I can’t fucking believe it! I should’ve listened to my gut!
Berith had his own fucking scheme going involving Starlight! How did he fool
Alakath?! I’m just glad Gladia was there to help get Starlight away from him.
I woke up to hearing Berith talking to someone. I cracked my
eyes open and saw at the edge of the campfire’s light Berith standing there.
Just beyond him was somebody covered from head to toe. That character’s face
was covered, even, so I don’t know who he was or anything. I only knew that he
was trouble. I saw him pass something to Berith, who told him to meet him at
some abandoned shack somewhere in the woods a few miles away.
The masked guy seemed aggravated at something. He kept
talking about “hurting the merchandise”. He must have been talking about
Starlight’s reopened wounds. He kept insisting on deducting for her injuries.
Berith then offered to have him give him the full amount for both Starlight and
myself. However, I don’t know if he agreed to that or not, as he nodded towards
me, said I might be waking up, and he’d consider it on his way, at which point
he disappeared immediately.
Berith walked over towards me and I immediately closed my
eyes and tried to mimic my sleeping self. I heard his footsteps stop right in
front of my face. He gently kicked me in the face before asking what I heard.
He waited a few seconds before doing it again, this time the kick was on my
nose. I couldn’t help but take a sharp inhale thanks to the pain from my nose
still being broken.
I tried playing dumb, saying I didn’t know what he was
talking about. He then put the ball of his foot on the side of my nose and
barely pressed down. Even that was enough to put me in significant pain, and my
loud yips made that perfectly clear. He eased off and asked again. I said that
I heard nothing, that is, once I was able to regain my ability to speak
coherently.
Then I heard Gladia say that I may not have heard him, but
she had heard everything. She told him to either leave or die. Berith chuckled
before saying that he had no quarrel with her, so she needed to back down
before she found herself dead like her brother. She said she wouldn’t repeat
her warning, and he repeated that what she heard didn’t concern her at all, and
she needed to go about her business elsewhere.
By that point, I had stood up and had drawn my knife. I knew
I couldn’t take him, and I doubt I could with Gladia’s help either, but I
wasn’t going to let him pawn off Starlight. Berith looked at Gladia, then me,
and then Starlight, before just saying “Fine” and walked off.
Once he was out of sight, Gladia lowered her sword and
sighed. I, however, didn’t lower my knife. Gladia noticed this and just asked
“What?” I asked her if she had any plans to try to pawn off Starlight or myself
to anyone. She said she didn’t, but she understood why I wasn’t in a trusting
mood at the moment. Of course I wasn’t in a fucking trusting mood! The one
person whom Alakath had trusted to ensure our safety was about to pawn us off
to gods know who!
Anyway, I took a few deep breaths before finally putting my
knife away. I glanced over at Starlight, who was shivering and whimpering like
crazy. Despite that, though, she still seemed to be asleep. Gladia said it was
another hour or two before sunrise, so she’d go gather a bit more firewood. She
asked me to carefully cuddle up with her to help keep her warm until then.
I think I fell back asleep once I cuddled up to her, since
the next thing I knew, Gladia was shaking my shoulder saying “hey”. I fought
the urge to jerk up, since I recalled cuddling up to Starlight. Except she was
already sitting up and stroking my hair. But I only realized that when I sat up
myself. Starlight asked if I slept ok and I nodded. Her voice was weaker than
normal, but that’s to be expected when you’ve been shivering all night.
Gladia asked Starlight if she was okay to walk towards
Drayden’s Burrow, or did she need to return to the hospital in Maidenhelm. I
said that it wasn’t safe for us to return there, so we’d have to carefully head
to Drayden’s Burrow. Gladia paused for a moment before performing a quick check
on Starlight. She shook her head and said that it was best to get her back to
Maidenhelm.
I shook my head at her, and began to explain our situation.
She cut me off and said that Starlight likely wouldn’t survive the trip to
Drayden’s Burrow in her current condition. She said that risk was worth saving
Starlight’s life, and I nodded and sighed.
We put out what was left of the campfire as soon as it was
daybreak and began our slow trek back to Maidenhelm. There was no one else on
the path thankfully, but Starlight struggled to keep on her feet the entire
time. There were moments where either Gladia or myself had to heft her onto our
shoulders and carry her for a mile or so.
Finally, we saw the gates to Maidenhelm. It looked like we
had only an hour at most before they closed them for the night, however. Gladia
snatched Starlight up onto her shoulders and began to run for the gates. I
tried to keep up with her, but I was still kinda weak from the march yesterday.
I caught up to her right as the guards had cleared her to enter the city. They
didn’t stop me, thankfully. I think Gladia had explained I was with her.
I led Gladia to the hospital while trying to avoid the main
thoroughfares. We got there without any incident and the nurses quickly got
Starlight into a room. Gladia and I sat in the nearest waiting room and, well,
waited. I could sense some kind of tension coming from Gladia and I asked her
if she was ok. She just looked at me, smiled and began talking.
She started off with how her and her brother were always
competing to see who was better at everything, whether it was swordplay, shield
technique, climbing trees, whatever else they could find to compete over. She
even told a story about how they went out drinking one night and decided to see
who could hook up with the best looking girl they could find, with a friend of
theirs as the judge of the date’s looks. Gladia won that contest hands down
apparently. I can see how she could pull a good looking gal. I’d go out with
her if I had the opportunity.
She then went on to how they read about the relic one day in
a book she had found buried in a lockbox outside her town. They then spent the
next year preparing to search for it. They did more research on it, worked on
their combat skills, improved their fitness, you name it. She briefly commented
on how she got less attention once her boobs shrank from D cups to the B’s she
has now and her ass had diminished significantly as well. She sighed as she
said she missed the attention she got before, but the fitness gains were worth
it for what they were trying to do.
They apparently had pinpointed the relic’s location to a
hidden temple about three miles from where they were ambushed by the Vanjas.
They didn’t know what they were going to do with it once they got it, but they
were going to figure out what it could do first, if they could that is. They
had rehearsed most of the ritual needed to use it over and over again, to where
they could perform it flawlessly, but with him gone, it was now pointless to do
it, especially since the one part of the ritual they didn’t practice required a
brother and sister. She started blushing when she mentioned that part.
I think she noticed that I could see her blush and said that
that part of the ritual was uncomfortable for her, so they hadn’t rehearsed
that particular part. I asked what it entailed and she just looked away, her
blush deepening. She said she preferred not answering that so I let it go. She
said she’d let me read her notes on it, once we got to Drayden’s Burrow. Then
I’d understand why she wasn’t comfortable with it.
She was hoping to talk him out of performing the ritual,
although the ritual was supposedly part of what would let them leave the temple
with it. She believed that bit of the lore was just to prevent people from
stealing it. Her brother believed it was necessary, though. I said that one
day, her and I could go and see if that ritual really was required. She smiled
and said that she’d like to have someone with her when she does eventually try
to go to the temple again.
I asked if she had any other siblings. She shook her head
and lowered it before saying that her parents were killed by thugs shortly
after she was born. A family friend raised them until the town had to force the
youth into military service. They both had to serve, and they did until the
conscription ended. By then, the family friend had moved away somewhere due to
some problems with relatives in another city.
They lived on the street for some time before finally they
were able to afford a small shack on the outskirts of town. They were hoping
that the relic would let them be able to move into a safer area, or another
town altogether. Her brother was talking about possibly moving to Maidenhelm,
but wasn’t sure if being so close to the Bruumweild was worth it.
Now she didn’t know what to do. She was only doing any of
this to help him, and he was now dead. Rehearsing the humiliating ritual,
becoming fit, honing her skills, it was all for her brother. Now she didn’t
have anyone.
By this point, she was bawling her eyes out. I felt very bad
for her. I pulled her into a hug and
told her that she had me and Starlight now. I don’t know if she heard me or
not, as she just kept sobbing into my shoulder. I just kept telling her that
she was going to be ok, that is until I heard footsteps approaching the waiting
room. Gladia lifted her head to look at who was coming in, and I couldn’t
believe who it was.
Standing in the doorway was Berith. He appeared very
downtrodden though, like he had lost something important. Before I could say
anything he said the last words I wanted to hear: “Alakath is hurt.” He also
said he figured we’d come here. He knew we wouldn’t attempt to go to Drayden’s
Burrow with Starlight hurt like she is. He smirked, before saying that fate
would have it that Alakath and Starlight are in the same room.
I just glared at him. I still didn’t trust him after that
shit this morning. He must have known this, as he stepped aside, and a nurse
walked in from behind him. She said that Alakath and Starlight were indeed in
the same room. Berith had found Alakath in an alleyway by the eastern wall,
barely breathing and unconscious. They had just gotten him into the room when
we walked in with Starlight.
She said that we could visit them once they’ve stabilized,
but until then we were to wait here in the waiting room. She curtsied before
leaving back to her duties. I was stunned still. Berith waited until her
footsteps were inaudible before leaving himself.
Is Berith bringing Alakath here supposed to make me trust
him again? How do I know that Berith isn’t the one who hurt him to begin with?
I’ll never trust that fucker again! Well, Gladia is asleep on my shoulder now,
I guess I’ll follow her lead for now.