Chapter 23 - The Cleanup

The first thing Peter did was run to the Elf.

He knelt down, cradling her in his arms. She looked extremely pale; she lost a lot of blood. He pulled up her tunic. The veins around her leg and stomach wounds turned black, the poison slowly but surely making its way to her heart. She took staggered, shallow breaths, her lungs screaming in pain every time she took a breath too deep. Despite her muscles, her body felt fragile, as if she'd shatter into pieces if he dropped her.

"Oh shit, this looks bad," he muttered to himself, pressing his hand against her chest. He sensed her heartbeat, faint, but still beating. Maya came in, covered in scrapes and bruises. Seeing the Elf's condition, she scrambled over, also kneeling by her side.

"What happened to you?" She asked.

The Elf coughed violently, grabbing his hand tightly, before stabilizing herself. "Listen to me," she said, her voice coarse like a smoker's. "The amulet is here, somewhere in this house. Find it, bring it back to Phegolan. Go to the Building of Debt. Present a teller the amulet, and tell them to pay off the debt for Freya, from Applecot Mansion. That'll get them to release her." She grabbed his collar, bringing his face closer. "Promise me you'll do that. Promise me."

"I will."

She nodded in satisfaction, then let go, her body slumping. "Good. That's all I needed to hear." She chuckled weakly. "If only I could see her again..."

He sensed her heartbeat slowly weakening. The poison almost reached her heart. He almost panicked, but calmed himself, remembering what Hemofemina told him:

"Blood can do more than just turn into shapes and cut people. When you need it to, it'll know what to do."

He closed his eyes, focusing entirely on her heart. To his surprise, he sensed not only the heart, but the blood inside it too. He felt it flowing in and out with each pump, moving as diligently as it could. He sensed the poisoned blood too. Black, bloated, impure. Strangely, the poisoned blood had a lifespan too. Not much, but he figured it would be enough. The blood had entered her heart already, so perhaps it was already too late, but with nothing else coming to mind, he committed to his idea.

Concentrating, he took control of the poisoned blood, leading it backwards from her veins back to the wounds. The Elf squirmed, uncomfortable with the sensation, but tried her best to remain still. The blood seeped out, collecting itself into a crystal shape, until he sensed no more poison. He threw the blood away, into the tar, before asking the remaining blood to form clots at the wounds. Work was slow; not much blood remained to finish the job. But it obeyed his command, quickening the clotting process until he sensed no more blood leaking out of her. He looked up at Maya, who sported a shocked expression.

"Do you know any regeneration spells?"

She shook her head, breaking her out of her trance. "Do I know what?"

"Regeneration spells! Did you read up on any?"

"My memory is quite faint, but I do remember a basic one."

"Show me the process. I'll mimic it."

She stood up and after thinking a bit, recalled the movements necessary to cast a small regeneration spell. He followed every movement and instruction she made, until she reached the end. Her body faintly glowed green. Her wounds closed up, the muscle reconnecting with each other. Then, it stopped. He checked her status. Her black veins remained, untouched by the spell, but it stopped growing. And, most importantly, her wounds were gone. The scars left behind were a little gnarly, but it was better than leaving them open. He checked her heartbeat. Still weak, but better than before.

The Elf looked down at her body, patted what remained of her wounds, and back to him. "What did you just do?"

He pulled her tunic down, smiling. "To be honest, I don't really know. But it seems to have worked!"

. . .

Maya propped the Elf against what remained of a cabin wall as Peter scavenged the furniture for anything resembling an amulet, pocketing spare change while doing so.

The Elf couldn't stand up without help, but she could push herself around with her limbs. A part of her still refused to accept that she survived. Everything pointed to her death. The outrageous numbers of the skeletons, the poison magic each undead had slowly corrupting her veins, Taykaw's invulnerability to physical attacks... her fate was sealed, and she didn't mind it. Would've probably been better, even. But she was still here, healed of a toxin only the most practiced healers in the Six Kingdoms were allowed to mess with.

All because of a stranger she came across in the woods.

She watched as that stranger hopped over holes in the floor to get to the opposite side. He'd known he was a blood mage since she first saw him absorb that blood gem, but the patron of Hemofemina herself? She should've known. Not even the most loyal of followers could absorb the blood gems. She sighed. It seemed that luck might've been on her side after all.

Peter looked inside the final drawer of the cabin, then maneuvered his way back to her, holding a peculiar item. He held it out to her. An elegant pendant, consisting of a large obsidian stone, surrounded by golden wire. Its most defining feature was an eye etched with gold, perfectly intact with no scratches. Although the eye whites and the pupils weren't colored in, the iris consisted of amber, which shone brightly even in the drab Tarlands environment.

"Is this the right amulet?" He asked, setting it on her hands.

She nodded. "The very same. I remember this amulet vividly. He used to wear it with pride, back when he was still Fermigan's servant. Guess the blood gem proved more important."

"Seems like this whole Fermigan deal happened a while ago. How will Phegolan's government know it's Taykaw's, and not a fake?"

"This amulet has a particular magic inside of it. It's how it's been able to retain its quality all this time. You can smash it with a hammer and it still wouldn't leave a scratch." She slipped it inside one of her pouches. "Besides, the Phegolan government keeps a lot of documents about items like these. They'll know."

"Huh." He held his hand out to her. "Well, we should probably go back. We've done everything we needed to here, right?"

She grabbed his hand and tried pulling herself up, only to stumble and fall again. He caught her before she hit the floor. "You might need to carry me back."

And so, they trudged back towards Arkalo, Peter giving the Elf a piggy-back ride.