Vox Machina Book One: Nobodies to Heroes

Chapter 21: Professor Anders

The knife was stained with blood, the young de Rolo choking on her blood, and the witch laid her on the ground, her hands pressed against the dying de Rolo's throat.

"Hang in there!" Kyria calls out to her, but Cassandra was just looking at her brother, reaching for him as he was frozen in horror. "Percival!" Kyria calls out, snapping him from his state.

He blinks and began to move "Cass!" he calls out, running towards them. "Stay with me," he begs as he kneels on her other side, taking her hand in his.

"I've wanted to do that for longer than you can imagine," Anders informs him with a grin on his face. Percy looks up at Kyria as she kept her hands pressed to the slit throat. "Can you heal her?" he asks.

Her eyes were shut tight, but she shakes her head, "I never learned healing spells, just offenses. But I can keep pressure on the wound. Keyleth will be here soon." she assures him and herself.

"Ah yes, the half-breed. You are an interesting specimen. I was told about you, how you were able to resist my employer's... charm." he laughs.

Anger flares in her bones, "Shut up! You're a rotten and dirty old man, whose ambitions have no idea the type of person your employer is!" she snaps back, keeping her eyes on the dying de Rolo as her hands were stained with blood.

Then not a moment too late, Keyleth and Vax ran into the room, both gasping in horror as Percy's sister was dying on the ground. Percy turns and looks up at them. "Keyleth, hurry!" he begs.

And without spearing a second thought, both half-elves hurried to their sides. Keyleth tosses her staff to the side as Vax joins Kyria's "Vax! I need Wanderer's Moss, Flicksilver, and, uh... the bag that says dirt!" she lists as she tosses her herbalist bag to him.

The rogue digs through, taking the ingredients out as Keyleth places her hands over Kyria's blood-stained hands. "Need pressure on the wound before the spell can hold," she informs him as her eyes were on a terrified Kyria, too afraid to let up.

"Tick-tock, tick-tock." Anders taunts as he pulls out a bottle, Cassandra coughs, spewing up blood as he was trying to breath. Kyria looks down at her. "Don't give up. We're here. We got you." she assures her as the pool of blood just grew.

Percy stood in the back as he couldn't find the will to breath, Vax held the ingredients in his hands, getting Keyleth's attention. "Okay," she mutters, taking hold of his hands, then spits into them, grounding them together.

She exhales as the ingredients were ready, "Kyria when I say, remove your hands, so the spell can take hold." she informs her. The witch looks up at the druid and nods at her. "Okay, okay," she mutters taking a breath.

Vax then looks up at Keyleth. "You can do this," he assures her, she exhales, nodding to herself, then pushes the fear away as she looks down at the dying de Rolo.

"Kyria, now," she orders, Kyria removes her hands as Keyleth and Vax press the mess of ingredients into the slit throat and the magic began to take hold.

Kyria pants as she then looks down at her hands, seeing the fresh blood that was staining them. Anders pours himself a glass, "Oh, the joy in watching a de Rolo child meet a painful end. Cheers." he said, raising his glass.

Hearing him say that caused something inside Kyria to snap. As her eyes went still for a moment.

Both she and Percy glare at him, "You son of a bitch!" Percy growls, aiming his pepperbox at him and taking the shot, Kyria snarls in pain, pressing her head as the sense stabs at her.