Chapter 14 Fourteen
Ryn sat, his legs finally giving out. The warmth of the room started made his bones relax, but it also made the reality of his situation sink in.
Ryn took a heavy sigh and began to narrate everything to him. He started from his failures at the academy, to the Grandmaster asking him to go on the escort , dangling a future that he was desperate for in his face. He explained what happened when the journey had started, and how Ryoka had suspected something was wrong. He told it all up until the moment he and the Prince ran into the forest.
“When that spire leader threw that magic bolt at me, I felt pain, all over me…….and then I just blacked out.”
Kaelan’s face was unreadable but he continued anyways, “When I opened my eyes, I was back at the clearing, among the bodies we had left behind……”
Ryn paused, unsure whether to talk about the marks or not. He remembered the dwarf’s warning as he opened his mouth and then closed it.
“You say you have no mana,” Kaelan started.
It was the first thing he had said to Ryn since he started his story. “That stench rolling off you says differently.”
He paused, looking at Ryn as he took a sniff at himself.
“You say you don’t remember what happened in that forest and the prince says a monster saved him. Whatever you encountered in that forest, perhaps it followed you out.”
Ryn stiffened, but the man paid him no attention.
“You need a masking, that smell was probably what drew that captain we met earlier. Stay here.”
Kaelan stood up and walked out of his room, locking the door with a click behind him.
Ryn looked around the room, the markings, whatever smell Kaelan spoke of and the dwarves warning kept his mind going in circles.
Minutes felt like hours as he sat alone in the captain’s room. Every time a floorboard creaked in the hallway, his heart jumped. He looked at his bandaged arms, wondering if the stench Kaelan mentioned was actually the smell from the marks and how come he couldn’t smell it.
Finally, the lock turned. Kaelan stepped back inside, he looked troubled. He didn’t say a word as he tossed a small woolen pouch onto Ryn’s lap. It was heavy and made soft clicking sounds.
Ryn fumbled with the drawstring and peeked inside. It was filled with tiny glowing blue crystals that shined like stars in the sky.
“Those crystals go in your bath water,” Kaelan said, keeping his voice low. “They are expensive, but they’ll mask that smell you’re putting off.”
He turned toward a large wooden wardrobe against the wall and pulled out a stack of thick but fresh fabric and a soft wool tunic. He looked back at Ryn, eyes scanning his thin frame and the way his clothes hung off his bony shoulders. The Captain let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head.
“Have you not been fed a single day in your life?” he asked.
He didn’t wait for an answer. He threw the clothes onto the bed next to where Ryn stood.
“The bath is behind that screen. Strip. I’ll bring fresh bandages for after you’re clean.”
Ryn froze. His hands moved on instinct to cover his forearms, as if to hide the marks under his dirty cloth.
“I can… I can change them myself. I don’t need help.”
Kaelen stopped mid stride. He gave Ryn a pointed look that made Ryn feel he was being measured to be put in a coffin.
“Listen to me, boy,” Kaelan said, his voice dropping to a growl.
“I am putting my life and the Prince’s life on the line by keeping you in this room. At this point, I don’t need you hiding things from me. I’ll strip those filthy rags off you myself if I have to, boy. Get moving.”
Ryn stepped behind the divider, his legs shaking so hard he almost tripped over the edge of the tub. The water was steaming, sending curls of mist into the air. He fumbled with the pouch, dropping two crystals into the water. They hissed softly, turning the tub into a pool of glowing silver.
He climbed Into the water, letting out a long shaky breath as the heat began to soak into his frozen muscles. As he reached for the bandages on his forearms, he realized they were a mess. It was stiff with dried blood and thick mud from when he encountered the Spires at the Gills the night before and the mud from helping Rave drag crates. Every time he tried to peel a layer back, it pulled at his skin, making him groan in pain.
His fingers were too weak to undo the wet knots. He was tired, hungry, and terrified.
“You’re going to tear your skin off if you keep hacking at it like that,” Kaelan’s voice came from the other side of the screen.
Before Ryn could protest, the Captain stepped around the divider. Ryn tried to sink deeper into the water, but Kaelen didn’t seem interested in anything but the injury. He knelt by the tub, his scarred hands reaching out. He looked like a man who had fixed up hundreds of soldiers on a battlefield.
“I’ve got it,” Ryn whispered, pulling his arm back.
Kaelan didn’t move, he just held out his hand, palm up. Ryn hesitated for a second, then slowly placed his arm in the Captain’s hand. Kaelan used a small knife to cut through the layers of dirty bindings. He worked with a gentle touch that Ryn hadn’t expected from such a rugged man.
As the last layer of bandage fell away into the glowing water, the room went dead silent.
The dark marks on Ryn’s skin seemed to catch on the silver light from the tub. They pulsed with a low glow, looking like black flash if lightning on his skin. Kaelen didn’t know what to make of what he had just seen. He just stared, his thumb hanging inches away from one of the glowing lines.
“What are you not telling me?” Kaelan said as soon as he found his voice.
Ryn let out a strangled sob, as he placed his palm over his mouth. Everything was overwhelming him, he had not expected his life to change so much and he was clueless about the answers.
“Finish up, I need to hear the rest of whatever this is. You’ll tell me everything that happened up until I met you in that courtyard.”
Ryn nodded, feeling disgusted at himself as Kaelan left.
“Weak….” The voice purred softly in Ryn’s mind before settling back into it’s usual silence.
