Rebirth

Chapter 17: On to the Capital

Slowly, my eyes fluttered open. I couldn't move my body, the magic exhaustion was still massive. Looking around, I noticed I was in the Guild infirmary. My body was bandaged up, and tied down to the bed. I could understand the bandages, but why the rope?

The door opened and Beowulf stepped in then, blinking at me. "Oh, you're awake. That's good to hear. You know, you're a pretty reckless sleeper."

"Why am I tied up?" I asked. Beowulf coughed into his fist, pulling up a chair and sitting next to me. "We kept trying to get you to settle down and rest. That didn't work. Each time Sansas came near you, you pounced on him, thinking he was Eridon and wanted to beat him senseless. Poor guy is traumatized now."
"I'll get him some meat. He'll be alright," I said, wiggling. "Can you untie me now?" He nodded, undoing the double knotted rope and letting it drop to the floor. I sat up, rubbing my aching arms. "So, what happened after I passed out? I remember being on the boat as we left, and then everything goes blank after that."

He chuckled at me, helping me stand. "I'll tell you later." He helped me walk into the main part of the guild hall, where the pack turned and greeted me as if I just came back from the job. "Yo, look who's finally up." One wolf said.

I looked at Beowulf, "I probably should know this by now but... Who is that guy?"

"Honestly, his name escapes me for the moment. Just call him G for now. That's what everyone calls him anyway."

G gave me a grin, stepping over to us, arms crossed. "I heard you did a real number on that Jackass Eridon. Nice job, not many of us would be able to destroy the entire tower while fighting. It's always been one or the other."

"It's not that hard," I said honestly. "Just utterly not care about the environment, and you'll be fine." I said. G and Beowulf laughed, patting me on the back rougher than they had meant to. "Even injured, you can still crack jokes."

"Yeah. So, where's the 'Master'? She busy?" I asked. Beowulf watched me. "Actually, she and Cynthia.."

"What?"

"They're packing up. They were going to go to the Capital to warn the king about something that came up after we left the tower." He paused, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. "We have bigger issues to deal with right now."

"Oh yeah, like what? What could be a bigger problem than Eridon trying to overthrow the government?"

"How does an incoming wave of magic creatures ready to rip the whole world apart sound?" I watched him, searching for a joke in his words. There was none. "You're serious!?"

He nodded. "However, it's not as bad as it seems. We received some information that might be helpful to the king. Simply put, we know someone who's going to continue Eridon's job, and try to overthrow the king and bring down order."

"How do we know this before it happened?"

"I have.. special methods when it comes to investigating." There was a small glint in his eye, something that told me I shouldn't press him further about his methods. Nodding to him and G, I made my way to Zhaniah's office, opening the door and spotting the Wolf Queen gathering things in a suitcase. Cynthia was next to her, a book in her hand, but I couldn't see the title.

The two looked at me after a minute, and frowned. "You should be in bed."

"I should be a lot of things," I said sarcastically. "I heard you two were leaving for a little while." They stayed quiet, but nodded. "I'm going with."

"Like hell you are," Cynthia said, standing suddenly.

"She's right," Zhaniah agreed. "You need the rest. Pushing yourself just because you're worried about us isn't good, and besides, we don't even know what happened to you."

"Who cares what happened? I'm going, and you can't stop me." I demanded.

"Why do you want to come with us so bad?"

I clutched my chest, averting their eyes. "... Honestly.. I feel like I have to go.. Something is telling me we'll find one of the others if we all go together."

Zhaniah paced around, then leaned on her desk, facing me. "Can you keep yourself under control?"

"Of course!" My eyes flashed a bright violet. Flames swirled around me and shot forward. The office roared in an explosion, blowing the window apart. I stared at myself, noting my injuries were completely healed, and my body felt fully rejuvenated. "Huh. Would you look at that... Yeah, I can go just fin-" I dodged the pair's fists, hitting the wall with my back. "WHAT!"

"YOU'RE A PERVERT!"

"What did I... Do..." I remembered something similar, and hesitated to look down at the two. My bandages were to a crisp, that was true, but apparently, I wasn't the only one in my birthday suit. I closed my eyes, turning and moved towards the door. "I'll leave.."

"What happened in.. Here.." I opened my eyes, locking them with Beowulf's. I could only imagine how awkward this picture would look to him. "... Did I.. Come at a bad time..."

"No.. I did." I said, walking past him and not daring to look back. Not from embarrassment, more from the fact that if I did, Zhaniah and Cynthia would murder me in cold blood and not care whatsoever about the consequences. "Hey, Beowulf. Be ready in the morning. We're all leaving then."

"We never agreed to you coming!" The pair said. I kept my eyes closed, facing them. "Well, you don't have much of a choice at this point. Anything could happen, as proven by my.. whatever the Hell that was." I walked away, though, I felt they'd be more in danger with me around than if they went by themselves.