It was such a strange feeling. At first Kiava thought her wards had failed and someone had stabbed her, but she wasn't bleeding. Since there was no physical cause of her sudden weakness she looked around for a magical means. It was a cold creeping spell in a language she had never seen. You cannot dispel something unknown to you, just as you can't ward against it. The weakness felt like cold hands dragging her down and inhibiting her actions, so she hid away like a wounded animal.
She leaned against an alley wall, watching a stream of people pass her by as she died quietly in the shadows, too weak to even call out for help. It was enough to make her cry, which in a matter of some injustice, she had the energy to do. Whatever kind of spell this was, it was mean spirited to its core. She closed her eyes and focused on breathing, which was getting uncomfortably laborious.
"Miss…." A voice was yelling somewhere far away. She forced her eyes open to see two very handsome faces. Ah, the gods were kind after all, what a sight to go out to, blurry as it was. Was her vision going?
Archeus came into sharper focus as he moved closer. His lips moved, but Kiava couldn't hear anything but the rushing of her own pulse in her ears. A warm sensation washed over her, and she fell comfortably asleep as the leeching weakness faded away.
Archeus panted heavily as he looked down at the unconscious woman in his arms. They had sprinted here and he had needed a fair amount of power to dispel the entropy spell that had nearly killed his savior.
"Did you have to kiss her?" Silas asked, looking thoughtful.
"Yes, she was very nearly dead," Archeus explained. A breath of life spell has a contact catalyst - the more severe the state of the victim, the closer the breath must be shared. "Someone hit her with a Die Alone spell. It's illegal, but given what we know about the traffickers that's hardly shocking." He rubbed his face. "Where's Theon? I dispeled the problem, but damage was likely done."
"They're almost here," Silas confirmed after looking down the street. "I think they're mad we left them."
"They should learn how to move in the city without people having to part before them." Archeus retorted, studying his savior. "She's really very pretty."
Silas laughed. "Yes, we'd noticed. You're the first to encounter her and the last to see her, how do you feel?"
"Annoyed."
"What about?" Theon asked as he and Perrin finally made their way to Silas, standing at the mouth of the alley where they found Kiava.
"It doesn't matter. Theon, she was hit with a Die Alone spell. I got to her in time, but she likely has internal injuries," Archeus interrupted.
"Let's get her to the Temple Infirmary," Theon suggested. "It will be better to not be out on the street, where they could get to her again."
Archeus nodded and his three allies grabbed onto his shoulder. He knew the best spot designated for them and between one breath and another the five of them arrived in Theon's Office. His arms tightened around his savior. He felt strange about meeting her in such a situation - on the one hand he was relieved that he had saved her life and they were on equal footing, but on the other he rather wished he had gotten the chance to talk to her. He wondered at the fate of their first two meetings involving them saving one another.
…
Theon let Archeus carry the young woman through a side door in his office into a small infirmary that was shared with another High Healer on this floor. There were four clean beds, all empty. Archeus laid out the unconscious woman on the closest bed and Theon set to work. He was a healer blessed by Feron - the god of love, relationships, and peace. As such he did his best work in a peaceful environment surrounded by those he cared about. It was rare, even in this office, for the situation to be so ideal.
The damage was not fatal, but Archeus had not been exaggerating when he said he got to her just in time. The spell had focused on the lungs after some internal bleeding. Another few moments and they would have turned to liquid. Entropy spells were illegal to use against people due entirely to the slow, agonizing nature of the death they caused. It was not combat, it was torture. Normally, entropy spells were used in agriculture and forest management for composting and fertilization.
Theon began the chants needed to compel his god given power to repair the Artificer. Feron had a language all his own that Healers and Priests used to manifest their powers, they did not need to be vocalized after a certain level of skill was attained and there were many different chants to heal many different kinds of damage inflicted on the human body. When he finished the damage had been mitigated, she looked less near death and far more peaceful.
"She'll wake up in a few hours," he told his friends, whom he could feel staring at his back intensely. "Well done Archeus, you weren't joking about your timing." He rubbed his face. "We have some time, can you track who used the Die Alone spell?"
"No. I was distracted by the dispel and didn't think to put a trace on the energy," Archeus grumbled, annoyed by his oversight. "Damnit, this is starting to piss me off."
"Just starting? I've been pissed since the moment we realized you were missing," Silas said dryly. He walked around his friends and sat on the bed next to the sleeping Kiava."I feel it would be in our best interest to explain to the young lady the situation she has now interjected herself in twice. In case she is targeted again."
"I agree," Theon said simply, sitting comfortably with his legs crossed in one of the bedside chairs. Archeus pulled up another and Perrin sat beside Silas on the empty bed.
"I have no intention of leaving her alone," Archeus declared openly. "Not only did she save me, she also saved a bunch of younglings. Seems only right that we guard her until we resolve this situation."
Perrin sighed. "We'll have to get her permission. In the meantime, this is the first time they've moved so overtly. Silas, what did your men learn for you to be so concerned?"
Theon looked at Silas, who was only half focused on them. His attention was on the sleeping woman. "The interrogation was taking a while, and the prisoners didn't realize that their failsafes had been neutralized until they tried to use them. We still couldn't get them to tell us anything about who they worked for, but they did let it slip that they had lookouts. If I hadn't been so close by and her attack so sudden, they would have been able to collect the kids and the Artificer." Silas gritted his teeth as he continued, "One of them threatened that they would make an example of, I quote, 'the gray haired wench' to prevent future interference in the lower city."
"I'm glad you all pressed to intervene," Perrin confessed. "If we had received a report about finding her body in that alley I would have not been able to forgive myself."
"It usually takes a long time to identify a victim of the Die Alone spell, as it tends to leave a less than beautiful corpse," Theon said hoarsely. "Miss Orben is very new to the city, and her connections are shallow so far. It's likely she would not have been noticed as missing for weeks."
The four friends were silent for a while after that. They all had various concerns occupying their thoughts. Theon watched Silas watch the sleeping young woman. He had noticed the knight's interest before, but thought his friend was being far more relaxed in his pursuit than his current expression suggested. Of all of them, Silas had spent the most time in her company. The interview had taken over an hour after all.
Theon could not shake a feeling that things for him and his friends were about to change a lot, and he was feeling a little melancholic at the loss of how things had been. Maybe the change could be for the better.
Finally, they passed the time while she slept settling business, each through their own methods. Archeus teleported away to report the use of an entropy spell on a person, promising to return shortly. Perrin used Theon's telecrystal to delegate duties for the remainder of his itinerary. Silas left to report the developments with Miss Kiava's current situation to the knights and guards. Theon took care of registering the emergency patient.