An Ocean of Lies (AFOS II)

Chapter 18: Laurentius

A perfect ball of snow hit the window square in the center, gracefully, melting upon contact. A nice trick, elegant. A messy mat of black hair peeked through the window: Wyn.

"The fuck are you doing here, Laurentius," she whispered, angrily. "Whoa. Is that? Wait, I'll open the door, don't move," he heard the window closing as he felt Irene's gaze upon him. Puzzled, was one way to put it.

"I know: she's a handful, that one, a little wilding, I call her: a thing of the forest, untamed. But she's my wildling," he smiled.

"Is she your," she paused, her hands busy tangling with each other. "daughter?"

"Creators, me? A father?" he forced himself to suppress a laugh. It was ridiculous. "I'm too young and handsome to be a father. She's like a little sister to me, annoying, always stealing my valuable trinkets, my pocket money," he sighed, " I'd die to protect her," he whispered. Wyn would tease him mercilessly if she heard him speaking like that.

The door opened, letting the warmth of the kitchen out. "Come in, guys," Wyn's raspy voice was even raspier than usual up close. "Hello, I'm Wyn," she put her little arms on her waist, looking up at Irene. "Who's the dead guy, Laurentius?"

"He's not dead, just stunned," he narrowed his eyes at her. She pressed her lips, then nodded discreetly. She took the hint, thank the creators. He cracked his shoulder blades, he hadn't realized his back was so tense. Maybe from the dead weight and the stress.

"Right, sorry. I'm just—you woke me up you know? I haven't had a good shut-eye in days. My brain needs a break, I was starting to see things, pink spiders crawling on the walls, crap like that," she yawned. "Look, grandma is asleep, but she'll notice us smuggling a passed out knight to Jo's room. My room, for the moment. Anyhow, she'll be mad if she finds out I'm awake and you're outside during curfew, you know how she gets," she frowned. "She's been a little weird lately, since Jo and Alaric left to, huh," she eyed Irene "explore the Fog Ocean. Don't ask, they're crazy, you don't want to know," she yawned again. Irene yawned too and he had to suppress his own.

"Look, Wyn, remember that staff I left here? The one from Ampuria, the miniature," he winked at her. She caught right up again, smart kid.

"Right. You want me to bring it to you?"

"Please, if you don't mind," he struggled to keep his magic feeding the connection between Markolf and his body. Everything felt far away, his body heavy, his blood thick. "As soon as you can, if you will. I'm feeling a little faint," he smiled, weakly.

Wyn ran upstairs, quietly, and returned to the kitchen just as swiftly holding a small package in her right hand. Koldo's wand was tightly wrapped in linens.

"Isn't that a souvenir? Why do you need it?" He snatched it from her before she had a chance to inspect it.

"It has a rock inside, it has healing-enhancing abilities, and runes. See the runes? There, now please, let me heal Markolf, he's badly wounded," he rolled his sleeves. His spirit was still tethered, uncorrupted.

"He looks dead, Laurentius," Irene put a hand over his shoulder. "He's not breathing. I've performed autopsies, we both attend healing lessons. Laurentius, look at me," Irene's voice was soft, trembling.

"Look. I don't want to get you mixed up in this, ok? You've helped me more than enough, but this could get us both premium seats to the gallows. I have to try, I can't let him die, not like this. He doesn't deserve this," he sighed.

"You don't have to make a revenant," she rolled up her sleeves. "What if his spirit is corrupted?"

"It's not. I don't have time to explain right now, but I know a way to keep a soul's spirit tethered to its vessel. Now I just have to put it back," he rose the wand. Irene stopped him, in a bold move that caught him by surprise. And bring him back to life, of course. But the tattoos in his arm tingled: revealing it would mean revealing his stay in the Faradian Forest, how did that wretched ink know about that? His cheeks burned. He'd have to play dumb.