The first thing Wren saw when he came around was the little Caver leaning over him. She was wincing in pain, as she rubbed his wounded arm with a wet cloth. Wren then involuntarily shivered as the pain in his stomach assaulted him.
He noticed there were strips of cloth lying across his stomach and he recognized the smell coming from underneath them. It was the smell of a leaf he knew had some antiseptic properties and pain numbing qualities. The pain numbing qualities, however, were not proving to be as powerful as he remembered.
Wren then noticed the Caver wince again. Despite her own obvious discomfort she was doing her best to help Wren.
“Thank you,” Wren said, a sudden wave of gratitude coming over him.
“Don’t thank me,” she mumbled. “You saved me. Now I try to do the same for you. But I think you’ll die. Blood everywhere.”
Wren tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace.
When he looked at the woman’s face, it looked just as fierce as he remembered from the other night but there was tenderness to her movement as she continued to clean his arm and rub some of the antiseptic leaf pulp into it.
The Barbarian woman then hopped on her good leg over to the pool, careful not to put any weight on her injured ankle. She then washed out the cloth, which Wren suspected might be the remains of his top, before hopping back towards him.
As she returned, she glanced back over her shoulder at the pool, as if something had caught her eye. This got Wren to thinking about the bandit. Where was the infamous Julius? The only reasonable answer seemed to be that he was dead, otherwise he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be here now.
Another wave of pain rolled over him. Wren lifted the poultice on his stomach to look at the damage. It was a mess of crisscrossed lines and cuts but he could see it was starting to heal. His natural affinity, along with the leaves, had begun to have an effect already.
He felt the level of energy in the spark was back up to half full, so he channelled a little into his stomach area until it felt a bit better and then a little into his achilles to check it was strong enough to walk on.
He however, left some of the spark’s power where it was, for the more important, and difficult, task he had in mind. He sat up as if to emphasise the point to himself that he was fine.
“Don’t move, fool,” the Barbarian growled.
“We need to get going,” Wren said, “The rest of the bandit group may not be far away.”
Wren was also beginning to worry about the Seekers again. He felt he must have opened up a decent gap on them with all his earlier running but they would surely be closing again after yesterday.
“I cannot move,” the Caver said looking at her ankle. “I’ll wait here and kill some bandits before they kill me. Help you escape.” A little smile played across her face as if this was something she was actually looking forward to.
“No. I did not go through all this trouble for you to just die here. No!”
The Caver glared at him, biting her teeth hard. “Why do you care? I’m nothing to you.”
Wren looked at her. He wasn’t sure why he cared but he did. “No,” he said firmly. “You will not die here.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You are a stupid Long.”
Wren didn’t care how stupid or long he was, he wasn’t going to let her die here.
“Give me your ankle,” he said with a level of command, he didn’t know he had.
The woman didn’t move.
“Ankle,” Wren demanded.
Wren was surprised to find her actually doing as he said and lifting her injured foot and laying it in his lap.
They stared at each other for a few seconds before Wren gently unwrapped her ankle and rested his fingers and thumb around the cut and swollen area. “Don’t move,” he said.
She was still staring at him, as Wren whispered, “Tach Soon Folo,” and filtered some of the spark’s energy into the wound. Wren felt her flinch as the energy touched her but she didn’t pull away. Wren then continued to pour all of the remaining energy into her ankle region.
When he had finished, Wren made a flexing up and down gesture with his hand.
The woman was still staring at him.
Wren repeated the gesture and she started to slowly move her foot.
Wren smiled and said, “Walking only. No running. It is still weak.”
But the Barbarian wasn’t listening, she was staring at her foot in amazement.
Wren watched her slowly put pressure on it as she stood up. It took her weight Wren was pleased to see.
He even thought he saw a slight smile appear on her face, but it disappeared quickly, if it was ever there.
She then walked gingerly in a circle, her eyes darting between Wren and her foot, until her attention was taken again by the pool. She stared into the pool as if searching the water for something, before dismissing whatever it was and turning to Wren. She pointed at his arm.
“Heal yourself,” she said.
Wren shook his head. “Later. I have no energy left.”
The woman looked confused, “Heal yourself,” she repeated.
“Later.”
The woman closed the gap to Wren slowly and whispered, “You think me weak,” with real venom in her voice. “I don’t want your healing. Take it back.”
Wren sighed. What kind of person was this.
Ignoring the woman’s ridiculous request, Wren said bluntly, “You can leave now. You have no obligation to me.” He suspected she wouldn't understand the word obligation, so, he just pointed and said, “Go”.
She looked at him and shook her head muttering, “Stupid Long. Saved by a stupid Long.” But as she spoke her eyes flitted again to the pool.
Wren looked towards the pool too now, wondering what it was that was making her so agitated. He knew he should get moving but he found himself cautiously making his way down towards the water, curious about what was there.
In the middle of the pool floated the Forester, his wide brimmed hat floating on the water next to him. He was definitely dead as Wren had presumed. But this wasn’t what had captured the Cavers attention, rather there was an orange glow coming from the water under the former dandy.
No matter how unpleasant the man and how irritating his laugh, Wren didn’t feel it was right to leave the infamous Julius like this in the pool, so he waded into the water and carefully pulled the bloated body to the side, trying not to reopen the cuts in his stomach at the same time.
After pulling the Forester half out the water, he waded back in towards the orange light radiating from the centre of the pool. The water was a lot murkier than before from all the blood in it, his blood, but it couldn't hide the brilliance of the orange glow at the bottom.
The Caver was staring with rapt fascination now at the glow. Wren, on the other hand, was beginning to have a feeling of deja vu as he realised what he was likely looking at. He reached down and as he suspected, lifted a pulsing orange orb, about the size of an egg, from the pool. The woman gasped open mouthed, seemingly understanding what Wren was holding.
Amazing, Wren thought, the bandit had been a sparked affine. He had killed a sparked affine. He wondered if his life was going to get any weirder. Affinity sparks were myths from stories, yet this was the second one he’d seen in as many weeks. And given the Foresters amazing speed and quick hands, Wren assumed he was probably holding the speed spark.
YOU ARE READING
Chasing Sparks
Fantasy[Completed] [The Affinity Series: Book 1] The affinities are echoes of magic from a time long past, giving enhanced powers to those that have them. And for any affines that bond with a spark, their powers are increased. One such sparked affine is Ti...
