Two weeks before his visit to Reolth was due, lord Tolen's wife collapsed in repeat of her former symptoms. The physician checked her and confirmed his fears that the miraculous effects of the remedy must have been only temporary and had worn off.
"If this remedy is new, it has likely not yet been fully tested. Perhaps it works differently in various conditions, as remedies often do." The physician told the lord.
Lord Tolen rode with all speed back to Lunn, straight to the Lunn temple. He gave only a side-glance to the armed guards and groups of people with grim faces, who eyed him suspiciously when he rode past them.
The junior temple servants escorted the knight to their superior in his office. Irritably looking up from his paperwork, the priest of Lunn immediately recognized lord Tolen. Setting his papers aside, Ondes Ganos held his tired, but piercing gaze on the worried man.
"I know why you have come. Is it for the cure?"
"Yes, Laeden." Sir Tolen acknowledged gratefully. The priest stifled a wince.
"I know. In some cases it proved to be unfortunately... inadequate. I also found out the same. In the case of your lady, did it have only temporary effects? I take it that the symptoms of her illness returned?"
"Yes. But when it did work, it worked wonderfully. I would be very grateful if you could give me another dose, if it is possible." Lord Tolen extended the empty vial. After a moment, the priest took it and fingered it thoughtfully.
"Hmmm. About that... I am afraid that the situation has changed. This cure is rare, and the high Elder of our Order Chapter has... restricted its use... And you do not know where this remedy comes from. If you knew, perhaps you would not be so eager to ask for it..."
"Laeden Ondes Ganos, I will go to the council if I must to submit my request." Tolen respectfully, but firmly bowed his head.
"No, no, it won't be necessary... Not for you, slayer of dragons. I will tell you about the cure... Even better, I will show you, and then you can decide if you still want to use it... Come with me." He told him.
Together, they descended into the temple dungeons. Within the cells Tolen saw several bedraggled looking men and disheveled women. They pleadingly reached their hands through the bars when they saw the priest.
"Please, Laeden, this is a mistake! I am not a changeling." Tolen heard one of them gasp.
"It's Arvard Jannis! That's who spoke against me. It had to be him. He is lying! If you would ask anyone else besides him, you would see it is just a vicious lie against me. He hates me. Please, Laeden, please, listen to me..."
Several others stood on their knees, humbly praying.
A woman with disheveled hair and dirty, torn skirt, sobbed in the corner of one cell, ignoring everyone.
A beggar tried to grab the hem of the priest's long robe through the bars as they passed by his cell.
"Merciful Laeden, I am just a poor beggar. I swear, I told you all I know. I only saw them filthy urchins twice. Yes, I lead them to the temple. But how was I to know that there be changelings among them? I didn't know, Laeden, I swear! Have mercy, for the love of God." The beggar pled desperately. Ondesganos, who briefly paused, pulled his robe out of the man's hands and proceeded on, ignoring the voices calling out from the cells.
Casting them curious glances, but not daring to ask questions, lord Tolen followed closely after the priest.
"These deceivers grow more and more daring." The priest commented.
"Would you believe that several of them had come among the beggars to this very city? Yes, they had hidden as children and begged gratuities right by the doors of this holy temple. Who would have thought? I remember them. I had even helped them, myself. They've deceived even me..." The priest frowned and shook his head with regret and disapproval.
A distant scream from the end of the corridor chilled Tolen's heart and he unwillingly paused.
"Come, come, it is just a suspect being questioned." The priest said lightly, gesturing to lord Tolen to follow him. The man did.
"I will tell you about how I found this cure." The priest said, while they walked past the rows of empty cells.
"Sixteen weeks ago, I began testing the demons that we captured at the crystal castle - six of them spawn, and four full grown, who had been wounded. Of those four, all but one died within days of arrival here. Only one still lived a month later. I also lost four of the spawn to the tests, to learn what substances and methods of injury would affect them most. That is how I found the poison. It worked well against the demons at the pass, did it not?..."
"Yes." Tolen agreed, trying not to remember the pregnant demon his arrows had slain.
"A mix of blackberry root, herbs, nundea venom, and blessed metals. It is as deadly to them as it is to us. In a small measure, it paralyzes, and in a larger doze it invariably kills. Direct contact will first induce numbness, then burning, and then rapid degradation and necrosis of tissue - much more rapid for them than for us. That is why I sent the poison with such careful instructions."
Laeden glanced at sir Tolen briefly, and Tolen nodded, recalling the seriousness of the young priest's expression when he arrived to their location at the pass and began to explain the handling of the poison.
"Those two demons that you have killed at the pass were the last to try and leave Pharshena. None of the other guard posts reported any sightings since. I suspect that by now all the creatures who yet remain know that the main passes are guarded. If you set a trap, it works only once. If something happens to one, the others also seem to know. It is as if they share a means of communication between them other than speech. I had begun to test this supposition with the spawn, but, unfortunately, now that only one remains... "
"What does this have to do with the cure?" Lord Tolen questioned, frowning. The priest sighed.
"As I said, only one full grown fiend still lived. Each time I tested the spawn, it would go mad with rage. That's how I first found that there was a connection shared between them. The walls didn't block it." For some reason, the priest smiled faintly. Lord Tolen felt goose-bumps rise on his skin, but the priest didn't appear to notice his discomfort.
"Well, I miscalculated. That grown demon broke loose. It tore through the restraints. And those were not regular chains. I knew from beginning that mere chains would not hold it. So I had special cuffs made, from the blessed metal, so the bolts in the cuffs pierced through its flesh and bone. It was the only way to keep it subdued. That, and the hunger, to keep it weak, so it could not use its power to curse us. Still, it broke loose and came after the spawn. It tore apart two men... Brave young Vladek, the son of one of the guards, killed that fiend by piercing its heart with his spear. Vladek was also wounded. But, when he killed it, it fell on him and trapped him by its weight, and some of the monster's blood spilled upon his wounds. The blood healed him. That's how I learned that their blood possesses healing properties that apply not only to them, but to any other living thing."
Aghast, Tolen gazed at the priest. Ondes Ganos watched him with a strange expression, then continued walking toward a locked cell door, guarded by several armed men. He gestured to them to open the door.
As soon as he stepped through, Tolen nearly gagged at the indescribable smell that assaulted him from within the cell. The torches lit the area just enough for him to see that all but one of the cages within the cell were empty. There were chunks of bloody meat and bones in the bowl of that cage, rotting untouched. And a small demon curled tightly in the far corner of the cage, collared and shackled. It looked sickly to Tolen. Shivers run across the taut dark-green skin of its gaunt body. At the sound of the opening door, it hissed viciously in their direction, pressing as far from them as it could to the back of the cage.
The men had to strain to drag it out of the cage by the chains. It struggled to remain in the cage so hard that the translucent skin on its wrists broke. Glowing green-blue fluid oozed around the cuffs.
"Hold it still." The priest ordered impatiently for his men to steady the wriggling creature. It snapped at their hands with sharp, pointed teeth.
"Ingalu Bana!" Ondesganos called to it sharply, displeased, and the creature's black eyes fell on the priest. Immediately, it appeared to lose spirit and shrunk in their hands, subdued. Ondes Ganos pulled out his knife.
The young demon pulled back in the hands of the guards, its body faintly trembling. Like a frightened child, it squeezed shut its black eyes, helplessly turning away its face, and waited. With a quickly rising sense of dread, lord Tolen saw it flinch when Ondesganos swiftly nicked its already scarred arm and held the bleeding glass tube to the wound. With horror, Tolen watched the priest collect the creature's glowing green blood into a basin. Then he finally recognized the source of the miraculous cure contained in the vial that the priest had given him, and felt his nausea rise.
"If I had known, I would have never...This is an abomination." Tolen whispered. The priest did not answer, expertly tightening a strip of a bandage around the wounded arm. With surprising concern, he turned the young demon's face to him, and tenderly brushed away the gleaming tears that were trailing down from the corners of its eyes.
"Feed it. It will need to replenish its strength." He said quietly to the men. Again, they had to fight with the wiry creature until they managed to pull back its head and forced a funnel between its teeth. They poured a glistening, dark fluid down its translucent throat. Tolen saw the glow within the creature's stomach grow brighter, shooting vivid tendrils into the fluid it was forced to consume.
"Its blood. Animal blood. Human blood would have done it better, but it would be completely against my principles." Ondes Ganos explained, gesturing to lord Tolen toward the door. Silent and stunned, Tolen walked outside. Behind them, the creature, released, scampered back into the farthest corner of the cage, dragging the chains behind it, and crouched with arms hugging its knees, rocking slightly. It's luminous green eyes, unblinking, followed them out of the cell. Sir Tolen's goose bumps prickled.
"It refuses to eat, same as the other did before it died." Ondes Ganos said with regret. "I had to order my men to force-feed it. Still, I suspect it won't last much longer. You came just in time. Soon, there won't be any more of this cure." Looking back at Tolen, the priest noticed the expression on the knight's face. "I understand this must seem questionable to you. But everything I do is with the approval of the high council. You can verify it with them if you like. If it were up to me, I would simply kill it. It would be more merciful. But, with the discovery of the remarkable properties of its blood, I have been asked to keep it alive until a new study is completed. Thus, it must suffer a little longer... Take the vial." The priest offered the glowing vial to the knight, but sir Tolen shook his head with disgust.
"Take it. There will not be another. Do not use it if you do not wish. But take it... just in case. The properties will remain active as long as the bottle stays sealed." The priest insisted. Despite himself, sir Tolen took the vial, and the priest nodded, satisfied. He led lord Tolen quietly out of the dungeons and to the outer gate of the temple.
"... Farewell, sir knight. May God watch over you and those you love."