“Tell me about him,” Natasha said quietly.
“Who? Jakob?” the healer asked, finally calming down from his brush with death. Still not able to fully face the dark elf, he went about checking on the unconscious brothers at the same time.
“Yes,” she confirmed, turning to look at Henry. “We’ve come to an arrangement that benefits the both of us, but I’d like to know a bit more about the human I’m placing my trust in.”
Henry, still bent over one of the brothers, wrinkled his brows in thought, clearly considering how best to respond to the dark elf’s question. The fact that the old healer, who didn’t personally know the subordinates of her Blood Bond holder, was so concerned for their recovery was a bit novel for Natasha. Outside of close family and important allies, healing was only ever done for a steep price. But as far as she could tell, Jakob possessed little if any real wealth.
“Healer?” she prompted again after Henry did not immediately respond.
Henry leans back with a sigh. He gestured for her to follow him out of the bedroom. Curious, Natasha followed the healer to the living room, taking a seat as Henry gestured for her to sit down. That was another thing that she found interesting about the humans. Despite being exposed to someone so far outside their experience, and posing such a potential threat to their lives, they were quickly able to move beyond their shock into acceptance and treating her like another person.
That would be important for their race’s survival in the years ahead.
“I don’t know Jakob very well, but I will tell you what I can here, where it will not disturb my patients.” His eyes took on a hard glint. “But I will not divulge secrets that are not mine to share.”
Natasha nodded in acceptance, the rings in her ears giving a soft jangle as she did so. One of the first lessons her father had taught her in early combat training was to always show respect to healers. You never knew when you might need their help to stay alive. Now that she was in opposition to the rest of her clan that had come through to this planet, a good relationship with this human healer could make all the difference in her chances of surviving until the integration of this planet was complete. In the face of that, respect for what he was willing to share was nothing.
“I haven’t known Jakob very long, or very deeply for that matter, but what I can share with you is known to any one of his neighbors,” he said, beginning to talk. “Though of a criminal persuasion, he is a good man. A hard man, capable of violence, I’ll admit, but a good man nonetheless in all the ways that matter.” He gestured vaguely around the room, but clearly indicating the building as a whole. “Always helping those around him. Carrying groceries. Watching kids while their parents work.”
Natasha saw something in Henry’s eyes then, something that the healer attempted to bury quick, but she still caught it.
“There is something else,” She stated firmly.
Henry looked somewhat embarrassed, but didn’t deny her. “I was in debt to some nasty people, much worse than the Night Wolves, when Jakob first moved in here. It started slow with a small favor here and there, then larger favors. I couldn’t handle the work anymore, so I begged to pay off my debts instead. I was struggling with making payments, until one month I couldn’t make any if I wanted to eat.”
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A brief shiver of fear at the memories he was reliving. Natasha could easily grasp the situation, as her clan had engaged in such in the past. Even the option of payments was a tactic they had used, all for the purpose of pushing the debtee underwater so that they would be willing to complete any act, commit any sin, in order to be free of it. Apparently Jakob had saved Henry from just such a fate. Her opinion of the human with which she shared a Blood Bond went up another notch.
“I’m not even sure how he found out,” Henry continued, “but one day Jakob confronted me over what was going on. When I finally confessed to everything, he did not judge or threaten me. I remember it vividly,” he said with a small smile, “he said, ‘don’t worry about it, Henry, I’ll take care of it’. To this day I don’t know exactly what he and the Night Wolves did, but from that week on my debt have ceased to haunt me.”
“He sounds like a good man,” Natasha said.
“To his friends and innocents from his kind of life, yes he is,” Henry said with a chuckle, “but as any of the thugs that he and the Night Wolves have chased away from here would say, he is not truly a ‘good’ man.”
“Thank you,” Natasha said, and she meant it. Having a better insight into the human who she shared a Blood Bond with was incredibly important to her. What Henry had shared with her just now went a long way to fleshing out her understanding of Jakob. She made to stand back up. “I believe it's about time for me to join Jakob.”
“Yes,” Henry agreed, moving to stand as well. He glanced back towards the bedroom. “I just wish he would let me take them to a hospital.”
“There would be no point,” Natasha said as she made her way out of the apartment.
“What do you mean?”
She paused just short of the door.
“You finished your inspections of Jakob’s subordinates. Based on the grim look on your face, I could tell you could do little to help them.” Natasha shot a glance over her shoulder at the healer. “But you are wrong to think your houses of healing would be any different. My kin are more than competent when it comes to poisons. There will be no human cure to what afflicts those unconscious in Jakob’s bed.”
“But surely they could do something to help stabilize them?”
“Unlikely,” Natasha shook her head. “Worse, you skipping over an important question.”
“What question?”
“Since the cure is something that can only be obtained from my kin, would these other healers even be inclined to let someone else treat two of their patients with an unknown substance?”
Silence greeted her response.
“No” Henry admitted begrudgingly after a long moment.
“So their best chance is to stay here, under your care, and wait for Jakob and I to return with the cure.” Seeing Henry’s still downcast look, she added another point, almost as an afterthought, “Don’t worry, once cured of the poison, Jakob will be able to heal them right up.”
“How?” Henry asked, the surprise clear in his voice.
“With his new ability of course. Did Jak not say anything about it to you?” She arched a delicate eyebrow over her shoulder at the healer.
“No he did not.”
“Oh,” she said before opening the door to leave the apartment. “Well, Jakob is now able to heal others with blood magic. Perhaps he can demonstrate for you later.”
Worried about being left behind, Natasha secured her hood over her ears before taking a fast pace down the hall to head outside. Having learned more about Jakob, she was now excited more than ever for what the next days held in store for her. So long as she could keep the human alive that was.
Unbeknownst to her, the door to Jakob’s apartment stayed open for some time. When Henry finally got over the shock of the dark elf’s latest revelation, he closed and locked the door. He then went to the kitchen and got a beer out of the fridge. He downed it all in one long chug, then pulled a second beer out. All the while one thought was going through his head. It must be true yet at the same time had to be impossible.
Jakob could heal with magic.