“I hunted some creatures in the forest. He wanted the glands of it. Dro..gar? Drogare? I can’t remember the word he said.” Not realizing how unpleasant talking about such part of a creature was, Freyan went on trying to remember the name.

Cold chill went down on the spine of the shaman. She gave a serious look to Freyan.

“You hunted down a drovarra?”

“Yes?”

“And do you have any idea who do you selling those things?”

“Not really… I had no money when I left the town looking for them, so…”

“Are you that stupid? Or naive? By the spirits do you even care what are you peddling?”

“Dear lady, I would feel honored if you’d enlightened me.” Freyan felt the irritation in the woman’s voice, the feeling stuck to his soul and he also started to become irritated. “I know nothing about anything around here! Who ever did this to me took everything form me and tossed me out in the middle of nowhere. If I would be in the upper world at least I could find out where to go. But I’m lost here. As you pointed out I don’t know the language, and I certainly know so little about magic there is no way I could know less!”

“Alright…” Lana took a step back on her attitude. “Drovarra has a poison that can paralyze even creatures bigger that them.”

“Yeah… He said something about they are being poisonous and vampires being resistant to it.”

“You are most likely immune to it” she corrected Freyan. “But if the glands of these creatures end up in wrong hand, you can get one of the most deadly poison. It doesn’t just paralyze the movement of someone but the organs stop immediately on contact. Breath and heart stop almost the same time, not to mention everything else.”

“Oh…”

“Exactly. And not only for humans. Almost any living creature can be killed with it. So here is my question for you. Are you going to sell it probably for the small part of what the completed poison worth on black markets? Or…”

“Or?”

“You could destroy it for example? Or you could give it to me? I can try to make an antidote from it or find someone who can.”

“If the most esteemed lady wishes it…” said Freyan and took the pouch out from under his coat.

Lana was perplexed by the fact it only took some words from her. And it was clear who ever gave the task to Freyan knew what was he doing as the skin was enchanted to keep what’s inside fresh. She took off one of the animal skins attached to her clothes and wrapped the mysterious pouch in it.

“Listen vampire… Freyan if you are truly like you say… and show, I be glad to help you someway.”

“Really? My lady, I would be so glad! I have so many questions! I feel so lost… and my options are so limited with my lack of the language here…” Freyan looked away, the weight of his thoughts started to consume him from inside.

“What? What is it? Is there more?” Lana couldn’t get over the feeling she saw the pure expression of sorrow on the vampire’s face. It could have been acting but a question couldn’t hurt…

Freyan looked back to Lana. There was a change in his expression. The sadness disappeared so sudden it frightened the shaman. There was nothing there now. No emotion at all. Even his eyes looked like empty marbles.

“I feel broken” said Freyan in a hollow voice.

Lana took a step back without even thinking about it. And as Freyan blinked in reaction trying to understand why, life started to come to his face. A moment of silence in between them got the young shaman thinking resulting in an idea. She recited a doctrine of the shaman’s way in her head trying to reassure herself. ‘No soul with the slightest chance of saving should be left in the void…’ she sigh upon her consideration.

“There is something I could try… But only if you are willing” she said in the end.

“Willing?” Freyan looked puzzled. “Willing to do what?”

“To accept the help. You’ll understand. Come on, this time I let you in my house. Well actually you can sleep in the barn.”

“This time?”

“Oh come on! You thought I didn’t know you were lingering around my territory after we first met?” Lana looked around cautiously and politely pushed Freyan’s back indicating to move faster.

“Sorry…” said Freyan a bit embarrassed. “I just wanted to talk.”

“Now we are talking.”

“Yes. I’m glad we met again” he smiled.

“Grab on my arm and step close behind me” said Lana after they left the town magical border behind.

Freyan felt weird doing so but he obeyed.

“Don’t let me go until I say so, alright?”

“Yes” Freyan nodded but couldn’t Lana saw that.

The shaman knocked on the ground with her staff and the whole ground seemed to move under their feet. It risen and fallen back to its place as it moved them forward while they were standing still. It was a strange experience for Freyan even if he was used to such high speed of travel. He almost lost balance in a sharp turn so he grabbed on the shaman’s shoulder as well. He could have ran faster, but with all the stuff they bought it was easier letting the shaman lead. And moreover he could observe the landscape as they moved.

As he could see the shaman’s house he got worried because Lana didn’t seemed to slow down. It was not as if his life was in danger, but still clashing into an invisible wall wasn’t a pleasant experience. But it didn’t happened in the end. Lana waved with her hand and the barrier opened and closed behind them. It was only then Lana stopped and the spell was broken.

“You can let go of me now” she pointed out.

“Sure.”

Somehow traveling like this was different than running on his own. Freyan didn’t know what to think or say. Even stranger was that he didn’t understand yet. Could the shaman be not human? He couldn’t hear her heart beat. And touching her skin was as if he grabbed on something lifeless. A moving statue of some sorts.

“The night will soon be over. As I said you can sleep in the barn” Lana pointed her staff in the appropriate direction. “You can freely go in this section of my land and between the barn. I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t try to eat my animals. Not as if you could, but still. I will wake you at dusk if you are still sleeping. And we will continued this then.”

“Alright. And thank you.”

Lana smiled faintly, as if she wanted to hide it but couldn’t. She turned around and went inside the house.

As Freyan entered the barn there was already a basin full of water near a small table, a thick blanket and a pillow on a pile of hay for him. A small weird orb of blue light floated near the table instead a candle. Not as if he needed light to see. As he inspected the source of light he could notice a small bug like creature in the middle of it. It wasn’t just hovering in one place. It was flying.

Freyan turned around and decided to take a bath. This was a more simpler way to do so than what he was used to as human, but much more civilized as he did lately. Putting on his new clothes he felt refreshed as if he got some of his dignity back after all this.