Façade

Chapter Three

The first rays of sunlight were peeking through the east-facing windows by the time Blair awoke.

She sat up in bed and stretched lazily as she rubbed the grit from her eyes.

There was a bluebird sitting on her headboard, looking down at her with beady black eyes. The girl frowned and looked into the rest of the room to see that the front door lay slightly ajar.

Her frown deepened as she looked to Gottric's now empty bed.

"He better not have run off..." she grumbled slipping out of bed.

Blair made her way through the stacks of tomes, including one which had been carelessly knocked over in the night, to the door. The troll was sitting in the mottled green bed of moss but what drew her attention was the man sitting by the babbling water

It was indeed Gottric, but he no longer had that aura of the man before. His back was hunched as he dug in the dirt, grumbling to himself.

There were several holes already dug around the clearing, making it seem as though he'd been at this for awhile now...

"Gottric!" Blair called out, "What're you doing?"

The man's body jerked and he turned to face her, there was mud clinging to his face and chest as well as his hands. The eye that was injured the night before now glowed with the ghostly light from before, while the other was a dull grey color.

His eyes narrowed and his lips curled back in a snarl, "You again..." he spoke in a voice that was unmistakably Scottish.

Blair sighed as she stepped out, "What's wrong with you, Gottric?"

"Stop calling me by a name I don't know..." he growled.

She approached, stopping when he started growling, "All right...just tell me your name then..."

His eyes darted down and he lunged at her, but she managed to dodge him. The man started chuckling to himself as he started digging into the soil, pulling out a writhing ball of earth worms. His fangs parted just enough to stuff the slimy creatures through them, making Blair nauseous.

She stood by as Löwe came walking up carrying more worms, "This one brought you more earth wigglies!"

He took the worms and ate them, nodding in thanks.

Löwe grinned, "Will you go back to the Master now? Björn?"

The man, who Blair now knew called himself Björn, looked to the chimera for the first time, causing the poor man to grow pale as if he'd seen death.

This reaction only confused her, then Löwe dropped his gaze, "O-okay..."

Björn grumbled under his breath as he stalked off into the water, hunching over to drink from it. The rough, jerking movements of the muscles in his back vaguely reminded the girl of the beast men residing in the woods beyond the clearing.

They would sometimes come out of their overgrown hovels to be healed or fed by her. It didn't strike her as odd that this man would change in this way, most trauma victims in this world tended to lose a big portion of their sanity.

Blair was brought back to the present as Björn suddenly collapsed in agony; his loyal chimera went to his aid as the man clawed at himself, screaming broken obscenities.

Löwe knelt down beside the writhing man and drew him into a gentle embrace, which seemed to calm him considerably, "Shh...shh..." he said stroking Björn's hair, "It's okay...you're going to be okay..."

His friend's suffering soon faded and he pushed away from Löwe, "I...I'm fine now..."

He grit his teeth as Löwe surrounded him in a crushing embrace, "Master! You're back! This one thought you'd be gone forever!"

Gottric grimaced as he tried to wriggle from his friend's arms, "Wh-what...? Why...?"

"You were a different Master..." Löwe said, "This one was scared of your gaze..."

Gottric frowned, "I'm sorry to hear that..."

His chimera gently embraced him again, nuzzling his hair, "This one is glad you're back though..."

Blair couldn't help but smile as she watched them, Löwe was like a loyal puppy to his beloved master. Gottric gently pat the chimera's head, chuckling quietly as his face lit up in happiness.

"How does the Master feel...?" he asked as his companion stood, holding his side.

Gottric put a hand to his head, screwing his eyes shut, "My head aches..."

"Is there something this one can do for you...?"

He opened his eyes a little, looking down at him, "Not really...thank you though..."

The chimera's happiness was dashed away, his eyes dimming, "Oh...okay."

Blair flinched as Gottric suddenly turned to face her, "Witch...how have I come to reside in this place?"

She ignored his moniker for her, "My troll, Theriac, and I brought you here."

He furrowed his brows in thought, "I see...and where's my blade?"

"Broken."

His eyes widened, "What? How!" he blurted, clearly outraged.

"The Master broke it on his last target...This one lamented until dawn when he found you at Death's door..." Löwe explained, "Now this one has two Masters...but he doesn't like the new one..."

Gottric looked to him as if he'd grown two heads, "Two masters...? What're you saying...?"

Löwe twiddled him thumbs as he spoke, "The second Master speaks like the dragon men who forged the sword for the Master...he consumes the earth wigglies and drinks from the murky showers like the beastly!"

He took this in, furrowing his brows in thought as he deciphered his companion's half-deranged ramblings.

His eyes soon widened in realization and he started wiping the drying mud from his face, "That's repulsive...I hope no one witnessed that..."

Blair couldn't help but smile, which earned a look of embarrassment from Gottric as he continued to wipe his face. She stepped forward, giggling, "Hey, there's a hot spring in a nearby cavern if you need to wash up."

He smiled, clearly grateful, "I'd love that...thank you..."

She turned and started walking, "All right, let's go...it's this way."