed up to the desk and pressed herself up against it. I willed the chains away and felt my eye stop bleeding, the crackling sound disappeared with it. I sat on the bed and went to stand. Only for my legs to give out. I hit the ground with a thud. Ghiraldi approached me and offered me a hand. I grasped it and let him haul me up. I felt the world spin around me as I stood. But at that moment Sylvie came and held me steady.

“What did you do Liam?”

“I made a deal, a contract,” I replied, burying my face in her hair.

“With who? Or what?” asked Ghiraldi. I looked up at the old man.

“An entity who called himself Khaos. That’s all I know,” I lied.

“The name Khaos doesn’t ring any bells for me. Messere?” asked Sylvie. Ghiraldi was already going through his books, scratching at his short beard.

“I’m not seeing anything here. I might be able to find something in a few days, but for now I think you guys should go. We all have busy days ahead of us with the Silvestrians so close,” he said gesturing to the door.

My arm around Sylvies’ shoulder we both left the old mans’ home, which thankfully wasn’t very far from home. Wordlessly we made our way home. When we got home I noticed that my projectile vomit was gone. Sylvie likely cleaned it after making sure I was secure. I felt physically exhausted. I cleaned myself with a spell and crawled into bed. Sylvie laid down beside me and before I knew it I was asleep.

Khaos did not come in my dreams. In fact, I did not dream. When I woke up the next morning Sylvie was still fast asleep and the sun had not risen yet. I slipped out of bed and walked over to the chicken coop. The chickens did not shy away. I refilled their troughs of food and water. I felt the familiar crackling in my eye, there was an almost indiscernible crack of thunder from behind me. I turned to see a small book lying on the table beside Sylvies’ books. The binding was standard leather, it looked unopened and unworn. I could smell the ozone surrounding it, it reminded me of how the air tastes after a lightning strike. On the cover was the symbol of Khaos, a purple serpent winding around a red lightning bolt. I ran my finger over the cover. The leather was warm to the touch. I moved my thumb to the edge of the book and tried to flip open the cover. I could not.

The blood rolling down my cheek finally fell off my chin landing on the eye of the serpent. The serpent began moving, slowly but noticeably. I leaned in closer as it unwinded. It grabbed the edge of the tome and opened it with its mouth. The cover fell over with a thunk against the table. The paper was thick and seemed extremely expensive. As I laid a finger on the empty page, runes faded in. I did not recognize them from any of Sylvies’ books. They seemed more archaic, older, perhaps more powerful. Maybe forty or so pages in the ink ran out. The runes were too faint to read. I bent my head down, the tip of my nose touching the page. I squinted as hard as I could, but I still could not make out any of the runes. I felt my eye spark again, as it did the runes seemed to rearrange themselves and I found that I could understand them.

They were not explicit instructions. Rather they seemed to bestow upon me an innate understanding of them. Spells. Many, many spells. As I flipped through the pages, I could feel my temperature rising but did not stop.

I went over the spells in the book. There were a few I knew and recognized, but many were foreign and strange. Most of the spells seemed to be combat magic. Blasts of pure energy, akin to what Khaos threatened me with the day before. The ability to call the power of thunder from my blade. The ability to manifest lightning. The power to summon multiple blades that would spin around me. A dark armour that harms those who strike me. The ability to summon chains from the earth and entrap my opponent with them.

Then it struck me. The day the Silvestrian army was estimated to arrive was today. My eye sparked once more, an explosion of pain followed. I grabbed at it with my left hand, the book falling to the ground. My vision raced across the city passing through twisting and turning alleys. Then over the wall. It continued past the open field, and into the forest. There it focused on one man. The edges of the vision were blurred, crackling with chaos. The man had no right arm. With his left he was ordering his men around. He wore a long purple cape with a red pin. His blond hair was cut short to the scalp. His blue eyes looked weathered, beaten, and battered. He seemed to be in his late forties or early fifties. He wore a simple cloth armour under his cloak. But under his right arm he cradled a helmet. A simple steel dome with a visor engraved with gold ram horns on the side. Behind him, at the edge of my vision I saw his full suit of armour. A servant seemed to be polishing the well crafted full plate armour. Every inch of the armour was engraved with gold and silver. But what interested me was the small symbol on the front of the cuirass. A serpent coiled around a bolt of lightning.

I immediately knew what I was looking at. A follower of Khaos, my first mark. Almost as though Khaos was waiting for me to realize, I snapped back to my home. I was kneeling on the floor, a small pool of blood had formed in my hand. I cleaned it with a spell and stood on my feet. My knees creaked as though I had been sitting on them for days. I stumbled forward and collapsed on the dining room chair. I picked the book up off the floor and dusted it off. I snapped the book shut and looked for a satchel to put it in. Almost as if the book heard me, a sort of chain manifested from its spin. I shrugged and clipped it onto my belt as I changed into my armour. As I readied my blade, I found I could remember some of the spells I read, mainly the ones I described before. I decided to try and summon the bolt of chaos, I lifted my hand and tapped into the tense energy in my chest. As I did, a roaring, rumbling, roiling bolt of pure arcana formed in my hand. It crackled and sparked. I willed it to die down and sighed a sigh of release as it faded away.

I wandered out of the house, heading to the battlements. The battlements were filled with solemn looking men, lookouts posted in the tall watchtowers, crossbowmen cleaning their kit, the city guards commander was walking around instructing his men. He saw me milling about and quickly came to me.

“Liam? I thought you were sick? In anycase,” he said, looking me up and down, grabbing me by the arms, “you look healthy enough. Come pick up a bow, you’ll be helping there,” he said gesturing towards a platoon of archers from the royal army making sure their equipment was dry. As I made my way over the captain nodded at me and handed me an unstrung bow. He wore a cuirass over a thick cloth gambeson. He wore leather gloves and steel gauntlets. His helmet was simply an oval that rested on his head and was secured via a leather strap about the throat.

“I hope that isn't too high of a poundage, unfortunately it’s all we’ve got,” I thanked him and strung the bow, testing its poundage. It was fine, I could fire it all day without tiring too much. I unstrung it, not wanting to ruin it and went over the arrows. The fletching on one was all wonky so I had to fix that. Other than that one arrow the rest were fine. The captain of the archer squad tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to look at him,

“Yes?” I asked him. He handed me a bundle of maybe ten arrows. I could sense a faint magic aura coming off of them, some sort of enchantment.

“Here. These arrows are enchanted, they’ll fly further and with better accuracy. Don’t waste them,”

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“Thanks,” I replied.

“No problem,” He said, going and sitting on a crate. He began chewing on a piece of bread and seemed to be looking at a locket.

“What’s that?” I asked gesturing towards the locket, “If you don’t mind me asking of course,”

He looked up at me then back at the locket. He flipped it over so I could see. I scooched over and saw a portrait of him, a young woman, and in his arms a child.

“Your family?” I asked. He nodded.

“Reminds me why I’m here, those bastardi killed my family. It’s only right I fight for them,” he said, closing the locket and tucking it under his cuirass.

“The name’s Liam,” I said, extending my hand. He took it in a firm grip and gave it a shake.

“Markus,” he replied. I nodded in recognition.

“Well Markus, It’s only a matter of time before they get to our walls. I’ll be honest, this is my first battle,” I said with a faint smile.

“Just keep a cool head and you’ll be fine, don’t panic,” he said, clapping a gloved hand on my shoulder. I squeezed his hand for reassurance then stood to see over the battlements. The crenellations easily reached my neck, I had to stand on my tiptoes to properly look over them. I eventually sat with my feet hanging through the machicolations. This seemed to be the worst part, the waiting before arrows began to fly and men began to die.

It did not take much waiting for the Silvestrian army to emerge from the forest, helmets gleaming and sparkling in the mid afternoon sun. Their camp was clearly in the forest, and they never wandered into range of even our magic arrows. I continued my watch over the walls. I watched as they worked, busy as ants, building various siege machines. Trebuchets, battering rams, ballistae, and even tall siege towers. I was relieved of my post a little while later by Reo. He smiled at me, but it was a ghost of his usual smile.

I walked home and went to sleep immediately. I could feel where the Silvestrian commander was. A sixth sense to detect Khaos’ followers. That being said, I did not feel Malachi. I wondered what that meant as I fell into a restless sleep. When the knock at my door came, I could have sworn that I hadn’t slept for even an hour. A doubt allayed by Sylvie’s body pressed against mine. I slowly got up and went to the door. I opened it up a crack and saw Malachi’s second in command. Dressed in chain mail and a brigandine with his house’s crest emblazoned upon it, he held his helm under his arm and his sword on his belt.

I opened the door fully and stood before him in my threadbare cotton shirt and drawstring pants.

“What is it?” I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“Are you Liam Stonefel?” he asked, glancing at me, taking me in. Assessing me, as though I was a calf at an auction.

“No, I’m God. What do you need?” I asked, annoyed and still half asleep.

“Tch, Malachi did not say anything about you being a sarcastic bastard. In any case he chose you for a special taskforce to sabotage the Silvestrian siege machines,” he said glaring at me.

“Ask someone else,” I said, trying to get a rise out of him at this point.

“That is a direct order, Liam Stonefel. Dissent will not be tolerated,” he growled, getting in my face. I sighed, put my hand on his chest, and pushed him away.

“Whatever, let me go put on my armour,” I said, shutting the door on his face. I approached the closet where I kept my armour and quickly threw it on. I looked at the book of spells and decided to take it with me as well. I snapped it onto my belt by its chain and quickly reviewed a few spells I thought would be useful. I looked over to Sylvie who was sleeping peacefully in bed and planted a kiss on her forehead before leaving the house. CLosing the door softly behind me, I stepped out of the house. The lieutenant general did not even glance at me before he gestured for me to follow and walked off.

He brought me to a small group of maybe twenty and five men. I recognized one or two but the others were new to me. All metal bits of their armour were covered by darkly covered cloth. The lieutenant general gave all of us cloaks from a satchel I hadn’t noticed before. They were coloured dark green and brown in random patterns. I threw mine over my shoulders and turned the hood up. He motioned for all of us to listen then motioned a short man, about five foot four, to come up. He placed a hand on the man's shoulder.

“This is Archie, he will be your captain. Follow his instructions to the tee,” everyone nodded their assent and looked to Archie.

“Alrigh’ men, our assignmen’ is tuh sabotage tha’ there siege ‘quipment. I’ll spli’ ya’ll up inoo five grups, you, you, you, you, and you. Youse a tem now, ‘stood?” He said pointing to me and four other men. Even though I could hardly understand him, I nodded. He then proceeded to give us all specific jobs. One man to carry the oil and flint. Two to guard his back as he worked and two to scout ahead and deal with any guards as quickly as possible.

“Afta’ the firs’ fire ge’s goin’ they’ll know we here. So work quick,” he said before we left the fort through a smaller gate in the back. We would have to circle around the fort to where the Silvestrians were constructing their siege machines. It could take anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour depending on how carefully we went. Our team was to burn the three siege towers they were constructing. No doubt they were expecting such an action. As a result we proceeded with extreme caution

As our team got into range of the Silvestrian build camp we saw camp fires, fires which illuminated the various siege equipment. We saw our targets at the other edge of their camp. We silently cursed and began making our way to the siege towers. We used the forest as cover as we moved to the far edge of the camp. The Silvestrian guards seemed bored, allowing us to sneak past with ease. One or two were too attentive and Brolin, a crossbow wielding soldier, had to put a bolt between their eyes or behind their ears. We dragged their bodies off and dumped them a few dozen paces from their posts. Soon we were in the forest, just a few paces from our target. That's when I felt the SIlvestrian commander get closer. He was very, very close.

Then I saw him through the trees and bushes. He was wearing his full armour and seemed to be talking to some of the guards and engineers that were working on and guarding the siege equipment. His helmet was held under his arm as he spoke to them. I felt Brolin beside me, raising his crossbow. I put my hand on his arm and made him lower the crossbow. He looked at me annoyed, using my eyes and face I tried to convey how bad of an idea it would be to fire upon him. Apparently I failed, the allure of shooting the commander of the Silvestrian army was much too strong. He lifted his crossbow again and pulled the trigger. In that instance a few things happened.

The commander's eyes flicked over to us and from the sleeve of his missing arm a purple chain snapped out, smashing the crossbow bolt in mid air. The sleeve where his missing arm would be, filled with chains in the shape of an arm and hand. The arm pulsed, and from the shadows a strange beast walked out. It was like an ape, with thick arms and large tusks, the hair on its neck burned with a strange green fire. It stepped out and looked around. A chain of purple materialized about its neck and it turned to where we were hiding.

With a blood curdling scream it charged at us, Brolin tried to reload as fast as he could. Two thwip thwips sounded behind me as two arrows sank into the beast. It roared, sounding annoyed and angry rather than hurt. The flames on its back exploded and burned onto its arms. Brolin, giving up on the crossbow, drew his sword and shield. He raised his shield up just in time to deflect the blow from the demon ape to the side. All this was happening right besides me but I could only focus on the commander. His arm of purple chains spread over his body, encasing him. It dragged over his body in a jerking manner. I leapt out of the bushes, my sword drawn. He saw me approaching him and a chain shot forward. I managed to deflect it with my sword. It slammed into the ground beside me as I surged past. I felt my eye sparking as I began to cast a spell. The blood streaking down my face turned into red chains and wrapped around my body, similar to his. I continued my forward charge. He roared, a smaller chain shot out and slammed into my chest pushing me back.

I felt where it impacted me burn, I also felt my will to fight begin to seep away. He grinned, behind me I could hear fighting as Brolin and the others tried to fight the demon ape. Apparently it seemed as though the demon ape fought everyone who was not his master, as the Silvestrian soldiers were also involved in the pitched battle against it. He drew his blade and with a flick of the wrist he seemed to disappear into shadow and appeared before me. His chain hand reached at me, I tried to duck but was too slow. The chain wrapped around me and dug through my armour. I felt a cold feeling in my core. Then it exploded, wracking my body in pain. I screamed as I tried to stay conscious. Blood was now pouring from both of my eyes and ears. I fell to my knees and heard him chuckle above me. I looked up at him and grinned. I lunged for his ankle and a single red chain wrapped around his foot.

He teleported away but the damage was done. He winced in pain and limped. I stood to my feet and casted another spell. I muttered the incantation and drew a finger along the edge of my blade, letting the blade taste my blood. Then my sword seemed to explode into blood red fragments that consolidated into swords with chain wrapped handles. The blades dripped with blood as they circled around me. I muttered another incantation, and swept my hand in front of me. From it came a red bolt of pure fear. It slammed into the Commander who was too stunned to move from my last attack. I surged forward once more, my legs were on fire. Sweat soaked my tunic under my armour. The commander was frozen with a look of terror on his face. The blades spinning about me cut into him, sending blood and purple chains flying through the air. I came in low, casting another spell as my sword cut into him. An explosion of sound and force erupted from my blade, throwing the Commander ten feet back head over heels. As my blade made contact however, the chains around his body shot out at me. They did nothing, as the same spell I had cast nullified them.

The Commander struggled to his feet. Before he could get up, I summoned the crackling red-purple energy of Khaos in my hand and fired it at him. He sheathed his blade in purple flame and knocked it aside. He then conjured the same crackling energy and fired it at me. I managed to duck out of the way last second and heard a scream from the demon ape from behind me. He had struck the demon ape and not me. I dashed up to the commander and crossed swords with him. We exchanged blows, the purple flame from his sword sending hot sparks flying in my face which I tried my best to ignore. I leapt away from him as a chain shot out from his arm trying to encircle me. I pointed a finger at him and casted another spell. I felt exhaustion coursing through my veins. A small bolt of red lightning leapt from my fingers and sunk into his body. Then it exploded sending him to the ground, smoking.

I started to make my way to his body to check if he was dead. That's when I realized the sounds behind me had stopped. I felt burning warmth encompass my back, the air whooshed as something headed my way. I was not fast enough to avoid the blow. THe demon apes’ fist slammed into my side. I felt my armour bend and ribs snap. I fell hard on the ground, the breath was completely knocked out of my lungs. I couldn’t move. Feeling a rush of adrenaline, I crawled back as the demon ape loomed over me. It seemed much much bigger than before, eyes glowing red like coals in a dying fire, its flaming green mane illuminating the area around it.. I looked up at the demon ape and felt a spark in my eye. A red mist spread from my mouth, as I stood as if dragged up by chains. I saw a spark come from my eye. The red mist caught alight and exploded. The demon ape screamed in pain as the bright flash of light blinded it. It stumbled back trying to shield its eyes. My entire cuirass was slick with blood. I felt it, the blood, rise off of me and then slam into the ground.

As the demon ape shook off the blindness induced by the flash of light, chains of blood rose from the ground. They wrapped about the demon ape, pulling it to the ground as it roared and thrashed trying to break free, sending dirt and sparks flying. I limped my way over to the Commander. Every step sent a jab of pain into my chest, but with each step the feeling faded. He laid on the ground, a hole blown out of his chest. His eyes rolled back. As I stood above him his eyes snapped back into place. I tried to back away but he was too fast. A spray of noxious purple gas emitted from his hand. I covered my nose and mouth but it was futile. My eyes burned, I felt the poison seep into my system. I summoned Khaos’ energy in my hand and blasted the Commander's head off. The blood and grey brain matter sprayed across the green grass, illuminated by the demon apes’ burning mane. His hand dropped and the poison in my system disappeared with his life force. I made my way back to the edge of the forest, expecting the demon ape to be gone. It was not. It seemed to have given up on fighting the chains and laid there, pulled against the ground.

I drew my sword and encased it in blood red chains. I casted another spell on it, and then I casted the spell which surrounded me with even more swords. I would end this in a single strike. I fired a small chain from my finger which hit the ape in the head causing it to shriek in pain. I summoned even more chains to hold the demon ape in place. The extra chains wrapped around it pulling its limbs taut. Perhaps sensing what was to come, the demon ape struggled more and more, screaming and shrieking in pain. I imagined I looked terrifying. Wearing a cloak, helmet knocked off, head cocked to the side, eye sparking with reddish purple energy like a beacon in the night, glowing red blades dripping with blood circling my person, sword wreathed in red chain and purple flame, sparking with magenta energy, soaked from head to toe in blood. I did not feel terrifying, I could feel my body failing. I was using too much magic in too short a time. The only thing keeping me conscious was the adrenaline. I grimaced as I walked forward, trying to hide the pain. I raised my sword above my head as I stood over the demon ape. It whimpered pitifully, its mouth and chest caked with blood, Brolins’ helm stuck in its teeth.

My eye exploded with power as I stabbed my sword into its skull. I twisted the blade and all of the magical energy I had imbued it with exploded outwards, the swords about my body slammed into its skull as I released a shockwave of power in enough of a magnitude to cause its head to explode and send me flying back. As I struggled to get up, pain flaring once more.. I saw smoke rising with the sun, the other teams had found success. I raised my hand and casted one more spell, three orbs of flame rose from my fingers and streaked towards the siege towers, engulfing them in flame. A small spell, requiring no energy. As the sun hit the demon its flesh exploded in black flame and reduced it to ash.

I flipped my hood up and fled as fast as I could with my injuries back into the forest. As I fled, I passed the corpses of the men that were sent with me on this mission. I quickly made my way to the meet up area, blasting any guards with chaos energy or flame. As I approached the small clearing in front of the southern entrance to the fort, I saw less than the twenty men that had been sent. The men I saw were nursing some serious looking wounds.

I saw Archie, a rag stuffed into his eye, cradling his arm in a makeshift sling, his hand on that arm was gone.

“Archie?” I said as I stumbled out of the tree line.

“Wha’ te fuck was tha’?! I hear’ roarin’ an’ screamin’, fuck happen’ out ter?” he said, coming to me and clapping me on the shoulder with his good hand, “Good lor’ yer covered in blood. You look like shit. Yer cuiras’s bent all wonky like,” he said, removing his good hand.

“I'm fine,” I said shrugging his hand off, “take care of yourself. How many casualties?” I said, trying to deflect his question. Each word hurt more than it should have. I wasn’t coughing up blood and I wasn’t experiencing any shortness of breath. So that almost totally ruled out a collapsed lung.

“Fif’een, no’ includin’ yo’ g’oup. Whi’h bumps it up to nine’een,” he said “And everyone else is injured, in varyin’ degre’s of severi’y. And mos’ of us ‘re hopped up on ‘em magic painkille’s, ”

“Let's get to the infirmary then, get me some drugs too” I said, herding him and the others to the secret door.