Tom P.O.V.

I was starting to get worried, the sun had gone down a while ago and Ajax was yet to come home. I knew there was no way he was still at the courtyard, the instructors were known to sometimes have the training sessions run long, especially with the new recruits, but this was different. All the instructors were level 40 or above, they won’t extend practice now, they will be joining the night patrol to hunt the vampire.

Three hard knocks on the door broke my focus and I turned to get up slowly. Kate was more clear minded, by the time I got up she was already opening the door, her tail swishing low and fast betrayed her unease.

“Evening Kate, is Tom here?” I heard the voice of commander Grievous.

“Commander, what's wrong, has something happened?” I asked.

“You better come with me” he took a long look at Kate “ in fact it might be for the best that you both come with me.”

The walk to the prison compound of the guards was short, but it seemed very long. The one time I tried to ask a question a quick look shut me down. Whatever this was I knew it was something to be kept quiet, so much so that asking questions in the empty street would be too much.

All of the guards and security were in their usual place, this told whatever was going on didn’t need numbers. For the first time I went all the way to the restricted section with nobody trying to frisk me, the commander's influence being second only to the warden himself. Or so I thought.

We came up to a room at the end of the corridor with Patrick Goldenfield standing at the door, the leader of the eighth. “These are his parents?” he asked in a short clipped tone.

“Brother and his wife, parents are in a remote village.” the commander answered.

The short exchange already had my back sweating like a waterfall. What had Ajax done to draw this kind of attention? Patrick opened the door while the commander motioned for us to enter and then followed in.

In the room was Ajax, laid up on a bed. Despite him having no visible wounds his clothes looked like they were worn by a target dummy. Beside him on the other side stood another member of the eighth, this one I didn’t know. By the posture and the exasperated look on her face she didn’t want to be here.

“What happened?” My voice came out a bit ragged.

“Your brother was in an altercation with the vampire.” Patrick said, he also made a motion with his hand to stop my follow up questions. “From what we have been able to piece together he was invited by Cadmael Flameheart to a drink after taking part in training with guards.”

“Unfortunately the tavern “ he continued but was cut off.

“I think it was quite a fortunate encounter.” the unknown woman cut in. “We would have needed a lot more time and more people would have died if this hadn’t happened.

“Quinn, your opinion on the events is not why you are here, please be a little bit more patient.” Patrick turned to glare at her before looking back at me. “The tavern they picked was the one the vampire was using as a lair.”

“The vampire had a concealment stone that prevented us from feeling his magic, your brother managed to destroy it when he was attacked. We then found and eliminated the vampire. Sadly your brother is not out of the woods yet, Quinn.”

“I patched up all the wounds your brother had, waste of mana that it was” she mumbled out that last part. “But the vampire was strong enough to become poisonous. Vampire poison is magical in nature, it latches on to the host, trying to remove it through spells or antidotes is a quick way to die. It has to pass naturally, this isn’t a problem most of the time as the poison is not very strong.

She threw a quick disapproving glance at Ajax before saying the next part. “Your brother has extremely low Vitality and endurance, despite his big size he will last at most twelve days. The amount of poison in his body will take nineteen to clear out eighteen if he is lucky. There is nothing more we can do for him but ease his passing.”

“Can we go now?” she asked in an irritated tone with an undertone of exhaustion.

“Go on then” Patrick waved her off and then the five of us were left in the room.

“Your brother practically did our job for us by smashing that stone. We did our best to help him.” Patrick's face didn’t convey any emotion but his words sounded heartfelt.

“None of this explains why we are in the prison.” Kate broke the silence.

“That would be because young Cadmael didn’t survive.” the commander spoke. “Luckily enough I was with the patrol that first got to the scene and managed to remove him before anyone else saw him. I imagine that neither the viscount nor his older son would be willing to accept their family dying while a commoner survived the altercation.”

This brought everything together. I knew the commander had a slight dislike for the nobleman's corruption in the city but the one part that didn’t fit was why the eighth was also on board with helping us out.

Patrick seemed to pick up on my musing and said “I was once a commoner myself, more than a century has passed, but I am not without compassion. I wish your brother luck”

With this he left the room, leaving the two of us and the commander. I looked at Ajax sleeping form and remembered what he said yesterday morning, he had poison resistance. Maybe that was enough to make up the few days he needed. I was about to turn and ask about it when I stopped. Best to let them think he was going to die, if they thought he would live who knows how they would react.

“Could we take him home commander?” I asked.

“I suppose so,” he sighed. “ best to keep quiet about all this. If he manages to survive, get him out of the city.”

With help from Kate we brought Ajax home without anyone noticing anything out of the ordinary, the vampire lockdown also helped as nobody was outside at this time.

“I’m sorry about your brother Tom” Kate finally said after we laid him on his bed in the guest room.

“I wouldn’t be so sure he’s done for.” I said as I eased into her hug. “Yesterday morning he didn’t have a hangover”

“What does that have to do with anything?” she asked.

“I was getting to that. When I asked him about it he said he had [Poison Resistance]. I never asked him how high it was but it might be enough for him to survive this.”

She smiled at me before a contemplative look came over her face. She was probably working through the same thoughts I did when I decided to keep quiet about his skill earlier in the evening.

“I’ll look for ways to help sustain the body after poisoning tomorrow. Even if I can’t remove the poison outright I might be able to help his body deteriorate slower.” she slowly nodded her head “ weak poisons like this kill by overstraining the body, I might be able to help him a little.”

I didn’t sleep well that night, nor any night for the next two weeks. Kate had been pulling double shifts, doing both her work as a graduate healer applying to join commander Grievous’ branch and working to keep Ajax’s body hydrated and fed. Judy and Alana passed by a lot more frequently, and that was saying a lot considering they came by every one or two days before. Alana sat by his side almost as much as Kate.

On the twelfth day after the incident the military squads that left to handle the kobold problem returned. It still surprised me that they could make the trip in about half the time that a merchant caravan did despite having people with levels in the twenties on foot. The campaign was an easy success, they managed to annihilate the kobolds before they even made it into the village’s hunting grounds. They investigated the mountain and found that the reason they were forced out of the cave system was an expansion of molten lizards. Thankfully those were happy to remain in the caves as the scouting party confirmed they were a big enough threat to wipe out their entire force.

As the days passed we were all getting more and more worried, Ajax had started looking pale and burning a fever. On the fifthteenth day his fever broke and he finally opened his eyes.