Chapter 6
"You should have left us alone. Packless as you are, you stood no chance. My kin can rest easy knowing your death followed their own." The elder frost wolf leans down to whisper into the barrghest's ear. He takes a moment to let the words sink in, to allow the barrghest's life to flash before his eyes moments prior to the elder wolf's fangs sink in.
Suddenly fire erupts all around the barrghest, instantly incinerating the elder frost wolf. Emerging from the flames is Aurelius, who quickly sends forth a fireball at the entrance. The blast of flames wounds each of the surrounding frost wolves, and drives them back. A second fireball deters them from approaching the cave and the third chases them off completely.
Fire is not something that the frost wolves can handle with, they burn far easier than normal wolves, and the constantly blasts from the mage proved that he was someone far out of their league. Regretfully the pack of frost wolves abandon their elder, hopefully to return after the mage and the barrghest have fled the scene, and retreat to their respective lairs to deal with the fallout of having lost the elder of their pack.
Inside the cave Aurelius begins casting spells in quick succession. The first grants the barrghest a beacon of false life to hold onto, keeping it alive in this situation. The second melts the ice that had been keeping it frozen and near death, the third brings its temperature back up to a stable condition.
The status spell that Aurelius has had on his child this entire time enables him to feel comfortable enough using teleportation magic on him to return to the overlook. Aurelius does not wish to risk any sort of threat appearing while trying to save the barrghests life.
Quickly casting the teleportation spell, the pair appear back inside the laboratory. This time they're in a different room, one with a larger table for either experiments or operations. Throughout the room there are numerous vials of all sorts of alchemical liquids, magical potions, and ingredients.
Aurelius levitates the barrghest up onto the table, then hastily draws a number of vials off the shelves with a low tier magical trick by the name of Hand of the Mage. He then begins administering the vials on the barrghest's wounds. The magic contiained within these vials seems to quickly knit the surface wounds together.
"Are you conscious enough to drink one of my tonic's?" Aurelius asks as he draws a shimmering white colored beaker to his hand from another table stationed across the room. A quick nod from the barrghest causes Aurelius to tilt the beaker down its throat and allow him to fully ingest it.
Soon enough the tonics effects began to take place, and the internal frostbite that the wolves had caused is mending rapidly. The mixture of quick thinking magic and promptly administered alchemy, has once again saved the barrghest's life.
The room was purposefully arranged so that Aurelius can easily stand at the central table and draw all of the ingredients, vials, potions, to him without having to move or maneuver around obstacles. It makes administering first aid, or completing any brewing and experimentation much smoother.
"Much Thanks. Not expecting .. number." The Barrghest explains as it acclimates to the magic and alchemy that is hastening its recovery.
Aurelius casts another spell, one to enhance his perception and enable him to better sense the status that the barrghest is in. With this magic he is able to set his mind at ease and see the fruits of his quick labor. The healing tonic has drastically hastened the recovery of his internal organs, which the supporting life force magic has made tolerable.
The barrghests body has completely stabilized and has nearly returned to prime condition. The chill that had rendered him immoble is completely gone and most of the stamina that had been drained due to this condition is returning.
He realizes that without Aurelius' quick actions, the frost wolves would have made that frozen cave his grave. That thought causes a deep feeling of unease to radiate through him. He finds himself grateful to have the assistance of this elder mage, and hopefully moving forward the two of them will be able to have more of a friendship than this master and pet dynamic that Aurelius has fostered up until this point.
"What ... I. To you." The barrghest asks, feeling quite grateful for what has transpired between the two of them, but also fully understanding that this mage has kept him caged against him will for the past two years. He felt rather frustrated and confused with the situation.
Aurelius was not expecting to be having this conversation so suddenly after rescuing the barrghest. It has caught him off guard and triggers a puzzled look to cross his. He then goes quiet for a few moments while he tries to think about exactly how he feels about this creature on the table in front of him.
"I would have to say that you are like my child. I don't think it has always been that way, but i have spent the past two years of my life dedicated to your success. Well that's not exactly right, it's more like my own success, but i have never harbored ill will towards you." Aurelius explains.
"At first you were little more than the subject of my life's work, my greatest experiment. I spent so much time focused on figuring out how to make the experiment a success. Before i knew it i was spending all of my time with you, studying your movements, trying to understand how you thought and lived your life." Aurelius continued.
"Much anger.. back then. So angry. Caged. Time changed. I changed. You changed." The Barrghest says in response, reflecting momentarily on the time that was spent early in captivity and the number of times that he attempted to escape from captivity.
"I intend to let you go once my studies have finished. Once i have documented all of the changes with your physiology and i have a complete log of what effects the process has on your physiology. At which point i will happily part with you wherever you so desire." Aurelius continued.
"Rest. Needed." The Barrghest interrupts, breathing deeply. He can feel the shifting change in his genetic code. The results of having devoured the winter wolf would take place once he hibernates. Until then, he would continue to feel like this, like his skin is constantly crawling.
"I understand. I also promise to continue educating you as best i can. I can teach you my alchemy, and if possible the magic i possess, though i have not seen any knack for spell-casting apart from your innate magical abilities. I hope you can consider all of this an even trade, more of an apprenticeship than being held captive." Aurelius says, helping the barrghest back to the habitat.
"Consider it .. a deal." The barrghest responds, moving over to the mound at the center of the habitat to curl up, pass out, and hibernate through its process of mutation.