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The Dread Scrolls - Chapter 9

Published at 22nd of May 2023 06:28:10 AM


Chapter 9

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Chapter 9: Deep end

Raiko: 

I can feel that someone is trying to shake me awake. Yet, I don't want to open my eyes. My body hurts. To wake up, means that it will hurt even more. I swat at the hand that is on my shoulder. I hear a hiss, but not the sound of breaking bones. So, I must not have hit all that hard. 

"Raiko," I recognize this voice. It is Evander. Why can't he let me just sleep? I want rest, darn it. 

"Raiko, you have to drink Goron tea, or you will end up a zombie," Evander tells me. I swat once more at him. I hear a sigh, and then the blanket I was lying on, gets pulled from underneath me. My eyes snap open, and I glare at the healer. 

"Let me sleep," my voice is raspy, and I feel as if my mouth is full of cotton. Yet, Evander just takes a foul-smelling tea, and props me up. 

"Can you drink by yourself?" He asks. Deciding that he won't stop bothering me, before I drink whatever this is, I take the cup from his hands. It is pleasantly warm. I bring it to my lips, and take a sip. 

The tea is at a room temperature, and sweetened with honey. Yet, the smell still makes me gag.

"Just what is this?" I ask the healer. Evander picks up a cup, and begins to drink too. 

"Goron tea. You must have heard of it?" I have indeed. It is good thinking on Evander's part, to get me some. 

I notice a presence in the cave, and turn to stare at a Fae who is sitting and nursing his own cup. He has blonde hair, greasy, and without a shine. His brown eyes look lost in thought. 

"Who is he?" I ask Evander, pointing at the Fae. 

"Silvan. Nachzeher turned his mother into a zombie. She, in turn, bit Silvan. He has to tag along with us, for the treatment's period," Evander takes another gulp of the tea. I quirk an eyebrow at him. 

"Did you get bitten?" I ask him, placing the Fae to the back of my mind. 

"No, but with two infected people around me, I really don't want to risk it," he says. Then, he turns towards the Fae. 

"Silvan, finish the tea, and come over here, so I can see your wound," Evander says, and the Fae quickens in his drinking. His face is all scrunched up. My own face must look the same. It is not every day, when someone has to drink a tea that smells of old socks. The camaraderie between the two of us, is something that makes my eyes soften. 

"Hey, Silvan?" I ask, and he pauses in his drinking. "We are going to bag him." 

I don't say anything else. The Fae looks just as lost as before, but there is a light in his eyes now. A light which calms me down. If I had only been stronger, then Nachzeher wouldn't have visited the Fae family. Evander must have seen something on my face, because he asks me a question. 

"Just why did the necromancer attack two Fae living in the woods?" Evander asks me. I suck in a breath. 

"He must have been harvesting," I suggest. In the first battle with the necromancer, I managed to get rid of quite a few of his undead. Nachzeher must have been running on empty. "I dealt him quite the blow." 

"So, you are to blame, for him coming to our house?" Silvan says, his eyes glaring down on me. 

"If I wasn't the one who hunted him, then it would have been someone else," I say, but that doesn't seem to calm the Fae. 

"Why even go after someone who is so out of your league?" Silvan snaps at me. I narrow my eyes at him. 

"I can understand you are grieving, and looking for someone to blame," I say, as he keeps on glaring at me. "But you must understand, that people are afraid of Nachzeher to the point of the bounty hunters turning a blind eye to his wanted posters." 

"And why aren't you?" Silvan asks. 

"I am old, boy. If I manage to get rid of the scourge of this age, then I will," I say in a calm tone. I won't hold this anger Silvan is feeling against him. He looks like he is just a boy. Not quite an adult yet. Evander clears his throat then, and looks between us with concerned eyes. 

"Let us not search for someone to blame," the healer says, and then drinks the last of his tea. "The only thing we can do now, is regroup." 

"I want to learn how to fight," Silvan says. A demand, veiled in conviction. I smile at him. 

"I can teach you the basics, but you will have to figure out everything else. I am an Ettin, so most of my fighting techniques are not going to be available for you," Silvan doesn't look any less determined. 

"You will have to get better, first," Evander say. "Did you drink your tea?" 

Silvan looks in his cup, and then downs the rest of the tea in one gulp. 

"I did it just now," the Fae says. Evander nods, and then goes to him. 

"Let me see the bitten spot," he says, as the Fae takes off his pants. I can see the ugly teeth marks from here. The boy should have run, when his mother became a zombie. 

"For how long have you been like this?" I ask him. 

"About five hours," Silvan says, as Evander begins to clean the wound. I see that he pulls out a green paste from his bottomless bag, and then smears it over the Fae's wound. After that, he wraps the entire tight in bandages. I wonder, just how many of them does he have? We really should go and buy more. 

"We are going to be fine," Evander says, as he pulls out a pair of pants from his bag, and hands them over to the Fae, along with a clean shirt and underwear. "You need to wash up, the both of you. But we can't let the wounds get wet. So, wet wipes will have to do." 

The healer pulls out two packages of wet wipes, and hands both me and Silvan one each. 

"I will go out, so you can have some privacy," he says. I undress, and take my package. I wonder, if we can't find a spring around here? Water will be by far a better cleaning method, than these wipes. They even smell like roses. I sigh, and begin to clean myself. 

 





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