The Lost Lamb
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: in Darkness
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so this chapter is continued from the previous chapter,my updates on the story will probably be late from here on because of the college, but please be patient and thank you for reading the story so far,
like always i will appreciate any of your thoughts on the story and pointing out my grammatical and writing mistakes.
the name of the chapter 7 is "Cure of Blood"
Spoiler for Cure of Blood:
Gilbert was lurking in the eastern borders of the woods at the outskirts of the city, he was going from one tree to another, he landed on a high rock scouting for something, there was a solitary brook passing by edge of the rock on which he was crouching, he came down to the water stream, dipped a finger in it and tasted the water then spit it out
(Gilbert)i’m near
He went past the current location on the ground he found drops of blood, he looked nearby and saw more such drops of it, he followed the trail of blood, after passing over some rocks and couple of broken down tress in which rodents and insects lived, beyond the huge fallen tree he saw the front side of a hut constructed on the base of the truck of a huge tree. He came at the entrance of the hut, he looked around the entrance, there were some creepers growing with support of the side wall on to the entrance and some wild flowers at the bottom of the door. At the higher middle of the door a Green colored crystal of diamond shape with an edge coming out was framed into the door, through the crystal nothing of the other side was visible.He knocked with two hits on the door,there was no response, he again knocked with three hits this time, even now there was no response but he heard a small creak of someone walking on a wooden floor, he then took out his pendant bearing the guild’s insignia and slipped it from under the door, a few moments later he heared the latch of the door being opened, he slowly pushed the there was no one infront in stepped in and went forward, after a few steps he felt a pipe like thing touching the back of his neck, he stopped and slowly turned around, he saw an aged woman pointing a musket at him and his locket hanging by the tip of the gun, he was sure that the woman he was looking for was old, the one infront of him had very few wrinkles on her face, telling her age from her appearance was almost impossible, she was wearing a long dark blue frock dress with frills at the bottom and dark brown cloak over it, a broad belt at her waist from which a crossbow was hanging,
“since when did you advanced to magical weaponry” he said, while taking off the his locket from the tip of the gun,
She lowered the gun,”one need to change and upgrade with time to survive”.
Gilbert looked around the hut it looked small from the outside but was very spacious from inside the huge tree was carved from the inside and a living place was constructed from within, he saw object hanging from the ceiling bottles and jars containing weird potions other stuff in a far off shelf, there was shelf off books near the desk, with books as thick as a tree branch and as old as the huge tree in which it was, there were other magical things in the hut like orbs, staff, gemstones,crystals.... etc and a fireplace by the side with a cooking pot hanging in it.
“but why such an unpleasant and suspicious welcome?”he asked
She walked to the desk to place the musket at the side of it,”these are tough times, you never know who comes at your doorstep with a smile on their face and a dagger up their sleeve”
“and what are you doing here?, i assume the city has a situation, shouldn’t you be there, just what filthy business of your guild brings you to my doorstep”she said with a poisonous tone
“don’t forget it’s your guild too Muriel-“
“it’s not”she cut his words in the middle.
“anyway here-”he said tossing a half filled beer bottle at her”it’s poisoned i want you to brew an antitode for it”
she opened the bottle and smelled it first,she then poured the drink into a saucer”don’t tell me this is about the liquor crisis in the city”, she placed the saucer on the desk, a small creature in silky white fur and black at it’s feet with pointy tail and ears, it seemed like a mutated cat created using alchemy,it came onto the desk on four legs, sniffed the drink and started licking it.
How cruel she was, thought Gilbert, making the creature drink poison just to test it, even after she was told about it.The creature drank the liquor and was on it’s way out of the window but stumbling on the way as it was high by drinking alchohol.
“the answer lies infront of you yet you can’t see it, and you people call yourself mages”she said in an insulting manner.
“what do you mean?”said the confused mage
“this drink is not poisoned but enchanted using blood magic”said Muriel
“how?”he asked
“tsk, you people don’t understand a simple statement of magic and yet you go around calling yourself a wizard”she said with distaste”hmph, someone enchanted some blood and mixed it with the manufacturing of the liquor, however the enchantment only works to weaken humans.Or in more simpler words so that you can understand, this drink is cursed”
“And how do i break it?”he asked
“yeah great, then you will ask me to come fight for you”
“i don’t give a rats ass about what business you messed up with the guild, but if you don’t mind your tone and come up with a solution fast or else......, i know there is a special Pendant of the guild’s insignia with your magic etched into it, in the guild’s vault”said Gilbert
“bastard!,how do you know?”she asked her expression had suddenly gotten serious
“look who’s asking the questions now, you don’t need to know how i know about it, just do as you are told and just may be something good might come out of it for you”he said
“fine, the blood magic is used to link the life of the one who’s blood was used for enchantment, if his blood stops then the curse will break, you have to kill the person who’s blood was used for the enchantment and curse will lose it’s effect on the people who were affected by it,they will be fine”she explained
“it better work then”he said as he turned around and was leaving
She stared at his back as he left the tree carved hut and on his mission.
Outside Lord Ferenz’s mansion, crowd of commoners had gathered at the gates. Curses were heard from the crowd there was rioting against the noble. The guards were trying their best to control them with minimum force, trying not to cause any casualties or damage to the crowd. At the corner of the street were Arwin and Emily.
“great now how do we get in”he said
“look there”she pointed towards the construction and architecture surrounding the mansion”you think that could do”
“may be it can help, good girl”he said as he patted on her head
Luckily for them this time he din’t had to go climbing walls and jumping from roofs, near the mansion compound wall was a clock tower on the outside, they went on the top floor and were on higher ground than the mansion walls.from above he saw some cables connecting in the interior.Arwin asked Emily to climb on his back and hold tight as if giving a piggy back ride, with the girl on his back he took a long leap above the mansion grounds, and was then falling down. As he closed to the ground,he grabbed the cable inside the mansion grounds and slashed it using his sword with the other hand, they swung across the compound area with the guards watching them with their mouths open, they swung across and landed right in the middle of the mansion gardens in front of the entrance. Both were on their feet and were surrounded with guards with their swords poking them from all directions.
“not me, he is the leader”said Emily
“hold it right there!, you are not allowed here indentify yourself and face the consequences”said the head guard captain of the royal guards of the Ferenz household, who was standing right infront of arwin, arwin took out the request parchment from Lord Ferenz and hung it on the tip of the captain’s sword
“your master wants to see us”
“that’s alright let them in”commanded an aged man in his forties, who was standing at the main door and was dressed in royal outfit consisting of long white coat with purple on the shoulders and a cravat over his shirt with a pair off polished black shoes, below his pants.
“you heard the man”said Arwin teasing the captain”now get these things off”he pushed away the swords with a gentle push of his fingers and made his way inside the mansion, with a rage filled stare from Captain
“My name is Bernard, i work for Lord Ferenz in his legal issues, this has been a sudden crisis on us”said the man as he was leading the two through the hall of the mansion that had marble flooring and arch windows in it’s walls and work of art hanging by some of the walls.They went up a grand staircase stair case with beautiful statues at it’s corners.
They entered the study of the Nobleman, “please be seated, Lord Ferenz shall join you soon”said Bernard and left the room
They sat on a green leather couch which was decorated with fine art by the edges of it,which was sure to be an expensive work,arwin saw around the room, a shelf of books at one corner and a fireplace near to it, at the centre of the end wall was a desk with papers and quill lying on it,behind the desk was large window and on the other side was shelf that held remarkable bottles of wine,brandy and other alchohol.
Arwin saw a bottle of wine on the table infront of him with a couple of glasses with it,of which one was half empty, he picked up the bottle”wonder if this is the same”he spoke
“it’s not”said a man at the door, he walked in and took the half filled glass and emptied it in his throat”you can trust the bottles of the mansion atleast”, he took the bottle from arwin and a glass from the table and poured a glass for arwin”please have some”he offered
“and does the little miss prefer wine or should i get brandy as per her age”he said”it is good to see you Dragon Nest mages”said the NobleLord
“wine please and i am not little”said Emily
“as you say dear”he said”my name is Ricardo Ferenz, i am pleased to meet you”
Ricardo Ferenz, head of the Ferenz household was a middle aged man, he had a clean shave, his hairs were light brown, silky and tucked backwards, he was dressed in rich clothes, a long cravat over his plain white shirt, a long green coat with black finishing, frills at the end of the sleeves and a silver broach with sapphire in it was pinned to his coat over his right breast
“My name is Arwin Klein i am put in charge for the response to your request of assistance”
“Mr.Klein as you already know the situation, more than half of the city is thirsty for my blood as my products has great caused damage to them”
“yes it has at my guild as well”said arwin
“it pains me to know that, i have been a supplier for the guild for many years and on the trust between the guild and my position as a noble, i am asking for your help”said Ricardo
“help in what?, it is a fact that you drinks have been fatal to people, what do you think doing would make things any better ”
“you are indeed right, but i do not stand for my company, it is a conspiracy against me and the city,to over throw me and take over the city as a single duke and the conspirators are none other than the Roussel famiy”he explained
“you mean the other highest noble family other than yours is plotting against you, and on what basis do you say it"enquired the young mage
Ricardo went to his desk and removed a couple of papers from the top right drawer of his desk and placed it infront of arwin”these are the receipts of withdrawal of few thousand crowns of the state treasury from Alberto Roussel’s account, they aren’t assigned to anyone, these are without doubt payment to a band of criminals for working out his dirty work of poisoning my drinks, he most probably mixed something within the raw material at the manufacturing site itself”
Arwin checked the receipts, he could indentify them to be the state treasury paperwork as he had seen them before somewhere else,”why would they go as far as harming the common people for the sake of business competition”he asked
“it’s not just that, you see Roussel and Ferenz have been rivals for generations, they were the first two higher nobles of this city, ever since this rivalry has been passed on”explained the Ferenz family head.
“so what do you need us to do now”asked Emily
“i want you to attack the Alberto Roussel and kill him, when the Roussel fall down i
shall prove my innocence to the people”
“why don’t you go ahead and prove it straight out, why do you need him dead
“asked the girl
“ah, little miss you are too young to understand the politics among the nobles, you see the people are angry right now, they see me as the criminal, Roussel has probably already spread even more dirty talk about me to provoke them, the people are on his side, no matter what i say now the public will not listen and he will have a back up plan to counter me, as it is a fact that the people were harmed by my drinks.If he dies there will be no one to oppose me and then i can put out the truth to the people”
“and you think killing him will do the job for you?”asked arwin
“Mr.Klein are you saying that you are against killing the man who is already responsible for the pain he caused to me and more importantly to the people, even deaths”
Arwin was considering the words that were befalling his ears, killing noble guards was one thing but killing an equal noble Duke was different, he had to be careful not to compromise the guild in the noble business, suddenly they heard loud voices from the outside, the three of them went to the balcony and saw the view of the market district, Bernard was standing upon a platform in the market protected with half a dozen of guards,
“My fellow citizens”he spoke, his voice louder than any in the market, as he used a magical crystal to amplify his voice,”we are facing a terrible time, but let me tell you that the man who has been providing us drinks of quality at cheap price is now being targeted, this is a conspiracy against the good noble Ferenz, who has done his best in providing the city it’s needs and to prosper the city, but alike every good man he has fallen victim to political conspiracy , this my friends is a attempt to overthrow Lord Ferenz and the people are been used in it”he said
“then how do you explain the fatal booze”said someone from the crowd and the
crowd supported by further adding agreeing voices to it.
“the drinks have been tampered, they have been poisoned and this act has been done by none other than the Duke family of the Roussel household, the Roussel family are the ones who has attacked our warehouses and soiled the drinks. They have not just brought harm to Lord Ferenz but also to you”a commotion had started in the public, he continued”Alberto Roussel is the villan, he sees not just to destroy the good Lord but also you!”
“stop this absurdity,you now target us as you have no way escape, this is baloney, the Roussel family guard shall not hear any of this nonsense”said the Guard captain of the royal guards of the Roussel Family, who had arrived with his party.”attack!”he ordered.
Guards of both nobles engaged in battle, the situation had gotten brutal, Bernard backed down and looking for a way out, he ran down the platform but was confronted by the Roussel Guard captain,Bernard pulled out a stiletto and charged on the captain, the captain drew out his sword and countered bernard’s strike, he caught bernards’s armed hand and buried his blade into his body,the captain pulled out his sword with a splash of blood coming out of his body, Bernard fell to his knees in agony, the captain swung his sword once at his neck and beheaded Bernard in front of the public,his head fell down rolling on the ground and blood spurting from the body, the other Ferenz guards were as well killed.the public bursted in an chaotic scramble screaming and running for their lives and not to get caught up. The guards of both the families had now engaged in a battle across the city.
Lord Ricardo and the mages witnessed the scene from the balcony and were silent for a moment.
“Now it seems we don’t have any choice but to kill Alberto Roussel to put an end to this, but now we are working under you word, any responsibility or any kind of action from the nobles should not fall on me or the guild”said arwin
“the responsibility is completely mine, the guild already had signed papers from me”said Ricardo
“alright then”said arwin,the young adult and the little girl got up and made their way out of the room.
“Mr.Klein”Ricardo called out, arwin paused for a moment”i expect you keep your guild’s name, failure is not an option in this, as for now we are at war”
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to be continued....
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