“Now where should I begin?” Alenae looked at me tilting her head slightly.

“Take your time.” I smiled at her.

“Thank you.” She took a blanket and spread it on the floor. Then she sat down facing me.

There was still a flickering magical aura enveloping Alenae. The intensity was low, but noticeable. A running spell, even a red mana powered was more powerful and usually not flickering that way. It looked a bit like a very faint stroboscope.

“I am the youngest daughter of the Arthena family.” She looked at me straightening her back.

“I don’t know the name.” I shook my head.

“It is a well known name in the empire and even beyond.” She raised her eyebrows.

I shrugged.

“While we don’t belong to the high nobility any more we had much more influence once. However. The abbey was built by my family after the dragon wars and it is financed by them ever since.”

She seemed to be a bit miffed about my ignorance. Then she looked down for a few moments before she continued.

“I was gifted with green mana and so I got all the education money could buy to develop my magical prowess. Having strong mana means favorable marriages for the family. I learned much about magic.”

That would explain that she knew about that belt’s functions. Maybe she knew details about magical slave marks as well. I decided to shelf that for later.

“After a few years though my teacher detected the unholy blight on my soul. This was the point after everything spiraled down in my life. It’s a blemish for the family if it became public knowledge and it lessened my chances for a favorable marriage noticeably.”

Her lips formed a line now.

“My father decided to keep it a secret. I never saw that teacher again. There are only a few people who are actually able to detect the unholy blight. The dragon order and the clergy. Most other people don’t care to study the magic, since it has no other use.”

She folded her hands on her lap.

“The unholy blight is bad thing for the ones who caught it. I started to research the topic as I didn’t know much about it save it is blasphemous. I found out that men afflicted by it are usually killed on the spot, while women are taken prisoner and vanished without traces. The Dragon Order is responsible for handling this. So keeping my distance to them was the only way to keep my secret.”

She drooped.

“Then I decided to do the most stupid thing in my life. Since my chances for a good match diminished considerably since many families seek to have close ties to the clergy and to the Dragon Order as well. I thought thar I was robbed of my future because of some blight, and so I decided to up my mana color. I spent the next two years finding information about a working ritual. Well. It went wrong and so I lost all my magical abilities thereafter.”

She started to weep.

“I tried to hide it, but of course it didn’t take long for my father to notice. He was furious. I was locked in my rooms for the next few days. Only my personal maid had access to my chambers. It was devastated as I had any value for my family.”

I felt sorry for her. Treating a family member as an asset was beyond me.

“Then. After a few days. My father came into my chambers. He told me that it was too risky for the family’s honor if I stayed. He told me that he had arranged a secure place for me far from prying eyes. There was a carriage waiting for me. I entered and we left the manor. An elderly coachman was the only entourage I had.”

She clenched her fists.

“I started to get tired after the first break and as I woke up I was unable to move since someone had tied my legs together and my arms were tied behind my back. I was blindfolded and gagged as well and they had tied me to the hard floor of a cart. I was fed from time to time and after many days, I was released at the abbey. They put me into these robes and the abbot forbade me to tell anyone about my heritage. I was alone in a wild mountain range with a dozen strangers. I recognized the abbey from picture I saw. The abbot used me as a maid and I had to serve him in his chambers. I tried to resist, but ...”

She started to weep again for a while. I skidded over to her and laid an arm around her.

“SSorry.” She fought to get her bearings back.

“Cry as much as you need. It’s no shame to be sad about what happened to you.” I was struggling to keep my composure as well.

After a while she stopped crying.

“I’m totally worthless.” looked at me with teary eyes.

“I don’t think so. You may lack the proper training for the situation at hand, but if you truly want you will learn and adapt. Your general knowledge about magic is nothing to scoff at as well and maybe you can help us with your general knowledge of the empire as well. All of us came from other places and we can probably make good use of your expertise as well.” I gave her a hug.

She looked down at her knees for a while.

“I will help you as far as I can Lilly. There is no way back for me and I don’t want to vanish like the countless others in the dungeons of the Dragon Order.” She looked at me straightening up again.

“We all want to escape their clutches. The next few days are going to be tough, even for us.” I got into a crouch looking at her.

“I know.” She looked back right into my eyes.

I wasn’t that sure that she knew much about what was awaiting her, since she had had a sheltered life until recently. Even the time away from home was probably nothing in regards to the physical exertion in the weeks to come. She had to be able to defend herself for surviving The Claws in the long run. We could protect her to a degree, but it would be a problem if the situation got nasty.

After a while Alenae squared her shoulders and looked at me.

“May I ask where the pain in your chest came from? It doesn’t look like a normal injury.” She gave me a slight smile.

Since she had magical education and was from the empire she might have some further insights about them.

“It’s caused by the slave marks. They are somehow deteriorating and it causes jolts of pain about every two hours.” I looked down at my chest.

“This is highly unusual. Are you tampering with the mark?” She followed my gaze.

“It’s. Well we have a kind of personal healing magic which started to mess with the mark a while ago. The pain was much worse in the beginning.” Focusing inward my mana was too low for another jolt for a while.

“Normally the pain for actually damaging a mark kills the bearer. I suppose it’s of subpar quality.” She shook her head.

“We got these in a palace in the capital of Arhithrea.” I shrugged.

“I can’t examine the magic anymore, but I would want to have a look at the mark.” She gave me a slight nod.

“We had amulets protection us from the marks in the beginning. They were exhausted after a while though.” I scratched my head.

“That would explain that you’re still alive to a degree.” She furrowed her brows.

“You may have a look. Maybe you notice something we didn’t.” I pulled down the hem of my shirt.

She came closer. I made my gem a bit brighter. She studied the mark for a while.

“It’s actually a high quality mark, but it is damaged. This amulet probably saved your life.”

“We thought so. After the amulet broke the pain was much worse, but generally it seems to weaken slightly over time.” I clenched my jaw.

“How did you suppress it in the abbey?” She sat back again.

“The healing needs a certain amount of mana, and if I keep my mana low enough it won’t trigger. I couldn’t stop it while trying to sleep though.” I crossed my arms under my chest.

“These marks usually have a mana source which replenishes from the ambient mana over time. It enhances a few charges to full power to kill a slave before it is exhausted. The attack only uses ambient mana plus if the mana source is empty, but the source replenishes constantly. You shouldn’t suppress it for too long, as the source will charge again, making the attacks more dangerous.” She looked me in the eyes.

“It would be quite a mess in a fight, but I appreciate your advice.” I gave a slightly strained smile.

“The damage on the mark will stunt the effect to a degree as well. Since your healing magic seems to be able to damage the mark, you should be able to get rid of it at some point. I can’t tell you how long that would take though.” She put her hands on her thighs.

“I appreciate that I might eventually get rid of this thing.” I nodded at her.

“I’m glad to be of help, Miss Lilly.” She gave me a slight smile.

“I won’t enjoy the way though.” I shivered.

There was nothing new from the mirror on my shift. Tilly was hit hit by a jolt of pain at some point and had fallen asleep after a while.

I woke up Milly and Loraline for the next shift and tried to get some sleep as well.

The rest of the night was peaceful. I was torn out of my sleep a few times, but that couldn’t be helped. As usual we rested a while longer as long as no one was on our tails. We needed all rest we could get.