NOVEL NEXT Chapter 69: A Race Against Time
“Sorry, I just have to make sure I understand this correctly,” Vera said. “You have been helping guard dozens of Royal Mages who had been performing illegal summoning for a year?”
“Yes,” Fade confirmed. “And last week, our work expanded into escorting two of the summoned from the slums to the Royal Mage district, while the other Royal Mages moved all the equipment into their normal district once again.”
“Why move everything now?” Elijah questioned.
“Prince demanded that the final summoning be performed close to the castle,” she supplied. “He wanted to be there when whatever monster would secure their rule over this country was brought onto the surface of this world.”
“So they were one step away from finishing a year’s worth of illegal work,” Vera commented. “No wonder they want those two otherworlders back.”
She seemed lost in thought, putting together a puzzle that had been sitting in her head for so long, so Elijah decided to continue with some other questions in the meantime.
“Why did you betray them while escorting the two?” he asked. “Sudden burst of sympathy?”
“No,” Fade assured him, the Dreamweaver almost looking ready to laugh at the mere suggestion. “The Royal Mage who came with us, a man skilled in the act of Puppeteering, criticized our work and assured us we would be paid nothing for our efforts in the end. Fang was rather annoyed by the suggestion, the Mage didn't take our replies well and got a little aggressive, so Fox made sure he couldn’t fight back while our favored giant cut them in half. Since we didn't need those two after that, we simply went back to an inn, ate and drank, and were prepared to leave the city when the gates opened up if not for Rubeus stopping us.”
“Couldn’t you have repeated the earlier trick with this man as well?”
“He didn’t fall for it,” Fox complained. “I need a second to focus on a person, so he just hit me faster than that. An edge to the throat was very convincing, and the fact that he, uh, what could he do again?”
“When we were first hired, we had trackers embedded in our flesh,” Fade explained when the redhead couldn’t. “They’re able to be used to track our locations any time he wishes, which means we wouldn’t be able to hide if we ran.”
“But if we kill him now, he won’t be able to find us and it’ll be less of a problem for you,” Vera added, which the Dreamweaver confirmed. “Another layer of complexity… We can’t kill him until we know which of my brothers is a part of this. Did Rubeus ever describe the ‘Bastard Prince,’ as you called him?”
“He kept being criticized as easy to anger, not able to do much so far up his ass, easily becoming resentful, but having enough influence to get Rubeus all the materials that he needed to work without questions starting up,” the Dreamweaver explained, making one thing very clear very fast.
“Louis,” Elijah concluded, Vera not disagreeing with him in the slightest. It was a strange thing to hear since the man third in line for the crown had already interacted with Sasha at the brothel, but perhaps he simply hadn’t known what they looked like at the time. “That should make things easier, I assume? Kill or incapacitate him, and then you’re free to deal with the Royal Mages as you’d like.”
Fade still didn’t know the exact names of every Royal Mage involved, which meant they would need to find a collection of pictures so she could identify every person seen in the Dungeon one by one, but that was hardly any serious cost. It would take some hours to do, but it was still far better than what the alternative game of guessing had been.
“You talk as if I would have no difficulty orchestrating the deaths of my own brothers,” Vera accused Elijah in mock offense, keeping the facade for a few seconds before regaining her smile and shaking her head. “If I could do it before the sun was upon us, I would have, but there’s a slight issue with that idea. Harper?”
“The second Prince has not been seen on the castle premises since yesterday night,” the Illusionist explained, looking through several documents that had appeared from thin air. “While his guards have assured any who asked for him that he is simply lying sick in his room, my own searches have revealed he is nowhere in the castle. Neither have we heard any mentions of him in the upper district.”
… That made things more complicated.
“Gone into hiding?” Elijah guessed, the others not disagreeing with the idea. “Then it’s become a race against time. We have to find him before they find Jack and Sasha.”
“It’s during days like these, that I wish I had implanted trackers on my brothers as well,” Vera muttered. “No matter. We can’t change our past. I’ll send out teams to search for my younger brother. The two of you, criminals that you are, will be put somewhere close to the castle until I find some use for you. Elijah and Aleksi… go home and sleep. Your faces are being replaced by the dark bags under your eyes.”
If he’d had any ounce of energy left in his body, Elijah would have questioned the orders. Instead, tiredness won him over, reasoning with him that they had nothing to offer as the two headed out of the castle and back to their shop to rest.
Elijah was able to get the giant inside and lock the door before Aleksi collapsed on the ground.
‘Dawn.’
His words made the duck appear in a flash, already using her reduced reserves to grow roots inside the giant to help with the extensive damage. The man’s heart wasn’t beating as it should’ve, the steady rhythm ruined and the rest of the body suffering from it. Elijah could feel it, could see it, as the elixir that had kept Aleksi so strong actively tried to overadjust in an effort to make balance, yet it just kept swinging things more and more out of balance.
“Calm breaths,” Elijah ordered more for his own sake than Aleksi’s. “It’s going to be alright.”
“You can shove your alright up your—” Aleksi began before taking in a breath sharply. Dawn’s roots had found the heart, along with its size. Elijah knew for a fact that it hadn’t been that enlarged the last time he’d taken a look. “That didn’t feel good.”
“If it felt good, something would have been very wrong,” he replied, getting a breathless laugh out of the giant as they both worked together to get him into the laboratory. Aleksi couldn’t walk by himself, and Elijah had no chance of dragging the giant himself. “Stay there.”
“You expect me to move if I feel the need?” Aleksi joked, letting Elijah know of the swelling in his chest and the increased difficulty in breathing. Dawn likewise let him know a moment later that it was all bleeding and leaking inside.
Of course, it is.
“Swallow this,” Elijah ordered, shoving a handful of pills into the giant’s mouth. Tears could be seen in Aleksi’s eyes, but he ignored it as he gave him some water to help get it all down. “I need them to work now, so this is going to be mildly painful.”
Just as he had done many times before, he ignored the pain that came from his work as he connected to the swallowed pills inside the giant. Threads of Mana were forced through sensitive issues, which caused muscles to flex on instinct, but he continued on until he was able to command the herbs that had been consumed.
‘Help,’ he ordered, and the mindless medicine obeyed as best as it could. The blood was allowed to absorb them faster than ever, letting the residue travel through to the bleeding heart. There, they were further enhanced by Elijah’s touch, letting the heart slow down to a normal pace and reducing the pace of the swelling.
‘Dawn,’ he sent the duck, granting her most of his remaining Mana so she could keep up the work of repairing the broken tissues. She didn't possess the incredible resources that she had down in the Dungeon, which meant she was running low so stupidly quickly. She was weak like him now, yet that wasn’t allowed here. They needed this to work.
And work it did, though it wasn’t completely effective. Aleksi could breathe, but it was in shallow breaths, and though he could stand it was with shaky legs and even shakier hands. It was an effort to venture up the stairs, one that Elijah had to help with, but they survived the journey regardless.
“Here we thought that you could handle the Elixir with the new medicine you were shoving down your throat,” Elijah commented, making sure the giant was comfortable in his own bed. Aleksi looked so pale, his skin cold to the touch instead of being the impossibly hot furnace it usually was. “I’m not sure you can survive another dose.”
“A shame,” Aleksi replied, sending him a grin. It was forced, given through pain but appreciated regardless. “Let’s hope it won’t be needed.”
…
“You absolute fool,” he muttered, leaving the bedside before bringing up water and medicine on the off-chance it would be needed while they rested. “I’ll tell Lugh you’ll be resting tomorrow, so sleep well.”
“Won’t have to tell me twice,” the giant assured him, the snoring already starting up by the time Elijah was able to feel his head on his pillow. He didn’t complain about the sound, however. That Aleksi still drew breath was enough for him to find comfort.
Elijah couldn’t be sure how long it would last, after all. The time was growing thin.