Author's Note: Possible warning for gore in this chapter.
Chapter 14: Heat
I could never be a professional chef.
Well, professional baker really, since my favourite thing to cook was cakes. Honestly though, I did love cooking. I wasn't a particularly fast chef (which was one reason I could never seriously do it as a profession), but I always felt I poured my heart into what I made. I enjoyed the process, and part of my success in this world so far had been due to the fact that my food usually came out quite well.
Despite my love for it though, cooking could never be a full-time job for me. The main reason being that I absolutely hated heat.
"Anything over 20 degrees Celsius," I had once complained, mostly jokingly, to a friend, "Would melt me."
I recall going to Italy one summer. The heat there had reduced me to an irritable mess of sunburns and, ironically, the common cold. It was an unfortunate holiday. I'd been looking forward to taking in the culture, visiting the historical Pompeii and sampling some genuine Italian cuisine.
But I couldn't stand the heat, so ultimately I was glad when the week was up and I could get out of the metaphorical kitchen.
That heat though... Had been in the 30s.
By comparison, I vaguely remember science classes and safety speeches from firefighters, where they would mention how fires would be closer to the 500 mark.
500 seemed a bit high – was I remembering that right? Surely that'd be more the temperature of the Sun or something? Maybe 500 was the temperature in Fahrenheit?
Or maybe it was my brain, sizzling in the heat of the burning castle, exaggerating in the way it often did when overwhelmed.
Whatever the case, every second was agony. I had pulled my shirt up to my nose and mouth to cover them in the thin fibre. Those same safety speeches had, after all, emphasised that fire wasn't usually the killer. Smoke was far deadlier.
It just added the extra layer of difficulty with me trying to gulp for air through the fibres of the cotton or silk or... Well, mainly just rags now.
It hardly mattered what I was wearing with the amount of ash and cinders falling on me from the ruined corridors. Oh, that door looked familiar – wasn't that where I'd spoken to Hinoka? The spears on her wall seemed to have fallen into the fire, and the only part of the room the fire seemed to not have touched was the shrine.
Probably a magical fire. I would have pulled Jake from my pocket to see if I could analyse the flame, but it was hard enough to move. And, I had a mission.
Which one of these rooms was Yukimura's again? It occurred to me far too late that I hadn't asked Eldegai.
What was next to Hinoka's room?
To the left seemed to be the remains of a tea set in the guest area. The china looked a little too flowery for what I knew of Yukimura's tastes. Across the hall from Hinoka's room, the door seemed to have been blocked by a collapsed wooden beam from the ceiling.
A loud crash somewhere in the background noise prompted me to move further inwards. Hopefully Yukimura's room wasn't one of the inaccessible ones. Thankfully, a few doors later, I found what had to be Yukimura's chambers.
This room seemed to have barely been touched by the invaders, and the fire hadn't spread too far in. Yukimura seemed to have decorated his entrance chambers with strange automatons and devices. I recognised one of them as being one of the clockwork horses ridden by the Mechanist class in the game.
But... Wait... Where was the trap door to the dungeons? Eldegai had said it was a hidden entrance...
I shut the door behind me as I stepped in, taking big gulps of the air. The smoke hadn't managed to work its way into this room, but the heat and crackling were still telling even with the wooden door between the raging fire and I.
The slight drop in temperature also caused me to notice something – a huge thing, actually. My entire body was alight with pain. Looking at my arms through the few threads still making up my sleeves, I could see red flesh peeling away in huge chunks, opening to blackened bone beneath. A glance down at my barely concealed body revealed much the same. A congealed mush of blood, ash and skin dropped from my chin as I looked down, confirming my suspicions that my face was largely in the same state.
Suddenly the remaining throbs of discomfort from my ankles didn't seem so bad.
I fell forward onto the ground, grunting only slightly at the impact, since that hardly mattered compared to the levels of pain I already felt.
"Get back!"
... Was that a voice? Somebody shouting?
I pressed the side of my head to the floor boards, moaning at the open wound on my head being touched by anything. Apparently my left ear had been burned almost completely off.
Wait... Floor boards? There was wood under this carpet – that meant the trap door must be somewhere nearby too!
The carpet was split into long rectangles made of some oddly springy material – tatami mats? Given that my only prior experience with them had been in Japanese anime and manga, I couldn't be sure that's what these were... But at any rate, surely the trap door had to be hidden beneath one of these specific mats.
After bracing myself, I pounded at the floor with those flaking rods I had once called arms. Clunk.
Not that one. Damn it. This banging definitely wasn't going to speed up my weird healing.
Another clunk. And another. Then another.
As I crawled behind the table, I heard another shout, "Stop!" Who was that, and why were they yelling?
Another clunk. Then... Thud! Of course. It would be right next to the mechanical horse.
After lifting the tatami mat away, the trap door was revealed – a large slab of stone surrounded by the thinner boards of the regular wood flooring. I heaved at it, my arms feeling like they would snap as the rock pulled away. I pushed it to the side, hanging over the edge just slightly as I peered into the darkness below.
Except it wasn't dark. The room below was illuminated by a torch. Its bearer looked up at me... As did her fellow roommates.
"Derek!" Azura seemed surprised and confused. She looked past me briefly at the ceiling of Yukimura's room, then turned her annoyance back to the others with her.
Jakob, for his part, spared me only a glance before focusing back on his opponent. Despite Ganglari strapped to his back, he wielded a knife in each hand... Were those kitchen knives? I could have sworn I remembered washing the knife in his left hand – the one with the fox shaped hilt made from silver.
The other person below me was a stranger, and evidently I was to her too. "By the flames, what is that?!" Already holding a club defensively against Jakob, she seemed unsure of what to do against me.
Confusion gave way to a flush of pain. Unlike the physical burns covering my body, this one seemed to radiate from the inside. Somewhere close to my lower abdomen. I clutched at it, in the process losing my balance and collapsing into the hole.
The woman lunged at me as I fell, though as her club struck me, I felt... Nothing.
"Stop that!" Azura said. She seemed annoyed, like this wasn't the first time she'd told the woman off. "You already know you can't hurt him, and neither can he hurt you!"
I collapsed on the stone floor nonetheless. The pain within me burned, like a flame had gotten stuck in my chest.
The trio, it seemed, were in a cell near the entrance to the prison. There was no door on this cell though, instead opening to the familiar corridor. The smell was not so bad here, but was just noticeable were one to search for it. Perhaps that was my imagination.
The woman was looking me over as I stared up at her. The skulls around her waist seemed to betray more emotion. "I see. He's no monster. Just badly burnt. Aren't you a healer?"
Jakob scoffed, her question having been directed to him. "Of course I am, and aren't you supposed to be an expert on burns?"
The woman glared at him, "Not magical burns. The Flame Tribe forbade such heathen magic long ago."
Azura sighed, turning away from the squabbling pair, "Derek, why did you come here? What happened?" she seemed suddenly worried.
I groaned in response. Azura looked to Jakob, who reluctantly pulled out his staff. Images of what had happened when Zama had tried to heal me back in Valla flashed through my mind... That had not been a pleasant experience. I weakly waved Jakob off. I'd heal in my own natural unnatural way. I left my arm raised slightly. It hurt less there than it touching the floor.
Jakob rolled his eyes, shrugging at Azura, "I won't heal somebody so ungrateful and unwilling."
Azura kneeled beside me, speaking softly, "Derek, if you can speak, I'd like to know what's happening outside. I came to ensure that Jakob had kept the sword safe from the invaders. I'd rather not risk them coming back for it either."
My hand moved ever so slightly... And grabbed at Azura's pendant. She gave a yell in surprise, trying to hit my hand away.
I coughed, looking at her, "D-Dragon... Stone..." I told her. My arm fell away, as I collapsed fully on the ground, only looking at their boots from the very floor... Wasn't Azura uncomfortable with bare feet on this stone floor?
She blinked, then her eyes widened. "No! I feared this day would never come."
She stood, turning to Jakob. Something in her appearance must have alarmed him, because he suddenly seemed to accurately suggest the heart of the problem, "It can't be Lady Corrin!"
"I don't believe she's hurt!" Azura reassured him. "But there is a chance she could be!"
"Then we must hurry!" Jakob exclaimed. He rushed to leave, Azura running after him. I hoped they would reach the plaza in time... Before Corrin seriously hurt anyone...
Perhaps I should check the situation myself? I hadn't looked back at the plaza on my map since I had left.
The Flame Tribe woman looked after them, confused and angry. She turned her attention back at me, disgust in her face as she regarded me, "If the Chief had not ended our treaty with Hoshido, perhaps I could have put you out of your misery."
It was then I realised who this woman was. She'd been present at the dinner table when Mikoto had made a big fuss over wanting to meet me. She'd even accompanied Prince Ryoma to the Canyon in order to speak to Rinkah.
"You're... The ambassador..." I told her. She scowled back at me.
"Former ambassador," she said simply. "Kahua of the Flame Tribe, so the barrier lets me hurt Hoshidans, but not kill."
I took a moment to parse her words. I wondered whether she actually considered Rinkah a friend, or whether their Tribe's isolationist nature even applied internally. Wait...
"Barrier?" I repeated.
She looked down at me like I was an idiot then. "You know! The barrier Queen Mikoto set up. It doesn't let people from countries not treatied with Hoshido to kill Hoshidans unless acting purely in self-defence." She looked at the door. "It's mainly so Nohrians can't just come and slaughter Hoshidans, of course. Although the Chief cancelling the treaty does mean that neither Jakob nor I could actually seriously hurt one another."
I stared at her, "You tried?"
She shook her head, "I thought he started the fire, but Princess Azura kept defending him. I-"
"I have to go after them!" I interrupted. "M- Queen Mikoto was attacked too."
Kahua raised an auburn eyebrow, "Queen Mikoto? She can't die while the barrier is up. She's in no real danger."
"That's..." Not strictly true, I wanted to say. Ganglari had managed to kill her just fine in the game... Could the Vallites' arrows have done the same thing?
"Hey, are you still listening?!" Kahua said, her rise in volume making me jump. "Hmph. Guess you weren't."
I looked apologetically at her, noting with relief as I did that the pain in my entire body was slowly fading away.
"I was asking what you knew about that guy with the sword?"
I took a moment to process her question, then looked at her strangely. I wanted to pull myself into a sitting position, or at least to be more comfortable, but my limbs would not respond.
"Jakob?" I asked. My voice came out as a hoarse crown at first, so I coughed, and tried again. "Ja-koff!"
My second attempt was spoiled by an involuntary cough, which sprayed soot and ash.
"Yes, him," Kahua demanded, impatiently. The distaste with which she spat out the pronoun would likely have been amplified at saying his name itself, though how that could have ever been more full of loathing was a worrying thought.
Once I recovered from my coughing and spluttering, I spoke. My face felt awful – but I could hardly wipe it. "He's... Lady Corrin's butler... He's fiercely protective of her, but he distrusts most others he meets."
"I could tell that much!" Kahua snapped. "What I meant was... What is that sword, and why does he have it?"
The sword...? Oh. Ganglari. "King Garon gave it to Princess Corrin. There's... I believe it has a curse on it, so thought it best to keep it away from the Queen."
Kahua turned towards the door, her scowl audible in her words, "Should he have really run off towards the Queen with the sword then?"
I stared at the back of her head, then tried desperately to regain control of my limbs. "K-Kahua!" I spat out, frustrated and desperate as I continued to struggle. "Y-you have to go after them! Get the sword away!"
"I don't have to do anything!" Kahua snapped, kicking me in the ribs. I felt that. "But yes. I don't wish to see Lady Mikoto hurt either."
She bolted from the room, and I hoped with all my heart that she made it before it was too late... If I could see Jake's map...
The phone-like device appeared in front of my face, floating there. I blinked at it.
A crowd of people was moving away from the castle, towards the city. Had they put out the fire, or had Azura and Jakob merely convinced them to give them aid? I couldn't tell. In the centre of the city, the red dots had diminished rapidly, until only a few remained, seemingly cornered by blue units. One large green unit – probably Corrin in her dragon form – was away from the others, apparently... Chasing a blue unit through the streets. A small gaggle of blue dots remained in the central plaza – Mikoto, and whoever was taking care of her.
A duo of blue spots moved down the streets towards Corrin. I suppose that should solve things soon enough...
"S-stats?" I asked out loud, and the screen changed, showing a summary of my own condition. I... Hadn't levelled up, but my HP was listed as... Full?
No negative stat effects or positive buffs, other than the HP+5 skill I had already known about... Could Jake not tell the agony I was in?! Admittedly, my current pain technically came from not being able to feel any pain, but calling my current condition fine seemed a stretch.
"Map," I said, and the map showed again.
"I'm not giving you a map."
I looked up. A guard stood over me, looking down confusedly at me.
"Lady Kinipela told me there was an injured person here. I didn't expect to see you would be talking to yourself too."
"Only person who listens," I joked, reflexively, before inwardly wincing.
The guard frowned, "I'm not sure it's even safe to move you in your current state... Aren't you meant to be the immortal monster people were gossiping about anyway?"
"Y-yeah," I said, "I... Wouldn't say immortal but... Hopefully I'll heal soon."
"Alright." The guard shrugged. "I'll just..." he tossed a blanket down beside me. My wince this time was external.
Kahua returned minutes later, her seeming perpetual annoyance not providing me with much hope.
"Damn butler still wouldn't give me the damn blade," she grumbled.
"Derek!" Eldegai followed the tribalist into the cell. "Princess Azura recognised me!" In his hand was the hilt of Ganglari, the sword hanging loosely from his grip. His voice was filled with awe, and his eyes wide with surprise.
I smiled at him, thankful that the few minutes had been enough for me to reach a sitting position. The towel was draped over my front – covering the worst of my burns and bloodied chest. The sight of me was enough to actually wipe the dazed look from his face though. He dropped the sword on the floor – Kahua frowned when it made no noise upon impact – and moved closer to kneel beside me.
"Gods, Derek!" Eldegai swore, taking in my condition. "Why did you have to go running through the burning building like that?"
"Had to get Azura for Corrin," I told him. "What happened?"
"Princess Azura caused quite the commotion when she came out – none of the guards believed me that she was down there.
I laughed, though the motion caused blood to spill from my mouth, and my chest to sear with renewed pain. It did not go unnoticed.
"Damn! You're worse than I thought!" Eldegai swore. He rose, motioning to leave. "I'll get a healer!"
"He already refused healing from that Nohrian servant," Kahua told him. I wondered briefly why she was still there, eyeing my injuries with interest in her eyes, though her face remained dispassionate.
I clenched my fists, feeling my throat tighten in protest as I forced it to rumble sounds together into croaking words. "Can't get healed. Allergic."
"'Allergic'?" Eldegai repeated as though unfamiliar with the word. He ignored it for now, though. "But how are you gonna get healed – those injuries could kill you!"
With shaking my head apparently impossible, I settled for turning it away from Eldegai. I hoped he understood what the gesture was, and not, as I realised slightly belatedly, that it looked rather more like I was turning away in order to be dishonest. "I'll get better... I seem to heal quickly.
"You've lost a lot of blood," Kahua observed rather unhelpfully.
"Derek," Eldegai said, his voice pleading. His eyes seemed shiny. "I've already lost one friend. I won't lose another."
He left, before I could stop him, and I turned to Kahua.
She shook her head, "I'm not going after him too."
I sighed, and laid down. Really, it was more like a collapse than a conscious effort, but it worked.
"Can you... At least stop any healing attempts... Please?" I asked her, closing my eyes.
"Fine," she grunted. She thudded against something, then muttered some swears about cursed swords, stupid foreigners and the damn Hoshidans on her way out.
...
When I woke, my body felt normal enough for me to stand. The worst of the cuts and burns had faded to a red I'd describe as annoyed rather than angry. A number of purple bruises spread across my chest and the flesh of my joints. At least I wasn't bleeding, and I only hurt now when I touched anything.
Upon leaving the dungeons, the guard nodded at me, and I realised exactly why he'd given me the additional covering – it was snowing.
Only around the castle though. The falling snow suddenly stopped a few metres away from the castle, like a shelter was stopping it from getting onto the gardens. The fire, thankfully, seemed to have stopped consuming the castle.
"Only way the onmyoji managed to extinguish it," the guard told me. "They say it'll stop soon." He paused, looking away from the castle towards the city.
"Has there been word?" I asked. I briefly wondered whether all had gone safely in the city.
"No, but it's stopped," said the guard. "I mean the sound of violence."
The ghost of a smile rose unbidden to my lips before I could ask something else that was bugging me. "Have you seen Eldegai or Kahua?"
"You mean the wiry guy and the Flame Tribe woman?" the guard scratched his head, his round red helmet apparently wide enough for him to reach inside the brim. "The guy came out to get you some help, but the Fire woman said you didn't want any. She took him to see if they could help in the city instead."
"Thank you," I told him.
A few moments passed, with me staring at my map.
"Got a good hand?" the guard frowned. "I thought you'd be heading off to help too."
I looked at him in confusion for a moment, then remembered he couldn't see the blue dots approaching the castle on my map. "No. They'll be here soon."
The guard seemed bemused, but remained silent. The map was clear of red. I had watched Azura and Jakob reach Corrin, who had been hostile at first, but was finally soothed by Azura's song. Clicking on Corrin's (now regular sized) dot, I found that the Dragonstone was now within her inventory. Jakob had apparently used his staff to heal Azura and Yukimura, and the four had regrouped with the others. I kept tapping on the dots, but my clumsy fingers were unable to properly select each one to find out whether Mikoto was amongst the crowd.
Soon enough though, the vibrant colours of the Hoshidans appeared in my real view. The reds of Prince Ryoma's armour led the way, though the rest of the royal siblings were hidden behind the mass of soldiers.
The procession ignored the guard and I, of course, heading straight to the royal chambers to assess the damage, and to the main halls where they could properly take stock of the situation.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed a flash of blue amongst the dominant reds and whites. Azura, whose blue hair had caught my attention, waved at the guard beside me. I looked at him, to find he was looking back at me instead.
"She meant you," he shrugged, and I grimaced at my own foolishness.
A short jog later, and I was walking beside the princes and princesses of Hoshido. And the still-living Queen Mikoto.
...
Author's Note:
I tried to go into as much detail as I could for the pain from the fire and subsequent injuries, though I'm not sure how well I did. I worry that if I did too well, I'd need to change this story to an M-Rating for gore, but I'll leave that decision up to readers.