It was a pleasant surprise to wake up, though her extremities felt like they were covered in weights and every organ in body was throbbing. A series of new and really unpleasant sensations.
So caught up in analyzing her body as she stared up at a clean white ceiling, it didn't really compute that she wasn't alone for several moments. When she did notice the four men standing around and looking down at her a strange noise between a gasp and a squeak escaped her. It took another moment for her eyes to adjust enough to determine who they were.
Kiava remembered them coming to her rescue, but in the confusion of almost dying she thought perhaps she was hallucinating and her saviors were random citizens. It was beginning to feel really weird that a nobody like her kept running into national heroes.
Then again, she had saved one of their lives and she couldn't have very well left those children to whatever fate awaited them. She had not expected those actions to cause the four men to now be staring down with various degrees of concern.
"Good day my lords, I would get up to greet you, but I find myself indisposed," she said with a sheepish smile. "Thank you for saving me from whatever type of magic that was, I've never encountered its like."
"An entropy spell - illegal to use in this manner. Luckily we arrived in time to dispel it," the green haired man explained smoothly. It was good to see him conscious and healthy. "Luckier still, to rescue my savior."
Kiava blinked in surprise. "Ah, I apologize for not coming forward when I heard you were searching for me, but it seemed wrong to get rewarded for something anyone would have done in my situation." She offered another smile because moving was strictly off the table at the moment. Whatever that entropy spell did, she could feel that it had nearly succeeded. "I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised - I recognized Duke Perrin's voice. It isn't outside the bounds of reason to think he would recognize mine." He was the only way they could have connected her specifically to the call.
"I did," Perrin agreed calmly. "I am glad that you are awake Miss Kiava. We had just met up so I could tell the other gentleman that I had found you when Silas came with word that the human traffickers had expressed that you were in danger."
"How fortuitous for me," she tried to joke, but it had just hit her that she had very nearly died and her smile wavered. She closed her eyes and counted to ten as she collected herself from the overwhelming urge to start crying. "Truly, thank you for saving my life."
"It was irresponsible of me to send you home without thinking of retribution being taken against you." Silas offered her a bow, "please forgive my oversight."
"There's nothing to forgive Sir Iaska, I take my personal safety very seriously and it also did not occur to me that they would have lookouts that could have seen me," she argued easily. "Besides, it seems you acted as soon as you found out I was in danger. If you had hesitated at all, my lord, we would not be chatting so comfortably… well… awkwardly, to be frank."
They stood around, looking down at her as she looked straight up, unable to move her head.
"Indeed, I should check her condition now that she is awake, we can talk more later," Healer Theon finally spoke, offering her a grin. "We are all rather tall, this must feel quite strange for you."
She laughed in agreement. "Sit down you giants."
The three others moved out of her field of vision. She felt a cool touch on her arm followed by a rush of comforting energy. The soreness remained but some of the persisting pain faded. Theon's hand shifted back to his side after the energy drained away.
"How do you feel?"
"I can't really move anything but my facial muscles right now. It feels like my body is wrapped in a heavy blanket. Even my organs are sore." Matron had always taught the orphans to be completely upfront with a healer, as keeping things from them could lead to death.
"Doing any more right now will put too much strain on your body. You are going to need more rounds of healing, and will have to stay here for several days," Theon prescribed.
"I will have to get my things from the inn, my stay ends soon. I also should send word to the carpenters that they can reach me here." Kiava's mind filled with all the things she was no longer able to do that needed to get done. "I wish they had made an attempt on my life when I was a little more settled," she griped.
Theon let out some startled laughter and she heard chuckles from the other men as well. "Criminals are an inconsiderate lot, it's true," Theon agreed in the same tone.
Kiava tried another smile but it turned into a yawn.
"We'll handle the matters you mentioned, rest well," Perrin's voice soothed from somewhere above her.
Kiava hummed softly as her eyes began to close and she struggled to stay awake a bit longer. "Thank you, but you'll need something from my pouch to get my belongings without me." It was so hard to talk. "Say 'urthiast goifri' and what you need will come out." She hoped she was speaking clearly, but that was all she could do as she fell into a deep, healing sleep.
…
Archeus got to the pouch first - while his savior had been unconscious he had been studying it. It was probably the most complex spellwork he had ever seen on such a small item and it fascinated him. He opened the pouch and stared at the cloth lining stitched with threads treated to be mana conduits. Curious, he spoke the command words and watched as the threads briefly glowed before a small imbued stone appeared in the pouch. He laughed in amazement. She had affixed a pocket dimension to her purse! He took out the stone and grinned at his friends.
"I'll go to the inn and get her things."
"What's so wonderful about that purse?" Perrin asked before Archeus could port away.
"Hm?" Archeus gave his friend a vague look. "I'll explain when I get back." Then he was gone.
"He has no intention of telling me," Perrin said with the resigned vexation he often felt after asking the mage a question.
"He really doesn't, but I think it's because he doesn't completely understand it yet himself, and he can't lord incomplete knowledge over us," Theon agreed with a smile.
"Poor young lady is going to be bombarded with questions when she wakes up," Silas sighed. "Try to stave off the worst of it, Theon. I'm off to HQ - I have some hunting to do." His voice became dangerous and his expression went cold as he left the room.
"Have you ever seen Silas so angry?"
"Only after we failed to save a life. I'm surprised to see it after we managed to prevent the worst case scenario," Theon responded, checking Kiava's status and frowning when he found more traces of the entropy spell. "This isn't just a Die Alone spell, it seems like they tagged something else on to complicate her recovery." He could not dispel it, but he managed to stave off any more damage.
"I am really getting sick of these criminals," Perrin sighed. "Though we now at least have a clear connection between the Sorcerers, unlicensed mages, and the human traffickers."
"Yes, now all we need is to find a single sorcerer." Both men sighed. It was likely that active mages were also sorcerers, they used illegal spells in underhanded side work. It was not an easy thing to catch people who are magically gifted and very careful. All mages working in law enforcement were already subject to regular interviews with a Veritae.
"Look at this bag!" Archeus burst into the infirmary from Theon's Office, looking thrilled.
Perrin and Theon followed his instruction. Theon was thoroughly impressed, and Perrin thought it was a rather nice bag but felt that was likely not what his mage friend was referring to. He waited for the explanation.
"I get to the inn and tell the concierge what's what, they take me to her room and bang, in the middle of the room was his baby with no less than eight spells trying to destroy it! I dispel them and walk right up to the bag and pick it up, but the manager that let me in tried to approach and couldn't get within two feet of me or the luggage. It repels all unsanctioned people!"
Perrin moved closer but found that he also could not touch his friend. "It's similar to an anti-theft ward."
"This is to a typical anti-theft ward what a unicorn is to a horse," Archeus argued passionately.
"Calm down Archeus, she is asleep, not in a coma. You're going to wake her," Theon reprimanded as his friend's enthusiasm translated to volume.
The mage looked properly chastised and set the bag near the head of the occupied bed. He then replaced the stone that had allowed him to bring back the bag in the pouch it had come from.
"What he means, Perrin, is that typically anti-theft wards on a single item would not be able to repel so much interference without shattering. The fact that she was able to get such complex magic to work together without overloading the catalyst is impressive."
"She used multiple imbuement languages," Archeus said from where he was crouching a few feet from the luggage. "I don't recognize them, but I can tell that there are different character systems in use."
"You can study that more later. I found another entropy spell, and I've stopped it from harming her further but you'll need to dispel it, Archeus." Theon finally remembered the larger matter, having also been distracted by the impressive security measures.
Archeus looked up, his eyes alight. "So, I can trace them." He went and studied the unconscious woman before bending down and kissing her on the forehead for a long moment. He straightened with a grin. "Got it. Shall we go pick up Silas, Perrin?"
"We'll be back later, Theon," Perrin said as he approached Archeus. "Was kissing her necessary?"
Theon heard Archeus sigh heavily as the two of them vanished and laughed at the mage's plight.