Chapter Seventeen

A horrible sound fills the room as the blade enters his body, the creature underneath letting loose a piercing cry. Through gritted teeth, I hiss a reply.

“This damn…” But the rest is cut off as the doors slam open, guards make their way inside and Maria is close behind. She doesn’t hesitate as she sees her husband on the floor, the knife I stuck into him clearly visible.

“Seize him!” she yells at the guards, her anger mounting when she sees the rest of her family in similar straits. Maria joins the action herself and I feel the air around me starting to gather. While I’m not sure what spell she is casting, it cannot be anything good for me. But the five guards that are rushing toward me don’t leave me much room to work with. I do not have the mana to burn on this, even if I wanted to.

So instead I focus on the body in front of me; disregarding any subtlety, I jam my hand in the wound. The father I’m trying so hard to save grunts at my intrusion, and his wife shouts even louder in response. Mere moments before the guards reach me I grab ahold of the foul thing inside of him. Then armor collides with me and I’m forced away from him, the worm is still firmly in my grasp.

With the immediate danger averted, I drop the binding spell I cast at Percy’s sisters, and wake him up. His father is still out cold, barely reacting to the noise around us. The guard that tackled me uses his weight to restrict me, even going so far as to clamp my mouth shut. Besides nearly cutting off my tongue it doesn’t result in much, my magic is not restricted by what sounds I can make. Though it is preventing me from explaining the situation.

While I try to come up with a solution, both Demeter and Persephone rip free from their bindings, now that my spell stopped reinforcing the material it wasn’t strong enough to contain them. Percy is also opening his eyes again, dazed from his impromptu nap.

All three siblings dash toward me, though the brother takes a second longer. With fury in his eyes, Percy casts a wasteful wind spell to remove the guard from on top of me. Though I regain temporary freedom, it doesn’t help me much. His sisters are perfectly coordinated and well trained; I’m barely on my feet again when they knock me down for the third time today.

No quarter is given as they bash in my face, the pain distracts me enough that casting anything is beyond me. Only when they’ve finally vented their rage is when I get a moment of peace. Though at this point their mother has long reached us and wastes no time interrogating me.

“Who paid you!?” she screams at me, I try to form words but I don’t quite manage with my teeth standing the wrong way.

“You don’t understand,” I try to tell her, and clearly some of my words make it through.

“Don’t understand!? You assaulted my husband!”

My eyes are having trouble focusing on anything, but I slowly manage to open my fist; revealing the creature contained within. Percy is the first to notice.

“What…” he mutters and comes closer to inspect it. I barely hear what his mother is shouting at me, everything seems so far away. Even the sounds around me feel heavy. My head falls to the side, and it gives me my first good look at the insect I discovered. The red skin gives a demonic vibe. Then I open my eyes wide as I make the connection.

“It thought I attacked it,” I mutter; then I pass out.

The ceiling that greets me is not fabric, which is the first time in what feels like an eternity that I’m sleeping in a building with a hard roof. The events from before rush back to me and the spike of adrenaline well and truly removes any fatigue from my body. It’s peculiar that no one is in the room with me, and what a room it is. Polished wood on the floor with a fluffy rug laying on top. Cautiously I feel my face, expecting my nose to be misplaced and my teeth to be like a mountain ridge. To my surprise, I feel a healed face; not a hint of damage on it.

With shaky legs I crawl out from under the covers, putting one foot on the ground. Before I let the other drop the door opens and I see Percy enter the room. I freeze in my awkward position, hit by a flashback of his vicious attack. Not that I can really blame him. In hindsight, my methods were less than perfect. Though my reasons were good, and I wasn’t sure how long he would live, randomly attacking someone’s father is a terrible image.

“Hi,” I say with a stiff smile on my face. Percy returns a similar expression. He’s still holding the door half-open, but he steps fully outside after a moment. After he closes the door behind him, he sits down on a chair and lets out a sigh.

“I’m sorry,” we both say, producing the same stereo effect that his sisters are so skilled in. A small chuckle escapes from me, and Percy looks at me in confusion.

“What’s so funny?” he tries, desperate to put all of this behind us.

“It’s nothing,” I tell him, “I’m sorry for, well, attacking your dad. And your sisters, and also you.” Now he’s the one that lets out a laugh.

“It sounds so absurd when you put it like that…” Then his gaze turns focused and the mood becomes serious.

“What was that,” Percy asks. And I shrug halfheartedly.

“I don’t know,” I confess, “I wouldn’t have noticed it if not for… Well, it was killing your dad.” Percy motions for me to go on, and I comply.

“Back outside, right after I dodged that projectile your father threw at me, I showed him an illusion. It involved him experiencing getting his arm blown up,” I tell my friend guiltily, he jumps up a little, but catches himself before he interrupts. I smile gratefully.

“Normally that doesn’t really do much, it messes with your head of course, but it just takes a moment for your brain to catch up,” I take a deep breath, “After a few days there’s no trace left beyond the memory itself.” Percy’s eyebrows furrow, and I don’t blame him.

“I was already wary when your father reacted so quickly after the experience, but I just figured he had a strong will. But then, when we reached the dining room, he just got paler and paler. He didn’t even react when I was standing right in front of him. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him until I sensed his mana. It was going haywire, and there was a clump of demon mana crawling around by his stomach. I put two and two together and…” I don’t finish my sentence but Percy gets what I meant.

“And you decided to cut it out of him?” he asks, exasperated. I feel my face heat up at his words.

“I wasn’t sure how dangerous it was, but it felt like he was dying. I didn’t expect it to be as slippery as it was. Originally it would have only taken a few seconds. Then I could heal him and explain my actions. As we experienced, I was dead wrong. I truly am sorry for how out of hand that got,” I say, and I mean it. This could have gone much worse than the already terrible event it became. Percy lets out a sigh at my words.

“I’m also sorry for bashing your face in,” he says, but I get the distinct feeling he wasn’t that sorry about it. Then again, with the situation he was in, he wasn’t exactly in the wrong. How could he have known? The room fills with a heavy silence, as I sit on the edge of the bed and he sits on the chair. Then Percy stands up.

“I’ll go tell the others,” he says. Before he leaves though, I ask him a question.

“Did you figure out what that bug was?” He shakes his head.

“I’ll come back later.” Then he’s out of the door and I’m left alone in my room.

The window behind me catches my attention and I peer out of it. Taking in the scenery, a beautiful courtyard, and the gorgeous walls. This is quite a place. But I cannot ignore the elephant in the room any longer, my mana reserves are back to dangerous levels. I am once again withering. I sigh as I look at the painful black spot on the back of my hand, I wonder why it’s always my hands. This is the same one too, as far as I can remember.

I lie down for a moment again, though I’m in severe danger from the exhaustion. Fortunately, it should be an easily solved problem, James still owes me the potions and I’m sure Percy’s family will have no trouble procuring me what I need. Which, of course, mana; as much as they can gather.

My mind fills itself with melancholy, as the stress of my ever-dwindling mana reserves catches up to me. While I stare at the garden outside, tears fall from my eyes. Frustrations that I have been bottling up rage around, and I have no clue how to handle them.

Moments after I finally feel in control of myself again, Maria enters my chamber.

“I heard about what happened from Percy,” she says solemnly, “And I cannot thank you enough for saving my husband.”

“I would have done the same for any stranger I met,” I wave her off, but she isn’t so easily discouraged.

“Nonetheless, it wasn’t a stranger that you saved, not to me. From the depths of my heart, thank you. Is there anything I can do to repay you?” she says, and I look at her.

“...Potions,” I eventually say, embarrassed but forced out of necessity.

“Excuse me?”

“Mana potions,” I say again, “I have a… medical situation and I don’t produce any mana. So I need to replenish myself using potions and the like. I was already running low before I got her, the mana-infused meat that I was eating ran out, but I’m currently working on fumes.” Before I think better of it, I show her the black spot.

She looks shocked at my admission but then gets a determined look on her face.

“We can help you with that,” she says.

“That would be much appreciated, I need those potions quickly. I don’t know how long I’ll last at this rate.” It should be a few hours at least, what little specks of mana still course through my body are kept firmly in place by my iron will. Eventually, they’ll be used up though. The only reason I’m not completely empty is probably that their mages cast plenty of healing magic on me.

“I’ll get someone to bring you them, now tell me more about your condition.” My eyes narrow at her words, that was a very blunt, and incredibly invasive request. She seems to understand that though because her next words clear it up somewhat.

“I meant we can help you with your condition,” she says, “But we will need to know what we’re working with.” I stare at her with a blank face, then I let out a laugh. Does she think she can fix something that people like me summoned a god for? I can only be amused by the sentiment.

“I don’t believe that is possible, and I’m sorry to say that my situation is incredibly personal. It isn’t something easily shared.”

“We won’t know unless we try. The Trigalt family hasn’t ruled one of the most prosperous cities for nothing, we have resources that even the king lacks.” Her eyes speak volumes about her determination, but they don’t light a fire in mine.

“I can only tell you that my soul doesn’t make mana and that it never has,” I eventually tell her, unwilling to disappoint her earnest gaze completely. She smiles at me.

“That is enough for now, I will ask the librarian. Now, if you would excuse me, I will send someone to gather the potions,” she says before moving towards the door and opening it. The angle restricts my sight but Maria seemingly grabs something, before her daughter gets shoved through the door frame, the other daughter follows willingly.

“Hi?” I ask, unsure of the situation. Both the sisters fidget nervously before they explain their presence.

“How did you do that?” they ask simultaneously. I smile stiffly.

“How did I do what, exactly?” I question, and the siblings share a look.

“That binding spell! You didn’t chant, one moment we are trying to rescue our father, the other we’re stuck.” This time, only a single sister speaks, though I couldn’t say which one.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you there, I have no idea how to teach any of that. It’s just something I do.” Not to mention it might simply be impossible for them, it’s hard to say which things are exclusive to my Angel heritage. They’re thinking about my words, and I patiently wait to see if they have any other questions. Until the potions arrive I don’t think it is wise for me to move.

“Then show us!” one of the sisters pipes up. Putting me in an awkward position once again. Although I told their mother already, I don’t want to spread this around. I sigh.

“I can’t right now,” is all I say. They’re not satisfied, but they realize how serious I am and drop the topic.

“Then we will excuse ourselves.” I offer a smile at her words. I wish I could share this with someone, the old doctor was the only one who knew the full story. I find myself missing someone to talk to about all of this. Perhaps I should confide in Percy.

But as much as I like Percy, I get the feeling he wouldn’t understand. For how down-to-earth he is, he’s so well off that I have trouble imagining him understanding real peril. I suppose he reminds me too much of myself before crossing over, though I was never as driven as he is.

I am once again left to my thoughts as the sisters leave the room. I wonder what the demon bug was, it can’t be a coincidence that it infected the city lord. I can only imagine someone planted it on him on purpose, which heavily implies that someone is siding with the demons inside the castle, or perhaps there isn’t a traitor but instead, a demon managed to sneak in by themselves. I haven’t seen any demons with the amount of intelligence required for something like that, but I haven’t exactly seen many demons, period.

If the myth is accurate, then there have to be smart demons, they couldn’t have waged war otherwise, though perhaps it wasn’t really a war in the strategic sense. It could have been a horde rushing out instead. So many questions, no real answers to be found.

What I can reasonably assume, is that someone, or something, infected the city lord. Which means there’s a scheme afoot in the city. Presumably, I inflicted a large setback on them with this discovery, but I will be leaving shortly, so I can’t help but worry regardless.

Wait, what day is it? My adrenaline spikes as I consider that I may have missed the scheduled time for departure. I leave the bed in a hurry, but right as I open the door, someone else tries the same from the other side. They lose their balance and fall forward, while I hurriedly take a step backward. Dodging whoever tried to enter my room. I hear a groan as the figure hits the floor, then I recognize it is one of the guards. Perhaps even the same one that tacked me before.

“Uhm, I’m sorry?” I hesitantly say, they quickly get back to their feet.

“My apologies!” comes a formal-sounding voice, “I am here to bring you lunch.” And with that, they produce a crushed bag from their side.

“Ah,” they let out as they notice the damage done. Awkwardly I take it from them regardless.

“Thanks, I could use a bite,” I inform them, “If you don’t mind, how long have I been asleep?” They give a salute at my question, causing me to cringe.

“You have been asleep since yesterday!” they enthusiastically reply.

“Right, thanks,” I respond, happy that I haven’t missed the caravan, but also extremely put off by the formality that the guard shows. On a hunch, I ask another question.

“Did you…?”

“Sir! No, sir!” they reply, much too soon, and my face goes deadpan.

“You are the guard that tackled me aren’t you?” Not a word of response can be heard from them. The helmet obscures their face but I would bet that they’re blushing. I laugh at their stiffness now.

“Don’t worry about it,” I say, “Percy rearranged my nose before you got to me, and he did much worse after he pushed you off.”

“Besides,” I add, “It healed up nicely don’t you think?” I caress my face with my hands, inadvertently showing the dark spot on the back of my hand. I hide it then, but it’s already too late.

“Don’t mention that to anyone,” I warn them, “Seriously, you didn’t see anything.” My only response is the sound of metal hitting metal as the guard nods rapidly. The visor shifts a little at the motion. I catch a glimpse of green eyes staring at me.

“Good,” I say as I smile, “Now let me eat that lunch you brought.”