On the way back from that horrid Manor I was trying to focus on anything but the horrendous pain in my body. To no avail. I was growling and groaning in pain every time Lashaka changed directions - which was a lot. My leg was completely useless so that way of holding onto my mount was not going to help, and my arm was barely keeping a grip on Lashaka. Whenever there was a long stretch in the road I would reach over to wipe the trail of blood from my head which was obscuring my vision. I was frustrated, angry and worried. I only hoped that those girls managed to get Aaron to that shed. A place which would be safe for him and everyone else around him.

Once I got back, at long last, I climbed off of Lashaka and noticed the other three mounts there. They were waiting in the shadows of the big building, which was mostly in ruins. Hence why it was the perfect place to hide, for the time being. I limped towards it feeling my energy slowly escaping me. The adrenaline that had me going for so long was dissolving slowly from my body. It was replaced with the rush of fear and exhaustion. I slowly opened the doors to the shed. In reality, even when I called it that, it looked more like an old temple. It was tall and probably grand back in its glory days. The wood was dark and got covered with moss. Windows were just empty spaces. There was nothing else to call it other than a shed, now.

I closed the doors behind me and slowly started to move towards the end of the building which had a smell of a wet wood around it. It was by far better than the stench from the Manor. The whole building was empty except some weeds growing at random spaces here and there, so the sound of my footsteps was bouncing off the walls making me quite an obvious intruder.

As I got closer to the back wall I heard a voice “So, what now?” It was Ava, sounded slightly shaken. I would have thought they would hear me by then but it seemed that they were too busy arguing with one another.

“We need an antidote, but it will not be easy to get that,” Godvia responded after a small pause. I knew that, and I knew where it will be found, but just thinking about it gave me a cold shiver.

Once I got to the far end there was a flap in the floor which led to hidden stairs. When I was looking around this place I stumbled upon it by a complete accident. Once I stepped over the flap it gave a dull sound meaning there was an opening underneath.

I crouched down and pulled it up to reveal the stairs curing my body to work for at least a bit longer. As I pulled it open it made a creaking sound, almost ominous. I let the flap fall on the ground on the other side and grabbed my arm feeling more pain shooting up it. I stood in one place for a while to gather myself since my vision was already blurring out. The blood loss must have been worse than I suspected. I was about to go down however before I made a single move Leah rushed upstairs ready to fight. One of her hands on the bow, and the other pulling an arrow which was pointing at me. The sharp edge gleaned dangerously. She could have shot me, anyone normal would after figuring out I was a sin. Yet I would not mind it, at least she was willing to protect Aaron and that was enough for me. I smiled slightly, seeing the girl. She looked quite fragile but the glare she was giving off was menacing; deadly. However, after a few seconds of staring at me, she dropped her defences. Recognising me probably took her a moment as she barely knew me and I was beaten up to a bloody pulp my face was probably swollen and messy with dry and fresh blood.

Once her bow was down Leah's eyes opened wide for a moment as she looked me over. She put the arrow back into the sachet on her back and threw the bow over her shoulder. She then approached me and giving me a shoulder helped me to go down. I did not expect that gesture but it was nice to have some support. She was not very useful as I was towering over her, so I could not really lean on her for support. However, the thought was still appreciated.

As the lights from the torch hit my face I grimaced. Flames were the last thing I wanted to see for a while. We stepped down the last step and a room appeared before us. It was small and dark. There were no windows as it was underground. Across the stairs was a wall where I montaged the chains before. To the side of that wall were two torches which managed to enlight the whole space. The floor was made of hard, cold stone.

Both Godvia and Ava stood near unconscious Aaron, but once they noticed the new visitor they stared at me in the same terror as Leah has before.

I was prepared to be shouted at or killed in all fairness, however, Ava quickly got a hold of herself and started to cast spells on me. At first, I was surprised. She was the only priest I ever met that was willing to heal me without wanting anything in return. She was a priest to the bitter end it seemed and I liked it, not many people around with so much compassion nowadays.

Leah let me sit down by the wall near the stairs to which I growled in pain once more. My thoughts going back to the fact I was broken and should take it easy. I moved my destroyed arm around trying to estimate how useful it will be in a few hours, but it did not bode well.

Meanwhile, Godvia asked breaking the awkward silence, “What happened?”

I looked up at her and sighed “You forgot to tell me about the demonic horse in the castle.”

Godvia shook “Demonus?! He is out?!” So she did know about it...

I rubbed the blood off of my face finally getting a better view of the place, rather than a red mess in front of my eyes. Then I said after a pause “Guess so, I didn’t manage to kill him, he was bloody strong. I had to run. I just hope he won’t escape the castle.”

Godvia shook her head “There’s a seal around the castle he won’t get out of there, but he should have been locked in the dungeons. Maybe the guards released him while everyone was fighting…” She trailed off not sure how to finish it.

I leant my head back while breathing heavily. Finally, the full fatigue catching up to me. 'A small rest shouldn't be so bad' I thought to myself. Then I responded to Godvia “I don’t know, but he beat me up badly. Haven’t experienced that in many years.” I laughed bitterly.

Meanwhile, Ava who was now sitting in front of me without me realising it looked over my broken body like the most knowledgeable doctor. She reached over to my shattered arm with her delicate hands inspecting the bones. After a sigh, she did the same to my leg while I was trying my best not to scream in pain. She then looked me in the eyes saying angrily “Gods in heaven... This is a pain in the arse, so shut the hell up and stay still. I can’t heal your minor wounds with magic, I’m out of energy. So, try not to bleed too much while I try to do something with the major ones.”

I shook my head with a grimace and closed my eyes. A small smirk slowly started to stretch over my face. She was quite the bossy woman.

Leah then said, “But, even with this Demonus thing out inside the castle villagers are safe?”

Godvia replied “Yes, Demonus can feed on corpses. He will have plenty of food which is bad, but he will die there sooner or later. The only way of releasing him is to destroy the spell. But to do that you need to know what the spell is. Which is not common knowledge.”

“So we completed the mission in protecting the village?”

I glanced at the girls.

“And I am beyond grateful,” Godvia said finally breaking into a small smile.

Ava then sighed “I need medication. I cannot work like this. Leah, can you bring me some from the village?”

She nodded and without a second to waste, left. Godvia attended Aaron who was still unconscious. Checking his pulse. As little as I knew her, I trusted that she was able to judge Aaron's well being. She lived in the vampiric world for so long after all.

Meanwhile, Ava was trying to stop the bleeding on my head the one which was still obstructing my vision. She was leaning over looking for the wounds and casting small spells to close them.

As she was looking over me I was curiously observing her wondering what was going through her head. As much as she should be scared of me she really did look like she tried to help out.

Then from the corner of the room, a small groan bounced off the walls. I turned towards my brother immediately asking “How is he?”

Ava responded quietly looking over at my arm again “Told you to shut up. But he is stable. Although... Godvia said he doesn’t have long to go. We need an antidote.” She lifted my arm checking the joints to which I finally let out the quietest hiss from the pain. I couldn't concentrate enough to hold it in.

Ava shook her head hearing it and started to press on each point of my arm as hard as she could. She was most likely looking for the broken fragments of the bones. She could use magic for it, which would be less painful however, with her magic limited at that moment it was safer to do it physically. Which meant I had to survive a ton of pain. I sighed every now and then trying to keep in the groans. To distract myself I continued the conversation “From Garme.”

Godvia hearing the exchange responded to me, surprised “Yes, how did you…?”

I laughed and grinned saying “What did you expect from me? I am a killing machine born in the shadows from hatred and poison. It is in my blood to know any kind of poison and ultimately antidotes.” I waved my good arm dramatically in a mocking bow gesture. People always like to hear the fancy dramatic version of assassins.

Godvia dropped her head “I understand. I mean your fighting style and mark are fairly obvious.”

To which I shrugged "Hence the eye patch."

Ava then asked, “So, you're an assassin." She stated and a small frown appeared on her pretty face. There was something off about that as if she just realised the truth only after the voiced it, "But you're not rogue, right?” Her voice held a small fraction of hope.

Alarm bells rang in my head at that. Hope is the last thing someone needs when associating with me. So I had a few ways out of this: insults, lies or avoid answer. Out of my options, the former two would probably fail miserably. She wouldn't care about insults, not as far as I could tell, and if I lie she might as well just kill me on the spot. So I looked at her with a stone-cold expression “Don’t ask questions you will regret hearing answers to, girly." My voice was low and cold, hoping this will be the end of it I stared daggers right into her, trying to get her to drop the subject as soon as possible.

Ava, however, faced me straight on giving me a very similar hard stare. That was not a usual reaction I expected from anyone. Least of all from someone who barely knows me. That little flash of hope did not disappear from her eyes, in fact, it grew. Knowing the third option failed as well and that she will not back down I decided to play her game, for a while at least. I smirked saying "I am not. I have Aaron, so I won't go crazy."

Ava nodded as if that was enough to calm her and convince her. She looked back at Aaron and, confused, asked, "But I thought, assassins were born into assassin families?"

I shrugged "Some do, some don't. I don't know the biology of it." She then continued to feel for the broken bone in my arm while I asked "Why...? Are you curious?" My face split into a mischievous grin. If you cannot beat them join them and I had a feeling she would be fun to tease with that seriousness she has.

She glanced at me for a second and smacked my broken arm after which proceeded to continue to treat it. While I chuckled quietly.

After some time, Ava took her staff and concentrated her last bits of magic to put the broken pieces together. Small beads of sweat formed on her forehead as she frowned. Then she moved onto my leg trying to do the same method, however, the bones were completely shattered there, so she had no other choice but to use magic for the full process. It was less painful for me, but I doubted she was happy about that fact. She seemed like a decent priest but her powers were very limited. Just like any other one, she wouldn't be able to repair damaged bones or muscles. The only thing a priest can do is keep them together and mask pain. It was as if they placed a bandage inside the body. However, it was not the best solution especially since it could mean dire injury later on and the magic had to be reapplied every now and then. However, she wasn't very strong, to begin with. She was getting fatigued very quickly and her powers ran out pretty fast too. It was better than nothing but she should really work on it a bit especially since I was about to go and get the antidote from Garme, a very ferocious beast.

After a while, Ava asked "So a wizard and an assassin. Quite some duo you two are."

"Aaron was gifted I was cursed. The way of life. But at least we complement one another.” I said amused. I always thought of myself as the bad side of their duo, the shadow to the light. At least I considered Aaron and myself as the two sides of the same medallion.

*********************************************************************

Writer's note: If you enjoy my writing consider supporting me on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/Zorion