The Decay of Auria

Chapter 7 - The mind of the metal

"Is there a way you could remove it, Auria?"

She shook her head. "It has overgrown right through his spine. I... No. I don't think so. This is beyond my skills."

"What about triarch?" Harian asked. Auria just shook her hand. "Useless. He's a paper man, politician. Does he keep the hospitals well stocked and supplied? Yes. Can he make surgical incisions? As well as you can, probably. No offense."

"None taken, medic. How's the arm?"

"Broken to fuck. I'm sorry to be rude, it just hurts like hell..." Harian just shrugged, with a corner of his mouth raised slightly in a hidden smile.

"What hurts more, the burned skin or broken bone?" Naira asked her, curiously. Auria just braked a painful laugh.. "The skin is gone to fuck. Nerves burned out, I can't feel it really. That means that the burn is serious. On the other hand... well, I suppose on the same hand, the broken bone hurts like fuck. That means that it is... well, as serious as a broken arm can fucking be. And once again, soldier, I am sorry to be rude and to swear so much in front of you, I am usually not this... ill mannered."

Harian smiled openly. "It is okay, medic. Do you want me to get you some painkillers?" The moment he said it, he regretted it. He asked a medic, if he should get her a painkiller, inside the hospital where she worked. Harian, you are really dumb sometimes.

Auria did not mind the question, and she tried to smile at him warmly. "Thank you, I'll live. Now, you two, think. Talk among yourselves. You were there, soldier, you have seen what happened. And you, Naira, you live your whole life tinkering and creating and breaking down things like this." Naira started to open her mouth, but Auria wasn't finished yet. "Or other things, I really don't fucking care right now. Just do something until I fix myself."

***

"So that's your great plan, to leave him here. With me. With a broken bone and burned skin. While you two go lurking into the repository where he fell on the device, hoping to find something that will help you."

Naira nodded slowly, and Harian shrugged. "That seems... reasonable. Where it happened, there are plenty other things that could.. I dunno, reverse it."

Auria nodded. "Great idea. I can't, for the love of myself, think of any reason why that plan would not work. It's not like he could wake up any moment and burn me down with a thought, or the whole building. And there surely was just one potentially lethal item in that repository, so you probably don't need a medic with you."

Naira rolled her eyes. "We know it's not ideal, Auria. Do we have other options? You can't cut him off of it. Can anybody, really? In the Citadel?"

"Not in the Citadel. Not right now."

"You think your father could do it?"

She shook her head. "No. And, a small detail you might've missed - how would you get into the artifact repository? It's not like anybody can just dance inside, uninvited, shuffle through ancient - and one might add that potentially deadly - artifacts, and leave."

Harian coughed. "A guard owes me a favor... or seven."

Auria sighed, irritated. " Allright. Go. Go to the repository for fucks sake. Your plan is stupid, but it's the only one I can think of until the pain dissipates."

They left her alone with the historian. The throbbing pain in her arm subsided, and she put out the used pipe.

"How long have you been awake?" She asked Lakar. Historian opened his eyes. his heart started to beat faster, and the metal arm twitched.

"Calm down now." Auria raised her hands in defense. "I won't do a thing to you. Anything I could do, at least anything I can think of, would kill you." The arm twitched more violently this time. "Calm down."