Blood of the Merciless

Chapter Eight

8.

It had been evening when Florian regained consciousness. He had been laying on a straw bed, not unlike the one found in his room. He had been in a small room. He felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder as he moved. He noticed that his left shoulder had been wrapped in some sort of cloth. He exited the cramped room and headed down the stairs that followed. Familiar surroundings met him as the bottom floor had been Miss Thea's tavern. Ashe was asleep on her bedroll softly snoring. Alaric and Miss Thea had sat at the counter discussing amongst each other. He slowly made his way to the counter and sat next to Alaric. Miss Thea bowed to him as he sat down.

"Has that battle taught you anything?" Alaric asked.

"Yeah, do not go along with your crazy plans," Florian stated.

Alaric chuckled. "Yes, and I wanted to show you that casters from the mainland are strong. I am certain Jugz is not a high-ranked caster."

Florian nodded. "I thought I was going to die...and I..."

"Almost killed him?" Alaric asked.

Florian nodded.

"I know, it is something that you will have to get acquainted with. You chose to wield the blade, you have to take responsibility," Alaric said sternly.

"Master Alaric, perhaps you shouldn't be too harsh on Master Florian."

Florian smiled at Miss Thea. "Do not worry about it, Miss Thea. He has always been like this, even when he was a child. It would be out of character if he had said anything else."

The trio sat in silence for a moment.

"What cast did you use to blind Jugz?" Alaric asked.

"It was a simple enhancement cast. It is not dissimilar to Ashe's plant enhance cast." Florian explained.

"Can you enhance anything?"

Florian shook his head. "Enhance is one of the most basic Ilium casts. Enhancing the light as I had done earlier is usually used to light up dark areas. Using enhance for more complicated tasks requires a large stria consumption, which is not normally present in regular casters."

Alaric had been incredibly invested in Florian's explanations. At some point, Miss Thea left. They had discussed their casting ability until they had grown tired.

The following morning, Alaric stood in the middle of the road. Alongside him had been many of the women of the village. Each had been carrying a bucket filled with Khalt.

"Are you certain he will be here?" Alaric asked,

"Yes, Master Alaric." One of the women said.

A few moments later, a large carriage rode into the village pulled by two horses. A stout man sat at the head of the carriage. The carriage stopped right before Alaric. The stout man got off the carriage. The man had been incredibly short, he wore a suit but it appeared too tight on him.

"Greetings, mysurs of Nezzagwyn." The merchant said. The women bowed. The man eyed Alaric cautiously.

"I assume the harvest is still bad?" He asked.

"That is not quite the case...Noble..." Alaric said.

"Gerboud, the name is Gerboud." The merchant said.

Alaric allowed the women to showcase the Khalt in the baskets.

Gerboud had been stunned. "Impossible..."

"What perhaps do you mean by 'Impossible', mister Gerboud?" Alaric asked.

"What have you done?" Gerboud seems terrified.