Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, I've been busy as hell with work and school T.T hope you can forgive me and enjoy the next chapter of rejected!
"Sage! Sage are you alright!" Willows familiar voice wakes me up. I can feel blood dripping down my face but I can't remember what happened and I don't have time to think about it. I looked around and realize that I'm underneath the flipped carriage.
"Sage! please answer me!" Willow continues to call for me. I tried to call back but just end up coughing up blood and when I feel around my stomach I easily find at least two broken ribs. I take a deep breath and focus my Magicka throughout my body. I yelped when the bones start cracking back into place from the healing spell.
"Sage!? Was that you?" I hear her run up to the carriage and try to lift it to no avail.
"I'm here… What happened?" the healing spell is working and I can talk again albeit with a raspy voice.
"I don't know, suddenly the driver yelled and the carriage started flipping. I was flung out but I landed on a soft spot of bush." She replies after giving up on lifting the carriage. Once the spell has finished pushing my bones back into place I try to lift the carriage and determine that it is impossible for only two people.
"You need to get help! We can't lift this on our own" I tell her firmly to try and prevent her from arguing. Before she has the chance to respond an oddly familiar voice calls out
"That won't be necessary, my men will gladly help you." The way he says it reminds me of how Drake would speak to a wounded bird before snuffing out its life. When the wagon lifts I can see several hands holding it and one pair sticking underneath to pull me out. I accept it, ignoring the voice in the back of my head telling me to run far away. I look at the men who have dropped the wagon and are now inspecting us. They're all wearing crude leather armor made from the pelts of animals and none of them seem to have any better weapon than iron. I open my mouth to thank them but two behind me grab my hands and force me to turn around to face what can only be their leader. I really wish I listened to that voice telling me to run when I had the chance.
"Fancy meeting you here Sage" the man speaks with a sickeningly familiar grin.
"Drake…" The name sounds like a disease to me and I know Willow has no good memories about him either. He walks towards me with that horrible grin of his and pulls out a dagger and glass vial filled with some bluish green liquid. He empties the contents of the vial onto the dagger and stares me dead in the eye.
"It is so good to see you again my friend" he says cheerfully as he plunges the dagger into my stomach. I gasp in pain and bite my lip to stop myself from screaming out.
"Oh don't be such a baby; it's just a bit of Magicka poison. I made it myself special for you" He sounds very proud of the poison but I can't dwell on the thought as my vision starts to blur.
"You, heal his wounds and make sure he doesn't pass out" Drake commands one of the men and I can feel the healing energy start closing the wound on my stomach. It doesn't, however, help the feeling of being completely drained.
"You know I'm a bit curious to see how you will react to this particular poison. It drains all Magicka and completely stops any kind of regeneration. Some of my men argued that it was to powerful and that any mage affected with it wouldn't be able to cast even the simplest of spells for over a month." He explains while pulling out another vial of it and turning to Willow.
"Of course it doesn't work terrible well with Bretons because of that pesky Dragonskin ability of there's. Letting them absorb Magicka directly from an outside source overpowers the poison and simply hurts there regeneration. Same basic concepts with high elves with their Highborn power but you don't have any special traits to help you, do you Sage? You're just a regular Nord who use a bit of magic to get what he wants" he says with a anger touching his voice while dipping the tip of the dagger into the vial.
"So this shouldn't have to much of an affect on you" he smiles to Willow but she starts shaking her head with panic in her eyes
"B-but I don't know how to use Dragonskin yet!" her eyes were locked onto the dagger and I could almost taste her fear. Drake simply shrugs
"Well then I guess were going to find out exactly how powerful it is." Just as he finishes speaking Willow pulls one of her arms free and pushes the blade in Drakes hand upwards to his face. He cries out in pain with blood dripping from his eye while one of the bandits punches Willow and gets a firmer grip on her arms. Drake growls angrily before snatching a health potion from one of his men and drinking it. The bleeding stops and the flesh already starts to mend itself.
"I was going to offer a spot amongst our ranks but now… I'm just going to kill you!" He growls at her and picks up the knife he just dropped. I try to struggle against my captors but the poison has completely drained me of my strength. suddenly all I can see in my mind is Willow being stabbed over and over again. the image continues to play in my head on a continuous loop until something inside of me finally cracks and shatters.
"kill them all"
