Cyll shifted his stance. He pursed his lips and rubbed at the back of his head like he was trying to start a fire.

“She lost her Life-spark,” Cyll said finally. “We came to Bulsen to try and find some information on where we could get a replacement, but she was injured in a fight.”

“Lost it?” The doctor harrumphed. “You don’t lose a Life-spark. You spend it. I’ve never heard of any way to replace a Life-spark. Then again, nobody is fool enough to waste it either. I can’t help you find a new one.”

“Don’t need you to,” Cyll said. He put a hand on the table. “Can you help with the other injuries though?”

“Sure. Do you have coin? Let’s say…five gold?”

Cyll grimaced. He dug into his pockets and dropped the requested coins onto the counter. The doctor swept them into a pocket and grinned at him.

“Good, good. Now, I need you to find me a body. Someone who died recently–”

Patty was out the door before the man finished. He chuckled and shook his head.

“Girls, eh? Can’t handle men’s conversations,” the healer said. “Now, as I was saying. Get me a fresh body. I need the energy from it to heal your girl here.”

Cyll gave a noncommittal grunt. A small smile played across his face and he nodded in agreement.

“I can do that,” he said.

“Then do it! We don’t have all day, and I have things to do. There are more than enough lowlifes hanging around in the Salt Ward. It shouldn’t take you that long to find some drunkard and cut his throat.”

“I’m not going to comment on that statement. It doesn’t seem like you care much for the people living here, despite being a resident yourself,” Maya muttered from the table.

“Hush now, patient. You should be grateful I’m willing to heal for such a low price. If you’d gone anywhere else in Bulsen, they’d be charging you at least fifty gold,” the doctor said. “And you’ll come to learn soon enough that lives are only as valuable as those who wield them. Therefore, killing a man here isn’t much different than plucking a flower from the ground.”

Neither Maya nor Cyll responded. A short while later, the door swung open again. Patty tossed four bodies into the shack and stepped over them. The healer’s eyes bulged outwards.

“One body, girl. I don’t need this many!”

“We ran into a little trouble on our way here,” Cyll said. He smiled at Patty and gave her an appreciative nod. “It’s good to know these folks can be put to good use.”

Still grumbling, the doctor walked over to the pile of corpses on the ground. He raised his hands into the air once again. Grey energy collected around them. Two tendrils extended – one attached to Maya, and the other to one of the bodies on the ground.

The corpse started to shrivel and decay. Both tendrils grew in size and intensity and Maya’s back arched as she let out a scream. The doctor ignored her as he continued forcing the grey light into her body.

Patty stepped towards the man, but Cyll held a hand out to stop her. The burns on Maya’s hands were shrinking. To her side, the corpse had lost all of its muscles. It had become nothing more than skin and bones.

Maya’s cries died down at the same time as the body collapsed into a pile of dust. The healer helped the young woman into a sitting position and bared his teeth in what might have been a smile.

“She’s healed. Aside from the Life-spark, that is,” he said.

Maya looked at her hands, turning them over and running her fingers across the unblemished skin. She hopped off the table and readjusted the captain’s hat on her head.

“Thank you. I could barely think straight,” Maya said.

The doctor shrugged and waved one hand dismissively.

“Yes, yes. Now unless anyone else needs my services and you have the gold to spare, get out of my house.”

They didn’t want to antagonize the old man any further, so the three of them left the hut and started down the streets of the Salt Ward once more.

“Thanks for everything, guys,” Maya said.

“It’s just our job,” Cyll said. He shrugged, but he couldn’t hide the slight smirk on his face. “But we still need to try to fish for some information about a new Life-spark. We’re down to twenty gold, and we still need to get some supplies for a longer journey. Not to mention I need a weapon. Again.”

Unfriendly eyes traced them as they walked. However, it seemed that news traveled fast in the Salt Ward, because nobody bothered them the entire journey. It didn’t take long for the sounds of the bustling main square to reach their ears once more.

“There’s got to be an information broker somewhere in Bulsen,” Maya said.

The crowd had thinned slightly, but the vendors were all still swamped with people. The officer from before had been replaced by a shorter man in the same uniform. She tilted her head in thought for a moment before walking up to him.

“Can I help you?” The officer asked, tearing his gaze away from a pastry shop in the corner of the square.

“I hope so. I’m looking for a specific treasure and I was hoping to buy some information about it. Do you know where I could do that?” Maya asked.

The guard’s gaze swept over Patty and Cyll as they stepped up behind Maya. His eyes shot to her hat before returning to her face.

“Adventurers or a pirate crew. Bulsen doesn’t aid in illegal activities, even if pirates are allowed to dock at our ports,” he warned.

“We aren’t interested in anything illegal. We’re more than happy to dungeon delve or purchase what we’re looking for through the proper channels. We just don’t know where to find it,” Cyll said, putting a hand on Maya’s shoulder.

“Mmm. It won’t be cheap, but there’s a licensed information broker working out of the Blue Swan. It’s the big restaurant down the main road – you can’t miss it. They’ll decide if your request is reasonable,” the officer said.