- Shield... Breastplate...

- Wait, stop... Can you understand me now?

The sharp intake of air, from my ex-hostage, confirmed that not only I was finally able to understand his language, apparently he also understood me. His reaction to my first sentence was even more strange than the whole speech recognition.

- Y-Yes I can understand you now... Y-You just... You just learned the Island's...

He stopped trembling, that was good, but his stare with wide eyes, and mouth hanging open, wasn't comforting at all. And, as my instinct warned, his next word made my left eyelid twitch. I had always the same reaction toward the most annoying situation, but here it took a new whole magnitude.

- Great-grandfather was right... he was right... We always called him crazy... Please, please...

I stopped his babbling, I think I jinxed myself thinking of a cliché "quest" start, gripping the man's shoulder and shaking him out of his starting speech.

- I'm only trying to exit from here, what can you tell me about who shot me?

- It wasn't me! They shot the blue light... It was them! IT'S NOT MY FAULT!

- Calm down! I'm not accusing you of anything, I only want to know who are they?

Just when I stopped talking, waiting for an answer, the same bossy voice from before interrupted. The worrying thing was that it seemed coming from much closer than the exit. And that was much worse now that I understood their words.

- Hey! Oldster! Who are you talking to? Don't be more useless than you already are, you @#£$%& rabbit!

If before I was angry, and honestly also scared, when I listened to the abuse understanding it's meaning... I think it flipped a switch. Also the man trembling restarted, and that fueled my growing emotion even more. But I also had experiences with people like that, and, generally, taking action based on little information or raw emotion don't end well.

So I strengthened my hold on the scared man, and whispered almost into his ear.

- What's your name? Listen... Help me, and I will try to help you... do you want to run from them?

If my gut feeling was right, and after trying to analize the situation, we could run from them if they really are slowed due to fearing something lurking in here. The only way out was the roof if someway we could climb down...

But the next thing that happened shattered all my forming plans, just like lately was happening far too often. It also froze me up for the few seconds that made a very important difference for all my future.

What happened was that, when the old man was starting to open his mouth to answer me, a bolt struck him. I don't want to describe what ensued after in my head, even if I considered myself slightly seasoned I had never watched a dying man's eyes.

Even believing that there's no one perfectly innocent... even not believing in the whole good and bad sides... even than killing, especially a scared, unarmed, not dangerous person was... was...

What awaken me from my stupor was a bolt of the same kind, probably shot by the same @#$% from before. This time it hit my flank, and like before the impact made me fall a few step back on the ground. What differed from the first hit, was that the breastplate was not layered with mana, and so the bolt penetrated for half is lenght before stopping.

I think I passed out after being hit, because when I opened my eyes two people were in front of me, cautiously watching me while pointing their weapons at my vitals. Their point surely was clear.