Chapter 20 - The Aftermath

As soon as I noticed the magical light, it flickered and disappeared. “Shit– NO!”

Thia grabbed my shoulders. “What was that?? What did you do?”

“I… I was trying to…” It didn’t feel like the right time to start explaining. It had worked - even if just for a moment, I had definitely used healing magic. That meant there was a chance it could happen again. If I could just make it happen before it was too late…

“Jeremy?” Thia’s voice was barely more than a whisper. She sniffled, and I felt her release a hand from my shoulder, most likely to wipe her tears.

I didn’t respond, instead focusing on channeling the healing magic again. Trying to retrace my steps, I grimaced and tensed up, hoping to trigger some internal power. Almost immediately, however, I could tell that it wasn’t working. Something felt different than before.

“God damn it.” I punched the ground as my tears returned. I wiped my nose with my arm and took a shuddering breath. “I-I tried to use a healing spell.”

“Oh, Jeremy…” The petite blonde hugged me from behind again. “I am certain that Vestele would have been overjoyed by your efforts…”

“But it wasn’t enough.” I spoke louder than I had intended. “The second we suspected something, I should have… I don’t know, tried to figure it out. Jesus. I could have saved her if I was even just a little better…”

“There’s no way for us to know,” Thia said softly, moving to my side and holding my head against her bosom. She was trying to be strong, even through her tears. “It… that is to say… it is a heretofore unheard-of ability. It is astonishing that you were able to restore some of her hand with your first attempt–”

“What?!” I pulled away from Thia’s embrace and looked at Ves’s flayed hand. It was difficult to remember specific details of how awful it had looked, and I felt like I might have been imaginging things, but it did seem like some of the flesh had started to “reattach” to her bones.

It worked… a little.

My eyes darted all over her horrific injury, as if looking for a clue. I soon realized that something did feel off: she wasn’t bleeding out anymore. I hadn’t finished tightening the tourniquet when I made my attempt at using magic, so the only other option was that she was, in fact, dead.

Just thinking that made me furious, at the old man and at myself. My mind was swarming with hypothetical scenarios: encountering that monster again and how I would react, how I could make sure nothing like this happened to Thia, how to honor Ves’s memory…

Eventually, something caught my attention in the corner of my eye. I looked at Ves’s hand again… and it was healing. The skin and muscles were slowly, slowly, coming back together. My breath caught in my chest as I just stared, having trouble believing that it was actually happening.

Finally, I was able to croak out Thia’s name. She looked down and clapped her hands to her mouth. We exchanged a wordless glance, and I knew that we were both wondering if this meant what we hoped it meant.

I hadn’t thought to check her pulse - partially because, like the tourniquet, I hadn’t even practiced it in over a decade and a half, but mostly because of Ves’s significant blood loss. But now I was more desperate than ever, and hoping for a miracle. I placed my fingers under her jaw and held my breath anxiously.

I felt a pulse.

It was slow, but it was there. “She-she’s alive,” I gasped. Thia’s silent teardrops turned into full-on sobbing. I’m not sure if I was being pessimistic or just realistic, but as excited as I was, I kept hoping that this was actually happening and that the rug wouldn’t get pulled from under us.

Thia and I watched as the healing gradually sped up. Any other time, I might have found this sight to be disgusting, but it was the most wonderful thing I’d ever seen. Watching her entire lower arm and hand stitch itself back together - the veins, the tendons, everything - was beautiful in its own way. It was easy to think of healing magic as just restoring a game character’s hit points, but to see it work to this degree made me realize just how amazing magic really was.

The two of us nearly jumped backwards when Ves made a sudden, gasping breath. Her eyes were still closed, but my jaw dropped and Thia couldn’t stop smiling as her tears continued to fall.

Minutes later, Ves’s hand looked as good as new, and color was returning to her skin. As much as I wanted to try to wake her up, I knew it would be best to give her all the time she needed. Well, in actuality, I was using every ounce of willpower I had to hold myself back. But logically, I knew it was best to give her time.

Fortunately for everyone, it wasn’t a lot of time. Maybe fifteen minutes after she looked externally healed, Ves began to stir. Thia was the first to give in and embrace Ves, lifting her upper body off the ground and holding her tight.

“What… what’s happening…” Ves was still disoriented, but hearing her voice made my heart soar. “Fuck… why does everything hurt so much?”

I gently held her hands. “Are you okay??”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“No!” She coughed. “My whole body fuckin’ hurts!”

Did my spell do something wrong? Did something get put together in some messed-up way? I slapped my own forehead as I realized what it likely was. “I think that’s from my healing spell. Guess it is harder than it looks.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Wait, what?!” She sat up quickly, pulling Thia with her.

Thia and I explained - through tears and lots of interruptions - what had happened with the old man and with Ves. At the end, Ves hugged me, and with her voice muffled against my shoulder, said “…Thank you.”

----------------------------------------

“No, it’s okay. Let’s keep moving until we get to the nearest inn.” Ves picked up her dropped glove and pulled it over her newly-healed hand.

“We don’t mind going back to Perrenbrook.” I looked at Thia for backup, who nodded enthusiastically. “We can get a fresh start tomorrow, or whenever you’re feeling better.”

“Ugh, no, please. How pathetic would that be? And how would we even explain… any of it? We’re at least halfway to the first stop, anyway.”

“Well… at least promise that we’ll stay there as long as you need.”

“Whatever you say, dad.” Ves’s half-grin made it clear that she was just giving me a hard time, likely deflecting from everything that had just happened. She beckoned us closer to her as she cast her cleaning spell.

Thia giggled and held my arm as we stepped towards Ves. “That may have to count as a promise.”

I rolled my eyes with an “Alright, geez,” but my smile betrayed my faux-exasperation. Ves’s spell finished up, the light fading, and we all looked as good as new: no more bloody armor or dirty faces. It was hard to believe that, just minutes ago, Ves was on the brink of death.

We gathered our packs and double-checked both the road around us and the nearby area where we had lunch to make sure we didn’t leave anything behind. Ves got impatient with my stalling, so there was no choice but to move on ahead.

It was quiet at first. No one spoke, and even the ambient noise of the forest around us felt subdued - possibly because of the zombie wolves frightening everything around them. I broke the silence, although I was hesitant to do so. “We need to remember to buy at least one spare healing potion the next time we’re in a town.”

Ves averted her eyes. I knew she had to have been embarrassed to be the focus of this kind of attention.

Thia, however, spoke up. “Unfortunately… we cannot afford any.”

“What, really??”

She nodded. “Even with all of our current funds combined. They are quite expensive. And I doubt that a village such as Perrenbrook would have had any to sell.”

“Oh, damn…” So much for that backup plan.

The fur on Ves’s tail bristled. “You already used up your only potion on me.”

“You saved my life! It was the least I could do.” Thia moved so she was walking side-by-side with Ves. “I would do it again, without hesitation.”

“I don’t want that! I mean, I don’t want to put you in that position again. A Healer’s no good if she keeps… almost dying.” Her ears had flattened.

Thia jogged in front of Ves and held her hands, both of them coming to a stop. I had been trying to act like I wasn’t there in case they wanted a little privacy for this discussion, so it took me a few seconds to realize I was the only one walking ahead.

“Vestele. You did not get injured through any fault of your own. As a Defender, it is - and always shall be - my responsibility to keep you from harm.”

As much as I didn’t want to butt in, I felt like it was necessary here. “Hey - that was then; this is now. There was nothing any of us could have done against that guy. We do need more practice, but it’s not like we’ve been avoiding it. I can’t imagine that many quests start off with the party getting wiped out by some… supervillain within the first few hours. Right?”

Ves gave me a look that was a mixture of amusement and mild annoyance - a look that was becoming increasingly familiar to me. “I guess?”

“Let me be clear: I fucking hate that guy. I want us to finish our task for the Seekers–”

“Which hopefully has secret treasure…” Ves grinned.

“Hopefully! I want to finish one way or another because we said that we’d do it. I don’t want to start leaving things half-done now that I’ve got a fresh start here.” Easier said than done, though… “But after that, I want to figure out who that guy is and what his fucking problem is.”

Ves and Thia didn’t look like they disagreed, but more like they were apprehensive at the idea of poking the hornet’s nest. I quickly added more. “Not necessarily so we can do anything about him, but we could point others in his direction.”

“Given the option,” Thia said quietly, “I would rather never see or hear from that man again. But if there is a chance that he can be put to justice, then… I would like to help ensure that happens.”

Ves tightened her fists, her shoulders tense and tail bristling again. “He tried to kill me. Hell yes, I want that guy to suffer.”

I felt the same way about what he did to Ves, but I didn’t want to put too much pressure on that wound. “So, we’re all on the same page.” I continued walking down the road, motioning for the others to follow.

Ves caught up to my side. “That guy was obsessed with you. You sure you don’t know who he is?”

“No idea. I haven’t met many old men with bloody bandages who can command the undead and peel the flesh off of bones. But, damn, I knew there was something up with that guy when I met him.”

Ves hit my arm. “You just said you didn’t know him!”

“Hey! I only saw him for, like, a minute yesterday. I told you about that this morning!”

“THAT’S the guy you saw? The Healer guy?”

“Yes! I know I mentioned the gauze and everything!”

Thia looked baffled. “Wait - what?? What are you talking about?”

I caught Thia up on my brief run-in with the man the previous day, making sure to go into as much detail as possible: telling me that I looked like I was in another world, how his bloody wounds were in different places than they were today, how he just casually entered someone else’s house. “I think he must know that I’m not from Fielende. But how much more does he know? Why does he think I have potential?” I scoffed the last word, not used to anyone thinking that about me.

“You do have potential, Jeremy.” Thia looked at Ves for validation. “You cast two spells today. Two spells, from two different classes - neither of which is your actual class.” She poked my leather armor square in the chest.

With all the stress and excitement of Ves narrowly dodging death, I hadn’t even thought about the healing magic. “Ah, shit, you’re right. Still, how did he know? I haven’t told anyone apart from you two. Hell, pretty much the only time I haven’t been with at least one of you was when I met that creep.”

No one said anything for a few minutes as we all let the conversation percolate in our minds. My hand accidentally brushed against Ves’s, and maybe I was feeling protective, or just concerned… or maybe because I liked her so much… I held her hand. Ves turned her head slightly towards me and gave me a shy smile.

My mind went back to the conversation that was interrupted by the stampeding animals. No risk, no reward… right? With only a little hesitation, I reached out with my other hand, towards Thia’s. Almost as if she were anticipating this, she eagerly took my hand and gave it a light squeeze.