The Light in Darkness

Ch 6. Dubious Alliance

[AN] I know I said it'll be done within last month... heheheh... yeah. I meant to make the chapters gradually shorter to fit WP standards but it seems I have become physically incapable of that. Believe it or not, I didn't procrastinate nearly as much as before this time.

Warning : I apologize beforehand that some of Topaz's more... colorful words got through uncensored. You know, the F variant.

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Cali woke up with the most terrible headache he had ever experienced in his whole life. It was as if someone had displaced his brain, turned the insides out like a scrambled egg, and then shoved it back in without order or sense. His right temple was numb, and his body felt like it had been trampled by the entire horse cavalry of Solek East Watch.

Then there was the incessant poking on his back that was starting to become very annoying indeed.

"Uuurghh," he groaned, trying to move his uncooperative limbs.

"Oh, good, you're alive." The poking stopped.

Cali wrapped his arms around his head for three beats until realization came. He quickly turned around, screwing up his face as the sunlight hit his eyes in full force.

"Topaz?"

"That's right."

With another groan, Cali sat up, perhaps too quickly. The entire world bleached into yellow-white and lightheadedness took over as he rocked back and forth. A pair of hands grabbed his shoulder just in time to prevent him from falling right back down.

"Thanks," Cali mumbled, touching his right temple. His hair felt funny there, tangled together in all the wrong directions with dirt stuck onto it. His hands found something sticky, and he held it closer to inspect it. Even in his delirious state there was no mistaking the dark red color that smeared across his fingers.

"Ah."

"That's a nasty wound you've got yourself," Topaz said, digging into his backpack. "You must have rolled down hill and hit a rock or something. Probably lost a lot of blood as well."

"Wonderful," Cali replied as Topaz extracted a small red flask and a healing kit from the bottom of his bag.

"Here, drink this whole," he said, placing the flask on Cali's hand. "It should help recover some of that blood you lost."

Having had this type of potion before, Cali took it without suspicion and regretted it just as quickly. Normally this should have a pleasantly stinging taste that was merely refreshing, but Topaz's particular brand was much stronger than the ones sold in the conventional apothecaries. It burned his throat as it went down, all the way to the stomach. As the potion took effect, Cali felt a curious rush pulse through his veins and his senses blurred again. He vaguely heard Topaz say something about 'not going to drag him around all of Cryallis' and sat completely still as the alchemist proceeded to treat the wound in his typical not-so-gentle manner.

When the world finally stopped spinning and regained its true color, Cali asked.

"What happened to you last night?" The words came out slightly slurred.

Topaz picked up a fresh roll of bandages and started wrapping it around the knight's head. "Ruby took us to some idiot, and when we got everything all hell broke loose."

That was not even a remotely helpful answer.

"But what in the name of Soelis did you do inside that village?" Cali asked again, his own irritation showing. "Kill the chieftain?"