"Yo- you bastard, jack! Fuck!" The man with the deeper voice is the first to break out of shock. "Samuel, the healing talisman damn it! Use it!" A man runs out of the bush I was shot from to the direction where the man named Jack has fallen, clutching at his throat in a desperate attempt to stall his death.
Healing talisman? I suppose I've already gathered, this place is far from home but are you telling me a man can live from a fatal slash to the throat without immediate surgery and advanced medical care?
I let him push me out the way to get to his friend without doing anything, partly because I'm curious of what he is trying to do and partly because I can feel if I move even slightly another arrow is going to shoot towards me. Call me a fortune teller but for some reason I feel as if the next arrow might not be so merciful to deal a non lethal blow.
He starts to cut his hand and drip his blood onto a sigil engraved in a piece of black paper. The sigil which was gray starts to glow a bright red and give off red mist.
The red mist coming from the sigil finds its way around the man's half detached throat. I see the wound slowly start to heal, it's as if the red mist is reattaching the man's flesh back together. Amazing… Only one thing, the blood loss, its too much.
The deep voiced man, seemly the leader, starts to speak. "Take him back to the village and give him a apagava fruit. Allow him to rest and tell him we've deducted his cut when he wakes up. This idiot made us use the chiefs magic. It takes him forever to make us a healing talisman, I can already feel the headache." Turning to me with a grim look he continues.
"And you. You're coming with us." I've not really got a choice, it's not like I can politely decline so I just slowly nod my head. Looking back I can't help but find the situation amusing, what kind of killer makes the mistake of allowing their victim to take their weapon?
The more I think about it the more bizarre it seems. Is it their first time? As I'm thinking about this the man on the ground is just able to breathe again, the flesh that's reattached looks as if it could split apart again at the slightest touch.
The man starts leading him away down a path. "Tie him up and lead him back too, we've got to explain this situation. To nearly have one of us die to an unarmed noble, we'll be looked down on by the others." says the leader while shaking his head in anger and disappointment.
Another man walks over in the direction of the bush the man and woman was hiding, where a middle aged woman with a scar across her right eye walks out and hands a rope to him.
The man walks over and both the leader and woman draws a sword to threaten me. In response I hold up my hands and drop the knife. I'm unusually calm for my life being in danger, the panic left me as soon as I realised I'd be spared. Escaping, there will be a chance.
The man puts my hands behind my back and ties the rope enough to feel my blood circulation nearly cut off.
"Let's go." The middle aged woman follows the leader and the man pushes me to follow them.
…
At the gate of the village, the man helping Jack stand starts to shout. "Hey! Get a doctor and a apagava fruit here this instant-"
"What's this commotion about?" An old sinister voice can be heard from inside the wooden gate.
In response the leader starts to shout back "Chief Edward, could you let us in? A few things happened." even after 10 seconds no response can be heard however before long the gates start to open to reveal roughly 100 or 120 houses inside a well constructed wooden fence. The group breathes a sigh of relief simultaneously.
'Village huh? Quite large for a village, must be a few hundred people living here.' ¹
The houses seems to be made out of bricks but nothing like modern houses, medieval almost with some additional changes.
Standing at the middle of the gate an old man dressed in cloth with a black robe can be seen. The sight of him made me shiver involuntary.
He first looks at jack being helped in. "Thank you Damien." Jack says as he pushes him away slightly. He starts to walk on his own but sways side to side, looking like he's about to fall any second.
"Ryan, what happened here?" Chief Edward looks disappointed and talks unimpressed.
The leader speaks up. "The idiot got cocky and left down his guard to this noble, he almost got fucking decapitated." Instantly the chief looks over at him, giving him a threatening look. "E- excuse my language, it appears I'm too stressed." The leader Ryan says while all colour drains from his face as he looks down, seemingly afraid.
"This noble you speak of, is this him?"
"It is. He must come from a rich family with a robe and clothes like that. I was thinking he might be important, maybe we can hold him ransom to the empire to get money?"
"Idiot!" The chief looks furious. "For starters, I suppose you can't tell since you're no mage, but his body is too well trained to be a noble. Even if he was a warrior that obtained a title, do you really think you can capture someone like that?! Ahhh.. Second even if he was, do you think the empire would just listen? They would completely level our village."
"I- I'm sorry. I didn't think straight."
"Go inside. We'll talk more later. Send this one to my lab. Any of the iron cages will do. I have some questions for him."
"Yes chief" Ryan says as he gives a look to the man behind me, who kicks me. I just look down and start walking. 'Just you wait.. You better pray for you and your family I don't escape this damned place! I'll make sure you experience hell. This I promise.'
…
Creeeeeeek…
A squeaky door opens and footsteps get closer to me.
"So, your name?" Edward speaks to me.
I would rather not speak but I understand my position, if I refuse to corporate I'll probably just be killed.
"Rook, Rook Aysel."
"Well, Rook, let me ask you a question. Who are you? You're obviously no noble, no noble has muscles unless they're trained in the sword. If you were there's no way you'd be in the position you are now."
I just spit in front of him as a response.
"Ahh, now now. You might want to rethink your answer. You see, I have quite the hobby. The study of black magic is rather interesting however I find it is easier to use sacrifices rather than mana. Your soul is of much use to me, think wisely."
"You talk about black magic, sacrifice, and mana. If you'd be so kind to expla-"
"Kekekekekek.." I get cut off by the laugh of the old man. "You really don't know? Are you from some tribe between empires? Even commoners know of white and black magic, given it is a rare feat to use it. Everyone is tested when they turn 8 for talent."
"Tribe, huh? Sure, something like that. And no, I don't know about magic. It's kind of new to me, you see."
"Kekekekekek" after a while of Edward laughing he coughs and speaks again. "Young man. Let us make a deal. I will spare you if you have arch mage talent or above. If you fail to meet my standard, you will be used as a sacrifice in my spells. How does that sound, eh?"
"Do I have a choice in the matter?"
"Why of course! If you don't want to there is an alter I use for sacrificing souls right over there!" He points to a bloody stone table with engravings in it.
"… How do we test magic talent?"
"Well my boy, I'm glad you asked! Here, let me unlock your cage. Don't try anything funny, you'd have a better chance surviving a wyvern than fighting me in my lab" He speaks as he fiddles with some keys, finally unlocking the door to my cell. As he finishes speaking the sudden smell of blood hits my nostrils like a truck, making me feel ill.
"Just over here my boy, place your hand on this." He points to what looks like a glass ball however it's completely black, looking as if it sucks in all light that comes into contact from it.
I gulp and does as he says. After a small amount of time things start to shake around us and a force pushes both of us to our knees. Causing us both to cough up large amounts of blood.
I take my hand off the ball as I come to the conclusion that the reason this is happening is the ball.
Edward is looking at the ground, I can't see his face in respon to what just happened.
After a while he starts to speak. "Kekekekekekekek.. Well my boy, how would you like to learn black magic!?" He looks at me, his grin is that of a man who had lost his sanity long ago.
- - - - - -
¹: Speaking will in "" while the mc's thoughts will be wrapped in ''.
