>>5195840Rising from the body, you see the old surgeon Neremis enter from the direction Alys left to. She must have sent him back from tending to the prisoners. He attends you before any of the other wounded, confirming your suspicion. "My Lord, I will be needing to set that or it will heal wrong." He reaches for a bottle you recognize as a poppy concoction for pain relief. "No, surgeon, I need my wits. Just set it." He looks skeptical, but his deceptively strong hands begin their task.
CRAAAACK
You would like to say you don't scream out but you absolutely do, the adrenaline that had let you fight on in the battle now faded and the pain retaining all it's edge. But it does pass, receding to a more dull though still considerable ache. He huffs. "I'll need to look at this later, but I understand you have a task to attend." You nod as he feels your maimed arm to confirm his results, and he steps aside. Alkaign's cold gaze follows you as you leave the throne room, all warmth gone.
Moments later you arrive in the cells, both prisoners chained with extensive restraints. Alys is with the woman, her ruined limbs apparently sought to by the surgeons before your arrival. You still don't rate her chances. She lost too much blood. You note the large Northerner is unconscious. Alys turns as you approach. "Ah, Will, welcome. The big one cannot be roused, it's like all that brute strength fled from him and now he's too exhausted to even hold himself up. The guards told me they had to carry him." You notice Alys' "special tools", blades and liquids and all sorts of concoctions. Seems you'll both be working on the Vera woman first. "And the woman? I see her staring." Vera strains against her chains and glares at Alys with the purest look of absolute hate you think you have ever seen. Alys shrugs. "She doesn't seem to want to talk to me for some reason. Maybe you'll have better luck? Most of my tools might kill her in this state. It's a last resort." You make your way into the cell, gently stepping in front Alys to meet the prisoner's gaze. "You healed the warrior when I struck him. Why not heal yourself?" Something about what you said brings tears back to her eyes, her lips quivering in despair. You decide to show her the broken mirror. She screams when she sees it. "HOW DARE YOU TOUCH HIM! YOU ANIMAL!" You produce the journal next after wiping the spittle from your face and burying the desire to slap the maimed woman with your mailed fist. It confirms your other suspicion as you pull it out. The text is nothing you have ever seen. You speak and read Imperial and Ard Negh fluently, and can recognize the languages of most countries with no issue. This is alien to you, but you do note the runes on the mirror resemble the handwritten scrawls in the pages of the book. You cup the woman's face in one armored hand, and you hear Alys approach softly to your back in concern. "What are these scribbles? How can I read them?"
