The lix looked over at the ropes to see that they were attached to hooks on the far wall. Calling over the other green, who was still jumping at every motion, Ka-Do-Gir freed first Vavon and then Forian from the red pool.
Tailyn watched impassively as his mentor was freed. The skinless bodies dropped to the ground, a puddle of blood forming immediately under them. Although, it might also have been the red acid from the pool. Valanil was in no hurry to show off her skills as a healer, and it took an enormous effort for Tailyn to meet her gaze. The woman was lying nearby.
“Can you heal them?”
“Who’s going to heal me?” was all she said in reply. The woman could barely keep from screaming as the pain pierced her back, but she wasn’t going to give in. Not in front of the kids.
Tailyn wanted to say something, but his weariness was too much. All he could do was collapse to the ground and stare up at the ceiling. Forian was going to die. But at least he knew what he was getting himself into. From what Tailyn remembered, his mentor had said something about how he might not come back from the Gray Lands, and that the dean himself would take the boy on if that happened. Either way, he would get into the academy, with or without Forian. So what was there to worry about?
Growling as he pushed away that line of reasoning, Tailyn fought to concentrate and looked over at the store button. Lying there and feeling sorry for himself was all well and good. There was nothing wrong with that. But the boy had something that kept him off the sidelines — Forian was his mentor. Tailyn was the mage’s student. And how was he going to look himself in the mirror if Forian died? Was he going to just complain about how tired he’d been, how much he just wanted someone to feel sorry for him?
No. As long as Forian was still breathing, he needed to fight for the mage’s life. Where was that regeneration potion?
The shelf that should have held the beautiful flask costing 400 coins was empty. Tailyn stared at it for a while in hopes of a miracle, but it wasn’t forthcoming. The System wasn’t about to make it easy on him.
And that meant he was going to have to do things the hard way.
The store gave way to the workshop. An amilio, a phoenix feather, and two living waters cost 5,200 coins. It didn’t occur to the boy that he already had one flower he could have used to bring down the price, as he was just going as quickly as he could. Selling his level three outfit got him twenty thousand coins, and 20,800 went toward buying ingredients. Tailyn didn’t know how serious the wounds Forian and Vavon had sustained were, so he decided to play it safe. Two flasks for each of them was presumably going to be enough.
Stepping back out of the workshop helped drive the weakness away, and the boy leaped up and ran over to his mentor. Turning the body over meant suppressing a gag — Forian’s muscles were gone in addition to his skin, leaving bare bones and empty eye sockets. The boy’s hand shook, and Ka-Do-Gir stepped over to take the flask from Tailyn’s weakened grasp.
“I’ll do it. You rest.”
“Two for each of them,” Tailyn barely had time to say before he hiccupped in surprise as a message popped up.
Attention! Your personal enemy entered the Forest of Desire location.
Time to restore the damaged pass: 12 hours.
Prepare for battle!
Chapter 17
WAKING UP was unpleasant even if the pain was gone. His body still remembered the red liquid, tensing up every twenty seconds in spasms that really hurt. Still, they were nothing compared to the madness of the previous few months, and Forian’s faded consciousness returned to sense his body without opening his eyes. The only negatives were the spasms and the cold stone. Everything else was gone. Concentrating on the icons, the mage read his status and found that his named armor and weapon were nowhere to be found. His accessories, too. His personal shield might as well have been, with just what he’d been able to restore over the previous eight hours. And mana… A cold sweat broke out. His mana was still at zero. For some reason, it wasn’t regenerating. And why had the lixes pulled him out of their torture chamber? Did they really think some new kind of pain would be enough to break him and make him betray the academy? Stupid animals. They had no idea who Forian Tarn was. If the god decided he needed to suffer, that was what he was going to do.
“He woke up, only he’s trying to just lie there quietly,” a woman’s voice said, and Forian’s eyes popped open in surprise. As the lixes had talked with him themselves, it was impossible to mistake their guttural speech and the way they mangled the human tongue with anyone else. The man realized he was sitting against a stone wall — that was where the unpleasantly cold feeling was coming from. And next to him, there was a completely ordinary woman who, judging by her worn looks, had seen quite a bit in her time. Forian concentrated so he could read her attributes. Valanil Revolt, 38 years old, and the mark of the academy told him she’d completed the first year. She was the official herbalist in Culmart. That was a familiar name — wasn’t it the town his student was from?
“Mentor!” A boy stepped out from behind the herbalist. He was eleven years old, he was wearing simple clothes, and the strangest part was that his parameters were blocked. All but his name, age, and level. Forian frowned. His perception was at thirty, which meant anyone looking to hide from him would have had to have their concealment up to at least twenty. But the boy was down at level one — he couldn’t have an attribute higher than fifteen. So, how was the mage, a second-class investigator, powerless against a kid? He checked his map and found that they were in a location called General Isr Kale’s Tomb. Then, to cover for his own confusion, he went on the attack.
“Tailyn? Didn’t I tell you to stay in Culmart? What are you doing in the middle of the Gray Lands?” Forian said before breaking out in a fit of coughing. Over the previous four months, his vocal cords had only ever been used to scream in pain. There hadn’t been any talking.
“Water. Drink,” said a guttural voice, and Forian almost jumped when a lix held out a full cup. Barely able to contain his shock, the mage studied the creature — Ka-Do-Gir, green lix, level thirteen, Tailyn Vlashich’s servant. Servant? And not just anyone’s servant; he belonged to the boy standing a couple strides away with a hurt look on his face. He apparently hadn’t been expecting that kind of reaction from his mentor.
“That’s not fair! Tailyn saved your life, and you’re here getting on his case!” said another thin voice. Forian had a hard time not cursing — what was going on? Turning his head, he found who was talking — Valia Levor, eleven years old, level seventeen, solid parameters. And since he could read them, Forian realized it wasn’t that all children were hidden from him. It was only Tailyn. But wait, a Levor? The Duke of Carlian’s daughter? What was even happening? How had that group found each other?
The mage tried to get up, and he was surprised when there wasn’t a problem. It was as if the last few months had never happened. Pursing his lips in anticipation of the worst, he looked down, though he had to frown again. His body was in perfect condition. Even the scar he'd gotten when he was very young was gone. And Keran had told him he’d carry it with him for the rest of his life. Speaking of Keran, the mage had to wonder where he was. If he was still alive.
But his sentimentality didn’t keep him from realizing the main thing, which was that a regeneration elixir was the only way his body could have been healed to the point that even the scar was gone. And they were both rare in general and definitely impossible to find in a place like that. It had to have been brought in from the outside world, and since every flask was accounted for at the academy and in the empires, there was only one place to get one. Crobar. Regeneration was their bread and butter. But who? The lix or the herbalist? Which one of them was a mage hunter? Forian didn’t even consider the kids.
“The potion Tailyn made didn’t work on Vavon. Are you able to help him?” Valanil asked as if in passing, though she was quietly readying every defense she had at her disposal. The way the mage had tensed up after looking himself o
ver spoke volumes. For example, it told her he’d guessed about the regeneration.
“Tailyn made it?” Forian asked in reply. His theory came crashing down faster than a house of cards. “Tailyn made a regeneration potion?”
“Lesser,” Valanil said. “It restores your body as long as at least fifty percent of it is left. And we dumped two whole flasks into Vavon, but…”
“You meant Magistrate Vavon?” It finally hit Forian who she was talking about. The herbalist stepped to the side, revealing another body — the gray-haired old man he knew from the academy was lying on the ground.
Vavon Der (human). Mage. Age 288. Level 144.
Status: insane (mind cannot be restored).
So, that, it turned out, was the end the god had had in mind for the old man… Tough. The magistrate’s body was living and breathing, but it was all just reflexes. There was no intelligence, and there wasn’t any chance of regaining it, either. And that same fate would presumably have awaited Forian himself if the god hadn’t sent the motley group.
“Nothing can help him now,” the mage said heavily. “We need to get Vavon back to the academy so he can be buried with honors.”
“That’s going to be a problem,” Tailyn said, finally chiming in. “An enormous army of black lixes with Halas at their head is going to be showing up in another four hours.”
“Okay? Student, did you forget what happened to the lixes in Culmart? The same thing will happen here.” Just in case, Forian checked his active deck and inventory. The ten flasks of mana would help to begin with, and then he’d be able to figure out why his own wasn’t regenerating. The lixes may have been able to strip him and destroy his equipment, but they hadn’t been able to get into his personal inventory. And that gave them a good shot at survival.
“I doubt it, Mentor. Halas has a Nemean lion.”
“A year ago, it was at level fifteen, so I assume it’s up to something like twenty,” Valanil added. “And the lixes have been using hydras, too. We don’t have a line of spearmen to hold them back, so Tailyn is right — we do have a problem.”
While the news wasn’t great, it wasn’t critical. Forian considered cards the solution to all problems just like every other mage who graduated from the academy, and even if magic didn’t work on the beast, there were ways around that. For example, the mage’s epic telekinesis card could lift enormous boulders into the air. He wanted to see what the Nemean lion would do about them, and hydras were the least of his worries. They were idiotic creatures mages learned how to deal with during their third year.
“We have four hours. That’s more than enough time to find a way out if the god wishes it,” Forian said. “But first, I need to know everything that’s happened since the moment I left for the Gray Lands, and also how you all got here. I can’t make a decision without knowing what’s going on. Why don’t we start with what’s most obvious? Valia and Valanil. Levor and Revolt. Your names are too similar to be a coincidence — is there anything you’d like to share on that account?”
Tailyn’s brows shot upward. It was true, and not something he’d ever noticed before. But what was the issue?
“Simple coincidence, nothing else,” Valanil replied as casually as she could, doing her best not to tense up even on the inside. She didn’t know what the mage was capable of and didn’t want him to sense the truth from her body language.
“Of course, it’s a coincidence!” Valia added. The insight had taken her aback. “The first time I saw her was a year ago when I was captured by the lixes. She didn’t know anything about me!”
The thought crossed the herbalist’s mind that the girl was getting a bit ahead of herself with a declaration like that, but the secret was one better kept to herself. Perhaps, one day Valia would find out the truth if her father completely lost his mind and decided to end his own life. The oath he’d taken before the god wouldn’t let him live more than a second if he revealed the real reason behind the girl’s name. Although, Valia was right about one thing. Valanil hadn’t even known the girl existed until she saw her in the City of the Dead. But her name alone had been all the herbalist needed to see.
“Okay, we’ll call it a coincidence, but what about everything else?” Forian decided against lingering any longer on that surprising point. If only he’d known that it was actually the most important thing they could be discussing, he wouldn’t have been so quick to let it go, but he was more interested in finding out what had happened while he’d been gone from the world. Not to mention how the group had shown up there.
Valanil took the lead. Without going into details, she went through how Tailyn was whisked out of the city by Isor Barka, how they’d uncovered the plot with the crystal fences — she had to send the mage the mission description before he could believe a city elder would betray someone so openly — how they’d gotten away, how they’d been captured once again, and how Tailyn had freed them. She tried not to say anything about Keran besides that he’d died fighting the fences and lixes with them. Smoothly guiding the conversation along, she skipped right over their trip through the mountains and Tartila Mine, just mentioning how they’d gotten into their current location thanks to how they’d been marked as slaves. The lixes who’d imprisoned them had also saved them, it turned out.
“And that’s pretty much how we got here,” Valanil said in closing. “Trying to get away from the guards. And three hours from now, an army of black lixes is going to show up.”
“Brief, but informative,” Forian muttered discontentedly. He’d been counting on a much more detailed version of the events, and he’d gotten nothing but the barest minimum. Looking at Valia, he had to ask another question. “How did the daughter of the Duke of Carlian get captured by lixes?”
Once again, it was a question Tailyn didn’t know the answer to, so he was all ears. The previous few days had flown by so quickly that he hadn’t had time to stop and have an actual conversation with Valia.
“I was betrayed,” the girl replied in a low voice that spoke to how little she wanted to remember what had happened. “The crystal fences needed mages, and they cut a deal with my supervisors. When I came by to dump the stone I’d mined, my nannies were killed, and I was tied up and delivered to the lixes. Valanil told you the rest.”
The duke’s daughter and supervisors… Forian had mixed feelings. On the one hand, he could sense she was telling him the truth, though on the other the whole situation seemed impossible.
“What is that, an isolation cage? Whose is it?” The mage’s wandering eye fell on one more item sitting farther away. Reflexes kicked in yet again, and Forian was suddenly ready to attack anyone who looked at him wrong. An isolation cage and regeneration. There was just too much of Crobar for one little group.
“That one is mine, but we each have one. We found five,” Tailyn replied.
“Found…” Forian’s voice was laced with unconcealed sarcasm. “Something Crobar fighters would cut the throat of any mage over just to make sure they didn’t get the chance to study them. And you just found them?”
“Yes, we did,” Tailyn replied forcefully. The boy was still feeling hurt. “We found five cages in a leprechaun hideout not far from here. And it didn’t have anything to do with Crobar! The god is my witness!”
A snow-white glow bathed the boy, and that raised more questions than it answered. The cages really had been found, and they’d really been left there by leprechauns in the past. But how? Why? That was what didn’t make sense. Still, the sense of danger passed, letting Forian collect his thoughts.
“You need to learn how to control your passion, student,” the man said calmly. “Mages should respond precisely, simply, without emotion, and strictly to the point. Heat and emotion are for romantic novels. And in the meantime, I need to know how a simple kid from the provinces came to be betrothed to the daughter of a powerful duke.”
“That’s none of your business!” Valia exploded. “The god approved of my choice, and nobody has the right to dispute it. Ev
en my father didn’t try!”
Forian could only grunt — the girl’s argument was a good one. And that meant she’d been acting on her own, of her own accord, and against the wishes of her parents. Not bad for eleven years of age. The mage took another look at his student. His clothes were clearly simple, something hunters wore when they were out chasing small game. Of course, the bracelet on his left arm, presumably a gift from Valia, attracted his attention, not to mention the rough staff on his back and the fact that he wasn’t wearing the ring Forian had returned using the mentor functionality. And yes, why wasn’t Tailyn wearing it? The intellect bump was great for mana down at level one.
“Tell me this, my student. What happened to my instructions? I told you to find clothes that fit a mage, not this nonsense.”
“Oh, right!” Tailyn said suddenly as he materialized an outfit. “Here, take this. No good running around naked.”
The boy figured sensibly that if Forian had had any kind of clothing in his inventory, he wouldn’t have been standing there in just his white underwear. And actually, it was only Tailyn and Valia who saw the underwear. For Valanil, for example, Forian was stark naked.
Forest of Desire (The Alchemist Book #2): LitRPG Series Page 24
