Sands of Aranoch
by Hikako
Chapter Three - Potions and Healing
Morgaine followed Lothose and Auden as they hauled Gawane into the Necromancer's lair. Soon after the battle Gawane collasped and wouldn't wake up, even after they gave him the few remaining healing potions they had left. Morgaine, Anasta, and Hipponia did all they could to help Auden and Lothose but there was little, if anything, they could have done to help Gawane.
The 'lair' of Lothose wasn't what Morgaine had expected. Cold, clammy, and dark were the words that immediately came to mind; cave, grave, and tombs were the words that followed. However, when Lothose opened the door to his home none of these described the inside of the rock.
Surprisingly, the home of Lothose was very bright and welcoming. The floor was hard, polished, wood with several blue Kehjistan carpets and cushioned furniture. The walls were lined with ancient tomes with several torches hanging in almost random places. Morgaine would've taken more in if her main concern had been the furnishings of a necromancer, instead it had lain with the Paladin Gawane.
The room Lothose and Auden carried Gawane into was small, about five by ten feet, and the walls had numerous shelves with potions of every color. The table in the center of the room was covered with books, half-finished documents, and several potions, which was cleared away with a sweep of Lothose's arm. On the table they laid the dying paladin, his occasional moan the only proof he was still alive.
Lothose went to the far corner of the room and opened a wooden chest with a single whispered word. Gathering several potions he walked over to the table Gawane lay upon and began to sort through the potions. Auden stood by, worry and grief apparent on his face, with Anasta and Hipponia standing by the door. Morgaine stood at the head to the table and looked down at the burnt body of her friend.
"This should counter-attack the poison that Raider had on his sword." Lothose said as he uncorked a small vial of black liquid, with a tiny skull as the cork. With Morgaine's help Lothose was able to pour the liquid down Gawane's throat. Morgaine felt a cold shiver run up her spin as Gawane coughed lightly from swallowing. Lothose then picked up several more potions.
"These healing potions, plus the ones we gave him earlier should help with the burns." Lothose said as several red liquids followed the counter-poison. Lothose's voice became low as he talked to Morgaine only. "The potions won't do much if he dies before they can work." Lothose said, "He needs a rejuvination potion to keep him alive long enough to let the healing potions work... maybe more than what I have." Lothose slowly slipped the last potion he had on the table, a small vial of dark purplish liquid, down Gawane's throat.
With that Lothose began to prode and poke at Gawane's burns. All along his arm Lothose slim fingers pushed slightly in the dying flesh, producing small groans and moans from Gawane. "Good." Lothose said as he finished, "If he can feel the pain then he might not have to lose his arm." Auden's head shot up quickly and in his deep baritone voice he asked, "What about his eye?"
This caused Morgaine to look at what her eyes had been avoiding. The horrible burns that ran up Gawane's face and across his left eye where it was clear that what remained wasn't much. Lothose's face became sorrowful and slack. In a dead voice that betrayed no emotion he replied, "I can heal it so that he won't have to wear a patch, I can stretch some skin across it, but he will not be able to use his left eye."
With that Lothose shooed Morgaine and the others, except for Auden, out of the side room. To Auden he gave instruction to awake him the moment Gawane regained consciousness. Morgaine and the others went once again to the main room, where each slumped into a chair and began to strip their armor off. Lothose seemed to be struggling to get to one of the leather straps that held the skeletal armor on. Morgaine got up to help him.
"Here, let me help." she said as she knelt by the cushion chair he sat on. Morgaine pushed the dark cloak, which had become torn and tattered in the battle, to the other side of Lothose's body and she began to undo the strap. Lothose grunted slightly as he lifted his arm up to allow her better access to the strap. As her tired fingers tried to undo the metal buckle that would part the armor.
"Why..." Morgaine tried to ask as her finger began to become stiff while the buckle refused to come loose, "Why are you helping us?" She finally got out, she kept her eyes firmly on the task at hand refusing to look Lothose in the eye. "I-i mean, uh, you were ready to, um, kill us... less than, uh, three hours ago." In her mind Morgaine to curse herself for loss of calm. If there was one thing she wanted it was calm when dealing with a necromancer.
The Death-mage didn't answer her immediately instead he took several deep breaths and finally, in a low voice only she could hear, replied. "It was the middle of the battle, and my skeletons were losing badly against the Sand Raiders and Saber Cats. My mana was drained and I was barely able to keep the blades of the Raiders from piercing my hide in twenty different places." He stopped and waited a few moments before continuing.
"I was almost going to die," he continued on, "A Sand Raider was about to drive a sword straight through my heart. When, out of nowhere, I see the paladin swinging his sword and hacking away at the Sand Raider. Literally cutting it to ribbons." Morgaine had stopped working on the buckle and was starring at Lothose's pale face as his eyebrows knitted. "He saved my life. Probably everyone's life, and the Code of Rathma says I am to repay that debt for the rest of my life... So it looks like I'll be going to Lut Gholein."
As if some greater power wanted to play a joke on the two magic wielders, the strap that held the bone armor on came undone without any prompting. The armor slipped forward and would've crashed to the floor but Morgaine's hands shot out to catch it and Lothose reacted instantly. Morgaine leaned forward and grabbed the edge of the armor, and Lothose twisted to his left hand could grab the armor as well. This resulted in Morgaine's and Lothose's face being less than two inches away from one another.
Time seemed to stop as the two simple stared at one another, oblivious to the world, Morgaine's chocolate brown eyes looked deep into the emerald green of Lothose. Morgaine felt she was drowning in the green sea of his eyes and Lothose could barely keep a thought in his head beside her. Morgaine felt herself drawing nearer and nearer to him and Lothose turned his head slightly ready to kiss her.
A loud thud awoke them from their daydreams.
Morgaine and Lothose looked over where the thud came from and realized that Hipponia had just dropped her chainmail. Neither Hipponia nor Anasta were paying any attention to the two across the room. Hipponia was slowly reaching for the sky, trying to iron out her muscles, and Anasta already drifting into sleep in the soft chair.
Lothose finished taking off his armor while Morgaine started to take hers off, neither one looked at the other for fear their full-face blushes would be noticable. Finally when they both were finished Lothose got up and showed the three women his guest quarters. They were small, but cozy with a small fire, a straw mattress bed, and several small candles sitting on a end table.
Anasta and Hipponia had already went into their own rooms and that left Lothose and Morgaine standing in the hallway. Lothose stood there looking at a symbol on one of the doors, while Morgaine stood there in the few pieces of clothing she had under her armor. "So... um, g'night." Lothose said before he began to turn and walk away.
"Wait!" Morgaine said too quickly, "Um, where's your room?" In her mind, Morgaine was beating her head against a wall. Where's your room?! she screamed at herself, Why don't I just jump on him? Morgaine continued to look at her hands refusing to look at Lothose.
Lothose was having a little trouble digesting the question as Morgaine sat and berated herself. Only in his mind the mantra of calm was running through his head. Control. Cool. Calm. Control. Cool. Calm. He knew his face was a mask of calm, his body was relaxed and standing straight, but his mind was raging. Less than three hours he had known this Sorceress and she had this effect on him. "Down the hall." he answered quickly before half-running and half-walking down the hall.
"Good night." Morgaine said before she went into her own room.
To be continued...