Time Blood Chapter 8: Of Pain and Jealousy, a diablo fanfic

Kail opened his eyes and blinked against the sudden glare

Oh, and so might as well know, you might have noticed that all the characters already have skills such as the Amazon with the Plague Spear, the Barbarian with the Howl and so on, is because the story takes place in Hell Mode. Thank you.

Oh, and I was thinking about doing an "interview with the Diablo Characters". What do you think? Should I do it, or should I not? Art of the characters in different poses will soon be online for your viewing pleasure. I'll drop the URL down sometimes. Now go read! Shoo…

Chapter Eight: Of Pain and Jealousy

Kail opened his eyes and blinked against the sudden glare. He had waked up late-in fact, very late. The sun was already high up in the sky. But he knew he had worked himself down to the bone last night.

After they arrived at the city, he made sure that the injured got rooms for the night at Elzix's, and Fara and Lysander where taking care of their wounds. After he made sure that Thorn had stopped bleeding, he went to take over unloading the caravan in place of Warriv who had a broken wrist and a bad case of the nerves. His voice had turned hoarse and crackly as he shouted orders. He remembered finishing when he saw a few red streaks that showed dawn was approaching and he was ready to drop. He didn't remember at all who got him to bed.

He walked to the small balcony and pulled the curtain shut, then rolled onto bed again. He looked around to see if there was water anywhere, but he saw nothing. He groaned and shut his eyes.

"Room service!"

"What?" He groaned.

"It's me," he heard Moran said.

"Hold on," he pulled on a pair of black pants and laced the thongs. He hunted underneath the covers for the cream shirt.

"Hey, what's taking you? The tray's heavy!"

"Hold on-what?" He stopped as he found the shirt underneath a pillow. "You brought me food?"

"I brought everyone food," he heard her say as he shrugged into the wrinkled shirt. "At least your tray wasn't as heavy as Thorn. I got him four mugs of ale, as the majesty wished before he was brought here."

"Four mugs-" Kail shook his head and opened the door. Moran looked at his head.

"Bed hair suits you, did you know that?" she said.

He laughed and ran a hand through it. "Come in."

She walked in with the tray, overflowing with food and plunked it down on his bed. "How's Thorn?" He asked her as he sat next to it and looked down at the steaming mug, smelling of sugar and spices.

"He's better, that's why he demands his ale," Moran laughed and sat cross-legged on the head of the bed, hugging a large pillow to his chest. "That's Barbarian's amazing. If I had wounds as bad as that, I would've been out for nearly a week."

Kail drank the herb tea and felt his body loosened up the tension. He sighed and stretched his leg. "I think we should take the day off."

Moran raised a dark eyebrow. "You mean, we don't fight for a day?"

"And I'll take you around Lut Gholein," he lifted a piece of roasted ham with pineapple sauce into his mouth and moaned at the taste. "Nikan, Ollan, and definitely Thorn are too weak to be up and about. What about it?"

"Why not?" Moran said. "Sounds good."

"Okay, then give me half and hour," he stuffed the last piece of ham into his mouth. "Meet me downstairs."

"All right," Moran slid off his bed and looked at him. "Are you really feeling up to it?"

"Of course I am!" He said, muffled because of the lentil bread in his mouth. She grinned and left the room.

After the half an hour, he managed to finish the rest of his breakfast, had a quick wash behind Elzix's inn, and got dressed. He was running his hands through his hair as he walked over to Moran, who was sitting down on a stool and talking to Elzix.

"You are the vainest Necromancer I have ever met," Moran caught him brushing his hair with his fingers.

"The only Necromancer you've met," he grinned then he looked at Moran. "Wow, you look nice."

She had changed into what might have been "Lut Gholein" style of clothes. Her hair was let down to her waist and a golden circlet contrasted like a wonder to the dark shade. A long, black skirt slit at the sides that nearly reached up to her thighs and a greenish black shirt made from oilcloth that left her stomach and arms bare that was adorned also, with gold. But she wore a pair of worn heavy boots on her feet.

"Who managed to dress you like that?" He asked.

She stood up and posed, but then failed to laughter. "My set of normal clothes were torn by the Saber Cat yesterday, so Atma got me this for the while. It's not as easy to move as pants but what do you think?"

"Beautiful," he said. She grinned.

"Well, now Lysander will have something to feast his eyes on since all them Harem girls never come out anymore," Elzix said. "Wait till Jerhyn meets you." He winked.

Kail laughed. "Come on, Moran. Let's leave the old man to his fantasies."

He led her to the heart of Lut Gholein, where Lysander and Fara had their shops. He paused at the old alchemist's shop and knocked on the shut door. "Lysander…"

"Wha! Oh, it's you, Kail!" A window opened and the man poked his head out.

"He remembers you?" Moran asked in a hush voice. "From…you know. Before."

"No, we've met before, long before Diablo came into this world," Kail said, grinning. "Hey, old man!"

"Hello-" Lysander stopped when he saw Moran. "Well, Kail, you better introduce me to this lovely lady. Don't tell me you went inside the palace and dragged out one of them Harem ladies!"

"No, this is Moran, the Sorceress of our team," Kail grinned. "Moran, Lysander."

"Hey," Moran said, shaking the old Alchemist's hand. "Nice shop you got here."
"What? Hops?" Lysander asked.

"I said SHOP!"

"Ah," Lysander said. "Shared a many good explosion and fumes of poison," there was a hint of proud in his voice.

"Is Jerhyn around?" Kail asked.

"Jerhyn? Jerhyn isn't round, he's actually quite well built," Lysander said, scratching an armpit with the bottle on his left arm.

"I said is he AROUND!" Kail nearly doubled up with silent laughter.

"Oh. I heard he's planning a grand party as a celebration of the Five," Lysander said. "I heard, tonight, at Atma's."

Kail raised an eyebrow. This had not happened last time. "Why would he plan a party for us?"

"It seems like one of you defeated the leader of the Cats that were in threat of toasting Lut Gholein last night when they took over your camp," Lysander said. "Her name's Lashan, and she's a Saber Cat."

"We didn't kill any unique Cats last night," Kail said. "What does she look like?"

"Just like any Saber Cat. 'Cept she's got yellow skin and maroon hair."

"Wait!" Moran said. "I killed one that-that looked like that. She gave me this wound. It'll probably end up being a scar," Moran pulled a bit of her neckline down. He winced at the scab. He knew it'd leave a horrible scar for the rest of her life.

"Jerhyn will be happy to know that!" Lysander's eyebrows rose. "That's amazing, ah-"

"Moran," Moran said. "Thank you, Lysander."

"Come on, let's go to Atma's," Kail took her hand. "Thanks for everything Lysander. See you tonight?"

"No, I don't have a Sword of Blight!" Lysander called. "Go ask Fara or Elzix."

Moran laughed. "Poor guy. Is he deaf?"

"Almost," Kail shook his head as they walked along the dusty grounds. Lut Gholein certainly looked very normal for a city during the Rise of the Prime Evils. Except for Grez's guards patrolling and guarding every corner, it looked like a normal, fair place to live. Women dressed in colorful silks walked along the streets, some plump ones dragging children. Tall, turbaned men looked as Moran as they walked. Kail was glad that he was still holding on to her hand.

Infact…he looked at her. She wasn't Moran. She had Moran's face and body, but her personality-he hated to admit it but he was starting to forget Moranah, and look onto this strange girl from a strange place. He sighed.

"What's wrong?" Moran asked him.

He touched his eyebrow ring gently. "Nothing. It's just the heat." He pushed open the strings of beads that acted as a curtain and walked into Atma's public house. He spotted Geglash sitting on a table, arm wrestling with-

"Thorn!" Moran cried. "Dang it, you're suppose to be in bed!"

"What?" Thorn looked up and Geglash forced his wrist down.

"AH!" Thorn screamed. "MORAN!"

"Sorry," Moran shrugged. "You feel better?"

"Better than ever!" Thorn flexed an arm.

"THORN!" Kail yelled. "Don't do that! It can rip apart the stitches!"

"Yes, mother hen," Thorn said. "Look, I've got more scars than counted for. You know that, Kail."

"What about me?" Kail pulled open his vest at Thorn. "Look. And I know not to flex muscles when I've got stitches holding muscle together!"

"Just leave him," Moran steered him to the other end of the table. "Who's that wrestling with him?"

"Geglash," Kail grinned. "Nikan's really fond of him. She and Thorn get along best with him. He's a drunkard, but friendly when you get to know him."

"Hello, again Kail." Atma said, walking up to them.

"You remember?" Kail whispered to Atma.

"One of the unlucky few," her jaw flexed. "It's hard, to go through all that again and still not being able to save my husband."

Moran looked away.

"Your son?" Kail asked.

"I managed to save him this time," Atma said. "He's upstairs right now, having his midday sleep. You'll see him."

Kail sighed. At least Atma managed to save her son, but he could tell she was angry about the death her husband.

"You two want anything to drink?" She asked. "If you want to drink, you better now. Jerhyn will be in soon, getting the party ready."

"Ale?" He asked Moran.

"Are you kidding? Water please," she said.

"Cold ale, not strong," he said. "Thank you, Atma."

The woman nodded and walked away.

"Her son's really cute," Moran grinned. "Wait till you meet him."

They watched Thorn beat Geglash a couple more times until Moran asked him, "Hey, what's with the eyebrow rings and such?"

"What? You don't like it?" He fingered it.

She laughed. "No, it suits you. But is it like, a thing for necromancer to wear?"

He shook his head. "No. Actually…I don't even remember why I got it. I was about eight or nine."

"You have any more piercing anywhere else?"

He lifted up the shirt and her eyes widened. "You pierced your nipples?"

He grinned when Thorn came and plunked next to him. "I'll tell you why he got his nipple pierced," Thorn said. "For the lack of women in his life, nipple rings tend to give him sexual spasms in the middle of the night so he could be content-"

Kail grabbed Thorn's arm, and with a clever wrestler's trick, he had the Barbarian on the floor. He brushed his hands on his pants and calmly sat back on the bench. "What were you saying, Moran?"

She laughed. "Do they really give you sexual feelings?"

"NO!" He roared as Thorn laughed, still on the floor.

"Do you know why I never get piercing? I always have girls trailing behind me wherever I go!" Thorn swung up. "Charsi, Natalya, that girl over there-"

"Yeah, and how many of them run away when you pull them on the bed-thankyou Atma," Kail took his tea and Moran her water.

Thorn gave a mighty roar and swung his hand as if to give Kail a really hard slap on the back. Kail leapt on the table just in time and rolled off the other end, scaring away a few women who were drinking on a table nearby.

"Kail!" Moran said, who was still laughing. She grabbed his arm and pulled him down. "Will you two just quit it?"

Thorn glanced at her hand, back at Kail and couldn't stop grinning.

Only one phrase: Jehryn couldn't have done a better job for a party in his palace.

Kail leaned back, sipping his drink. The Lord of Lut Gholein had planned a party fit enough for the entire of Lut Gholein. The people didn't have much to celebrate over the year, and they looked happy for a chance to be happy.

A throng of musicians playing chimes, stringed instruments, and a singer stood to one end of the room (which was cleared free of any benches and swept so clean there wasn't a drop of ale or spit on the floor) while people were dancing at the other end. Nikan had recovered enough to come and wear a matching dress to Moran, except hers was red. Kail grinned, remembering how she had complained about wearing a skirt, but paused at any reflective surface to see her reflection.

"Hey, Kail! What are you doing here all alone?" Moran said, flopping down on a cushion next to him, red in the face from dancing. "Man, all this place needs is a disco ball."

He looked at her. "A what?"

"Nothing," she grinned, jumped up and grabbed his drink, throwing it out the window.

"Hey!"

"Come on, Kail," she grabbed his hands and pulled him out to the middle of the dance floor. He grinned.

"Let's see how well the necromancer dances," she whispered, her eyes twinkling.

"Ah, wait till you-"

"Excuse me?"

Kail whirled around to face Jerhyn. "What?"

"Excuse me, but could I speak to you in private?" Jerhyn asked Moran who looked at Kail and shrugged.

"Go ahead," he mumbled. Moran looked at him again before Jehryn pulled her into Atma's kitchen.

He uttered a curse and sat back on the chair. He was joined a second later by Ollan, sporting a heavy bandage that covered his forehead and one eye. "What's wrong, Kail?"

"What would you care?" He scraped his chair back so fast that it toppled on the floor. "I'm leaving."

He could feel Ollan's stare bore into his backbone as he walked out of public house. He ran up to his room in Elzix's inn, scaring off a couple kissing as he kicked an empty barrel to pieces that was in his way.

He tore into his room, strapped his bone shield onto his right arm, sheathed his war sword and strapped his wand into his belt. He was too angry. He needed to kill.

He swept pass towards the dock, pass Meshif's ship, and down to the entrance of the sewers where two of Greiz's guards stood guarding with cruel looking spears. They crossed them in front of Kail when he tried to enter.

"You dare stop me?" He hissed. "I'm one of the Five!"

"We can't let anyone in at night! One of the Five or not," one of them said.

He ripped his wand out and in a flash, had one of the guards underneath him, with the glowing wand underneath his chin. "Let. Me. In."

He rolled off the guard who was now staring daggers at him. "As you wish…Necromancer. But Jehryn won't like it if you bring the whole of Radament's army in here."

"Shut up," he hissed, shouldering the guard as he went inside. A pungent smell filled his nostrils as he went in, and dampness made it's way into his flesh. He walked as silently as he could, waiting for something to come at him.

Strange, he couldn't help thinking through his anger, that there wasn't a trace of any creature that lurked in the sewers. There were only rats, and the most he could do was step on them. Then he heard a strange voice…then a screech…

He bent down low and peeked behind a barrel. There was Radament.

Not only him, but a throng of burning skeletons, skeleton archers, and mummies. Radament threw his head back and swung one scythed arm out at a skeleton.

"NO!" He bellowed. "I DON'T CARE THAT THE FIVE ARE HERE! WE WILL ATTACK LUT GHOLEIN TONIGHT DO YOU HEAR ME!"

A Greater Mummy stood up. "Radament, that the Five are here could create problems. They can wipe out hundreds of us faster than you can ressurect us."

"I don't care!" Radament shouted. "Look at them, all having a grand and glorious party. Hell, they would not even know we're up there until we're feet away from them!"

"So you say we attack right away," another Greater Mummy said.

"When Lashan and her band of Cats get here," Radament said. "By the name of Tal Rasha, where is she?! Once she arrives, we will attack right away!"

Kail felt fear creep up his insides. He had to go back-and fast."

He backed away.

The sound cracking bone rang through the silent halls.

Sweat poured down his face and he looked at the rat's skull he stepped on.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Radament yelled.

"No," Kail whispered in his head. "Please…"

"Look! It's a Huntress!"

Kail saw a sweeping shadow swept pass him he saw a Huntress run up to Radament. "Radament!" She cried.

"What is it, Shotun the Sharp?"

"I just received word. Lashan had died. One of the Five had killed her."

An uproar sounded in Radament's hall making more enough noise that sounded as if an entire city would collapsed on Kail's head. He took that moment to run away.

He came up panting. "Get Greiz he said to the two guards. Radament's planning an attack!"

The guards asked no more and ran off.

Kail dashed into the public house. "STOP!" He shouted.

"Kail!" Moran dashed up to him. "Where were you? What's with the shield?"

He shook his head. "STOP!"

The music stopped and everybody turned to face him.

"Radament! He's planning to come in the city tonight!"

He saw Atma amidst the sea faces, and saw her slowly sank to the ground on her knees. He wiped a drop of sweat off his forehead.

"Kail…" Cain stepped up to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You must stop him…and get the Horadric scroll!"

"Then what the hell are we waiting for?" Moran shouted. "Come on guys."

"Just to be safe why don't we load the townsfolk into Meshif's ship?" Ollan said. "In case Radament succeeds coming up here?"

The thought was terrorizing, but Kail nodded. "All right-"

"There's an island not far from here, my people can stay there," Jehryn said. Kail nodded.

"All right people," he said. "Jehryn, you take care of everything down here. We should gear up."

People began parting ways and Kail dashed up to Elzix's inn, followed close by Moran, Ollan, and Thorn. "You go ahead," he turned. "I have to go see Drognan."

He ran to the wizard's old store and rapped on the door. "Drognan!"

"What is it Necromancer?" The wizened wizard poked his head out the window.

"You have to evacuate, now," Kail shouted up. "Radament-he's going to come up to the city!"

The window slammed shut, and a minute later he opened the door, holding a sack full of things. "Thank you for telling me, Necromancer."

"My name's Kail."

"Thank you, Necromancer," Drognan walked away.

With a sigh, he sprinted back to the inn and Thorn tossed him his armor, chain boots, and gloves. "Here," he grunted.

"Shouldn't we seal all the ways out from the sewers?" Nikan asked, still tying the leathers of her breastplate together. "Just in case…you know…we-"

"Die?" Thorn said cheerfully.

"I can use one of my armor charms," Moran said. "It'll freeze whatever tries to get through."

"And I have my bone walls," Kail nodded, and kicked at the field plate. "No-no, don't look at me like that. I don't have time to put it on, Ollan. We have to go now."

They ran to the first sewer opening and Moran cast her Shiver Armor over it, and Kail did his Bone Wall. After making sure four of Greiz's guards are guarding it, they went to the other end where Meshif's ships were.

"You about ready?" Kail panted, massaging his side as he asked Jehryn.

"Almost-watch out there," he helped an old woman into the rocking ship. "You seen Fara?"

"I'm here," Fara said. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay to guard."

"But what if something happens at the island?" Kail gestured with his head to the ship. "Those people will need you."

"No they won't. They have Greiz going with them."

"Greiz-" He spit angrily on the ground. "The bastard. Saving his own behind and letting his guards risk their lives."

Nikan shook her head. "Come on. Hood luck Jehryn."

"Good luck," Jehryn said and stepped into his ship.

They watched the ships leave, and at last, there was nothing but empty Lut Gholein…and themselves.

"This is going to be creepy," Moran said.

"Wait till you see Radament," Thorn mumbled. "Ready?"

They walked through the darkened streets and headed down to the sewers. The six guards removed their spears and they walked in. Moran cast her charm and Kail set his wall of bones and Moran watched as if she was seeing a Saber Cat sprouting from one of Lysander's potion bottles.

"Wow, that's funky," she said, and touched one of the bones. "Cool."

"Come on," Thorn said gruffly as his chain boots landed in a pool of sludgy water. Kail winced and said shhhh at the same time everybody else did.

"Dammit it, Thorn," Nikan hissed and grabbed the back of his armor, and with amazing strength of an Amazon, shook him angrily. "Can't be a little more quiet? You're going to wake the entire of Radament's army."

"I didn't know they slept," Thorn sulked a bit and Kail bit his lip from laughing.

"Come on," he said, walking as fast as he could without making big splashes in the water. "Radament's army might be on the move already. Will you cut that out-THORN! Stop that!"

The Barbarian had kicked a pile of rat skulls and pulled out a moldy key. "Sorry," he tossed into his pants.

After they got close to Radament's base, Kail made them all crouch down behind barrels. "I don't-" He looked hard, squinting in the darkness. "That's too strange…Radament should be there…"

"Maybe they already went?" Moran said from his elbow somewhere.

"Can't be," Ollan whispered back, from Kail's knees. "We should have seen them."

Nikan was about to say something when a thousand terrified squeaks from rodents came from behind them. Kail whipped out his war sword and turned around. He felt his mouth drop open as a thousand rats-maybe more came swarming towards them, crying out in shrill cries.

"What's going on?" Moran asked.

"Oh my-"

A throng of Radament's army came from the shadows. Mummies, Burning Deads, Greater Mummies, and almost everything undead came advancing on them.

"What do we do? Come on, strategy," Thorn said.

"Maybe yell, "your mother has clean white bones" at them?" Moran suggested. "Damn. Look, I can freeze most of them. Then you can Whirlwind through…Nikan poison javelin? Ollan, you can do your holy bolts. Kail…a good and messy corpse explosion will do a world of good."

"Yum, yum," Thorn said.

"Ready-damn!" Kail cried as he dodged, avoiding a spear. But it skidded across Ollan's armor, making a dent on the shiny metal.

"Spear cats?" Ollan roared angrily.

"NOW!"

Moran released bolt after bolt, and after bolt of freezing ice bolts that stopped the enemy in place, but it wasn't enough. He could see she was getting tired-low on mana. Nikan released off poison javelins, lightning javelins, and normal javelins. He too, was doing his part with the corpse explosion but he felt extremely tired…not a good idea.

"You two can go now!" He shouted for Ollan and Thorn.

Thorn went, screaming madly as he hurled through the creatures with his Whirlwind. Ollan, preferring a much more quieter act of fighting, ran and hacked off heads with his sword and burning the frozen chunks of creature ice to death with his Holy Fire aura.

"Oh damn! Thorn, get back!!" Kail shouted. "Moran!"

"I'm okay! I'm okay!" She yelled back, but Kail knew she wasn't. An exploding spear had skidded across her arm before turning into a miniature bomb a few yards behind them. Later, knowing by experience, they would have to spend hours fishing out remains of the metallic spearhead in her arm.

He sent his golems and skeletons to distract a portion of the army before running into the darkness. Radament had to be around…

An unhealthy laughter filled the sewers.

He threw himself back before the poison fumes could reach him. He roared angrily. "Radament!"

"Who else?" Radament hissed.

"Oh, good," Kail sneered. "I didn't know you spoke a human language. Being the animal that you are."

He ducked the bladed hand and swung his sword against the rotting legs of the monster. He heard a bone snap.

The blade hissed against his back as he crawled from Radament's damaged legs. He blocked a heavy blow with his shield and felt his bones rattle from the impact.

Come on Kail, he reassured himself. Radament's just a-

He rolled and quickly came to his feet as he saw something green throbbing underneath Radament's chest. Strange, he never noticed it before. But there was only once possibility what it might be.

Radament's heart.

He threw his wand as if it was a javelin at the glowing, green heart that poison ran as Radement's lifeblood.

Radement stopped in his tracks.

"You can't do this to me…" the monster whispered before falling down on the sewers. Dead.

It was only a matter of moments before he heard the others come running. He was fishing into Radament's body to pull out his wand.

"Damn, you didn't let me kill him!" Thorn danced towards the chest and kicked it open, pulling out the Horadric Scroll.

"Where's Moran?" Kail asked.

"Um," Nikan said. "Let's go."

Fear rang through him as they hurried back. His stomach wrenched as he saw Moran slumped against the wall. She was breathing, but heavily.

"Moran!" He ran towards her.

"No! Kail, don't touch her!" Ollan shouted.

He grabbed both her arms and she screamed. "Kail! No! Let go of me!"

Surprised, he took his hands away as Moran sobbed. "Hurts…hurts…"

"Moran! What's wrong?" He looked at Nikan.

"Her right arm," Nikan said. "It looks like an explosive spear hit her. You know what it does…it skidded against her arm, and now we'll have to remove the metallic dust."

Kail looked at her right arm and winced at the wound. It had turned black from burning, and was red around the edges. It was as big as his palm. Several pieces of metallic dust glittered in the torn flesh. Moran was still sobbing.

"We have to remove them right away, or it'll become infected," Nikan said. "Or the damage spreads."

Thorn shook his head. "It ain't gonna be easy…"

"Shut up," Kail took her left arm. "Moran? Try not to move your right arm so much."

He pulled her up and she screamed. "Ow! Ow!"

"Don't move your arm!" He said.

"I'm-not!" She sobbed painfully into his shoulder as she leaned on him. "Just it-moving a little…ow!"

He winced every time she shrieked, and he didn't blame her. Wounds like that hurts much more than blade being whipped across flesh. He had experience.

"Lets just cast a town portal," Ollan said. "We're hurting her too much."

"Don't," Moran said before shrieking again as Kail tripped on a crack and stumbled. "Oh…we're nearly there. Don't waste it on me."

They walked slowly towards the entrance, where the guards and Fara were more than happy to greet them.

"We have to remove the dust," Fara said after a quick inspection of Moran's arm. "Let's get her to my place now."

Kail gripped his forehead and gritted his teeth. He felt that if he had to hear Moran scream in pain again he would die from the lump forming in his throat. He watched Greiz's guards fire another fire rocket into the air to alert Jerhyn and the others at the island.

He walked inside Fara's house and was met by a grotesque sight. Moran was lying down on her bed, with Thorn holding onto her legs, Nikan her right arm, and Ollan praying in the corner. Fara was holding what looked like a pair of miniature swords held together by a bolt. She was using it to remove the dust.

She inserted the blades into Moran's wound.

She screamed and her body lurched. "No! NO!" She cried. "PLEASE! That hurts so much!"

"Hold still, Moran, please!" Nikan said.

"SHIT!" Moran shouted again. "GIVE ME ALE! GIVE ME SOMETHING SO I DON'T FEEL THE PAIN!"

Fara pulled the blades out again, this time holding a tiny metallic dust no bigger than a grain of sand.

"Oh Moran!" He felt his voice crack, a sob building up in his throat. He turned away and ran out, clutching his stomach with one hand and grabbing hold of his mouth with the other. It was too much for him. If he watched for one more second he would have vomited.

"Why did you break out like that?" Ollan grabbed his shoulder. "That wasn't exactly helpful to Moran."

He felt his mouth drop open. "I-"

"Go in there and do something," Ollan said. "Talk to her. Hold her still. Sponge her forehead. She has a very high fever."

That made him run back inside Fara's house, and he spent the next few hours holding her hand and placing a rag of wet cloth of her forehead. Finally, after the last gruesome "squelch" from the blades, one last scream, Fara had removed the last of the metallic dust.

"You doing all right?" Kail asked her.

"Wow…that pain was so bad, I wished I died or something," she shook her head. She sounded tired.

"You sure you removed everything?" Thorn asked Fara.

"Quite sure," Fara dropped the blades into a silver bowl of water on a stool. The water turned dark crimson as she washed her hands and rinsed the blades. "But if the fever doesn't break soon, tell me."

"Let's get you back," Thorn took her into his arms and Kail had a sudden pang of wanting to be the one to hold her. But Thorn was easily the biggest of them, and holding her without an effort won't hurt so much.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Kail asked again as they walked towards the inn.

He caught Moran rolling her eyes. "Yes, Kail. If I die, be sure to engrave, "Thorn has a birthmark the exact same shape of your head on his ass" on my tomb stone will you?"