Chapter 25: A Healer's Torment
KOSH
Kosh disappears behind the others. He sneaks out of Aluuna's circle and fades into the surrounding darkness. Slowly, he creeps up behind a fiend, resembling a spider. It's soft chittering, offering aid. He strikes with deadly precision on its back, careful not to touch the spikes that shell its body. The second strike goes to its side as the creature turns to attack him. Kosh circles it, staying out of its view. Its chittering and screeching get louder as the sounds of other tapping get closer. He quickly circles around it again to do the same strike. Two more join the party. One is already heavily damaged by the smell of it. The cacophony of grinding and clicking sounds before Eris runs up from behind Kosh. A burst of water slams into his current target and is knocked back into the other two.
A body slams on the ground next to him. Harrin lands on top of another fiend and impales it with his sword. He turns to look at the creatures Kosh and Eris are facing. Kosh nods his head to Harrin, and they both flank the pushed creature. It swipes at Harrin. He tries to jump over but is not fast enough, causing him to stumble. He lands hard on his shoulder, though quick to get back up. Kosh climbs its body using his blades after Eris offers a knee up. Given the fiend's tremendous displeasure at Kosh being atop it, he maintains his balance. Kosh shoves a dagger into the top of its head. Swinging around, and stabs at its face with the other kukri. He lands on his butt next to Harrin and flips to his feet. The badly damaged fiend screams as wasps swarm Eris. She screams in misery, flailing her arms in reaction. She falls back over fallen debris. Harrin rushes in and drags her away from the swarm. Thankfully they do not follow.
"Seems we just need to stay away from them." Eris reaches into her pack, hands trembling as blisters form over her face and arms.
The uninjured creature scampers its way to the downed Eris. A barrier of thick, sharp vines blocks its advancement. Flig races over and touches her hand. The sores begin to dissipate, and she is fully healed of whatever poison afflicted her within seconds.
"Thank you, Flig!" Eris says with a smile as Kosh and Flig help her back up.
Okami and Harrin continue to fight the three creatures on the other side. The injured one is now dead on the floor when Eris, Flig, and Kosh join them. Greenish, purple ooze spilling onto the floor. Their battle continues for the next 10 minutes, and they kill one more and severely injure the last one before the others regroup with them.
Kith slams into the severely injured spider. Grunting loudly, he shoves off its body. A rash spreads on his back, growing small welts that begin to burst. Kith hisses at the pain and retaliates by slashing his sword across its face and backing away out of its reach. It jabs at him, snapping its pincers while grating its mandibles. A shimmering sphere encloses around Kith, emanating from Ren, who is behind him. The monster stabs at the shimmering forcefield to get to Kith with no luck.
A brilliant streak of light burst forth from Aluuna and pierced the creature's face to exit out the back. A gaping hole left in its wake. The ceiling continues to protest the onslaught of their attacks. Columns come perilously close to toppling to the ground.
They all breathe harshly as their encounter is now over. The shield protecting Kith is removed, and Aluuna heals his back.
"Let's tie up the horses here. We'll have to come back with them if we can." Says Kosh.
Kosh's shirt to stick to his back. He reaches in his pack for his waterskin, as do all the others. The air in here is hot but dry. A draft from somewhere deep offers a tremendous relief with his perspiration.
Kosh reviews their fight in his head while they walk down a large corridor that leads to a hallway with a few doors. He wasn't sure how Ren would be after their encounter last night. He was glad to see that Ren wasn't willing to let them get hurt despite their difference of opinion.
Kosh didn't want to let them in. He didn't want to call any of them friends, save Kith. As the others are beginning to realize, getting close to people hurts. Better to keep your emotions out of it. Unfortunately, that is what his brain was saying. On the other hand, his heart understood full well what it felt like not knowing. Not knowing about his family and potentially finding out some tiny detail on some small likelihood was enough to get him up in the morning.
The other regrettable part of this situation is that his mission directive is to destroy that tome. And to dispense of any who gets in the way, with the help of Kith and Eris. But it was looking like they sympathized with Ren's predicament. Kosh knew that the decision was tormenting Kith. Kith would never want to feel he betrayed Kosh, but he loves Eris and could lose her depending on his vote.
The hallway they've entered is wide enough for him and Okami to move passably together side by side. He appreciated the companionship of the she-wolf. He could understand why animals were so loved by their masters. They were helpful and didn't try to create more problems than solutions.
Both Kosh and Okami stop. A moaning sound comes from the door ahead on the left. The door is wide open. A door to the right is also open, with light escaping. A crackling sound softly whispers through the passageway. The metallic smell of blood was thick in the air. Kosh peeks his head into the room on the right to look around.
Empty, he mouths back to Kith.
He acknowledges with a curt nod of the head.
A gargling noise sounds out as coughing fits escape the room on the left.
Kosh slowly approaches to survey the area. His eyes go round. He quickly assesses no traps in the room before announcing what he sees.
"Someone is hurt in there." he rushes out in a whisper. "Aluuna?" She walks past them to enter the room. Kosh shakes his head. "It's not pretty," he warns.
A small set of stairs lead to a slab with a human male atop it. Signs of torture are evident. Rovagug symbols are painted on the wall behind the slab. Blood spews from the man's mouth as he continues to choke on his own blood. Kosh quickly sets about checking the rest of the room, and after he gives the all-clear, Aluuna rushes to assist the poor human. Aluuna whispers to him in his ear, and the man nods. She strokes his head as she talks to him for what seems like forever. The others searched the area while Kosh and Okami guarded the door. Bodies piled are the right corner, flesh rent from their bones.
All the belongings were thrown about in another pile next to them. Ren and Kith raid the bags for anything useful. Flig notices a bag Harrin passes over. He walks over to study it. Flig pauses at the unmistakable scorch mark that damaged the strap. A range of emotions plays over his face. Kosh steals himself against the feelings that are beginning to well up in him. The room feels suffocating, suddenly. He looks over to Aluuna, wondering when she'd be done. Her hands glow as she continues to caress his hair. The human looks relieved. Peaceful even. A smile touches his face as he looks past her at the ceiling. Aluuna moves her hand over his face to close them. She turns to Kosh. She is calm except for her eyes. He knew those eyes. They spoke many things. Pain. Fear. Anger. Blood is smeared over her tunic from where she had leaned over to talk with the man. Kosh smiles at her. It was hard not to. Even with all her pent-up emotion and the room itself, a warmth emits from her. She pushes back her dark red hair with the back of her hand. Harrin offers her a handkerchief. The man's fluid was all over. It moves from the body to the table, slowly dripping to the floor, creating a stream to the base of the slab.
"Let's get the hell out of here," Eris says, shaking her body. "This place is where nightmares live."
"If he was still alive," Aluuna starts.
"Then, someone who was doing the torture must be nearby." Flig finishes.
All Kosh knew was he wanted out of this temple. Fear isn't a life-saving emotion, and it was seeping in from all sides.
REN
The group visits a kitchen of sorts and its storeroom and has just entered an alchemy room further down the hall.
"This is what I'm talking about," Ren says as he approaches the desk, stepping over a bearskin rug. Beakers bubble softly, and Ren eyes its contents. He peruses the paperwork lying haphazardly across the desk.
"Hmm, looks like they were trying to harness their souls to…." Ren flips the paper and reads a little more. "Feed something? I can't really make out this shite. It's all over the place." Ren continues to tinker around with the various vials on the desk. Different kinds of plants and mushrooms grew in pots in the corner. "I could probably make a few potions with this stuff and reverse engineer what they've made to figure out what they're doing in here."
Aluuna touches his shoulder. "Ren, I can't stay here." She is sweating and looking around nervously.
"Why don't you guys continue, and I'll stay."
"Okami and I will stay as well," Flig suggests. "Okami can keep guard while I'll help you."
Absently, Ren asks if he knows anything about herbalism as he flits about the lab.
Flig grins, "I'm sure I can figure it out."
Ren looks at him and laughs. "Right. Druid." The two begin their work, and it's sometime before Ren remembers the others have left. His mind is heavy with the group's earlier confrontation. He only partly meant what he said about them not being friends. He warred with himself on what to do, which made Renimil feel even guiltier and angry. The position they'd put him in having to choose between them or his family. This is why you shouldn't make friends.
Flig finishes up the last parts of the healing gel they made. Okay, three Healer's Gel, pretty potent stuff, and two fearweed potions.
"Aluuna will be happy for that gel. It'll save her on mana." Ren continues to pour over the parchments. "Oh shite! We should go." Alert and on the defensive, Okami and Flig look at him in suspense. "The others may be in jeopardy."
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3 Tigerblaize
