NOVEL NEXT Chapter 18 - Composure
"I've MADE quite a few healing ITEMS" piped up Horace holding several potions and salves in his hand.
"We can get out of here now then, get to the lift, I'm sick of it in here! It's clammy, dank and we are not visiting again for a long-long time." She said angrily.
Horace applied a potion to Silana, who whimpered a first then seemed more relax; still showing no long-term signs of recovery.
There's still a long way to go, even at full speed we have we're not making it to murk city anytime soon and we're slowed down by Silana being so wounded I thought to myself.
"I-...can walk put me down" said Lucy as we entered the lift and began transporting us upwards after Rhua hit the lever.
"The smell of fresh air was enticing, isn't it?" she said, taking deep, deep breaths and an aura began enveloping her being, all the colours of the elemental wheel flowed around her, from the darkest black to brightest white, a tumultuous ground, to a swirling water, her colour was returning to her slightly as she progressed in her state of trance.
Everyone felt the air get cleaner the further up we went; it really was enticing, subtle smells of damndeyleon petals were on the breeze, mmm a fizzy jay burdock flavour would be a blessing about now as melodic chimes jingled and jangled along the sky bridge filling us with relief that we were finally out of that bloody dungeon.
"I'm tired of walking and running, can we afford something that let's my legs take a break with all that coin from Et-Navn, it should be enough to buy something surely? Chimed Lucy who may have recovered partially but physically was wheezing away and sweating so profusely her attire probably weighed several pounds more than it should. "Our luck is trash when it comes to transport" said Rhua.
"Ha, remember us saving for six months back in 41 just to get the airship pass and then that pilot crashed the flagship model, Red Wing Broncho and Areya's airship company lost all its ships before we even got to use it". I said.
Wardi laughed "That sucked for us, but more for everyone else, she lost her marbles after that incident" he followed up with.
"Oh so THAT's why she's insane now?" said Lucy huffing words out.
"Well, that… AND HER ex-boyfriend left her, some people JUST SHOULDN'T do relationships heh." Horace piped.
"If we can find someone that can do it, I guess getting bikes may be an option?" said Rhua. Horace was quick to shut down the idea.
"Not WORTH THE HASSLE, Queenie Wheelini has the MONOPOLY on the market." Horace piped into the conversation.
"Ah, that's true, even if you could get one, if it breaks you MUST go to Castle Schloss, she's locked down the worthwhile smiths that can work with bikes said Wardi. Not breaking a sweat at all carrying Silana.
He continued saying "I'd love more G&S slingshots if I'm honest" he continued the conversation with. Wardi stared ahead the entire time, the military discipline was kicking in full force in this situation.
"We would need a lot more coin than what we have now for that mate, and we are not strong enough to join in a chasm for the materials to build one" I said reminding him of what that would entail
"Nor could we manage a six star or higher dungeon" said Rhua. We all said AYE in unison to that statement.
We kept trying to talk on the bridge, anything to keep party spirits high. It was a gargantuan in size, even at full speed it was going to take us hours to make our way across.
Every thirty minutes Horace would use a potion, eventually having to swap to using salves once the potions ran out. The salves were not as potent and Silana began looking like she was getting a fever; sweating shouldn't be happening with a cool breeze passing over her.
To the far left we could see Coch Manor looming in the distance. Despite the beautifully intricate coral red walls and the ever so memorable ruby adorning the single large turret of the ancient manor, knowing the vicious and vile ruler that lurked within, Rhua shuddered at the prospect of encountering her.
"I'm glad the Dornam have managed to evade her colonisation attempts" Rhua said as she glanced at the manor.
"Well, the personality clashes are strong contenders for that reason, they love to drink and party after all, given the choice, I'd pick fun over tyranny, I'm sure we all would." I said to her in response.
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"I'm sure there's the odd nutter that would pick the former, though I think it's in the hope there's a reward for being such an idiot" I jokingly followed up with to Rhua.
Lucy pointed out ahead at the border guards in the distance. Often an enigma in anything they do and wear, the Dornam prefer to wear thin combat fatigues synthesized with shielding seals built into the outfit for protection. I suppose you could say they look similar soldiers from our old world though anyone familiar with camo clothing would question why they picked azure, blue as a colour in areas painted with mustarly yellow and aprocoto orangey painted territories. It certainly makes you stick out worse than a sore thumb I thought to myself.
As we approached them closer, they signalled for us to halt. "Purpose of visit to the territories today Sirs and Madams?" said the private and Wardi stepped up on our behalf.
"Salutations, private, Green-Top-Pass had a system failure, and we have a comrade in dire need of medication attention, it's critical that we find someone with high tier healing for her."
The private looked at the girl and called over to his comrades sat in the guard hut who walked out. The sergeant recognised us from previous trips and beckoned us through not before handing us two potions of simple healing and suggesting we seek out Atropa Belladonna in the Revitaliser guild, she's probably our best bet, look for the lass walking around with a bright green cloth based base layer and a deep black grassy looking mantle on her back.
We thanked him and moved full steam ahead to the city gates. The sprawling skyscrapers were so like the old world, if anywhere feels normal it's this place, I thought to myself I could see myself living here someday.
Revitalise was on the second street as we passed through the gate, a soft black stoney looking material lined the path up to the colourful and bright guild banner, little vegetable and cup ornaments linked to people hugging in a circle which linked again to a music symbol and …a camera? Huh… haven't seen one of those in a long time. Fotographing the memory in my mind.
Lucky for us the one we were looking for already noticed us before we saw her. A Huum or Terrahuum we never really know or bother to ask size, came from a side street, and noticed Silana. "Oh! She's not doing so well is she the little dearie!?" The woman said.
"Are you Atropa?" Wardi asked her hastily. She nodded and asked to look at her.
"Bless her, she's taken some nasty hits, what happened, could you tell me? it could be important to the treatment."
"The boss in green top, the gods or someone else has changed the dungeon, the difficulty everything, and it gained the ability to attack with its spikes!" said Wardi vomiting word nonsense in panic. Silana had long since fallen unconscious from loss of blood, the potions can only do so much after all.
"Oh my …I've never heard of that happening, gosh, that must have been terrifying!" "Come, this way to my apartment, it's in the western block, it just a short run there!" We followed Atropa through several streets leading up to the apartment block she lived in.
It really was like back home, several floors stacked high with multiple apartments and the typical balcony we'd see. 'Homes for the future!' they'd advertise, but the modern appearances held back by being brittle and paper-like, breaking just by looking at it the wrong way. Atropa painted her apartment in a forest green paint, calming with some extra welcoming coming from burning an incense stick recently.
Silana was placed on the table in the middle of the living room and Atropa told us to find a seat, make ourselves at home this could take a while, being a Quacksalver, she continued by informing us that "Quacksalving is a slow~… process!" as she hastily rushed around her cupboards and draws.
"Atropa, I like your home it's very cosy inside, are you a big fan of fungi's I can see that you're growing several." Said Lucy.
"I just need to add a drop of this … and a drop of that…a twig of oak mmm yes don't forget lila marron" muttered Atropa. Completely ignoring Lucy.
We have encountered quacksalvers in the past, but we didn't keep them around long, they tend to get too focused on not harming life and all that green living philosophy, so a life on the road where we're going to harm stuff tends to make those tears fall a lot. I couldn't help but whisper to Rhua that "She's weird even by quacksalver standards don't you think?"
"Yeah, she's weird for sure, I guess that's why it only seems to be oddballs that are drawn to such an usual class type" She replied.
"Everyone gather, this is going to get a bit a messy… I've had to use some ingredients that triple the strength of the person temporarily, hold her down and don't get ma-…" Silana let out an angry shout, and lifted all but Rhua briefly off the ground.
"She must have high strength already to be able to lift so many of you by herself with one limb gosh!" said Atropa.
"It was just unexpected that's all, it won't happen again" is what Wardi wanted to think but on Silana's second attempt, Lucy Horace and I were up to the ceiling and back down to the floor. The groans we gave off were probably starting to make the neighbours worry about an unsolicited party occurring during the day and on a day that isn't fun time Thuursdeh.
"At least it's working, she's getting her colour back and the wounds are sealing properly now." Said Rhua who hadn't moved an inch the entire time. Thank the stars I thought, it's not that Silana sent us flying on repeat over the course of several minutes, blasted back and forth like a fleshy yo-yo. Aching and sore and Silana calming down, I sat down at a comfortable black and yellow beanbag looking pillow only to find as I got closer it seemed to be moving… breathing… I reached out to touch it but noticed some exceptionally fine hairs illuminated as the daylight hit it through the window.
"Hey-mmm-yeah-yeah-shoo-shoo-de-ba-de-doo-don't touch my jives kid, this look is busting out-womp-womp-a-donka" all of us just stared in confusion.
Nice to see your finally awake Fitz G! You could have made yourself useful whilst I was out, she said sighing afterwards.