The Chained Maiden: Bound by Hope

by Ian Rodgers

  “Yeah, it’s rather unbelievable at times. But at others, it doesn’t surprise me at all. We mortals are tough, and don’t give up easily!” Dora said with a laugh.

  “Too true!” Enrai agreed. He then frowned thoughtfully. “You know, if there are saltwater fish in the lake, I know a few recipes involving them. Want me to handle dinner tonight?”

  “Would you? That’d be great!” Dora said eagerly, licking her lips in anticipation.

  They rode for another two and a half hours before the sun began to set, and Dora called it a day. The trio pulled over to a small patch of dry, flat, mostly dustless land close to the lake. While they could have stayed in one of the settlements, places like that tended not to have much room, and didn’t cater to travelers. It was cheaper and easier to set up camp and sleep in tents beneath the stars.

  As the group went about preparing the campsite, Ain winced as he rubbed the tips of his ears. “Urgh, the sun is killing me. How do you handle the sun?”

  “Ears get burned again?” the half-orc asked sympathetically. He nodded, at which she snickered before reaching out with glowing hands and healing the damage.

  “Scarrot and I have it lucky. We don’t burn as easily as you pasty-skinned folk do,” Dora said with a hint of smugness.

  “Neither do I,” Enrai added, also sounding smug. Only to yelp in pain as Ain slapped the back of his neck.

  “Oh, really? And I suppose that cherry red hue on your red is just a unique form of blushing?” the elf snarked. Enrai growled and clutched his neck, which had also suffered from the heat and sun.

  “At least I learned my lesson from last time! Shaved heads and hot sun don’t mix. That’s why I grew out my hair slightly for my second venture into the Dreadlands,” Enrai declared in a huff, stroking the soft black fuzz that had grown in atop his scalp. His tattoos were now partially obscured by his new hairdo, but there was just enough definition left in the ink that they stood out as vague, mesmerizing shadows within his hairline.

  The Spellsword chuckled at that. He remembered the first time he and the Monk had ventured into the Cracked Land. In just a day, Enrai’s entire head had become a massive sunburn that had taken weeks to heal.

  “Well, if ‘make fun of Enrai’ hour is quite finished, I’m going to go fishing,” the Qwanese man said, dusting his hands off as he stepped away from his erected tent. “Any idea what sort of fish I can catch in the lake?”

  “There’s sea bass and flounder, I think you might be able to find a shark in there, if you’re lucky, and close to the shores is quite a bit of shellfish like shrimp, clams, and lobsters,” Dora said, thinking back to the various seafood meals she’d eaten. For a landlocked region like the Cracked Land, it had a surprising number of fish dishes thanks to the Lake of Tears.

  “Sounds delicious. I can think of a few recipes I can make with that,” Enrai said with a smile. He darted off to the shore with a burst of Wind magic, his speed vastly accelerated. Dora watched him go with an amused look before digging a hole in the ground for a fire pit.

  Ain remained on guard, watching the surroundings with a frown. “I don’t like this. We should have spent the night in a village when we had the chance.”

  “Didn’t I just explain why that wasn’t going to happen?” Dora asked, glancing over at the Grand Elf. When he didn’t respond, she frowned. “Is something wrong?”

  “I feel like there’s something watching us,” he replied, staring across the dusty wastes.

  “How long has this been going on?”

  “Since we left Creidor,” Ain admitted.

  Dora frowned, and her thoughts drifted to the strange, lead-grey bipedal thing that had saved her from the Manticore, and earlier had been encountered in the Undead plagued city of Rahmal’Alram. At the time, she’d assumed it’d belonged to Vord, as a sort of insurance to make sure she was following his instructions. But now, she had to wonder if that was the case. Could the thing be stalking her under the orders of a different master?

  Her concerned musings were cut short by the abrupt return of Enrai, who was running back to them with a large, finned creature in his arms.

  “That was quick,” Dora said, surprised. She stood up as he returned. “We haven’t gotten the fire ready yet, so you’ll have to put that down… on a… blanket…”

  The half-orc stared at the being held by Enrai, then back up to the Monk. “Did, did you just kidnap a mermaid?!” she demanded, both furious and incredulous.

  “No, no, no, not at all! I ‘rescued’ her. Big difference,” Enrai stated, looking down at the person in his arms with a worried expression.

  She, and it was clear she was such thanks to the seashell bra being worn over a pair of small breasts, was a pale blue skinned humanoid, possibly in her early teens, with her legs replaced by a dark blue colored fish tail. Her shoulder length hair was seaweed green, and her eyes were clenched shut while her breathing was labored.

  On closer inspection, a number of painful discolorations covered her torso, while her fishy lower half had scales missing and patches of still wet blood seeping out.

  “Quick, grab a blanket and put her down!” Dora commanded. “Gently, though! I think she has some broken ribs! Maybe a bit of internal damage!”

  Ain responded quickly, grabbing his bedroll from his tent and laying it flat on the ground. Enrai carefully lowered the mermaid down onto the clean blanket. She whimpered slightly at the rough feeling of the fabric on her tender skin but made no other reactions. Dora immediately sat down next to her and ran her palms, glowing silver and green, over the visible wounds.

  “Oh, this is bad,” she muttered. “She has five broken ribs in her chest, with a piece of bone pressing against her left lung. It didn’t pierce it, praise Cynthia, but it’s far too close for comfort. And these injuries on her tail… they look to be made by claws, or some sort of sharp tearing object.”

  “Can you save her?” Enrai asked worriedly. Dora smiled faintly at his concern. He was a kind man, to care for someone he didn’t even know. That was why she got on so well with him.

  “Who do you think you’re talking to? Of course, I can! It’ll be a cinch!” the Healer declared proudly. She then frowned. “Where did you find her?”

  “I spotted her washed ashore when I ran down for a round of fishing. Naturally, I panicked at first, but I knew you could probably do something to help her. Hence why I ran back as fast as I reasonably could,” the Monk explained.

  Dora nodded at that before focusing intently on the young half-fish girl in front of her. Mana filled up the mermaid’s wounds, and the flesh slowly healed. However, she paused with her glowing palms directly over one of the blue-skinned breasts.

  “Damn, this isn’t good,” she swore.

  “What? What is it?” Enrai asked worriedly, looking up at the half-orc.

  “The bone pressing against her lung is too badly broken for me to heal. I could try, but the odds of it becoming malformed and brittle in the future are too high.” She sucked in a deep, calming breath. “I’ll need to operate. You two need to help me cut her open so I can extract the shard of rib before it causes any damage to her.”

  “How can we help?” Ain asked.

  “Ain, how sharp can you make my dagger if you use magic?” Dora asked, passing the elf her short blade. He took it and examined it closely.

  “I can probably make it so it’ll cut through the mermaid’s flesh without trouble. But I don’t think that will be enough. We don’t have the proper tools. And have you ever done an operation like this before?”

  “…No, I haven’t,” Dora admitted. “I’ve helped perform them, though, so I can probably manage it. Even without the necessary medical implements.”

  “Hang on, we don’t need to cut her open!” Enrai protested, dragging the pair’s attention over to him. “Dora, where exactly on her body is the broken rib?”

  “Hmm? Oh, let’s see. Give me a second,” the green-skinned Healer muttered. Her hands glowed, and she held a finger o
ver a patch of blue skin right below the mermaid’s left breast.

  “There. Directly beneath where my finger is pointing. It’s only a few centimeters long, but it’s jagged and can easily punch through her lung if jostled, or if she tries to do too many sit-ups,” Dora revealed.

  “I see. Then I might just have a way to save her,” Enrai declared. He then rolled up his sleeves, showing off his muscular arms. “Now, I want it to be known that this technique is normally used for punching holes through people, and, occasionally, ripping the hearts out of foes so it can be shown to them, still beating. But if I adjusted the power output, I should be able to pluck the offending piece of bone out of the little miss with barely any problems.”

  “I’m sorry, you’re going to do what?” Dora demanded. Instead of answering, he raised a hand over the ground and let a red-orange glow cover it. Then, he rapidly slammed his hand down towards the dirt.

  Instead of smashing painfully into the ground like she expected, Enrai’s hand phased through the grey earth, pushing aside a miniscule amount of matter in the process. Then, he extracted his hand, and pinched between thumb and index finger was a tiny pebble.

  “This is the Shen Shou, or Mystical Hand, technique. It requires rigorous training to pull off, but if done properly a Monk can rip out an enemy’s organs or extract a lodged arrowhead without causing much, if any, damage to the surroundings. And not to brag, but I’m fairly adept with this technique. With you guiding my hand, I can pull the broken piece of rib bone out of the mermaid!”

  “That just might work!” Dora exclaimed after thinking it over. She then frowned up at the darkening sky. “But I’ll need more light for this. Ain, can you get the fire going, and maybe get out one of the lanterns?”

  The Grand Elf nodded, and tossed a fireball into the small pit Dora had dug and filled with slivers of coal and dried rags. Instantly a fire sprung up, crackling away cheerfully. The Spellsword than grabbed a special magical lantern out of their pack and injected it with his mana, filling the glass with a dull yellow glow.

  With the lack of light now resolved, Dora cracked her knuckles and placed one hand close to the problematic portion of the mermaid’s body, while she lay her other hand on Enrai’s shoulder.

  “Alright, what I’m going to do is direct a bit of my energy in two different directions,” she explained for her companion’s benefit. “The hand next to the mermaid will have a spell on it that’ll allow me to see where the bone shard is. The hand on your shoulder, Enrai, will have a spell that’ll grant you access to what my first spell can detect. That way, you can locate for yourself where the bone is you need to extract.”

  “You can Duel Cast? An impressive feat,” Ain praised. Dora simply shook her head.

  “Not at all. Duel Casting is one of the first tricks a Healer is taught. They have to be able to cast a diagnostic spell while also using a healing spell, because otherwise the Healer wouldn’t know how the healing process was going.”

  Dora then turned to Enrai. “Are you ready?”

  He nodded, determination glinting in his eyes. Slowly, carefully, so as not to cause complications with either her patient or her assistant, Dora let her magic bloom, and the spells came to life with a flash of silver.

  A silver light filled the Monk’s dark eyes, and he gained a surprised expression for a moment as he saw what Dora could see. His expression became serious as he zeroed in on the part of the mermaid’s body now highlighted with silver energy.

  Then, with an equal amount of care and precision as Dora had shown, Enrai let a membrane of orange mana coat his right hand, making sure not to use too much magic too soon lest it interfere with the spells Dora already had active. He slowly inched his hand closer to the mermaid’s rib cage and sunk his fingers into her flesh.

  Like before with the ground, the digits seemed to phase through the solid matter of her skin with ease. With his eyes glowing silver, Enrai was able to see exactly where the offensive bone shard was. Combined with his Mystic Hand technique, it made for an astonishingly clean and quick surgery.

  Enrai, guided by Dora, soon pinched the errant piece of rib between his fingers, and tenderly extracted it from the poor girl. Once it was out, everyone let out a heavy sigh of relief.

  Dora removed her hand from the Monk’s shoulder and ran her hands over the mermaid’s body one more time to double check if the procedure had gone correctly, and to ensure the ribs wouldn’t cause any further damage.

  “And there we go… just got to heal up the broken end so it won’t cause problems… smooth it out a bit…” the Healer muttered, before wiping a bead of sweat off her brow. “Ha! That glowing hand trick of yours really did it! The bone shard is gone, and the girl is no longer in any danger!”

  “That’s wonderful!” Enrai said happily, and even Ain nodded, pleased with the outcome. He then frowned in concern as the mermaid remained asleep.

  “Should we wake her?”

  “Not really. Best to let her sleep, right now. She’s physically fine, but her mind needs to adjust to these changes. Sleeping is the best way for the body and mind to adjust,” Dora explained.

  “Then we should probably bring her back to her fellows and explain that.”

  Dora and Enrai gave the Grand Elf confused looks, who grimaced and pointed towards the lake’s edge.

  “I didn’t want to say anything while you were operating, but as you were treating the girl a large group of merfolk appeared nearby, searching the waters. And I’m fairly certain they can see us, and know we have one of their own,” the Spellsword revealed.

  “Thank you for not interrupting us while we worked,” Dora said stiffly, gazing off into the direction Ain was pointing.

  It was dark out now, the sun completely escaping beyond the horizon. But the moon was out, and its light was just enough to create spots of luminance upon the lake’s surface. And within that mirrored glow, indistinct shapes floated, facing the shore.

  “That’s… not a good sign,” Enrai mused. He looked down at the young mermaid, still asleep on the sleeping bag. “Should I carry her back?”

  “We should all go down and explain what happened. And perhaps you can apologize for carrying her off?” Dora suggested. Enrai looked annoyed at that, but she quickly explained why.

  “Look, I know you brought her to me with the best of intentions, but I bet her parents are worried and don’t forget, this is the Cracked Land. ‘Kindness’ is not exactly a common commodity. Too many slavers traverse the wastes for the inhabitants to be anything other than suspicious of strangers.”

  The Monk sighed but nodded at her words, conceding the point. He stood up, the teenage mermaid in his arms. He did not run, though, for two reasons. First, he needed to be slow enough so Dora and Ain could keep up. And second, running at a group of people who might be hostile was just asking for trouble.

  The trio, plus one unconscious mermaid, made their way down to the lake. Ain led the way, the magic lamp lighting their path. Dora stood at Enrai’s side, checking on the girl every so often to make sure her health didn’t suddenly take an unexpected turn for the worse.

  As the group neared the Lake of Tears, Dora was finally able to make out the size of the merfolk host awaiting them. A dozen heads bobbed in the water, everything below the neck hidden by the lake. It was somewhat unsettling being glared at by that many eyes, but the half-orc was used to it, and ignored it.

  Ain and Enrai, on the other hand, were not used to such open hostility directed at them and shifted nervously as they got close to the shore.

  Once the trio was close to the lake’s edge, close enough for the waves to lap mere centimeters from their boots, they stopped, and Dora stepped forward to speak.

  “I am Dora Halfmoon, a Healer. This girl was brought to me due to a desire to see her wounds healed, and nothing more. My friend Enrai only acted in her best interests, as hasty and perhaps ill thought out though it may have been.”

  “A half-orc Healer that goes by the name Dora? I hav
e heard of you,” one of the merfolk said after a muttered round of conversation with their fellows. The spokesman was actually a woman, based on her soft, musical voice. “You work with the Yellowmoon Menagerie. We know of them, too. Scarrot and Holt have never tried to cheat us, or treat us unwell. Yet rumors speak of their disappearance. Why are you here, alone?”

  “The people of the Menagerie were kidnapped, save for myself and Rindel,” Dora said, trying to keep the pain from her words. “I am now searching for a way to save them.”

  “And what of your two companions?” the mermaid demanded.

  “Ain, the Grand Elf, is a Spellsword for the Second Elfish Domain, while Enrai, the young man holding the girl, is a Qwanese Monk. He is the one who found her and brought her to me for medical attention,” Dora explained, introducing her friends.

  That brought another round of muttered conversation from the assembled merfolk. The spokeswoman nodded in understanding.

  “I see, that would explain why they were so willing to help a complete stranger. They haven’t lived in the dust long enough to be dry and jaded like the rest.” At her words, dark chuckles broke out amongst the other merfolk. Dora grinned wryly as well.

  “I agree, they are quite naïve.” Enrai and Ain frowned at that, but Dora plowed on. “Anyway, we healed the girl. And now, we wish to return her to you.”

  There was a pause. “We will most gladly accept the return of my niece and thank you with all of our hearts for healing her. But, could we ask of you something?”

  “What is it?” Dora inquired.

  “There are others who need healing in the clan. And our magic is not suited to tending to such damage,” the spokeswoman explained, then added, “Of course, we are willing to pay you for this work.”

  Dora frowned. Her heart wanted to agree. She was a Healer. It was her job, nay, her duty to help when it was asked of her. Even if she wasn’t a true, fully ordained Healer her mother’s lessons still stuck with her. But they were on a mission. A time sensitive one, at that. Still, they’d made good time…