The news that there were no new cases of the coughing sickness were welcomed ones. Edwin placed the hood of his clock back around his head, and it hung low, obscuring his eyes. He attempted to righted it, but gave up soon after.
It was either staring at his feet, or having his head freeze in the cold winds that were stirring the sand every which way. The choice was simple, practically made for him.
He raised his hood a little to see how Sebastian was fairing in the back of the sand sled. The red head was bundled up in a woolen blanket and shivering. They were not eating well, the merchants didn’t refuse to feed them, but Edwin enforced rationing. For the good health of those around them.
Edwin unwrapped his blanket from around himself and threw it to Sebastian.
“Bundle up,” Sebastian opened his eyes to scoff at him.
“Another blanket won’t help. If I get a fever, I am going to gauge myself on blood,” Edwin frowned at that and scooted closer. He picked up his blanket and placed it over Sebastian and began to cocoon his fellow necromancer. As if that would stop him from doing as promised.
“You can have some of my blood, if you’d like,” offered Edwin. Sebastian’s scoff deepened.
“And what will that help? You’ll get sick then and when that happens these people will ditch us on the side of the…well, not road, since there isn’t one. How do we know they know where they are going?” Edwin didn’t know, either.
What he did know was that the Asylum of Blood was enroute of the merchant caravan. They were going to Cengostri and then to Pecas in the Alanqian Empire. Something about a desert bazaar that would buy all their wares.
“Look, they will not cheat us, and we will not get sick because of some rationing. Everything will be fine. Here,” Edwin offered his wrist to the now bundled up Sebastian, who shrugged and began to drink.
Soon, it was Edwin who was getting bundled up. Sebastian looked rosy and warm and had even shrugged off his clock, which he placed over Edwin’s cocoon. His stance was much more relaxed when he plopped by the now shivering Edwin.
“You have a golden heart, Eddy. It is going to get you killed. People like me will always take advantage,” Edwin sighed and rested his head at the back of the sled. It had cushioning and he felt comfortable. Even his shivering subsided some because of the extra layers on him.
“My mother taught me to always put a patient first. You, getting sick in the middle of nowhere, without any access to herbs or medicine, would have been a disaster,” Edwin looked up at the clear sky as the clouds lazily swam in the blue horizon.
“Do you think it will rain?” The desert was cold, surely that meant there was more rain to be had in it than a normal desert? Sebastian turned at those words and then looked at the sky.
“These wisps will bring a drizzle, if nothing else. Then, we will be cold and wet. Joy.”
Edwin chuckled at Sebastian’s pessimism, which earned him a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, sorry, it is just that you have this funny outlook on life. Your glass is always half-empty,” Sebastian appeared to think these words over, and then he rested on the cushioning of the sled.
“And yours is full, all the time. What is the craziest thing you have ever done recently?” Sebastian was certain that Edwin had done one foolish thing or another in his quest to heal the world.
“I drank from contaminated water, granted, I did not know it was contaminated back then. Still, I had my suspicions. How about you?” Sebastian was not about to let Edwin slip from the embarrassing moment so easily.
“And, after you put your neck on the line for no reason…”
“It wasn’t for no reason. I needed to be sure that the coughing sickness spread through the water. Which, considering Paulina used mana filters, meant that her mana was condensed in the air and then came back in the form of rain,” Sebastian nodded. It made sense. Now, that the Lich had most of her mana blocked, there shouldn’t be a sickness.
“What will you do if you get called for another coma patient?” Sebastian expected to hear that Edwin would still heal the patient and then perform the mana locking operation.
“I’ll research the reason behind the coma,” answered Edwin. “I do learn from my mistakes.”
“I never pegged you for the type,” teased Sebastian with a smirk. It was Edwin’s turn to scoff.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Sebastian was reminded that it was his turn to air his dirty laundry.
“The stupidest thing I have ever done, both recently and at all, was going after you after Fernand was confirmed dead. My mission was over, and no one would have cared for the arcane law that a death must always be paid to the council. Still, I acted out of pride. Now, I have to be a goody-two-shoes.”
“You mean, the council wasn’t breathing down your back about me?” Edwin’s brows furrowed, and his eyes blazed with indignation. Sebastian had chosen to go after him on his head. And here he was offering him olive branches after olive branches.
“I had a no failure record…”
“Life matters!” Snapped Edwin.
“But you are not alive anymore, are you? You died with Fernand. I was doing you a favor by attempting to kill you,” there was no teasing in Sebastian’s voice anymore, and Edwin felt cold. Something told him that had nothing to do with the winds or the clouds in the sky.
“You are sick, you know that?” Edwin etched away from Sebastian, and the vampire didn’t make a move to shorten the distance between them.
“Could be, I have been an assassin for a long time. But who are you to judge? Your tendency to rush blindly at things killed off thousands. If not millions. And you are what? Twenty?”
These words cut like a knife through Edwin. He was reminded that by stopping the coughing sickness, he did not wash away all the blood on his hands. And, if one person tricked him, could someone else do the same?
