[74]

As much as I wanted to stab the motionless demon with my poleaxe, I was more afraid of a last ditch attack from it. Thick urine-like Blood dribbled out of its nearly fingerless hand, creating a growing puddle where it lay. Vomit and feces from my Sicken spell coated its arms and legs respectively, emitting a smell so awful I wondered if it might not be better to inhale acidfog. I could detect no movement from its chest, but that only convinced me further that it was a trick. After all, I had not received essence yet from its passing.

Hoping that I would not live to regret my carefulness, I made my way over to Raxx. The Harak was sitting up, cradling his snout with one hand, and steadying himself with the other. His eyes looked anything but alert.

“You okay?” I said, reaching into a satchel to get him a healing potion.

His glazed over eyes stared at me. That was not a good sign.

The attack to his skull had been as bad as any I had seen. No one could doubt the magnificent power of the guardian. As it was, I was thankful the blow Raxx took had only been an elbow. I shuddered to think what a full weight punch would have done.

Gently, so as not to provoke a reaction from him, I pried Raxx’s hand away from his wounded snout. I tried not to gasp at what I saw.

The demon’s scaled elbow had torn away flesh from the top half of his mouth, and knocked out a significant number of teeth. Blood continued dripping down the wound, staining his teeth and neck fur crimson. Raxx still showed no recognition of me, dazed as he was, but did not put up a fight as I poured the healing potion down his mouth. That done, I cradled his head back to the ground and instructed him not to move.

Raxx was in a bad way, but it was nothing compared to the sight of Joy.

Fiery red burns formed a webwork across her green skin. Smoke from the lightning bolt continued to drift off of her, and I feared the worst. I poured a healing potion down her mouth before checking to see if she was alive, fearing that I did not have the time to dally. Even a second might make the difference.

Then I leaned in to feel the beating of her heart with my hands. Placing one hand on her neck and another over her chest, I sat and waited for the rhythm for an agonizing moment.

“C’mon Joy!” I pleaded, but felt nothing.

Tears started welling in my eyes as I took in the sad state of her form. The flowers that sprouted from her hair had all turned black, burning away to ashen sculptures that would no doubt break from the gentlest touch.

I cradled her to my chest, failing to contain a sob. Joy’s heart did not beat.

This was all my fault. My need for vengeance had put the two best friends I ever had in pointless danger. They had risked everything for me, and for what? Just so I could kill an idiot?

The entire kingdom of Ergentein was already after Reynold. He would not have been able to evade the RRS forever. All that I truly had to do was wait. Hate had stripped away my reason; I saw that now. Faced with such loss, the stupidity of my actions crashed down on me with unforgiving clarity. Neither Joy nor Raxx had hesitated to support me for a second. They both deserved a better friend than I had been.

No, more than a friend, I realized. If my fear was genuine, and my father was dead, Raxx and Joy were the only family I had left. It was not until I held her cold corpse in my arms that I truly understood just how much I loved them both. Guilt replaced my rage, and for the first time I felt a regret so profound that I could do nothing but close my eyes and pray.

“Vascora, forgive your servant! I am unworthy, and I have failed you! Anger has clouded my judgement, and I have abused your gifts. Please, heal my sister, I beg you! Do not let her die because of me.” I prayed.

“You stink,” a slight voice croaked under me.

“Joy?” I pulled back, looking into her beautiful green eyes. She stared up at me, bereft of the usual confidence and snark that adorned her face. Pain and tiredness had replaced her default state, but I could not be any happier. She was alive! Either Vascora had listened, or the healing potion worked.

“Water,” she whispered.

The tears on my face continued unbidden, but now as tears of joy. I poured water into her mouth in a trickle.

“I thought you were dead,” I said, sniffling. “Your heart stopped beating.”

After several gulps, she wiped off her mouth with a hand, hissing at the pain the burns caused in doing such a simple task.

“Wildlings don’t have hearts, you idiot,” she said, with the ghost of a smirk on her lips.

I could not help it and threw my head back in laughter. Of course they didn’t, I thought. Her race was a plant hybrid. How had I forgotten that? In hindsight, I do not think Wildlings even have blood.

“Did you get it?” She asked once I had stopped chuckling. Talking over my relieved giggling was too big a task for her weak voice.

“Not yet, it’s just taking a break,” I said. She looked like she wanted me to elaborate, but did not have the strength to continue asking questions. So I carefully lifted her up and carried her near to Raxx. I did not want to put her right next to him because the demon was still alive. Raxx sat too close to it for my liking, but I had no way to move his muscled form.

Fortunately, the Sea Gnoll was in much better shape than he had been a few minutes ago. Raxx had already wrapped a portion of his face up with bandages, and was clearing the blood out of his fur. His breed was known to be hardy, but his quick recovery surpassed even my already high expectations.

“I think the demon is still alive,” I warned Raxx.

He nodded at me, stood, and made his way toward it.

“Wait! Let’s get it from a distance. It might be a trick,” I said.

Raxx ignored me, and before long brought his large sabre down on the prone creature with a massive two-handed swing. His first cut caused sparks to fly in all directions. The black metal armor crafted into the demon’s skin might have melted under the onslaught of several ascended working together, but it was not ready to give under a simple sword blow.

I slid Joy to the ground and leapt to my feet. If the horrific creature was waiting to take one of us with it, I would be ready for it. The time for rash decisions was over.

Raxx brought down the sabre again, but this time the blade wedged into the scaly flesh of the demon’s neck. Two more blows followed the first, and Raxx proudly held up the massive guardian’s severed head.

+50 Essence

“What a load of chum!” Raxx complained, tossing the head at the wall.

“What?” I asked.

“That creature was only worth 75 Essence. That means we probably just gave Reynold and his team the bulk of the essence it was worth.”

“Well, you still got more than I did,” I said, smiling. Then, changing the subject, I asked, “How are you feeling?”

Raxx grunted, rubbing his injured face. “My head feels heavy, and I lost most of my teeth.”

“Yeah, I saw that. Sorry,” I said, trying not to wince. Losing so many teeth would require magic to heal. The poor Sea Dog would be eating soup for the foreseeable future.

“Eh? They’ll grow back,” Raxx said with a shrug.

“Your teeth grow back?”

Joy laughed from behind me.

“Do you know anything?” she asked.

“Oh, you knew his teeth would grow back?” I said, arching an eyebrow.

“Of course!” she countered. “For all that reading you like to do, you sure spent little time looking into the anatomy of your team.”

My ears burned in shame, and the regret I had been suppressing came back in full force.

“What?” Raxx asked, noticing something had happened but not sure what. “I didn’t study your anatomy. You both take shits like I do. What more is there to know?”

“Did you know Wildlings don’t have hearts?” I asked, sensing an opening and thankful for the reprieve.

“That’s probably just Joy,” Raxx said, doing his high-pitched laugh. As usual, it instantly lifted my spirits.

“You got me there,” Joy said, chortling.

I helped Joy away from the smelly corpse of the demon, and then assisted the other two in caring for their wounds. Joy’s wounds were the most serious. We ended up having to undress most of her clothes to apply a cream to her burns. Seeing her naked skin drove the severity of her pain even further into my mind. Her toe and fingernails had burned off from the demon’s electric attack. Likewise, her lips were blackened and cracked.

With that task finished, we resumed discussing what to do.

“We are in no condition to move on,” I said, shaking my head.

“I am in no condition. You, Raxx, and Ugz will be fine,” Joy countered.

“I don’t care anymore. I’m not leaving you.”

“I will be fine. There are a ton of places for me to hide and wait in this cave. We’ve come too far for you to wimp out now. Go get mama some vengeance.”

“She’s right,” Raxx butted in. “We are warriors Harald. Now is not the time for you to lose your stomach.”

“How about we just wait a bit until you feel better?” I asked.

“We can’t. That warlock could be doing anything. I’m surprised he hasn’t attacked us already.” Joy said.

“Oh, yeah, he’s dead. I killed him during the fight.”

Raxx slapped me on the back. “Great! Now we have even less reason to wait.”

I sighed.

Leaving Joy behind was the last thing I wanted, but it was still her choice. I hoped there would be no new nasty surprises waiting in the temple.

My hopes were in vain.