Zoro x Robin: The Stuff of Legends

Chapter 9

My eyes found Zoro's body, still lying on the litter strung between Irogan and Ilfred. With each wobbly yet sure footed step, his head swayed from side to side limply like a rag doll. It reminded me of the times i used to bloom an eye inside the men's dorm late into night and watch him sleep, he had a cute sleeping face. I couldn't help but smile as we continued down the deep stairwell. We finally emerged in a huge room, tall enough for me to stand to full height. My back creaked from having been bent over for so long.

The walls were lined with glowing torches, tiny creatures flittering inside the can. The ceiling was made of pure gem, what appeared to be a pearl of some sort, but this wasn't the correct environment for it to grow. At the far end of the circular craven was a tall desk with another dwarf behind it. To either side of the desk, two door led off from this place.

Orin approached the dwarf at the desk, "Bosi," he said "I bring two for the auction tomorrow." Bosi put down his quill and stared at me quizzically and i studied him likewise.

"What happened to her hands?"

"She's touched the Crickle thorn." was all Orin had to say before Bosi gestured toward the door on the right, where a sign written in a dwarven language, probably indicated hospital wing. "And the second?" Bosi stared hard at Zoro. "He looks dead."

"We believe he is under a sleeping spell," Orin explained "Angela has been pretty active this year, you know and the Valkyrie do like to experiment..."

Bosi chewed the inside of his cheek. "In that case, go ahead and put him through third. The female will follow after second." That being said, he took up a long pole and smashed it against the pearl ceiling, where i could see several chips were already missing. As the pieces fell, Bosi drew out a pair of shackles from inside his desk and fit the pieces into a small hole in the lock. The cuffs glowed with a soft ivory white, then faded back into the black metal. Orin took the shackles and replaced my ropes with the cold metal. Bosi began scribbling once again on his roll of parchment, ignoring my captors.

"Ilfred and Irogan," Orin ordered the two carrying Zoro. "Take the sleeping one down that way, you know what to do. Dori and I shall take the female through the second and join you shortly."

The two dwarfs nodded and hefted the litter to a more comfortable position on their shoulders and began walking to the left as Dori and Orin pulled me to the right. I resisted, i didn't want to let Zoro out of my sight, i wasn't going to take any chances with our separation. I didn't trust these traders, and i didn't trust their culture even if it was fascinating.

I managed to cross my oozing wrists over my chest, my eyes fixed on the retreating backs of the dwarfs, but no limbs bloomed from the floor! "Why!?" I strained to sprout spare arms, but they did not appear, and soon i was overcome by Orin and Dori, and i lost sight of the swordsman. I cried out, commanding my captors to release me, hysteria rising in my tone. I didn't want to be separated from him, Not since the warmth on my back had gone.

The hall i was led down eventually expanded into a large room cemented to an off white color. The musty scent had vanished to be replaced with one of sweet flowers and herbs Chopper used in his medicines. A line of beds sectioned off by curtains lined either side of the room like a hospital. Some shadows could be seen behind some of the curtains, many of them non humanoid.

We were approached by a tall woman dressed in a long white lab coat and bearing a clipboard, resembling the one we had passed on the upper levels of the town, her skin was pale as death, her eyes glowing red, and when she smiled, her pointing canines were revealed through her back lips.

"What can i help you with?" she asked.

"Her hands. She was touched by the Crickle thorn."

The vampire smiled again, scribbling on her clipboard. "Drainage prescription," she said. "Xabian will see her."