Seriga was left standing on the steps to the bathhouse, unknowing of what to do next. She had a million thoughts running through her head and she couldn't sort any of them. It made her feel dizzy, and she needed to sit.
Before she recovered her thoughts, the village residents began coming out of their hiding places. As they gathered in groups on the street, she could hear them talking, both verbally and mentally.
Most of the people in the village were scared and angry at her for bringing a demon to their village. Some of the people hiding in the bathhouse saw her change from an old woman to a young woman before their eyes.
The villagers began discussing what course of action to take next. A few people suggested selling her into slavery while others felt she was too dangerous to keep alive.
Sergia decided she best take the opportunity to leave while she still could. She walked to the stable where her horse was, with a small group of villagers trailing behind her.
She quickly mounted her horse and tried veering to the north, but too many people gathered to block the street.
Instead, she turned to the south. She could hear the sound of horses clopping and men shouting for her to stop, but she didn't turn to look. She could hear their thoughts, and she was justifiably scared for her life.
They chased her south out of the village, and then when she thought she was far enough ahead of them she paused for a moment to cast an invisibility spell on herself. Just then, she felt a searing agony go through her lower body. She arched forward with astonishment and grasped her left side. Her hands were wet with blood when she pulled them away. A spear tip was sticking out her side. She slumped forward on her horse, and the horse slowed to a walking pace. As she drifted off to darkness she thought it would be a strange way to die after facing a fierce dragon and surviving.
When she came to, she was back in the village, shackled by a chain to a wall inside the village Consul building. The spear had been removed, but she was still losing blood. The villagers were talking about selling her into slavery at first, but they finally concluded, as a witch, she was too dangerous. Finally, they made a plan to execute her in the morning at first light.
She went in and out of consciousness for a few hours. One of the times she came to she cast a healing spell on herself, although it was not a powerful one because she didn't have access to healing ingredients. Healing spells used a lot of energy. Casting the spell drained her and she lost consciousness again.
The guards checked on her several times and decided the prisoner was not in any capacity to cause trouble, if she even survived until morning, so they drifted off to sleep at their posts.
Soon Sergia woke again. She realized the guards nodded off and decided while the sleepy village was quiet, it was the only chance she had to escape and save herself. She was able to wiggle her hands from the long arm cuffs around her wrists and stood up, wobbling as she tried to steady herself on her feet.
She tried to take a step, and fell against the wall, making the chain that previously held her rattle. One of the guards began to rub his eyes and turned his head her way. She quickly cloaked herself as invisible. He took a look at the chains dangling on the wall and yelled, waking the other guards.
Sergia knew if she passed out again, her veil would disappear and this time she would be executed immediately. She held on to consciousness as hard as she could while trying to keep the invisibility spell going. The guards ran off in different directions looking for her on the street while at the same time alerting other guards to join the search.
She regained the strength to stand back up on her feet. She knew she needed to get out of the village and find the ingredients she needed to make a proper healing potion. She was thankful that she was able to keep her spell of invisibility going since at first she wasn't sure that she could.
Her wound was no longer bleeding, but it was healing much too slow. She decided to leave on foot. If she went to the stables for her horse, she would be caught. She limped towards the south and left on the main road out of the village.
After walking for approximately an hour, she felt very exhausted. She knew it was too close to the village to stop though. The guards had been up and down the road several times looking for her. She knew they would expand the search in the morning.
Up ahead in the distance, she saw a villa. Holding her hand against her wound, she limped to the villa and went to the stable. She drank some water from a rain barrel then she chose a strong looking horse and quietly rode off into the southern hemisphere at a pace she could tolerate.
She knew she needed to heal herself with a better potion, and find Manius before he, or the dragon, found Rhesus. She stopped along the road several times, looking for ingredients, or to rest for a few ticks. Each time she unmounted the horse, and then remounted, she felt agony. She felt warm, and sweat-soaked her hair, making it stick to her face.
She found almost all of the ingredients she needed, but she also needed a pot, some water, and fire to meld the ingredients together. She pushed on, now at a slower pace, as the wound on her side was no longer healing. Her spell with words could only help some, and now the wound was beginning to bleed again.
She found no streams, lakes, or rivers as she pressed on, and she felt herself feeling faint once again. Although she tried to hold on to herself, she fell off her horse and passed out along the side of the road.