“I can’t heal this!” Clara’s agitated words rang, piercing his hazy consciousness. “It’s that stupid fire – I can’t do anything!” She sounded like she had been crying for a while now.

  He blinked a few times. The flame of the campfire was still a bit distant, and a crowd of people blocked most of its light. His vision cleared up slowly as rainwater flowed down his face. With a grunt, he motioned to sit up, startling the people gathered around him.

  “Al!” Clara cried, grabbing his hand. The warmth of her small hands made him realise how cold he was. He could barely feel his hands, feet or face. His back was freezing, and he could feel the strong wind blowing against fresh wounds.

  “The mana core,” he slurred his words a little. “Is it intact?”

  Victoria started to her feet and dashed away to Cinder. She rummaged through the saddlebags for a second. “It’s fine!” She shouted.

  A collective sigh of relief rang in the air. Someone shouted some words of celebration, though most of them were lost to the booming thunder.

  “Ok, Clara, step back.” Sarah pulled his sister away. “Lochlan, help me out – the guy’s freezing and bleeding. We can’t have him sit in the mud like this.” She and Lochlan helped him up, then each supported him on one side.

  “Oi! Go celebrate somewhere else! Wounded incoming!” Sarah’s shout nearly deafened his left ear. It worked though, as the crowd gave way rapidly, letting them pass through into the church.

  A small fire had been lit in the central room of the church, under the intact roof. While the sound of water dripping in the other rooms echoed, at least it was warm and dry here.

  Harriet, Elizabeth and Victoria followed them inside while Clara rushed to the water barrel to get some fresh water.

  Lochlan quickly made a bed out of a few cloaks. “Lay on your chest.” He said as he helped Alaric down. “Your back… it looks a bit bad. And it’s Wyrdflame. What did the damn thing hit you with?”

  “A whip,” he grunted as he laid down. Now that the warmth of the fire returned his senses, the pain on his back began to grow worse.

  “Lochlan, warm up some water.” Harriet knelt by him. “Victoria, knife. We need to cut his shirt off. Where is your cloak, my boy?”

  “… I wrapped it around the mana core.” In hindsight, maybe he was the one who needed that extra layer of protection. Destroying the mana cores had been rather difficult up until this point anyways. They weren’t particularly fragile.

  “You should have taken a second one with you then.” Harriet clicked her tongue in disapproval as she cut off what was left of his shirt. Using the warm water Lochlan brought, she began slowly cleaning his back. Every time the cloth touched the wound, it felt as if his entire back was on fire again. The water in the large bowl slowly turned red with blood. It took three bowls to fully clean the wound.

  “God above, protect us…” Harriet made a sign he couldn’t quite see.

  What? Is it that bad?

  Victoria clicked her tongue. “The damn knight branded you. Grandmother, can we get rid of this?”

  “Do you think I’m a miracle worker, my girl?” Harriet exclaimed. “I can clean it and hope it doesn’t get infected. But this…” she shook her head. “You were branded with hot iron. There is no healing this. Maybe your sister… but even she said she can’t.”

  “I’ll live.” Alaric grunted. As long as this searing pain went away, he’d manage.

  “Not if it gets infected you won’t.” Harriet gestured at the others to help him sit up. “We don’t have antibiotics, remember? We need to clean this twice a day, and you need to sit still till it heals.”

  Alaric shook his head. “No, I can’t. The mana core – we have to move to the castle before dusk tomorrow. I need to get the spell working-“ His words turned into a pained grunt as she began bandaging the wound.

  “It’s risky.”

  “… we have to take it.” Victoria admitted as she helped her sister heat some more water. “We need to have moved to the castle by tomorrow dusk. He’s right.”

  “Clara can heal an infection though,” Elizabeth piped up.” She healed Ava’s frostbite too – it’s just the damage the fire does she can’t fix. As long as she has mana, of course.” She glanced at the young girl who just entered the church with a fresh bowl of water. “So, I think you’ll be fine. Right, grandmother?”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  The elderly woman hesitated before nodding. “I would hope so. But now we must let him rest. Everybody, out, we’ll sit by the fire under the canopy.” Despite Clara’s protests, she ushered everyone out and pulled the makeshift curtain acting as a door.

  The pain had dulled somewhat, and he was exhausted enough that his eyelids closed, and he soon fell asleep. He woke from restless sleep once as something brushed against his legs and arm. Luna glanced at him once as she rested her head next to his knee, and Sol leaned his back against his left side. He smiled faintly and let slumber take over once more. This time, his sleep was a lot more comfortable.

  Something cold and wet nudged his hand. With a grunt, he pulled his hand away. His eyelids felt heavy, and his body ached. Another nudge prompted him to open his eyes to see Luna sitting next to him, gently nudging his left hand with her nose.

  “… your nose is cold,” he complained as he motioned to sit upright. A flash of pain jolted through his body. He groaned, clenched his teeth and sat up. “Bloody hell…” he cursed under his breath.

  Weak rays of sunlight shone through the half open door cover. He stared at it for a few seconds, not entirely sure why sunlight was so important. Then, his brain finally started to function, and memories came rushing.

  “… I could sleep for a week, Luna.” He pushed the cloak over him aside, only for the cold morning breeze to touch his skin. With a shiver, he pulled it back.

  Right. That bastard ruined my shirt. My only shirt.

  In all honesty, it was a miracle that the shirt survived all those battles. He had been wearing it with all the cuts and holes, since he’d figured a torn shirt was better than no shirt. Now he was even more sure of that – he’d definitely prefer a torn shirt over this. Cursing under his breath, he slowly pushed himself up on his feet and tightly wrapped the cloak around himself. His nose felt itchy as he dragged his feet towards the door.

  “Oh, you’re awake and on your feet!” Sarah exclaimed quietly. She, Victoria and Lochlan were sat around the fire outside.

  Alaric nodded, then quickly covered his mouth before a sneeze.

  “Oh, great…” he grunted as he sat by the fire. It hurt a lot less when he moved very slowly. He sniffed, then shuddered as the warmth of the fire slowly penetrated the cloak. “We should handle the move and the mana core quickly.”

  Sarah looked at him intently for a second before nodding. “Yeah. I have a feeling you’ll be out of commission for a while soon. If that sneeze and your red nose and eyes are any indication.”

  “We should probably find you some clothes.” Lochlan piped up. “I’ll have Cinder loaded up. We can move out, get the mana core done, find you some clothes,” he shot a meaningful glance at his jeans. “Those won’t last long, and they’re mostly blood and mud by now.”

  “I mean, he’s been wearing the same thing since this whole thing began.” Sarah shrugged.

  “… I don’t usually carry extra clothes.” He sneezed again.

  “Yeah,” Sarah smirked. “I noticed. Thankfully the castle was pretty well stocked. I’m sure we’ll find something that fits you.” With that, she handed him a small piece of meat on a stick that she’d been holding over the fire for a while now. “Eat up, drink water, then we set off. Lochlan, wake Charles up.”

  “What happened in Castle Dorwan?” Alaric asked as he bit into the meat. It was hard and chewy, but in that moment, he couldn’t be more content with a meal.

  Sarah and Victoria glanced at each other before the young girl let out a sigh. “I mean… it was just weird, in all honesty. We arrived there in about three hours, and the skeletons were pretty much everywhere. And, like Sarah said, they were blind. And deaf. They shot arrows but missed every shot – by a wide margin. They had halberds and swords – sharpened weapons, not like the dull ones you find in the castle.

  “It was difficult for us to kill them though. Martin figured out how to do it – we had to smash their skulls. We ended up using my powers to root them in place and smashed them with a hammer we found. Luna and Sol had a lot of fun chasing them around.”

  Alaric chuckled. He could somewhat picture the scene.

  “We killed most of them, locked some in empty rooms to save some time.” Sarah took over and continued. “There was a lot of stuff there – books, materials… It all felt very… used. Like daily. We took what we could, searched for a mana core, then when there were about three hours left till sundown, hurried back.” She looked at her hands. “I won’t say we came back empty handed, but we’d be dead tonight if you hadn’t taken that chance. Thank you.”

  That castle must hold more than just weapons and materials.

  He was sure of it. It had to have some meaning. And the Bloodrose Witch must have had a reason to mark it with that symbol on her map.

  “We all made it.” He threw the empty stick to the fire and slowly pushed himself up on his feet. “Water, then go, right?” he grimaced. The two women nodded.

  They set off with a small group. Despite his protests, Alaric ended up on Cinder’s back. Sol and Luna ran ahead, while Lochlan, Sarah and Victoria walked next to him. Martin and Avery were a few dozen steps behind, both holding their newfound weapons.

  The halberds were sharp and well maintained. Had it not been for the Profaned Knight’s sword, Alaric would have also considered grabbing one for himself… once his wounds had healed, of course. He tried to hide it, but with each step Cinder took, small waves of pain jolted up his spine.

  Once they arrived at the castle, Alaric climbed off the saddle. “He’ll help carry everything,” he said as Avery climbed onto the Stallion’s saddle. “He’s a strong horse, so make use of it. He won’t get tired easily.”

  “We’ll have everything brought over, don’t worry.” With that, Avery rode off. Sol and Luna settled on the grass, basking in the sunlight as Alaric, Victoria and Sarah headed inside.

  “Tell you what,” Sarah said with a smirk. “Victoria, you carry this.” She gave the young woman the mana core, then grabbed Lochlan’s arm. “And you help me look for something.”

  Confused, the man raised his eyebrows. “…what are we looking for, exactly?” he asked as she dragged him to the upper floor stairs.

  “I wonder what that’s about…” Victoria shrugged.

  They slowly descended the stairs, mainly because it was quite painful to walk, and passed through the damp, dark dungeon before finally arriving at the door. Alaric once again hesitated. Why was it always such a challenge to move past this door?