Awakened (Bloodline, #1)

Chapter 22

22: Welcome Back

My retainers and I quietly followed Rurik toward a castle tower, quite a distance from the main building. It was a round stone tower about 12-15 meters in height. Strange vines—from those with black leaves to glimmering flowers—crept on the walls.

The interior was much more intimidating. Halos mapatigil ako sa paglalakad nang buksan ni Rurik ang pinto. The ground floor was mostly bare, but the gargoyles and caskets displayed in each corner made it look sinister. We climbed the spiral stairs and entered a room that looked like a medieval laboratory.

"Strap him," Rurik ordered to the two guards.

Agad naman nilang inihiga si Kei sa makitid na lamesa. Chains suddenly appeared once he lied down, and they twisted around him. Kei tried to disentangle himself from them, but the more he struggled, the tighter they bind him down.

"Kei—!"

"Lady." Moria stepped in front of me before I could even walk toward him. She stared at me with a hint of warning and Irus did the same.

Napabuntonghininga na lamang ako at tahimik na nanood. It was hard to see Kei in pain as he looked at me, but if this was needed to bring him back to his old self, then I had to endure, too.

Rurik pulled some old books from the shelves at the far side of the room. He also brought several glassware and concoctions. He set them down on the table next to Kei and started preparing for whatever he would be doing.

"Is he going to be okay?" pabulong kong tanong kay Moria.

She pursed her lips. "Rurik is one of the best arcanes here, but there has never been a case like this. Saving Khmer will be hard even for someone like him."

"Why does it feel like someone is badmouthing me?" Rurik suddenly commented as he pulled out a linen pouch.

As if on cue, Sigrid, who was quietly standing beside me, recoiled and hissed at Rurik. She distanced herself from whatever Rurik was holding and turned her head away. Ganoon din ang reaksyon ni Kei. He was aggressively trying to break free.

"What is that?" tanong ko.

He lips curved upward. "A tracker's weakness."

Come to think of it, hindi ko pa alam ang weakness ni Kei. For assassins like Irus, it was sunlight. Hawthorn and wildrose were fatal to mages, while someone like me could die if exposed to sacred grounds.

Binuksan niya ang pouch at halos magwala na si Kei nang ibuhos niya iyon sa gilid niya pero napakunot ang noo ko sa nakita ko. Grains of rice were strewn all over the table and floor. I thought Kei would struggle more but he suddenly stopped moving. He stared at the grains and went silent.

Napatingin ako kay Moria. "What happened?"

She sighed. "He's counting them."

"Huh?"

I was taken aback by the absurdity of the situation. Seryoso ba? Grains were the weakness of trackers?

"Trackers have arithmomania," she replied. "They will compulsively count seeds or grains until they finish everything."

"What . . . ?"

"It's both their strength and weakness," Rurik added. "Since they are obsessed with counting, they are best suited in trailing and management roles. However, they direct their focus solely on that, hence they are susceptible to ambush attacks. They are especially responsive to grains," he said, gesturing at how Kei was quietly keeping tally of them in his mind.