Pillar

Chapter Eighteen

Blinking blurrily, Vivian could only think of how dry her throat was and how much her entire body ached. Parts of her were numb and heavy while other parts ached after a day’s training with a combat instructor. She could feel the Astral pressing in around her, suffusing her body with some sort of magical energy that made her feel pins and needles over her entire frame. Daring to look around, she regretted it instantly.

Three glowing orbs of golden light were around her body, crackling lightning into her body in great arcs that seemed to radiate the pins and needles. They hovered around her within privacy screens, with only a few candles keeping the area lit. Standing over her was Bleak, who was leaning on his staff with a book in his hand, reading through the small text with a furrowed brow. She could feel her broken arm held together by something warm, and semi-solid, as if she’d dipped her arm in a vat of cementing paste.

“W-where am I?” She rasped, catching Bleak’s attention. He snapped the book closed and tucked it into his voluminous brown robes and waved his staff over Vivian’s prone form while muttering in the earthen tongue. She was surprised when the orbs replied to him, charming lyrical voices like crystal chimes being played with a stone tong.

When he finished, he frowned. “Well, to answer your question you’re in the Hamlin Center, the civil building and hospital for the town. We’re just below the barracks, which is moving like an ant hill having been kicked in. But that’s something you need to worry about later.”

“Water?” Vivian asked, licking her lips with a dry tongue.

Bleak stepped forward to a nightstand, where a pitcher of water stood with a wooden cup. He poured her a drink and slipped an arm under her bare shoulders to left her up enough to feed her the water slowly. Vivian slurped it down greedily, nodding her thanks to Bleak. He merely smiled in return, and moved her up to a sitting position. She held, instinctively, a sheet she knew to be present over her body to her bare frame.

“It’s good you have modesty, but I’ve examined you and must say you have nothing to be ashamed of, even with your recent additions,” Bleak offered, “I’m not one for younger women, but were I closer to your age I might think about courting you.”

“Thanks, I guess… what do you mean by additions?” Vivian asked.

Bleak looked a tad reluctant to answer. “Your… injuries. They were soaked through with teleplasm, a substance used in darker earth rituals and creating the undead. I myself use it for longevity solvents to prepare the bodies of creatures imported for dissection, but only sparingly. You see, it interferes in healing… the amount you had in you left scarring. Heavy scarring.”

“Scarring?” Vivian asked, just now realizing she could speak without her cheek flaring in blinding pain. Running her tongue along the inside of her cheek, she shivered at the rough flesh that was raised within. Wincing, she gave Bleak a long stare. “How bad is it?”

“You’re lucky your skin is so dark, as the lines will eventually fade into your pigment easier. Unfortunately, for now, your scarring is quite visible. I have a mirror for you to use when you are comfortable looking.”

She held out her hand, allowing the sheet to drop, no longer caring for propriety. She noted that her left arm was covered in a golden gel she knew well enough. “Amberum?”

Bleak nodded, pulling the mirror from his robes, a long handled wide faced mirror. “Yes, the earth spirits I conjured are rejuvenating your body as we speak. Now the good news is the amberum will harden and retain the Astral energy they are using to continue mending the bones, while allowing you to use the limb.”

She examined the casing and smiled slightly, the brace formed over her arm allowing her four fingers and thumb the ease of access she would normally have, while giving her a bracer of flowing semi-solid goo. “It’ll harden eventually?”

Bleak nodded. “Once it is saturated it’ll harden into a chrysalis, which will break once your arm is fully healed. The shards will be Anam crystals, so you should be able to put them to use.”

“Artificial Anam shards? I didn’t know such a thing existed…” Vivian admitted.

“Yes, I tend to keep that quiet. They’re perfectly fine as they serve as crystals normally would, just they cannot be merged with moon crystals to make a Shard. It’s either all artificial ones or all moon based ones.”

“Is there any advantage to an amberum based Shard?” Vivian asked.

Bleak shrugged. “I’ve never delved too deeply into the study, though I know scholars in the Red Marshes have. A wizard named Jerod Sumner exclusively uses amberum crystals and Shards, and has three staves that he rotates in and out depending on the situation.”

“I’m going to have enough trouble making just the one…” Vivian said, looking down at her hands. She could already see peppered red scarring on her right arm, slashes that must’ve been caused by the exploding ice. The gunk that’d accompanied it hadn’t helped, apparently. “At least I’ll fit in with Lillian now. I doubt any of her scars can topple a troll Vessel.”

“The largest Silt Troll on record, according to its one good hand. One of the hunters from the River District said that he had to weigh in over six-thousand pounds,” Bleak said with a sigh. “I imagine the old bridge is going to need repairs. It seems like yesteryear that I was chiseling in support runes to the columns…”

“They probably saved my life,” Vivian muttered. “Thank you, for healing me and everything.”

“That’s what wizards do for each other,” he said as if casually waving away a fly, “truth is I imagine you’ll be around longer than a Tentrek would suggest. I wouldn’t oppose another wizard in the city handling the smaller jobs, as it were.”

“You wouldn’t?” Vivian asked.

“So, long as you left the big city jobs to me and bought your supplies through me, I’d be happy to help you,” Bleak said.

“I… uh, thank you,” Vivian said, flustered at the unexpected comment. She went back to examining her body, wincing when she looked at the vicious red curl leading from her lips up her cheek, putting her face in a perpetual smirk. The wound under her right eye was a far paler pink, and her chest wound was almost her own dusky complexion. The ragged wounds over her hips and stomach looked as if she’d nearly been torn in half.

“How bag was this wound?” She asked, running her hand along her stomach.

Bleak had turned and was communing with one of the spirits, but regarded her silently for a moment. “That particular wound was why I actually contacted the earth spirits for help. You’d lost a good deal of blood, and had some intestinal damage. Sepsis was going to occur if I hadn’t intervened, and the spirits have cleaned you out thoroughly. The rest has been handled by minor spells and cantrips I’ve mastered through years of training.”

“So…” Vivian said as Bleak handed her linen wraps. “What’s this for?”

“I know you’re from the Tallow Hills already,” he said with a roll of the eyes, “most of the women dress in linen wraps like you’ve been doing. I made sure to stop by Bed Row and had your goods brought here, in case you needed anything.”

“My satchel!” She exclaimed, almost a near shriek as the thought of her precious journal popped into her mind.

“Safe and sound. Gaul pulled I from beneath an arm that’d been thrown up on the bridge before the giant climbed it. Apparently, that was the lone remnants of the troll brothers that’d been causing the town so much trouble. Judging by its relative size, I’d say it was the smaller of the two.”

“You have it?” Vivian asked.

“My payment for healing you, plus twenty silver,” Bleak smiled, “you’ll find the deeper you delve into the realm of the Quartz Emir that a lot of magic revolves around knowing anatomy. I could detect faint traces of a spell I used on you on your chest; should you have known more of your physiology, you would have known how to seal the wound the moment it happened.”

“So how would I learn about the human body?” Vivian asked as she slowly worked the kinks out of her body, wrapping her breasts down with pops and clicks of joints that hadn’t felt much movement in who knew how long. “Work at the hospital here?”

“That and the morgue.” He replied. “Here, you mend wounds when lives are at stake. A simple misapplied thread of Astral energy could cause internal bleeding or peel back skin when trying to stretch it closed. At the morgue, you can practice on bodies and document their results. I spent two years doing my Tentrek in various morgues and graveyards.”

“Graveyards?” Vivian said.

Bleak shook his head sadly. “vessels tend to gather where dead are stored to bleed out some of their teleplasm to make more of themselves. If a Lich has risen, he can provide teleplasm from Astral energy he accumulates. I helped put down a nasty Mortuary, that’s the phrase for many of the dead gathered together, nearly a decade ago.”

“Where was this?” Vivian asked as she started wrapping her biceps, to hide some of her scars.

“West of here, past Emerald Riverbend, in the small kingdom of Three Lakes,” he said. “If you get a chance, visit during your Tentrek. Wonderful people, amazing food, and the city is three times the size of Hamlin. It’s built on an island with fortified bridges ferries controlling who gets in. They always have a nasty problem with lake creatures, and amazing collections of Anam crystals deep in the waters, if you’re brave enough to swim it.”

“Excuse me sir? May we come in now?” Tobias called from beyond the privacy screen. Bleak looked at Vivian with a raised eyebrow, before inclining his head. She nodded as well, and he cleared his throat.

“Yes, but make it brief soldier. You’ve been down here looking to see my ward for the last two days now and I won’t have you worrying over her like some mother hen,” Bleak answered.

Lillian moved through the hanging screen, leading Tobias through by the hand. She gasped when she saw Vivian, who was still wrapping her biceps. “By the spirits, you look like you’ve been drug through Dis by lead-hooved horses!”

Vivian smiled. “Thanks, Lils, I appreciate that. Have you two been trying to bull rush your way in for the past two days?”

“Us, Ukah, and the guy from the Gnarled Root,” Lillian said, her hand still clasped onto Tobias. “So, we wanted to make sure you were okay as we have an announcement to make, and want to involve you in it.”

“And that is?” Vivian asked.

“Tobias and I applied to join Clan Tyrik, as husband and wife.” Lillian said, barely containing her excitement.

Bleak hummed, turning around to speak with one of the spirits once more. Vivian felt as if she’d been struck in the gut, her heart wrenching. She looked over at Tobias, who had a wide smile on his face. She gave them both a smile, however weak, and nodded. “Congratulations!”

“Wow, you really have a messed-up scar there V!” Lillian said, stepping forward to poke at Vivian’s mouth, tracing the curled cut up. “Looks like a smirk, even when you’re smiling!”

“It does not!” Vivian groused, trying to contain her tears.

“Yeah,” Tobias said softly. “It kind of does. You had us worried V, we didn’t know if Master Bleak would be able to pull you through.”

“Are these the spirits, by the way?” Lillian asked, looking at the orbs of light. “They look a little off. I expected more from them, y’know?”

“They’re earth children, merely a few hundred years old,” Bleak bristled, “they serve as seeds for larger spirits to grow. For now, they lend their aid to those in need, in exchange for sustenance.”

“What do earth spirit babies eat?” Lillian asked, ignoring how quiet Vivian had gone.

“Uncut gems,” Bleak replied. “I offered them twenty-one agates for their services after summoning them, and they accepted.”

“Wow,” Lillian said, looking over at Tobias, who was staring at the ugly chest scar running down between Vivian’s ribs from underneath the chest bindings. “What is it?”

“That scar,” he said. “It’s not like the others. Where did you get it?”

Vivian blushed. “A few days ago, the larger troll attacked me. I mended it well enough and did what I could to move on.”

“It looks bad,” Tobias said.

Vivian’s heart sank even lower, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

“Oh, I don’t know soldier,” an older voice said, causing both Lillian and Tobias to snap to attention. “I have some scars from trolls that I’m quite proud of.”

Bleak pulled back the curtain, frowning when he came eye to eye with a bald older man, his face crinkled into happy wrinkles. He had gray eyes and small tuft of steel colored hair jutting from his chin. He was dressed in leather’s dyed purple, with a breastplate hanging over his lean frame. He had two swords, one strapped behind his back and one strapped to his hip, as well as three daggers strapped to the other side of his belt. His breastplate had the Tyrik clan engraving on it, with clasps bearing the Kingdom of Vebra’s symbol over each shoulder.

“Master Bleak,” the man said, “could you take these two ragamuffins and leave the hospital? I find your presence most disruptive, and they could use some practice escorting dangerous criminals off the premises.”

“Captain Tyrik,” Bleak gritted, angry at being talked to in such a manner. “I was contracted by the Council to make this young woman well…”

“And a fine job you’ve done. By what I heard, you paid the elementals off and they’ll finish with or without you here,” Captain Tyrik said. “So please, vacate the building before I have my recruits how to forcefully escort people from the premises.”

Bleak frowned and looked back at Vivian. “Get well, and know that your goods are in the storage lockers under your name. I’ll be in Caldera for the next few weeks, so good luck on your endeavors.”

“You too, and once again, thank you!” Vivian exclaimed.

Bleak offered a smile and walked out from the privacy curtain, Lillian and Tobias hot on his heels. Captain Tyrik stood for a while and smiled at Vivian. Vivian smiled back, and winced when she noticed him tense up for a moment.

He relaxed and chuckled. “You’ll have to get used to that,” he said, “people don’t like scars. Makes them remember how easy it is for blood buckets like us can be injured. Half the point of battle is to send home injured soldiers; sends a message to deter the war from continuing.”

“We’re not at war sir, are we?” Vivian asked.

“Oh yes,” he said, nodding. “And by my leave, you’re the one in charge of ousting this menace from my city before I’m forced to declare martial law. The Royal Guard are good, but my soldiers are better. Since you’ve been injured, three people have been reported missing and eight more have been found dead with your prognosis. We burn them quickly, and mix the ashes into mortar for repairs to the bridge.”

“But why me?” Vivian asked.

“Because,” Captain Tyrik replied with ease. “I’ve seen and heard what you can do. If you can handle a full-grown Silt Troll that’s also a Vessel, you can handle some two-bit walking corpses making my life difficult. Just find where the main one is nesting, and kill it.”