Reaching out his left hand, Gilliam planned to do this most simply and least destructively possible. The knight seemed ready to dodge and even had a small twitch to do so as soon as Gilliam acted but held his action as if nothing was seemingly happening.
Sending out an invisible tendril of mana, as soon as it connected Gilliam made a grabbing motion with his hand and lifted the knight into the air.
“Wh... no... Let me go..” He started swinging his sword around as if he tried to cut the rope lifting him.
Gilliam only held him a bit of the ground, no need to lift him high into the air just removing the connection to stable footing.
Turning his hand into a grab the knight stopped struggling, almost as if he was held tight in Gilliam’s hand. However, just this didn’t feel like enough to make an example out of. Gilliam reached up his other hand and almost as if he picked something off his left hand with his right, the shield was plucked off the knight and was hovering on its own.
Gilliam proceeded to squish his index and thumb together. Doing this more than once crumpled the shield into a small ball, much like one would do with paper. Letting go of this had it land on the ground with a thud.
Facing Lysander with an almost bored look, Gilliam wanted to avoid killing the defenceless knight. “Sooo... Can I take this as my win?”
The noble was more confused than furious at this point. Though he was still plenty furious. It wasn’t hard to see the gears churning in his mind to find a way to not only get the duel to continue but win.
“It... It’s not over yet!” He shouted at Gilliam like a second-rate villain, turning to his knight. “Fucking do something, don’t admit defeat!”
Gilliam was feeling a little sorry for the knight, doing his job for this kind of employer. He found himself not caring if he had to end the man's life, if it was an obstacle it could easily be taken care of. He didn’t want to do it, but at the same time all he needed to do was a single movement and it was over. If nothing else it would be quick.
“I feel sorry for your knight, he can’t even move and you want him to try something?” Gilliam wanted the so-called noble to realise his ways.
“Kill him!” Lysander shouted, not seeming to have a single thought on just how this should be done, just that he wanted it done. “Fucking kill him!”
Gilliam sighed, so this was how his new life was to start. Doing the same motion when he picked out the shield, he took the sword away from the knight before placing him on the ground a little hard on purpose. Not enough to break anything but enough to send a message.
The sword he floated over to Lysander who took some steps back, seeming to think Gilliam intended to swing it at him.
Instead, Gilliam dropped it at Lysander’s feet.
“If you want to continue fighting, pick it up.”
Lysander recoiled at the thought, taking another step back.
Gilliam realised that this felt better, he didn’t want to attack some poor knight who don’t have anything to say, but the fucker in charge who is the problem.
“Pick. It. Up.” Gilliam commanded, it didn’t sound like a request or a recommendation. “Pick it up and do your own dirty work.”
Lysander fell backwards, first landing on his ass but his rounded build and momentum didn’t stop him until he rolled onto his back and lightly bonked the back of his head in the cobblestone.
Seeming like he wanted to bark commands at the poor knight he started stuttering and failing his words, ending up struggling to get back on his feet before he just ran, leaving the lot in the street.
The knight walked over to his sword, picked it up and sheathed it.
“.... T.. Thank you...” He gave a proper low bow. He walked over and picked up the rough ball that used to be his shield before he left towards where his Lord ran off.
Gilliam shrugged and ignored the reactions of the people around, though did notice that most of them started speaking in poor attempts of hushed speech.
Walking over to the little beastfolk girl he squatted down.
“So, that’s him taken care of. What’s your name?” He tried lifting the tone of his voice, instinctively speaking to her like she was a child.
She struggled with speaking, seeming quite terrified at this weird man who just walked up to her after a single-sided fight.
“C... C.. Ce... Cera.” She managed to force out.
Gilliam could tell that it wasn’t just fear taking its toll, the backhand landed at the side of her face and could have done a number on her jaw. His poor attempt at looking nice and friendly was entirely changed into worry and sympathy.
“Let’s get off the street.” He got back on his feet and looked around quickly, though he only had to turn around to find an Inn.
Eats N’ Ale Inn, was engraved and painted in on a dangling plaque of sorts fastened to the top of the building. There wasn’t a more perfect timing if he planned for it.
He motioned for her to follow him, but at the time he didn’t even consider what this might look like for her...
She sniffled and limped after him with her arms wrapped around herself like she was trying to keep herself together or as a self-comforting hug, clearly being more hurt than he first thought. He wanted to carry her but he didn’t know what that would look like, or worse; make her feel...
Entering into the building the atmosphere changed dramatically, most of the people talking went completely silent, no doubt as a reaction to talking about him and the fight.
Gilliam didn’t care too much, he noticed it happening but couldn’t care less what random people thought about him. Instead, he walked over to the counter where a middle-aged woman with a slightly overweight physique stood, she looked like a middle-aged mom or very young grandmother.
“What can I do for you?” She asked as he stopped in front of the counter.
“I’d like a room for a night. Nothing extra, just the room.” He commented, not wanting to spend time looking through a menu or trying to decide if he wanted A or B added on.
He had plenty of food in the ring and he could produce water at will, so he just needed the privacy.
The woman behind the counter took a look at him, then at the young fox girl behind him then back at him. He could tell she was doing her best to not react but she had some thoughts about it. He internally sighed, this part he kind of cared a little about. She looked very young and though he didn’t know or care about the laws about such things, that wasn’t right with him.
However, this didn’t stop her from doing her job, picking out a key from what sounded like a drawer.
“It’s a gold per night, includes breakfast for one person.” She had an almost judging tone to her as she placed the key on the counter.
Gilliam had glanced at the pricelist and it listed the same info, so there wasn’t an attempt to scam him, at least not more than the prices already were.
He put his hand in his pocket and took a gold coin out of the ring in there, it was probably best to not flaunt his gear at any time he could avoid it. The coin was placed on the counter, he took the key in the same motion.
“Up the stairs, last one to the left.” The woman commented as Gilliam saw the number 5 engraved on the head of the key.
“Thank you.” He nodded at her and headed for the stairs, his newly met acquaintance following him, doing her best to keep tears and sniffles in.
At this point, he despised what this looked like... He hoped she was sniffling and crying from pain, as in his mind this looked like he was going to do horrible things to her... And in his idiotic moment he also just now considered that he could have just had Savia teleport, or walk, out of the city and make a hut...
He was doing way too many dumb things today.
Getting to the top of the stairs, at least the judging looks he once ignored were gone, though he still had a young crying girl following him, all he wanted to do was help her so he hoped she didn’t think that he had other thoughts in mind.
He found the door with the matching number, the key opened the lock easily enough and he entered first. It was a simple room, with a bed, a footlocker, and a drawer unit with a washbasin of sorts on top. There was a tiny table and a single chair as well.
Cera entered after him and closed the door, she looked devastated and... as horrifying as it sounded, Gilliam hoped it was due to pain.
“Now, let’s start with clearing something up. I don’t mean you any harm, pain or anything you don’t want to do. I intend to help you, heal your wounds, feed you and after that, you can do whatever you want.” He realised that he was holding his hands up, palms facing her, almost as if he was trying to avoid blame.
She lifted her eyes to meet Gilliam’s, the mix of confusion and disbelief cut deeper than he expected.
“Well, you can believe me after, let’s start by cleaning and healing you.” This time his smile was genuine and he again felt like he could focus on what he wanted to do.
He started by cleaning her. It didn’t help healing wounds if you closed them around dirt and infections. The spell that Jial taught him all those years ago was good, but the Runeword method was better. A mainly yellow-coloured circle with a few runes inside it flashed into existence before collapsing into a field of energy that wafted over Cera almost like smoke, scared her more than he expected. She let out a startled noise as he manifested a magic circle without warning, and as the magical energy was closing in on her she started trying to waft it away.
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“Don’t worry, this will only clean you, it’s safe.” He tried reassuring her, it seemed to calm her down a little but she was not happy or fond of this.
The energy washed through her fur, seemingly disintegrating the dried blood that had clumped things together. Dirt and debris that had stuck to the coagulating blood dropped on the floor as both her skin and fur were given the same result as a proper shower would have.
She was looking at herself more and more amazed as this continued, but she still didn’t seem to entirely trust it.
“Now... I hate how this sounds but hear me out. I need you to take off your dirty ruined clothing and get on the bed...-” For a brief moment he could almost see the shine in her eyes die out as some thousand-yard stare trauma resurfaced. “No... Not like that... I plan on healing you, but I need to see your wounds to do it properly.”
To prove his point he took her arm and focused some healing energy on a wound he could see there. The warm green glow that had gathered around his hand seeped into the wounds and closed them before their eyes. Though it left a small scar it was still completely closed up and healed, making it seem like the wound was weeks ago.
“See? That’s it.” He tried to reassure her but kind of felt like an ass for doing it.
He contemplated letting her keep some of her clothing on but frankly, it was shredded and had a nasty decolouration, he didn’t want her using it, he’d find something else for her later. Right now he wanted that off her wounds, heal them and get her in better shape.
She hesitated, a lot, but did as told. Dropping the rags that almost worked as barely existing bindings to keep her covered and climbed into the bed. Gilliam got a better look at her and it was worse than he expected. He already knew she was covered in wounds but now that he could look at them properly he saw that it was not all just blunt trauma, some were too clean, almost as if done by a knife or something of the sort. Based on her limp it was more than just surface wounds as well.
The situation and focus on healing everything he could see had him not even considering the now naked beastfolk girl in front of him. Perhaps as a good doctor, this wasn’t something to be considered. Though, even if he wanted to look, her fur covered anything of interest in such cases, meaning that even if she walked around naked you’d not see anything more than you would if she was wearing some semi-tight clothing.
The process didn’t take too long, but he found some wounds of different sorts that her clothes covered, so he at least felt confident that it was a good idea. She was also getting calmer by the moment, the more he kept healing her and not showing interest in her in other ways seemed to at least help his earlier statements.
“Now, I can heal broken or sprained bones, but I can’t see them, so you’ll have to explain to me if you have any more pain. As well as what kind of pain.”
She was incredibly hesitant but lifted her right foot.
“M... My ankle. I... fell... and landed wrong.”
He have had his share of weird landings when young... and when older, so he at least knew the most common damages from that kind of deal. However, though he didn’t believe for a second that it was an accident, that didn’t matter now.
Taking her foot he was intrigued by the hybrid of a human-like foot and canine-like paw her feet were, but that would be something for a later day. Right now he did his best to imagine and focus on the kind of damages such a ‘landing’ could have caused and channelled his healing.
The complete process took some time, mainly because her fake reasonings for certain of the internal damages made it harder to know what had actually happened; walking into a door and being punched might sound similar but they leave different internal damages. He was forced to just flood the areas with healing magic rather than using specialized focuses, which still worked but took more time.
Once he felt satisfied and she at least claimed there weren’t any more areas that hurt, her traumatized look had at least lessened a little. She still didn’t look good mentally but at least she looked decent physically.
“Now, you’re probably hungry.” Gilliam commented, based on her lithe build it was hard to see if she was being fed properly and just being thin, or if she was malnourished. Her fur also made this harder to confirm as she was surprisingly fluffy now that the wounds, blood and dirt were removed.
He pulled some meat out from the ring, it was from the Fractured Lands but he had been eating it for years so it should be entirely fine. It came from a black lizard-like creature and had a taste somewhere between red meat and lizard meat sort of having the best of both.
He also took out a cup made of bone before filling it with water, the water was manifested very simply through a water-stream-producing magic circle. He had done this many times of different volumes so it wasn’t the first time he only used it to fill a cup.
Handing both to her she looked at him questioningly, almost confused.
“You’re... sure...?” She sounded extremely hesitant, almost like this was a joke or a test.
Gilliam tried to smile at her, which he realised wasn’t easy when considering the facts.
“Of course. I have loads more, eat as much as you want. I can make as much water as you want as well, so don’t hold back.”
She took the meat and water from him, and slowly took a bite, almost as if double-checking the whole time that this was indeed allowed. It felt almost like a pet being given human food, but knowing that human food isn’t for her, so uncertainty was all about.
Gilliam also disliked that this comparison felt too real.
He let her take the time she needed, which was longer than he expected, though the important thing was that she did eat, and she ate a lot over some time.
Each time she was done or neared done with her piece of food, Gilliam produced another from the ring, he didn’t want her to feel like she had to ask, as he expected her to not dare. Instead, it was easier if he pseudo-forced it on her, which luckily seemed to work.
In the end, after a substantial amount of time, she was healed and well-fed, he could tell that she was getting more and more tired. Collective fatigue was probably hitting her hard now that she was feeling better and, hopefully, relaxing a little. He didn’t speak to her or force her to do anything, instead letting her just fall asleep in the bed, covering her with a blanket once she passed out. Calm breathing was the only thing Gilliam could hope for at the moment.
Though, that did raise a problem... He had a lot of stuff stored in the ring, but young girls' clothing was not part of it. He could just go and get something, guessing her size shouldn’t be a huge problem as long as he got something either loose fitting or adjustable.
Picking Savia out of his hair, she seemed to barely wake up by the time he held her between cupped hands.
“Mmnm... Master?” She looked at him confused and expectantly between tired blinks. “Savia teleport?”
Gilliam chuckled. “No, don’t worry about it. I want you to stay here as I go to get some clothes for her. If she wakes before I’m back, just tell her that I’m coming back with clothes, but she can leave if she wants... though then with her dirty clothes or the bedsheets or something. She is free to do whatever she wants.”
“Savia explain. Furgirl can leave, or wait for clothes. Master will be back.” She confirmed in her way what she got from the explanation, which was close enough and at least conveyed the important details.
Gilliam placed her on the drawers, at least hoping that she wouldn’t sleep through when Cera woke up.
Gilliam left and locked the door after himself, the door had a way to unlock it from the inside without a key, so that at least meant that she could leave if she wanted to.
Walking down the stairs he expected, and got enough weird looks. Though at the same time, it wasn’t as many as he properly imagined. Even if they did think the things he did, given how little some seemed to care about the violence against her earlier, even this might be surprisingly normal... sadly...
Walking over to the counter, the same woman was still there and met him as he stepped up.
“What can I do for you?” She had a smile that seemed a little too well-practised.
“I need some clothes for my friend, where’s the closest clothing shop?” He expected her to refer him either to a commoner clothing store, which was preferred, or somewhere fancy or expensive. Right now he didn’t care as it wouldn’t cost more than a few gold or so at worst, as he didn’t intend to get something super fancy even though the store itself might be upper class.
“Hmm...” She pondered for a moment. “I think the best place might be Taylor's tailoring. Exit and go to the right, past the bed in the road until you come to a plaza between some buildings on your right. Go straight to the left after you get into the plaza and the first square building is the one.”
She was making hand gestures and pointed in relative to what she explained as she went on.
“Thank you. Now, if she leaves before I get back that is entirely fine, just let me know if she’s still here or not when I return.” He gave her a nod at the thank-you, then turned and left as soon as he had completed his explanation.
Exiting the Inn he turned to the right, only to see a familiar face right away. Lysander with a bunch more soldiers.
“Ah... it’s going to be one of those days...” Gilliam commented with a surprisingly deadpan and bored expression.