"Tide, can you talk to me?" I waited in silence once again, still unsure how to proceed. I took a few more steps around her until I could finally see her face. Our eyes met for a long second before she tried to turn away from me. But seeing as she was mostly paralyized she did not make it far. "Tide?"
Finally she gave in and opened her mouth. "Why are you even here?"
At first I wanted to say that I was here to get Faun and Mist back but I stopped myself from saying it since it was all too clear that this is not what she meant. "I am here because you are hurt and I wanted to check on you."
"Well. Thanks for finally getting around to me." Her snide remark hurt. "Sorry, but you won't be able to help me. I have to think you used up all your energy with your little friend over there. Quite an impressive display." The way she said it sounded like anything other than a compliment.
I glared at her but she did not meet my eyes. "Both of us know that you will be fine as soon as we get you back to the river," I said, trying and failing to keep frustration out of my voice.
"Now you know this after having taken a look at me." She shouted at me, but I held my ground. "But during the battle you didn't even spare me a thought when that elf was hurt. You ran right to her side."
"She is a mortal. You know that they are even more delicate than sprites. I could tell that you were in no immediate peril." She met my eye giving me a piercing look but I still did not back down. "You know. That no matter how thick this blasted spiritual fog from the battle gets I would be able to feel you clearly from only a few steps away."
"But-"
"-If I spared even a minute to check on you she would be dead now." I glared at her and again she looked away. "Can you tell me what is really going on? What has you so upset?"
I knew there had to be something else. I know Tide knew why I went to Leafia first. I could see her being frustrated that she did not take first place in where I focused my attention but even for Tide, this reaction was too much. Millions of years did not pass without reaching some level of understanding each other.
Her watery eyes met mine. There was some surprise evident on her face. "I failed. It was my fault that they knew we were here. I could not get the cage open. I could not even stand my own against that stupid mortal. And now to top it all off I have to be carried out of here." A few more tears welled up in her deep eyes. Now I could understand her frustration. And now I knew how to help her.
"Tide. You have done so much. Everyone is safe now. I could never have done this on my own. If it was not for all of your help, Faun might be dead now or we might all be…" I shuddered involuntarily at the thought. "... taken by that mad man. We all made mistakes, but we are all going back home." I gave her the most reassuring smile I could. I could tell that Tide's frustration softened a little but I still felt that I needed to do more.
But once again I was interrupted. This time by foot steps of many men coming down the hall and heading to the courtyard. "What now?" I cried. I was desperately low on energy, Leafia was nearly dead, and Tide was paralyzed. I really hope that they were not coming here to fight.
An older man with a shiny metal chest plate rushed into the yard followed by five men at arms. There was a look of shock on his face seeing the many men that Maximus had killed during the battle. "My men!" He then looked at me since I was the nearest to him and one of only two of us that were on our feet. Istan was kneeling next to Faun right now. "What have you done here?" he asked, putting his hand on the hilt of his sword. Though I saw his eyes linger a little longer on my figure. It seems even at his age my lack of clothes still caused some distraction.
"I have only come here to retrieve my friend Faun," I said pointing at the now empty cage. "Maximus was not willing to give her back and tried to use force to keep her here. Sadly he did not seem to mind who his magic hit." I indicated to the down and dead soldiers. I gave him a calm yet sad smile. I tried to make this all sound like a big misunderstanding. Another fight was the last thing I wanted. "A few of my friends got injured but I have tended to them enough so that we can be on our way."
I bent down, gently scooping Tide up while trying to discreetly pull up a cobble. As soon as I stood back up to head to the fountain the man shouted, "You expect me to believe all that?!"
I ignored him at first and continued my way to the fountain. When the man started to move to try and intercept me I stopped and turned to him once more. Seeing that he had my attention he also stopped.
"We did not kill your men," I said looking him in the eyes. "This was all the work of Maximus."
The man scoffed at my words but I did not break eye contact. If you discount the brief look over Tide's and my bodies. Neither of us were sparing any power to pointlessly form clothes. A few of the other men did not have the same level of discipline, their eyes were lingering much more that what was likely considered proper.
While heaving a sigh I looked back at the man in the shiny armor trying to block my path. I used a sliver of the power I had left to make some grass grow near his feet entwining his legs. The shock was evident on his face as my eyes glowed with the use of my power.
"I do not have the power to bring death but to spread life. Go look at the men and you will see that black and tainted magic Maximus wields covering their bodies. But do not touch them. This death can spread. You should burn this whole area to keep his blight from spreading."
He hesitated but signaled for one of his men to go and look at the fallen soldiers. Not wanting to wait for more people to show up, I turned back to my companions as I felt the leader of the guards struggle free from my bindings. I did not make them all that tight and he managed to make it out by the time that I made it back to my friends.
I set Tide on the wall of the fountain near Leafia. Leafia was still pale but no longer looked on the brink of death. Then I looked at the fountain. One more person to help before we can get out of here.
"I will find some way to carry you and get you back to clean water," I said to Mist. The mix of powers in the fountain could not have been comfortable for Mist. Obviously there was the water energy present, but it had also absorbed Faun's energy from her long presence here. That was now mingled with the blight from Maximus and Leafia's blood that was saturated with my powers. "Are you doing alright, Mist?"
"No," she said quietly. "I think I might feel what humans call woozy."
I gently looked over her with my sight. "Nothing seems out of order. Most of Maximus's blight has been occupied by the overflow of my powers."
"They do not taste good together," she replied. "I hope I will not go all the way to my pond like this."
"There is a river just outside this town. I am sure Flood will let you rest there." I smiled down at the water stroking my hand through the vicinity that Mist was in. "I may not know what blight tastes like, but I can not think of anything that would go well with it."
I think Mist was just getting too tired to respond to my comment. It was clearly not that my comment was so bad that it did not deserve any response.
"AAAHHH!"
'What is with all these interruptions,' I wanted to complain as I turned to face the source of the shout. The man who had been looking over the fallen soldiers was holding his hand in pain.
"I told you not to touch them!" I cried out. Part of me wanted to leave him to suffer. They were the ones who put my friends through all, well not all but at least some of the suffering they had to endure over all these months. But the anguish on the man's face and the look from Faun spurred me to act. "No one touch him. You could be contaminated too."
I approached the man now surrounded by his companions. He was clutching his wrist as I saw the blackness already starting to crawl down his fingers. I looked at him quickly with my powers. It was much harder than with Leafia. This man had no talent. It was like trying to find something black in the dark. By the deepening darkness that was starting to encompass his hand, the blight was infecting him much the same way that it did with Leafia. I did not have the strength left to do for him what I did for her. But luckily his blight had not spread anywhere near as far. "You need to cut off his fingers now."
"Surely a magician as powerful as you would be able to help," one of the guards called to me in desperation.
"You do not have time to wait. It is spreading," I said, but they still looked to me for hope. "My powers only work on plants, which he is not. The only one here capable of healing him is Faun. But you have kept her trapped in that cage for too long and she is too weak to help. She will not recover until long after your friend is lost. Please act now. It is already heading toward his wrist."
The leader of the guards had not said anything this whole time. But I could tell he was watching us the whole time with his eyes, appraising the situation. Now he stepped forward, firmly grabbed the man's arm and severed his hand at the wrist. At the loss of his hand the injured man fainted. "Take him and get him bound up."
With a sober look he watched the injured man being taken away. Just as the man was being led away, Michael returned to the courtyard holding a large soup pot.
"What happened to him? I thought the fighting was over," Michael asked me while handing me the pot. By the tear streaks on his face he was not doing as good as he was trying to let on. But seeing as his sister had just died and the fight he had with Faun I could not blame him.
Deciding not to poke holes in his facade I answered, "He touched the bli-" but then was interrupted once again.
"What are you doing talking to this… Lady." The leader gave Michael a hard look. I wanted to take the time to try and figure out how I felt about him hesitating before calling me a lady but I thought I should focus.
"Captain..." Michael also hesitated for a moment. It seems he did not notice his captain was in the yard. "They needed something to help transport one of their party and I volunteered to get it."
"A pot?" The captain asked this incredulously.
"It's for… um, a…."
"Sprite," I supplied for Michael. "One of my friends that was taken by Maximus is a water sprite. Maximus has trapped her in the fountain."
It was clear from the Captain's eyes that he did not believe me. But Michael added, "It is true. I have been the one to take care of the two spirits. I…"
There was a loud clang as I dropped the pot and rushed over to the fountain. I had felt a sudden surge of Mist's power. It immediately called to my mind images of when she had nearly collapsed only two weeks ago.