∼ Escaping with the Wicked ∼

Chapter - 013

The impling had followed them out and was now trying to clamper up the table, its eyes fixed on the pouch in Oren's vest, a bit of drool lining the corner of its mouth. The little demon was so focused on not alerting Oren, that hadn't even registered the red pair of eyes staring at it.

"Are you the one who did this?" She asked suddenly, startling the tip-toeing demon.

Frozen and looking like a poor imitation of a statue, the impling took a few moments glance at where hooded girl was pointing. When it realized she was indicating to the dead warlock, the implication of the human girl's question became quite clear despite the demon not understanding her words.

The shocked impling unfroze and walked to the edge of the table with as much confidence it could summon, ignoring Oren and his pouch of delicious delights. It puffed out its red little chest, letting a self-satisfying smirk split its impish face in two.

Of course, it had killed that weakling. Who did this human think she was? Not even magic humans could stand in the face of it - the mighty red!

The girl cocked her head curiously, and the impling wasn't sure, but it thought it caught the slight twitching of her lip underneath that dark hood.

"What are you-?" Oren mumbled confusedly from the side. He frowned as he turned his wobbly head to fix the demon a scowl from just a few scant inches away. But before he realized it, the hooded girl had stepped up to him and was digging into his vest pouch.

"H-hey, what-" He tried again but the girl had already gotten what she was looking for. Pulling out a piece of cloth wrapped around a handful of jerky, she handed the demon one whose eyes went as wide as saucers, glittering reverently.

Putting the rest of the jerky into a pocket of her rucksack, she stretched out a hand to touch the impling. It hissed in response, but she didn't even flinch in response, very unlike how she reacted towards even Oren. The demon could do nothing but grumble while it chewed away at the heaven-sent morsel as the girl petted the demon's small head.

"How... did you do that?" Oren asked incredulously as he knew very well that this little critter would attempt to bite off any fingers that came close to it.

When he and his party had first captured it, he had wondered if it was rage incarnate. But now, it was docile and reluctantly accepting the girl's petting. She regained her senses suddenly, flinching back at Oren's words. Even though he couldn't see under that hood of hers, he was sure she was flustered.

"I-I, let's get m-moving," She stuttered, her voice barely audible.

Now Oren finally wanted to get answers, but he didn't really have a choice as the girl slipped under his arm, pulling him along, and causing new and unceasing waves of pain to lance through his body as every movement irritated his festering wound.

Before they left though, the girl turned to look at the impling that hesitantly looked back, all its jerky eaten and gone now.

With an arm, she fished out the cloth with the rest of the food and gave a little enticing shake. The demon didn't hesitate further and it skittered down from the table to follow the two humans, muttering inanely all the while. Like it was only grudgingly following the dumb humans.

Surprisingly, the only real obstacle getting out of town the trio encountered was the staircase out of the undercroft. Oren even fainted halfway up, but they did eventually make it out. And to their great fortune, the short walk to the edge of town went entirely unnoticed due to the gloom. It took a bit for the incoherent Oren, but they found a large mound of dirt.

They used it to scale the ledge of the unmanned wall and contrary to expectations, descending it proved to be an even easier endeavor than the stairs had been.

With the help of the overgrown and uncut trees that lined the wall, they managed to get down with a bit of rope that Oren had gotten the girl to grab and stuff in her rucksack on their way out.

Fleeing to the woods, they were finally free. But then again, it was up for debate of which of the two was safer; the monster-infest forest of the Heartweald or the town of corrupt nobility. They honestly weren't sure, for the walls had been built for a reason...

In an alcove of trees, the sounds of night critters starting to fill the dimming forest, Oren laid in a soft bed of moss against a mass of large roots of a towering tree protruding from the earth.

A little farther behind, sitting against a fallen and aged trunk, the impling sat. Intently gnawing away at another piece of jerky, and wholly uninterested in the life and death matters happening just a few feet away. The hooded girl pulled off her rucksack, beginning to rummage through it.

By now, Oren was delirious from his inflamed wound and had a hard time focusing but he managed to notice the girl laying out some items on the grass beside him. "O-okay, I-I should be ready now," She stuttered nervously, despite her hands being as calm and steady as a rock.

She pulled off the layers of bandage which were soaked through with an inky-black substance and fresh blood. Oren stretched his wobbly head the best he could to watch, but he soon wished he hadn't as the horrible wound underneath was revealed with her removing the last strip of cloth.

Blood, puss, and other unmentionables could barely be seen in the waning light. But most unsightly was the fact that the festering wound practically pulsed with dark purple energy, tainted with blackened veins creeping out in all directions. "Oh- celestials above," He grimaced, feeling the determination to survive wane in the face of death.

When the girl had said she could 'mend' him, he had expected it to just be out of kindness to rekindle his hope and resolve. And so it seemed to be true. No matter what remedies and instruments that girl brought with her, there was no way to heal this wound. As it stood, he had one foot through death's door already.

A tear trickled down the side of his face, the sadness of the despairing last few days catching up to him.

"It's okay, you don't have t-" But the moment Oren tried to stop the kind girl from an attempt to mend his dying body, shock and marvel struck him silent as the girl's small and frail hands began glowing with a deep green light.

Wide-eyed, Oren could only stare as her hands and fingers began moving in intricate patterns above his wound. At first, nothing really happened. But as the seconds stretched on, a slight itch started building up, like that of a thousand ants crawling about and biting at his wound. It quickly became unbearable as he had to clutch his already chipped teeth in a new agony.

Putting a strip of leather in his mouth so he wouldn't hurt himself further, he watched in a mix of awe and horror as his wound began wiggling and change before his very eyes - as if it had become alive in a grotesque depiction of mending.

He had only heard about healers in stories before, as they were some of the rarest and most sought-after magic users in the world. As far as he knew, in all of Argon, the Realm of Man, there were only a couple of Red Cloaks alone. Senior healers and their protectors, Blades, weapon masters who fight as their sword and shield, who would travel through Argon to heal the nobility and support entire wars on their backs with their miraculous abilities.

He tore his eyes from the unsightly visage of his body purifying and stitching itself back together, turning his gaze up and trying to focus on the girl hovering over him instead. Her hair spilled out, long curly locks of a fiery red matching that of her eyes.

He briefly wondered if she were one of those fabled Red Cloaks, but as he stared into those red eyes of hers, her face slightly illuminated by the green glow of her magic, he noticed that those eyes he caught a glimpse of when he helped her out of her cage weren't just; very red. More so than any Cassian he had met before, despite only having seen one or two before.

But they were in fact almost glowing a bit in the settling gloom of the night.

He got an inexplicable urge and he acted on it before his mind caught up to it. Lifting one weak hand, he pulled back her hood that obscured her face. "N-no, don't!" She protested with panic, the green magic around her hands flickering out as she scampered back.

A mane of red hair spilled free from the hood, revealing a round and slightly emaciated face with a smattering of freckles. Despite the dirt and grime smearing almost every inch of her skin, she was incredibly beautiful. Definitely more so than any other woman Oren had laid his eyes on before.

But there were two distinct things that Oren could not tear his eyes off. Poking through the mane of fiery red curls of hair on either side of her head, were two pale and pointed ears.

He clamped around her wrist before she got away, holding her in place. Even though his body was feeble and his grip weak, she was still but a thin and frail girl. "Y-you're a-" Oren tried, his words slowly turning more and more heated with fury starting to fuel his dying body. "An elf..."

He practically growled out that last statement. With as much strength he could summon, he threw the petite elf away from his prone form. "Get away from me!" He yelled with disgust, eliciting a wet cough.

"No! - please, let me heal you!" She called back, genuinely hurt at the fact she wouldn't be able to help him.

"You -ah, stay away from me with your twisted magic," He spat, venom in his voice, completely different from the gentle tones he had been using with her just moments before. "I'm NOT going to let you turn me into a mindless servant. A pawn for your stagnant gods to use."

"I-I'm only a halfbood. Please, let me heal you! You'll die!" She begged, tears streaming down her dirt-smeared face.

"I'd rather die than let you touch me again," He said, a snarl on his face that broke with a wince as his wound flared with pain.

"B-but-" She broke down, pulling her knees into herself as she sat back against the fallen tree trunk. "No-no-no... n-not again..."

Sitting atop the trunk, the impling's head swung back and forth between the two, wholeheartedly confused as to what was going on. The human girl was making all sorts of odd sounds and she was even leaking water out of her eyes. The unknowing demon couldn't help but feel distinctly awkward at this for some mystifying reason.

Before it had really realized what it was doing, it had reached out for the crying girl, touching her shoulder. It wasn't exactly sure why it had done so, but the gesture had an immediate effect as she suddenly flinched at its touch, but then abruptly grabbed it by the wrist and dragged the demon into her embrace.

Eliciting a surprised yelp of panic, the demon tried struggling free from the girl's strangely strong grip. However, suddenly the impling registered the utter and undeniable comfort of the human's embrace, effectively halting its struggle.

It was unlike any bed or resting place the demon had ever slept in before, and that was saying a lot considering that it had once snuck a sublime nap on the fluffy and magnificent fur of a particularly furry and unaware nether beast. Well, at least it was unaware until it wasn't, waking up and chasing the small demon who ran for its life.

With all struggles seized, the impling practically melted into the girl's embrace, ignoring the slight shudders and muffled crying as the demon had more important things to care about.

Such as blissful sleep.