The pain was blunt but prominent. It felt like someone had shoved hot coals into Offilo’s face and embedded them inside his bones. Breathing through his nose wasn’t just painful, but near impossible while the smell of blood permeated everything. Groaning, he tried to shift to get a feeling for the rest of his body but found his eyes covered and his wrists and ankles bound.
“He’s awake”, said Liano, which made Offilo flinch and turn his head towards the general direction he had heard his voice from.
“I’ll go get the witch”, the spearwoman said and left by the sound of it.
“Where am I?”, he asked with a slight lisp as his lips hurt for a second worse than his nose.
“That’s none of your business”, the waiter replied and moved closer.
A second later, the blindfold was removed and Offilo was blinded by the light of a few candles and a strange looking glowing orb.
“What do you want from me?”, he asked while trying not to move his lips too much.
“You’ll see soon enough”, he replied cryptic.
Offilo took a deep breath and tried to shift his wrists to see if he could get them free.
“Stop wriggling”, demanded Liano, which caused him to flinch once more.
At the same time, he noticed that the ropes keeping him in place became tighter because of his movements. Frightened and unable to do anything worthwhile, he accepted his defeat and prayed that he would manage to survive whatever was to come. Soon, and very much to his surprise, he found himself wishing that the Divine Lord would come and save him.
What am I thinking?, he wondered and licked carefully over his busted lip. Damn this hurts…
Time seemed to crawl to a near halt. The only thing keeping Offilo from falling asleep due to exhaustion were his wounds. While the pain had grown dim, it wasn’t gone, and every once in a while it flared up once more.
To keep his mind occupied, he started to look around as far as he could. Judging by the old, decayed furniture and the once painted walls, he seemed to be inside an abandoned house. Sadly, the chair he was bound to wasn’t as decayed and held him firmly without even creaking. In front of him stood a bare table which held the candles as well as what appeared to be a bottle and two cups from one, Liano took a sip once in a while. There was also a set of playing cards sprawled out right next to Offilo’s gloves and the contents of his rucksack.
Suddenly, the sound of heavy armour clanked towards them, but it seemed muffled. As if the spearwoman were hidden within the wall. But before Offilo could really consider this possibility, a hidden door was opened and the spearwoman entered the room, followed by a white-haired woman of almost ethereal beauty. Taken off-guard he could help but stare at her.
“By god! What have you two done to the poor child?”, the woman asked shocked and immediately headed towards him.
Upon hearing her voice, Offilo immediately knew that it was the witch who had been with the knight.
“He made trouble, so we roughhoused him”, explained the spearwoman with some ill placed mirth in her voice.
“This amount of violence surly wasn’t necessary, now was it?”, the woman asked and gently touched his face. “Oh, dear, I’m so sorry about what they did to you. Just hold still, I’ll heal you.”
The second she placed her hand on his face, he felt a pleasant warmth radiate from her palm through his face. But before he could relax, his broken nose fixed itself with a painful snap while his lip kneaded itself back together. All that remained was the swollen feeling and lingering warmth.
“You should feel much better now”, the woman remarked with a motherly smile and stepped back. “My name’s Veduca, by the way.”
“Thank you, Milady”, he replied and wished he could touch his nose. “I’m Offilo.”
“Nice to meet you, Offilo”, she replied with a soft laugh. “And you don’t have to be so formal.”
“What a waste of time”, the spearwoman remarked and sat down on the chair next to Liano’s.
“Do you know why you’re here?”, asked Veduca, ignoring her companion.
“N-no”, replied Offilo and looked at Liano who appeared to be bored.
“You’re here because we know you’re with the Divine Lord”, she explained, much too cheerful for his taste.
“Please don’t kill me!”, he squeaked and felt ashamed of his cowardice.
“No one’s going to kill you here”, she replied, visibly stricken by the notion. “All I want to do is talk a little.”
“About what exactly?”
“About your master, what are his plans, his weaknesses, and the like.”
“As if the kid’ll talk like that”, remarked the spearwoman with a poorly hidden threat. “Encouragement is needed.”
“Please, Imila, don’t be so crass”, Veduca said and turned to her with a frown.
“And now the kid knows all our names”, she replied miffed. “Now we can’t let him go, or he’ll tell his master.”
“We aren’t going to kill children!”, the witch said, exasperated. “I want you two gone until I call you back.”
“Fine by me”, said Liano and stood up. “I wanted to take a stroll anyway.”
“You get us all killed”, said Imila and walked over to her. “I didn’t agree to help you just to get murdered!”
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
“I’m going to use my magic to manipulate his mind afterwards”, she explained, while being clearly uncomfortable about to be forced to do so.
“You better do this”, the spearwoman replied and directed a sinister gaze at Offilo.
Veduca watched both of them leave via the hidden door, then she turned to him once more.
“I’m sorry about their behaviour”, she apologised with a nervous yet honest smile. “They’ve been through a lot.”
Offilo remained silent and tried to shift his hands as the rope was cutting into his wrists. The witch noticed his discomfort and undid the binding with a single gesture without touching it. The relief was immediate, but he still rubbed his wrists to get some life back into his stinging fingertips.
“I don’t like using manipulation spells”, explained Veduca with a warm expression. “But it’ll be better for you since your master will never know it was you who told us.”
“His demon will notice”, Offilo replied worried and tentatively touched his nose. “She even noticed your true nature in the inn despite your disguise.”
“She? She did?”, she asked, shocked. “I… I didn’t even notice the demon while standing right next to it…”
“Your companion did notice, didn’t he?”
“He did”, she answered and made one of the chairs move towards her to sit down. “I should’ve listened to him and not held him back.”
“You saved the lives of the people inside the inn”, Offilo commented.
“Thank you. You’re a kind young man.”
“I’m not kind. I’m just a coward. So… Ask me whatever you want to know, and I’ll answer truthful if I can.”
For the next couple of hours, Veduca asked him a plethora of different things. Many questions revolved around the Ravendemon and the Divine Lord’s plan, of which Offilo couldn’t tell her much, as he knew only the bare minimum of what the Divine Lord had told him. While he spoke he often twisted and turned the ring Duodecum had given him around his finger.
“That would be all I know”, he said with a sigh.
“That’s more than enough for now, thank you”, replied Veduca and looked at the ring. “Although… May I see the ring you were playing around with while we talked?”
He nodded and pulled the ring off. Veduca took it gently from him and regarded it in the light of another glowing orb she had conjured.
“Can it be… Were you with the Order of the Crimson Hand?”, she asked, intrigued.
“I joined some of its survivors”, he answered tired. “The Divine Lord took me in after he murdered them.”
“He did take you in?”
“Y-yes. It was actually his demon who suggested it, but he accepted it surprisingly fast.”
“Strange…”
Now that he thought of it, it was strange. At first, the Divine Lord had just wanted to let him go. But after looking at Offilo’s knife, he had changed his mind. The knife with the crest on it. Could it be?, Offilo wondered. Could he have recognised the crest?
“How is he treating you?”, asked Veduca suddenly and returned the ring.
“The Divine Lord? Good, I guess”, he replied and put the ring back on. “He has some harsh ideas about training regiments and high expectations considering anything scholarly, but he doesn’t hurt me. He has even given me a room, and he treats me with regular meals.”
“Could you be his son?”
The question took him off-guard. He had never considered this possibility, but it would explain why he did treat him well. Yet, the notion seemed preposterous.
“I… I don’t know”, he replied uncertain. “My mother never told me who my father is. The only clue I have is a crest engraved on a knife my mother gave me.”
“A knife you say”, Veduca remarked and looked over his belongings on the table.
“I haven’t got it on me. The Divine Lord took it.”
“To bad… But don’t worry, I would still need to ask Lodwin about the crest, and he is still unconscious.”
“Is he badly hurt?”, Offilo asked concerned.
“It isn’t like he could die but…”, replied Veduca, downtrodden. “He’s in a lot of pain, so I cast a sleeping spell on him, so he mustn’t suffer until we managed to fully heal him. My father isn’t in too great a shape either, despite her helping us.”
“Her?”, asked Offilo, curious. “Of whom do you speak?”
“Oh, no one, dear, no one”, she avoided his question with a smile. “Anyway, since you’re a member of the Order, I would love to ask you to join us against the Divine Lord.”
“But?”
“But since you told me he has sent you to find us, he expects you back. Should you not return, he’ll know we’re still here…”
“So you want me to return to him?”
“I’m sorry, but yes. You can buy us the time we need until we can safely leave.”
Offilo didn’t like the direction this was going, but returning to the Divine Lord seemed to be the best way to go. He could also use this chance to get his knife back and perhaps some clues as to who his father was, although this was the least of his concerns at the moment.
“Can you give me your ring once more?”, asked Veduca.
“Sure”, he replied and handed it over. “But… the Ravendemon gave me this ring before I went into the town.”
“The demon…”, she said concerned and frowned at the ring. “I don’t feel any enchantments in it. But perhaps I can’t feel this demon’s magic…”
“I do think she wanted me to have it, so I could earn your trust? I honestly don’t know what goes around in her head beyond the fact that she doesn’t seem to like to continue her contract with him.”
“The demon doesn’t want to continue the contract with the Divine Lord?”
“Kind of. At least she does a few things he doesn’t seem to know of.”
Veduca frowned and seemed to think for a few moments. Offilo, not knowing what to do, looked at the ring. It seemed too convenient to not have a spell in the ring. Perhaps he had already shown the Ravendemon where Veduca and Lodwin were. Oh Lord, please don’t have me give away their location, Offilo prayed and felt the colour drain from his face.
“It doesn’t matter whether the ring has an enchantment or not”, said Veduca, and brought him back to the present. “We can’t change anything about it, but I can give you this.”
Carful, she undid some of the warping on her staff and pulled a small silver snake out from it.
“Can I get your other hand?”, the witch asked with the snake in the palm of her hand. “Don’t be afraid. It’s not a real one.”
Slow and feeling queasy, he reached his right hand out. A second later, the silver snake slithered from her hand into his and around his ring finger. There it coiled itself around his digit, bit its own tail and morphed into an ordinary silver ring.
“I don’t know how well the Ravendemon can detect magic, so I advise you to draw as little attention to the ring as possible”, she said.
“What does it do?”, Offilo asked with a concerned frown.
“It allows me to contact you anytime”, she explained visibly pleased. “You’ll know when I do so as the ring will turn back into a snake. And if you want to talk to me, you just have to breathe over the ring, and it’ll also turn into a snake.”
“And you trust me like this?”, he asked. “I could be lying the entire time.”
“You’ve an honest face”, Veduca replied and patted his head. “And you’re a good kid.”
This appeared to be less than substantial reason to trust someone, but Offilo didn’t intend to betray her. If he helped her, he could get away from the Divine Lord and start a calm life without any fighting or demons for the matter. It was tantalising to think about it.
Something else reared its head within Offilo. A feeling of doubt mixed with anxiety. The Divine Lord…, he mused tense. He hasn’t treated me that bad. He’s given me food, clothes, and a roof above my head. Sure, he did let me fight a Shade and even his demon, but he didn’t torture me or harm me.
“It would be best for you to go”, remarked Veduca and stood up. “It’s already close to daybreak.”
“What?!”, he shouted and jumped to his feet, which resulted in him falling over with the chair he was still tied to by the feet.
Veduca immediately helped him up with some magic and undid the ropes.
“Are you alright?”, she asked with honest concern.
“I’m alright, but Duodecum…”, he said. “I was to return to the castle around nightfall! He’s probably already looking for me!”
“Then we need to act fast”, said Veduca and waved her staff through the air. “I’ve called Imila and Liano back. They’ll take you back out but to do, so I’m going to put you under a spell so you don’t remember the way. I do hope you’re fine with me doing it.”
“Does this really matter if I’m fine when you’ll do it anyway?”
For a moment, she looked at him with clear shame in her eyes, then she apologised once more and cast the spell.