Chapter One Hundred And Forty Seven - A Kingdom In Need Of Healing

While Oswyn and Leif educated certain Magi and soldiers, Lewin, Wulfgar and Elyas with Saewulf in tow swiftly moved as they navigated properties and soldiers in the upper section of the city. Angry mobs of hungry civilians had taken to protest on the stairway that separated the common areas from the middle sections of the city, but they could not all be contained there. Many pushed through and rushed over and past the rubble that was all that remained of merchant houses thanks to the magical siege of the Mage Halls and towards the upper section where most met with death as the soldiers protected those who were thought to still have access to food.

Bodies were thrown back to the middle sections to be burnt, but the elite were far from satisfied that with the protection, complaining that the smell of burning flesh was too rank and could that not have been performed outside of the city walls? And where was the next shipment of seasonings and cloth? The food upon their plates had been far to small an amount and plain of taste and could they not see that the women were still wearing last season's dresses? Many of the soldiers acting as law enforcement were nearing the end of their patience. The King had promised them reward for their loyalty, it was the only thing keeping them tethered, but most were wondering how the man that was meant to be their ruler was going to settle the situation. They were unaware that the man was cowering in his castle, hoping that the Council would offer a solution soon! The Council, however, had no plans to pick their floundering King from the murk in which he sank, more worried about their own coffers and lives than his.

Not caring for any of that, the four men made their way to the large, but quite plain building not too far from the castle. Elyas lifted Saewulf into his arms, instructing him to close his eyes and cast a small illusion upon his body that looked as if it were a stain of dripping blood. Only if one looked closely would they see that this was not blood but tiny, dancing red flames. The drips seemed to spark out of existence before they even hit the floor. Wulfgar pushed open the solid doors and allowed Elyas to hurry inside. Lewin followed in Wulfgar's shadow as they too entered.

"Help!" Elyas called as he saw an unfamiliar man in servants clothes approach them. There were injured soldiers sitting on the floor, but apart from a few odd bruises and small cuts, they did not look too hurt. An injured mage stood apart from them, but again his wounds looked superficial. No one with mortal injuries and close to death could he see waiting in the room.

The servant glanced at Saewulf's 'wound' and appeared flustered. He was about to usher them into the lone empty room nearby when the doors reopened and a woman and her maids entered. The woman was clutching her wrist like it was precious and her maids cooed and fawned all over her. Elyas rolled his eyes heavenward as the familiar woman barged past them.

"My Lady is hurt!" A maid said hurriedly.

"She must be seen by the Healer now!" Another demanded. The soldiers frowned as they noticed the Healer's man was suddenly torn between helping the boy, whose wound dripped blood and the woman with a strain?

"There is only one room left," the man tried to explain.

"Please," Elyas' eyes widened and filled with tears on cue. "My brother was badly hurt during a skirmish with some rebels that broke through..."

"Humph!" The first maid did not look impressed. From the dress of the boy, he was just a commoner, who was he to make such demands! The noble woman groaned, exaggeratedly. "My Lady was badly hurt whilst disciplining a new girl. How can this possibly compare?!"

"Indeed," said a gruff soldier who stood in the women's way. "How the fuck could this pathetic injury possibly compare?" He had been made by his superiors come here to seek healing when a commoner's weapon of choice (a clay vase) was launched at his head. He had protested, thinking that he should be helping to protect the city not sit back here because of a scratch. And in the end, what the fuck was he protecting? He indicated that the mage and his friends ought to go ahead first with a nod of his head.

"Thank you," Elyas murmured to him, feeling a slight guilt that they had needed to fool the clearly honest man. The war was not their fault, they were simply following orders. He hoped more of them would question those orders and lessen the burden upon this fallen Kingdom.

On entering the room, the four took position in wait; Elyas beside the bed with his back to the door and hiding the sweet face of his love who lie upon the bed.  Wulfgar stood behind the door, ready to close and lock it when the one they waited for finally arrived.  Lewin, for his own reasons, stood close by him and would also be out of sight of those who entered.  They did not have to wait long.

The golden haired man entered, a young boy of only seven years beside him and already showing signs of similar streaks of gold within his brown, curly locks.  His sweet, round face had dull eyes, as if his youthful innocence had already been stripped from them.  Wulfgar instantly felt kinship with the child.

"What seems to be the issue here?" The man asked as they entered, looking at the notes he had rather than at his clients.  He had already assumed that they were the Kings soldiers hurt in the riots or one of his usual, spoilt clients and did not pause as he approached the bed.  He froze as a familiar, beautiful face locked in innocence gazed up at him with his small smile.  "You are alive..." he whispered beneath his breath, tingles of delight rushing through his body.

The door shut behind him and he became aware that there were others in the room.  He noticed the large and as ever protective Five, his back against the door and another youth with him, who looked coldly at him.  And there was the boy sitting beside the bed.  "I would say that it is good to see you again, Teacher," Elyas greeted him.  "But that would be a lie."

"Oh, this is unexpected," Vitalous mused as he tossed the paperwork onto the bed, abandoning all pretence.  "My former student, my former toys and my..." he shook his head.  "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"We came here to kill you," Wulfgar told him without censure.  Vitalous stared at him for a moment and burst into laughter.

"Ah, my sins come back to haunt me!" Vitalous mused.  Lewin looked at this man, truly looked at him and what he saw shook him to the core.  The small boy began to shiver as if his fragile psyche could no longer take the madness of his Teacher nor the bloodlust in the air.  But he found himself wrapped in two arms of thick steel, warmth, that he had not felt in a while, pouring into his little body and he settled into the embrace.

"You feel nothing for what you have done?" Elyas asked him.

"And what have I done?" Vitalous sneered.  "Those children likely would have died or been trampled under foot by the so called elite eventually.  I simply put them out of their suffering sooner and those who survived were stronger for it.  Oh leaving them in the hands of those greedy bastards was a regrettable mistake, but you already dealt with them did you not?"  He had felt amusement when he had heard the reports that the Southern Magi tower had suffered a complete massacre.  Third rate and dissatisfied magi along with a shadowy group that could not hold their own in the underworld, all dead at the hands of those they believed that they controlled.  He had felt a little upset that he had lost his toys and would not be able to use them to help fuel the upcoming war, but it was not as if he had no other plans in place...

"I still cannot understand why..." Lewin murmured, nausea rising in his guts.  Who... what exactly was this man before him?

"That is because you lack vision!" Vitalous looked at the boy with disgust.  This boy, whose abilities marked him rare, but lacked the magical capacity required in order for him to rise so could not be indoctrinated into his classes.  A pity.  "This Kingdom is weak, it's people are weak and it's rulers are keeping them weak.  Anyone with any ability is suppressed and anyone with unearned wealth can flourish, how is that right?  The Kingdom is dying, the poison needed to be purged.  I am a Healer, naturally it is my duty to see this through.  So I do not have the time nor the patience to deal with your tantrums now."

"You are mad!" Elyas said, shaking his head sadly.  Whilst he could not disagree that the Kingdom had been corrupt when he had left it, he did not believe that plunging it into civil war and causing the deaths of thousands of innocents the best way of dealing with it.  He also did not doubt, however, that were nothing done, that the war would have occurred eventually anyway.

"I am a Healer!" Vitalous screamed, his eyes wide and bloodshot and spittle trickling down his chin.  "I will Heal this Kingdom!  I will make it better!  I will stop the suffering of those who never deserved it and make the ones who caused it pay!  I will make them pay!"

The little black snake and the small white viper threw themselves from their respective perches onto the Teacher and plunged their fangs and venom into his skin.  The man jumped backwards, clutching his arm and attempted to send his magic into his veins to remove the poison, but it was not the deadly venom he expected that pumped through them.

"There once was a boy," a voice came from the bed and he rose his eyes to see a fully coherent Saewulf sitting there.  "There once was a boy, who was abandoned by his parents, but given hope of a new life.  Only that too was taken away and the child could not cope and retreated into his mind so he could be surrounded by peace and memories of better times.  And while he sheltered, his body became susceptible to commands and he was used to kill people.  But internally, he was screaming, he was fully aware of what he was doing and had to watch as people, generally innocent people died by his own hand.  But don't worry, he won't kill you."

The Teacher looked at the boy half fascinated and half horrified as he felt his consciousness being drawn back into his skull, still able to hear, still able to see, experiencing exactly what the boy had described.  "He also won't tell you to kill," Saewulf continued.  "No, instead, you will Heal, just as you wanted.  But you will Heal everyone who asks for it, be it those in dire need or those spoilt rich who demand it unnecessarily.  Yes, I recall those times when you summoned me, just to whinge about their petty demands and how much you loathed them.  But are you not just like them in the end? Using innocent lives to satisfy your depravity?  No, no need to answer that... but then again, you cannot now can you."

Lewin looked shocked as he realised that the mad man now had a strange, blank look upon his face and was staring into thin air.  It was the same glassy look of Saewulf in his child state.  Saewulf suggested that he continued with his rounds and they watched as he left the room to do exactly that.

"Why did you not kill him?" Wulfgar asked as he adjusted the now sleeping child in his arms.  The exhausted boy had simply collapsed, feeling safe in the arms of the gentle giant.  Lewin glanced at the little one, clearly a Healer himself.  How harsh had his apprenticeship become already that he was in such a state?

"He was right about one thing, the Kingdom needs healing," Saewulf shrugged.  "It just does not need him."  Elyas wrapped his arms around his beloved, just finally satisfied to have him fully beside him once more, Saewulf returned his embrace.  "Let's go home," he said, Wulfgar nodded in agreement and they left the room with Lewin a half step behind them.  The boy paused for a moment as he watched them walk down the corridor, before glancing in the other direction.

"Goodbye, father," he whispered, softly and closed a certain door within himself before rejoining his friends.