Chapter 13 - We have a potion to mix

Nuada's face held a confident smirk as he finished the document. The trip to the library had been a good one indeed. He silently thanked Zedk for sparing him the hard work. The goblin spent years in pursuit of the creatures and wrote down every piece of information he could need. The smirk grew wider as he recalled the words in the document.

"They cannot be easily destroyed. No injury made by any weapon can kill them. I've heard stories of a Gama being blown to pieces in a fight. The lower part of his body was not even attached to him anymore, but he did not die. Instead, the creature collected all the blood on the battlefield, through the energetic field, and reconstructed itself. In a matter on minutes, he did not bear even a scratch. Having that story in mind, some believe, and I tend to agree, that, in the absence of blood, the Gama would not regenerate and would finally die. This is very hard to verify, being almost impossible to fight one of them with no blood being spilled."

That was not a good news. However, after years of research, the obsessed goblin came up with a valuable piece of information. He discovered that the creatures could, in fact, be killed.

"Few know about their existence, and the Gamas try to hide themselves as much as possible. Their numbers are scarce as it is. However, the ones that do know of them see Gamas as a great threat that needs to be eliminated (…) Both priests and dark wizards have tried to find a way to kill the creatures. Only magic succeeded. A great wizard created a potion that could make the Gamas unable to defend or heal themselves..."

That last sentence was not the reason for Nuada's good mood. He owed his smile to the fact that Zedk had served the wizard for years, being almost his slave, in order to get the recipe of the potion, and that he had the said recipe written clearly in the document.

This, my good friend Zedk, just earned you my forgiveness for your horrid writing.

Wink was looking at the prince with curiosity. He knew that expression on Nuada. He had that smile in battle, when he was about to deliver the final blow to his opponent.

Nuada put the document aside and approached Wink. The troll was already able to sit up on the bed and was just finishing the food the prince had brought for him.

"I can see you're almost healed, my friend", said Nuada, while checking on him. "That is very good, since we have a potion to mix", the prince added.

Adela finally managed to take some time for herself. Returning to the library, she found her book, sat at one of the tables with a huge mug of coffee in front of her, and started reading. The book told the same story as the legend, but this time it offered more details about the royal court and their customs. Apparently, the twins were over 6.000 years old. That made her head spin and she felt quite ashamed.
I act like I know everything after 500 years. I even tried to patronize Nuala on our first encounter. She almost face-palmed at remembering that. She wanted more information on the prince, but, to her dismay, the book didn't say much about the reasons behind Nuada's self-imposed exile.

Focusing on the book, she failed to hear the doors open and then close. She felt a presence near her, and lifted her eyes.

There stood princess Nuala, looking at her with a small smile on her face.

"I was hoping I would find you here, Lady Adela".

A bit confused by the honorifics, she smiled uncomfortably and pointed to a seat at the table.

"Princess, I know a life at court makes you very polite, but believe me, there's no need to call me Lady", she said.

"Oh…Then what do you want me to call you?", the princess asked in a childish way, inclining her head a bit.

"Ummm…6.000 years? Her? ...Adela is fine. I sometimes answer to "You there!", but I like Adela more", she smirked.

The princess giggled. "I think I started on the wrong foot with names. When Abraham introduced himself to me I told him there is no such name as Sapien".

Adela stared at the princess, but her eyes betrayed her amusement.

"Pointing a knife at him didn't help either", Nuala continued with a playful smile.

Now this is interesting…She has a sense of humor. I'm beginning to like her.

They started to chat about the first meeting with Abraham, when, suddenly, Nuala's voice became serious.

"Why did you save Wink?"

Adela wasn't ready for that question, so she just stared dumbly at the princess.

"I heard my brother say that you saved his friend, why did you do it?"

Looking into the girl's big golden eyes, she felt the need to tell her the truth.

"I…I really don't know. I can't find a decent explanation for that. But when I saw the panic in your brother's eyes, after realizing this Wink was his friend, I just felt the need to do it", she said weakly.

Nuala smiled. "You know, it's the first time in ages that my brother felt in debt to someone".

"Yeah, he was literally suffocating me with his gratitude", she chuckled.

"He did not intend to kill you last night."

"I don't want to offend you, princess…"

"Call me Nuala"

"Ok, Nuala, don't want to offend, but this is not how I remember it", said Adela.

Seeing that the princess was not convinced, she continued.

"He tried to choke me, to tell him what I am, sliced my arm with his spear and then sent that bean-creature after us. I count three attempts", she said to the princess.

"The bean-creature, as you call it, wasn't sent to kill you. I heard his whisper, he sent it for the Demon", Nuala stated.

Interesting, Adela thought, while drinking a bit of her coffee.

"You think my brother is beautiful."

That wasn't a question, it was a statement, and it almost made Adela choke. Her mind went in overdrive as she tried to figure out how on earth the princess knew.

Then it clicked. Abe's words "She has the same gift as me" and the smile Nuala gave her while holding her hand in greeting, when she was very busy comparing her with her brother.

The princess was still smiling at her, taking in her reaction.

"If I remember it well, my main thought was that you are beautiful", grinned Adela, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Actually, you thought 'She's as beautiful as her brother', and that means you were already thinking that he is beautiful when you saw me", replied Nuala looking straight in her eyes.

"Good reply", laughed Adela. "Damn!"

"Adela, hiding from me is useless, and not because I can read your thoughts by touching you, but because I lived more than even you have," smiled Nuala.

Oh God, now she makes me feel like a brat.

"It's so uncommon to hear that description of us, I guess you managed to take me by surprise", said Nuala.

"It is uncommon to hear you two are beautiful? I find that hard to believe!" Doesn't she have a mirror? I feel as attractive as a plank of wood compared to her.

Nuala laughed "To the other elves we are ...odd and quite unattractive. Our scars and eye color make us different".

"You may be different, but not in the bad way. I assure you that other species are quite fascinated. And I'm not talking only about me here..."

Adela smiled at Nuala's light blush. The princess didn't miss her reference to Abe. That subject aside, they kept talking about the team and their activity.

Conversing with Nuala was more pleasant than Adela expected. At a first glance, she was a pretty shy princess, but now she saw that she had a very sharp mind. Frustratingly sharp.

There was one thing that she wanted to ask the princess, but she had to turn the conversation back to Nuada to do it. Sighing, she asked in a low voice.

"Why did you brother sacrifice that creature just to test Red?"

The princess was confused. "He sacrificed who?"

"The bean-creature. I heard him tell Red that it was the last of its kind. He also pressed him to kill it".

"That's new to me", said Nuala bluntly.

"..."

"The bean-creature", she smiled, "is an elemental, A creator and a destroyer of life."

"Umm?"

"A forest God. And it's not the last of its kind".

"It's not?" Adela blurted, looking like an adult being proved that Santa is actually real. She soon got herself under control, as Nuala was getting ready to leave the table.

"No, there are many more. My brother isn't as evil as you think, he wouldn't do that. The worst he can be accused of, in this case, is lying quite shamelessly". After a short pause, the princess added sadly: "He is obsessed with getting our people out of the shadows. He would never endanger any of the species".

Before Adela could ask her any more questions, the princess gave her a small smile and headed towards the doors.

"It's been a pleasure talking to you, Adela", she said as she reached the exit.

"Same here", she replied, as she was left alone with her thoughts.