The Princess and the Blade

[Soran Nightblade]

Havitharon blinked and withdrew his hand as the illusion fell apart. He stared at Laurius in startled silence, a hint of confusion nagging him as the face above him changed, but that expression that felt like a memory of pain remained the same. He was grateful when the man stepped away, giving him time to process reality. Guilt prickled at his drawn nerves. He had known this wager would abuse his body, but he hadn't planned to reach such a low state. He couldn't be of help to Laurius with his body like this.

He sensed footsteps again by the door and turned his head, only to make direct eye contact with the child. He froze, unsure what to make of her presence. She had been too frightened to step out of her room before. Did she need something? He propped himself up on one elbow, wincing slightly. "Are you... alright?" he rasped.

[Emora Deen]

The child’s one eye assessed Havitharon. The look on her face seemed to convey worry, but Laurius couldn’t understand why she would be worried about her supposed new master. Then, she said, “I go back?”

Laurius shook his head. “Not yet. We are still paying for you.”

She pursed her lips and pointed to Havitharon. “He dying?”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi shook his head - carefully. The room spun a bit. "I will be fine in the morning. You will never go back. Okay?"

[Emora Deen]

Lee’s frown deepened. She mulled over words, feigning to touch her injured eye. It looked red and angry around the edges of the bandage. “He doesn't lose.”

Laurius touched Lee’s shoulder. She jumped, but stilled just as fast and made herself small. He steered her toward the door. “He isn’t well. Let him rest.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi blinked the blur from his vision as Laurius steered the child out. "I am sorry." He flexed his hand in front of his face, studying the sluggish muscles. "You were right. I should not have let things go this far. How did you carry me back?"

[Emora Deen]

Laurius closed the door behind Lee. “Oberin paid some men to help me carry you back,” Laurius said, and winced as he remembered how he had talked to Oberin as he left. He knelt back next to Havi and started unraveling the bandages to wrap the wounds he could manage. There were not enough bandages for the whole of all the punctures littering the alien.

“I bet Ren and Tenara are eating their fill of chocolates and taking hot baths,” he said, trying to steer the injured creature to more pleasant thoughts.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi caught the man's hand, halting his futile attempt to bandage his arm. Laurius's obvious attempt to cheer him only put a pit in his stomach. Something seemed wrong, and Havi was either too dizzy or too ignorant to grasp what it was. "Did something else happen? What did it cost you? He charged you, didn't he?"

[Emora Deen]

“We will find out later what it costs,” Laurius whispered. “And if it is too much, it won’t be because of you. I should have kept my mouth shut.”

All of this was a bad idea. All of it. Laurius felt the walls closing in around him, and the urge to run away and forget about the Black Sisters and the book was intoxicating. He was good at running.

“I’ll come up with a solution, but I don’t think you should go back in that ring. He doesn’t care if you die, Havitharon. We should stall somehow until the sisters come, grab the book, and flee with the child.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi leaned heavier on his elbow. Damn it, his muscles were already getting tired. He focused on Laurius's face in confusion. He'd expected the man to be angry with him, to curse him out for taking on unnecessary risks and endangering their plan. But Laurius Marr wasn't blaming him.

"To be honest, that plan sounds fine to me. I would not lose sleep, even if I stabbed that man in the street and left him for dead," Havi said. "I have mixed up the plan too much already. From here on, I will act on your call. As long as the girl does not end up back with him."

[Emora Deen]

Laurius nodded. “I am surprised he sold her,” he said. “For someone with such an important task from the Queen, to trap the spirit of her dead son, a girl who can see them would be useful. I’ve never known him to be so foolish.” He frowned when he came to the end of the bandages. “Rest. Even if you find you bounce back quickly, pretend otherwise. We’ll keep you out of that arena.”

Laurius tucked the blanket around Havitharon’s shoulders like he was a boy. “I need to take a look at the girl’s eye…” And he needed to get himself some sleep. He hadn’t slept before the fight, and now it was just a few hours short of sunrise—not that you could tell in this awful place with its awful smoky sky.

He fished in his pocket for the rock the sorceress woman had given him that allowed them to communicate—if she deemed it alright. He doubted Tenara was on the other side, but perhaps it would bring Havi comfort, as it had brought him earlier. “Hold onto this for a little, and think of her. In a day or two, maybe the sorceress will let you speak to her.” He folded Havi’s hands over the smooth stone. “Don’t start hallucinating and talking to that woman, just hold it. Don’t lose it, either.”