Chapter 329

Raymond dismounted the horse sideways while Nua slipped off the back end, they landed at almost the same moment, and it was Raymond who went to the door. "It's closed, master, as I said."

"I'll just pound on the door." Raymond said and raised a fist.

"My Lord… I… realize that for some reason you are trying to be kind." Nua said, and then walked to stand between him and the door. "But I ask you, please do not disturb the person within."

"Why?" Raymond asked with a little frown.

"Because when we return, I will have to go back to Master Dominic, and I'm sure he will ask me if I… caused any trouble. I can't lie, no more than I can hope to run. I'm sure that he would beat me severely for having a Cardinal wake up an apothecary at the cracking of dawn." Nua answered, her face didn't crack, but as he looked into the depths of blue that were her eyes, and recalled the brutal treatment she received already as a 'test', it was all too clear that whether Dominic would have or not, she believed he would.

"Didn't my butler acquire you?" Raymond asked with a little frown on his face.

"Yes, My Lord. Master Dominic had him buy me as it was your butler who would best know the sort of slave to meet your preferences, but he used Cardinal Partouche's funds… by law of the Theocracy, I belong to him and am only loaned to you." Nua explained, and suddenly…

Raymond felt like he was being examined, searched as she looked at him, though what she was searching for, he couldn't say.

But, her point was compelling. "I see… then… we wait here after all." He said, and Nua moved out of the path of the door.

She seemed to relax then, her back was not quite so stiff and she didn't go straight to her knees, though she kept a side eye on him while keeping her hands folded in front of the waist of her coachman's pants, and her eyes mostly down at the ground to wait in silence.

The silence worked on Raymond's nerves. "Are you bored, Nua?" He asked.

"I am accustomed to waiting, master. I idle well." She cracked a little smile, "You have to, if you're going to make potions."

"You did mention something about that, didn't you?" He asked as he stroked the brown of his beard.

"I did, yes, sir. I'm very good at it, I even saved my master's life once when he got sick by getting elf's blood into his eye." Her little smile grew further, "Beautiful boy he was…"

"You loved him?" Raymond asked.

"Surely master would be bored by the pointless stories of a mere clothed beast." Nua answered as the smile slipped away. "He's been dead for over a hundred years now I suppose, it hardly matters anymore."

Raymond fell quiet at her words, watching the way she shifted on her feet. "I was in love once… a long time ago… in human terms, no more than an eyeblink to you, but to me, a lifetime."

"Oh, master, did you marry her?" Nua asked, and though her face had not changed expression much, the upward inflection he caught at least imitated interest, so he continued.

"She was a trainee for the scriptures, and no, we didn't marry… we never got the chance… she- we were on an assignment, final test. It was supposed to be easy, at least by our standards. But… an ambush. Your people got bold, and have some strong fighters of their own. She remained behind to buy us time. I never saw her again… at least, not all together… we found a few pieces hung from trees when we went back with reinforcements." Raymond looked down the empty street, dust blew past in the breeze and the first doors began to open.

"I-I see. I've heard of that, one of the men who bought me, bought me to punish me for his wife's death, as if I had something to do with it. He just… he needed someone to take it out on." Nua said, and Raymond looked back at her, cocking his head.

"Then those?" He asked, she knew of what he spoke.

"No… he had me ready… bound with arms open, I heard the whip behind me, I was… I thought that was the end for me. And he just fell sobbing to the floor. I heard the whip fall, and he ordered me cut loose. I was removed from his house that day and sold again the day after. Human or elf… even a two legged sheep knows it is hard to lose a loved one. I still say a prayer for that one… he could not have been all evil." Nua took a step back and looked at the upper floor. "Someone is awake, there is a light, master."

"Good." He said and pursed his lips. "Is it bad?"

"My lord?" Nua answered the question with a question, and he touched his back.

"If it pleases master so well to know, yes, your servant feels as if her back has been set on fire and has felt that way since I left. I keep it clean, and the well water was very cold. That numbed it for a time, and I found a few wild herbs to numb it for a little while. But yes, My Lord, I am in agony." The blank look on her face was so empty that he would have thought she was in no pain at all.

'Except I've seen those injuries on recruits, and how they were made to howl like wounded dogs.' Raymond recalled, and asked, "Have you used a martial art of any kind to limit the pain?"

"None, my lord. It is death for an elf to use a martial art." Nua answered.

"Do you know any that would dull your pain while we wait?" He asked.

"I do know… one." She admitted, albeit reluctantly and darting her eyes around as if afraid someone would hear.

"Use it. There's no reason for you to suffer." Raymond replied, and Nua lowered her eyes.

"You command my death, my lord." Nua responded. "Is master under the impression that Cardinal Dominic il Partouch will care if it was by your order?"

Raymond was about to argue when she added, "Would it please my lord if I began lying to humans?" She cocked her head at him, for all the pain she must have been in, it wasn't pain which cracked her mask, it was… if he had to guess, bemusement.

His mouth closed and he mumbled, "You know the answer to that, Nua. You know the answer to that."

She inclined her head and said very clearly. "Yes, master."

The door to the shop opened several minutes later, and as soon as the door swung wide to receive customers, the old man within took a stunned step back to find people already at the door of his shop.

"I need a healing potion." Raymond said at once.

"We have blue, white, purple, and green. The greens, thems the cheap ones, made outta herbs." The old man shuffled around, and stepped aside to admit the pair into his shop. He was stooped with age and thinning white hair sat loose on his head, wrinkled muscles were few on on his boney arms, but his voice, cracked with age as it was, was confident.

"It'll heal most wounds, though if'n they infected already, it's a bit of a coin flip, but I can spike it if you need. The white… mostly stamina stuff, new to market, but it has some healin properties… don't wanna use it on no open wounds though, it increases the blood flow a lot. Ahh… meant fer healin what ails men… mostly… if that's yer problem…"

Raymond flushed red and coughed into his hand, "No, no it's for her." He jerked his thumb toward Nua, who did not laugh nor change expression.

"Ah gots some blue then… good fer healin most things, but it ain't quite as quick an if'n there's infection? Nah, won't do fer that. Is it a new injury or old one what ain't closed up?" The old man asked as he finally shuffled himself behind the counter.

Raymond looked around, potions lined the shop on a multitude of shelves, the odor was overpowering to the point where he saw Nua had already covered her nose and pinched it shut. Hazes of various colors hovered above a few unsealed potions, pots, and bowls that sat overtop small glowing rocks, and in front of the old man, a mortar and pestle sat with herbs still in it not entirely ground up yet from their original plant basis. 'I wonder what those are for…' Raymond thought as he looked at the little green mass of pulp.

"It hasn't closed up, it's deep, unhealed, but it doesn't seem to be infected." Raymond said, and the old man squinted at Nua as if he couldn't see her clearly.

"C'mere miss, lemme have a look, I might need ta make one special…" The old man put a hand behind his back and slowly turned to the open path around to the back counter and waited.

Nua glanced at Raymond, and he nodded, granting permission.

She strode around the path, put her back to him, and raised up her shirt halfway in the back. "Good gods!" The old man gasped… "What th-"

"A monster got me, sir." Nua said, and the old man shuffled to the back wall.

"Purple then… is normally about ten gold coins fer this… but I'll give it to yah fer five on accounta thems some bad marks an ah don't feel right bout gougin the injured. If yah cain't pay… there's a form yah can fill out, it'll charge the Kingdom for it."

"I can pay." Raymond said as he thrust his hand into the pouch at his side and began to slap coins down on the counter. The old man took the purple potion from off the shelf and going to stand in front of Nua, he held it up in hands that shook from age. "Go on, drink it down, lass. Is foul stuff. But it'll do the job."

She opened her lips as he looked up at her, and allowed him to pour it over her tongue himself. He was right, it was foul, her hands shivered at the urge to reach up and stop him, but his pleading, barely functioning eyes all but begged her not to stop.

She swallowed until the bottle was tilted all the way up and not a drop remained.

No sooner did he pull it back than she coughed and hacked, spasming a little as it settled in her stomach.

Then the pain was gone.

But she felt something else, the breeze that came through the front door, it caressed her ears, and she felt them twitch. She reached up, her mouth opening, a sense of raw elation on her face as her quivering fingers caressed her now intact ears.

She wiggled them up and down at the side of her head, her face lighting up like a child being given a puppy as a present. For that moment, Raymond knew one thing for sure, 'She is… beautiful, beyond words…'

Then her face met his, the elation held for only a moment, frozen in time that seemed it would last forever, but rather than endure, it broke like a mirror, she clenched her hands around both her ears, and began to sob as if no joy had ever touched her face.

"What's going on?!" Gagaran shouted again, her shoulder cracked the door, one more hit, and Pandora's Actor was sure it would shatter.

He sat at the table, seemingly numb, one hand on his leg, one arm resting on the table surface, and then the door shattered and Gagaran came barreling in, reaching for her weapon and searching for danger.

Nor was she alone, the others were right behind her, and their eyes instantly went to the bizarre scene, Lakyus clinging to the body of Evileye, wailing and sobbing into the face of the limp girl, sword still piercing the late magic caster through and through.

Over and over Lakyus just kept shouting, "I'm sorry… I"m sorry… I'm sorry…"

"What the hell?!" Gagaran screamed and dropped her hammer, it cracked the stone floor before it fell over, but before it did, she was pulling Lakyus away and shaking Evileye's body.

"What happened?! Momon! Lakyus! What happened?!" The faces of the twins went pale white, their kunai out in hand, searching for the danger that took their companion.

'True professionals down to the bottom of their souls.' Pandora's Actor praised them privately, but when Lupusregina followed the others with her hands folded behind her head, she showed no sign of pity.

"It's obvious isn't it- su." Lupu asked, and the trio to enter the room snapped their attention to the red haired cleric.

"She told Lakyus the truth, and Lakyus killed her for it… like a good… lackey, of the temples." Lupu chortled at her terrible pun.

"The truth?! What truth?! Lakyus… your sword… that's your sword… why's it in her body?! What did you do?!" Gagaran shouted at Lakyus as the woman, rocked back and forth as if she were still holding Evileye's corpse.

All the priestess said was, "I"m sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" On a loop.

"Thatcher friend there," she pointed to Evileye, "was a vampire'a course. -Su" Lupu said, and Gagaran snapped up, twisting and bringing a massive, meaty fist toward Lupu.

"Now's not the time for jokes!" She screamed at her drinking companion, but her fist never connected. Lupu's hand came up and with her palm open, she stopped the blow as if it came from an infant.

"That's no joke, cept for her thinkin she was doin Evileye a favor, that's a helluva joke, -su." Lupu said, then with Gagaran still staring, still in position as if she would bring her fist the rest of the way if she could, Lupu stepped in close and backhanded Gagaran across the face, sending the giant woman spinning off and hitting the wall face first.

To her credit, Gagaran was quick to start to rise, her face was red and her nose bloody.

"You're not lying, evil cleric?" Tia said in a quiet voice, her kunai lowered a fraction.

"Nope. I found out, -su." Lupu said and tapped her own nose with her pointer finger, "Evileye could hide most things, but everybody forgets the nose. Check her eyes if'n you don't believe me, or just wait for this one to come back to us, -su." Lupu pointed to the still rocking Lakyus, and Tina, being the closest, approached Evileye's face and lifted her eyelids.

"R-Red. They're red…" She said in stone silence.

"The gods said… the gods said… the gods said… I had to… I had to… I had to… abomination… the undead are abominations… evil… she was cursed, I freed her from her curse, I made it stop for her… I did what I had to do, I did, I did… I did…" Lakyus said while staring blankly ahead at nothing at all.

"She can be… brought back… she can be, right… right Lakyus?!" Gagaran shouted and half staggered over to the crazed priestess.

"Bring her back!" Gagaran screamed as she got in front of Lakyus's face. "Bring her back! Give us back our shorty!" The giant woman howled, her meaty fist connected with Lakyus's face, and it snapped the woman out of her daze when the back of her head connected with the stone floor.

She bounced off the stone and whimpered, "I- I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?! You can't?! Or you won't?!" Gagaran said as she straddled Lakyus's face.

"The sword… it locks away the souls of those it kills… I don't have a way to destroy the sword. But… even if I had some way to get the souls out, and even that would take magic on par with a god? Evileye is… was… an undead. I can't bring her back, not with a mere fifth tier spell! She's dead and there's nothing I can do about it!"

"You bitch! I don't care! I don't care if she was sucking blood out of Momon's cock! She was our Shorty! You give her back to us!" Gagaran bellowed, her fist connected down with Lakyus's jaw again… and again… and again…

"You'll kill her!" Tia and Tina shouted after several blows which Lakyus didn't even try to defend herself against, and Gagaran fell to shouting and wailing, thrashing about as she was pulled away.

Down on the floor, Lakyus's face was a mass of pounded meat, but she made no other noise, as if accepting her death.

Pandora's Actor cast his eyes between them, and simply… waited… as if he too were in shock.

"Ya know… I guess you could blame Lakyus, given that she killed her friend pretty good, -su. But you ferget one big ole thing. Lakyus' just a lackey, the ones who really got her killed are the ones who oughtta pay, am I right, -su?" Lupu asked.

Her eyes pierced the madness of Gagaran's for a moment, though the thrashing continued, it was less, allowing Tia and Tina, who still struggled to hold Gagaran's arms with both of their own, were able to look at the red haired cleric too.

"I mean, you all follow the Six, right? You know you'd have to kill yer friend too, don't you? But here you are, you wouldn't? Apostate much do ya, -su?"

She smirked, "Or do ya just hypocrite all day long, hypocritin around and playing about?" She chuckled as the giant woman's eyes darted about.

"The ones who made Lakyus do that, why it's the Slane Theocracy. They're the real problem." She gave a full shoulder shrug with her arms out, "You know, how they taught all that stuff to priests, you think Lakyus'd do that all on her own, betray her best friend, her sister if it weren't for her gods? Nah, -su."

"The faith of the six made her kill Evileye, poor Lakyus is a victim too… lookie how she is… she's just a shell now… not much left in there." Lupu went over to where Lakyus lay just staring up, empty and broken at the ceiling, and the red haired cleric waved her hand up above Lakyus's vacant eyes. She whistled downward.

"Yoohoo, anybody home? I've got a package for Evileye, it's friendship power straight from the gods… oh, no? You don't want to sign for it, Lakyus? Okay, I'll just take it back and dump it into the gorge, -su." Lupu said and straightened up.

"I… I… no…" Gagaran stopped struggling, and the twins released her. "Y-You're right…" She looked down at the bloody, broken face of Lakyus. "I… I can't forgive you. I won't. But… but you're not the only one to blame… I can't bring myself to kill you. But there are a whole lot more at fault than just you…"

"What… what about her body…?" Momon asked, his eyes welled up.

"She… she was in love with you." Gagaran said, "Did- did you know that?"

"I did… and… and I," he slapped a hand over his chest, "I was going to ask her to marry me at the arena! I knew what she was, but I didn't care…" He proclaimed and the trio that remained 'aware' could only hang their heads.

"She never told us… never told us anything. I can't blame her." Gagaran said with a broken voice and quavering lips.

"Do you know where my estate is in Re-Estize?" Momon asked.

"Yes… I do." Gagaran and the twins nodded together.

"There is a garden there, a little grove of trees, she loved flowering trees, I will bury her in the middle of the circle. Let me… let me take her back, while you-"

"Avenge her." Gagaran snarled.

"I hope you live a good long time… Lakyus… because when I'm done, you will be the last priestess of the water god." Gagaran growled out and crouched down to pick up her hammer.

"We'll come see her… when… when we're ready… Tia, Tina… are you with me?" Gagaran asked.

"Yes." They said, and though they sheathed their kunai, they kept their hands over the hilts.

"Go then… I… I will see to everything else, take care of everything with the dwarves, and… bear her body to what would have been our… our home." Momon said, then added, "Hurry, with the noise you made, someone may come by soon!"

That spurred the trio into action, and they were gone.

Lakyus remained staring up, utterly catatonic at the feet of Pandora's Actor.

"Such a shame… I liked them all so well, even this one. I thought for a time she might even overcome her prejudices, and act out of love for her sister." He said when he was sure the trio were long gone, and nudged Lakyus's broken jaw with his boot.

"Meh, that one… with the old gods… no. That's got no place in the Allfather's world, she's so messed up she thought killing her was love for her sister. Now may I, -su?" Lupu asked, a broad, cruel smile on her face.

"Just make it quick." Pandora's Actor replied, and Lupu's fist came down, smashed into Lakyus's head, and splattered the skull and brain matter across the floor.

'Shalltear. Open a gate, and send in Pestonya to clean the room, und beeil dich, meine Schwester.' Pandora's Actor said when the message spell connected.

'Yes, of course.' Shalltear replied, and the void opened up. Pandora's Actor and Lupusregina Beta waited only a few seconds before Pestonya emerged through the gate.

"Do hurry, I hear people coming. Were it not for all the mining noises so close, I think someone would have come before now." Pandora's Actor replied.

"I got these." Lupusregina said and hefted the two corpses over her shoulders where they lay limp as sacks of potatoes. Pandora's Actor drew the sword out of the corpse and began to run his hand over it.

"A spirit truly lies within and… it seems he is singing for joy." Pandora's Actor said, "What an unexpected thing." He then vanished through the gate while the maid worked magic of her own at his back.

He stepped through the gate and found himself in front of Demiurge in his work room. "Marvelous!" The archdevil cried with almost childlike glee, clapping his hands together as Lupusregina flopped the two corpses onto two metal tables, creating an echoing clang about the room and spattering bits of blood here and there when she did so.

Demiurge's boyish grin spread over his face, "Thank you both, ever so much. I have some wonderful ideas about what to do with these, could you stay and help, perchance, or do you have things to do?"

"Things to do." Pandora's Actor repeated back to his comrade and laid the sword down on the table beside Lakyus's corpse.

"I see… well, it can't be helped, it's fine. Two down, three to go, just… keep an eye on them, discreetly for now, and bring them to me when they're ready." Demiurge said and put his back to them as he began to cut away the ruined clothing from the corpses.

"Of course, but… Demiurge?" Pandora's Actor said before departing.

"Yes?" The archdevil paused and glanced back at his comrade.

"Mein kleiner Vampir, I care for her. Do not forget, and return her to me… as she should be, when you are done." Pandora's Actor said, and Demiurge remained quiet… then gave a slow bow of his head to acknowledge his comrade's feelings.

"The rose may be wilted, but this petal can still be yours when I'm done." He promised, and with that, Pandora's Actor and Lupusregina walked out of the lab without another look behind them.