Electric Bonds

Chapters 3 - Servants

Loranya breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, Salan, she's gone"

In a puff of smoke, a strange and rather relieved creature floated in mid-air above thier heads.

Salan was a dark sprite and Loranya's supposed 'servant'. He behaved pretty much as servants did, appearing when called, doing Loranya's bidding and helping her fight.

Kretnya didn't know about him. He'd agreed to travel with Loranya just under a month ago. He had a strange character, jesting and vain, irritable and scornful, but he always did as he was asked and was a good confident for his mistress.

He looked odd, too, with black bat wings, very pale skin and eyes as red as fire. He was about the height of a dwarf and had thin limbs and long nails, almost like claws. Looking at him, you'd think he had no ears, just thick black horns that curved from his head downwards to his middle, but these in fact, were his ears. They were soft to touch and very sensitive. They were the focus of his vanity and he boasted of them in nearly every conversation.

"Oh, I thought she'd never leave!" Salan exclaimed. His voice was deeper than that of most sprites, but quite inhuman all the same, and he would annunciate every single word. "When you finally pluck up the courage to punch her in the face, you summon me first, alright? I want to be there to witness her shame"

"That will never happen, Salan" Loranya sighed. "She's much stronger than me"

"That may be the case, but she was quick to save herself and leave you to fight that horrible, dirty, flea-ridden beast yesterday" The sprite pointed out.

"Violence is never the answer, Salan" She replied.

"Hmph" He grunted and folded his arms, turning his back on Loranya and floating around the room.

Loranya laughed at his infantile sulk and turned to the three at the table.

"This is Salan, my servant. As you can see, he's quite moody"

"I am not moody!" He huffed as he turned himself upside down and grinned maliciously. "And I still say you should teach your sister a lesson for ordering you around. You are the great saviour after all!"

"That's what everyone expects me to be..." Loranya murmured.

"Come, child" Zarratha said as she stood. "I will tend to your injuries"

Loranya nodded and followed the dyrad across the room to a small sofa on which they both sat while Zarratha checked her cuts.

The worst and most painful one by far was the cut on her cheek from the beast's claws. It ran from her cheekbone all the way to her jaw and it hurt her to even blink.

The other major injury she had sustained from the attack was along her lower arm. The savage dog had bared its fangs towards her face, so she raised the arm with her bracer to protect herself, but the teeth of the dog had pierced the bracer and her arm was cut to ribbons and practically useless. It had been far too painful to remove what remained of the bracer, so it stayed there, the dents tearing in to Loranya's flesh.

Zarratha could sense the pain that these two injuries were causing her, and so she asked Raynon to prepare a strong painkiller. Removing the bracer would be agony without it.

Loranya drank the liquid and sat quietly, her body becoming numb after a few minutes. Zarratha then asked Raynon if he could remove the bracer whilst she mixed the healing substance.

Ever so gently, Raynon unfastened the buckles and ties on the ruined garment before carefully prying it away from her skin. He did this very slowly to prevent further damage to her delicate and torn flesh.

The painkiller was working wonders; Loranya didn't feel a thing, but a sudden tiredness overcame her and she yawned, feeling a little dizzy.

This was an effect of the painkiller and Raynon knew that sleep would take her very quickly, so he helped her to lie down on the sofa and within minutes, she was fast asleep, breathing soundly.

Zarratha sat on the edge of the sofa with the clear liquid in a bowl and began to bathe the gash on Loranya's cheek.

"She will sleep for the rest of night..." Raynon said.

"She looks like she could do with some rest" Zarratha chuckled softly.

"It's strange" Raynon mused. "Our supposed saviour not only has a lack of confidence, but a dark sprite as a servant"

"What will be will be" Zarratha said as she tenderly cleaned the cut.

Raynon examined her lower arm. It was bloodied and ridden with teeth marks and deep scratches. It would be out of use for a while, but it would heal eventually.

Zarratha finished treating the cut on her cheek and moved to her arm, squeezing the liquid from the cloth in to the gashes. She cleaned away the blood and asked Raynon to bind it.

The blood mage took his time to wrap the gauze around Loranya's arm, studying her as she slept. She had a strange beauty about her for a human and was quieter than he'd expected. She was definitely younger than he thought she would've been. He tuned in to her mind to find out more about her.

Loranya was sixteen years of age, meaning she was one-hundred and eighty-four years younger than Raynon. Her father had died when she was five, her sister had married a fellow warrior when Loranya was fourteen and Kretnya had been sixteen. Her less than affectionate mother had died in the same year, leaving the two sisters and Kretnya's husband, Ioran, to survive together.

Loranya had been very fond of Ioran; he'd treated her with kindness and was like a brother to her. Through all of Kretnya's snapping and hissing, he remained calm and was good at preventing arguments. He'd comfort her when Kretnya shouted at her or told her what a waste of space she was. He had been her lifeline, but now, stuck with Kretnya and only Kretnya as her guide and trainer, she had lost the will to fight, to fulfil her destiny, to do anything at all.

Raynon tied the bandage and took another good look at Loranya.

Her soft pink skin was a little sunburnt from the harsh heat. She had long, silky dark brown hair that curled a little at the ends. However, Kretnya made her tie it up to keep it out of her face as she did with hers.

Raynon carried her to one of the many spare rooms Lady Zarratha had and gently layed her out on the bed. She'd sleep, there was no doubt about that, but would she sleep well?

She was a curious mortal, but at the same time there was something special about her that Raynon couldn't quite put his finger on.

Salan entered the room, his black bat wings flapping lazily, and yawned. He curled up at Loranya's feet like a pet, perfectly willingly.

Raynon wondered about the relationship between the two of them. Dark sprites were not known to agree to being a servant, and were definitely not the friendliest of creatures, but he seemed to get along well with Loranya in an odd sort of way.

Still, as Lady Zarratha said, heroes can be found in the strangest of forms...