The smell of the burning flesh was as bad as the rotting blood of the Ghast, only this time her stomach didn't hold it together, not so good as it should. It was not her proudest moment, but she was human. She had suspected to fight the undead, as that came with the servant of Dakara territory, but she did not expect to see a Ghast. Normally, a servant of Dakara dies after their suffering, which in her book was a mercy granted by Huibin. Only a rare few changed form, and then changing to a Ghast was even rarer.
"Well, that was interesting," Emrys said while she used her healing magic on him. The poison had damaged his nerve system in his arm, and he was not even able to let go of his sword. She had forcefully removed the weapon from its grip. Which was met by a few groans, but no screams and cursing. "Can you only do one thing for me?" She tilted her head slightly, she didn't know what is request could be. He was not going to die, of that she was sure. The Ghast was a newly transformed creature, its poison didn't contain the deadly potential. "Do not tell my brother that I got hurt." She wanted to roll with her eyes, but then thought about the night before. The memory of Terence hiding in the thicket festered in her mind. Although Emrys had explained why his brother was so overprotective, it didn't excuse it. She was not by a way Sophia, she knew how to defend herself and especially against goblins.
"I promise," she said. "Although he will see the wound on your arm, I would simply not tell him about the poison."
"Fair enough," Emrys hissed, but focused his attention on Mister Albury. " I want to ask you the same thing, sir." Mister Albury nodded slowly.
"I will keep my mouth shut as well, boy. Are you sure that this was your first job?" Mister Albury asked. Emrys simply nodded. "Well you did an amazing job, although I wished that I could have more material of the Ghast, it is what it is."
"May I ask, I do not see any canvasses or other painting tools. How were you able to catch anything? Did you sketch?" Emrys asked, which made her smile, she herself had asked the same questions, and in the same order. She made eye contact with the painter, and saw a familiar spark in his eye. The same spark, she had seen when she had asked the question. Anthony didn't care about the conversation, and made that loud and clear. She remembered how ashamed she was for him, it should have been a sign of things to come. But she was blind back then, too blind to see what was happening right in front of her eyes. Mister Albury got out a little box with a huge hole of his backpack.
"This here is the secret of my success," he said. "This is called a camera, it is not a magical item. It simply burns the image on a special paper with the help of sunlight. It, however, this not work during the night." He then showed Emrys some pictures he had taken during the fight. "Do not worry, I will paint your arm in that way." This made all three of them chuckle, Emrys slowly shook his head.
"That is incredible, I really love to see those paintings when they are done." Emrys said and stood up. Audery was just done with getting rid of the poison. "Now I am going to hunt for dinner, because I believe that we are not leaving this place anytime soon. This trail was once home to a group of druids, and it surprises me that they haven't shown their faces. But there was no more reason for them to do that." He walked away, and she looked at his back and sighed a little. He was the much younger sibling she always wished for, maybe that is why he annoyed her so much and at the same time she wanted to keep him safe at all times.
"He has a brave soul, much better than the other one you teamed up with." Mister Albury said, this statement hurt. She was painfully aware about her past mistake, and hated the fact that she trusted Anthony in the first place. But now there was a new man in her life. One that was waiting for her to come back, in that large manor of his. Waiting to have a very tough conversation, one that he will not like. "But you are not thinking about the boy right now, aren't you." She shook her head as a reply. "That man is also very different from your last partner. He is carrying, willing to do the wrong thing for the right reasons. It was clear for me to see that you have a very special place in his heart, and apparently he has one in yours. Ahh, if your father was able to see you now." She frowned, her father? What her father to do with all of this?
"I didn't know that you knew my father?" She asked, and he shook his head.
"How could you, I was never around. Your father and I grew up together, we were best friends, from the moment he opened his eyes. Until he closed them for the last time. I miss him every day, as much as you miss him," her frown didn't lift. Nobody could miss him more than she did, he was the only one that understood her. Encouraged her to be herself. No one, except now for a select few, has done that for her. The day that he passed, was the day that she lost her support. It was also the day that her mother went wild, sending her to every social event that came up. Preparing her to be a proper lady and the perfect wife. Only for her to throw that in her mother's face, the day she ran away. Mister Albury didn't see the confusion on her face, he was lost in his own memories. "We played together, drove your grandmother close to madness and when we were older, well we indulged ourselves with wine and women. But then the day came that I made my passion known to your grandfather, I was already a good painter and I wanted to make that into my profession. So he paid for my education and I left, your father and I met up over the years. But that became less and less, and almost none exciting the day you were born. But we kept on writting letters."
"Why did my grandfather pay for your education? Why were you and my father so close?" Audery finally asked, the questions were already laying on her tongue. "From which I gather you were the son of one of the servants,"
"True, my mother was a kitchen maid at the Treloar estate, when she gave birth to me. My father on the other hand was the good old lord Treloar himself. Making your father my half-brother." Mister Albury explained, Audery's mouth fall open. This man, this man who had hired her twice, was her uncle. An uncle she knew nothing about, her father never told her. Huibin, her grandmother, never shared a hint of his existence. Which now she thought about it, was not that strange. This man was a bastard, born out of wedlock and born from a union between her grandfather and another woman. "Your grandmother banned me from the estate, the day I left, and I indeed never returned. Your father, however, bought a decent amount of my paintings."
"Only for my mother to sell them again, after he passed away. She never liked them," Audery said. A new form of dislike towards her mother grew in her heart.
"Figures," Mister Albury said. "Your father didn't have one good word to say about her, not when they were just married, not even the day I saw him last. In his words, the only good thing about their union was you." Audery smiled, that was indeed something her father would say. A tear appeared in her eye.
"Can you tell me more about your time together?" She asked. Mister Albury nodded, and started to share all kinds of stories.
*******
Percy slammed his hand on the wooden table, those two love birds, if you can call them that, had done nothing but arguing. Anthony, the piece of crap fighter and a bigger piece of shit, had blown their recent job. He was the sole reason that there was still a mud Divos, a winged elemental, and they were only getting paid if all those creatures were eliminated. Anthony's girlfriend, normally his biggest fan and cheerleader, was enraged with him. From what Percy had gathered, this was not the first time Anthony had done this. Rosina was much younger than Anthony and was very skilled in her magic, although it was what rough around the edges. The young woman with black hair and bright green eyes, Anthony was a fool to hold this much potential back. Those green as grass eyes looked at him and he sighed.
"Well, that did the trick." Daniel said. Daniel was an archer that had travelled with Anthony before, he was the one who had convinced Percy to join the bunch. "Anthony, I am sorry, but I agree with Rosina. That was a rookie mistake, and you know better than to make one of those." Anthony came up to Daniel, fist raised, ready to punch him. Percy stood up and caught the fist before it landed.
"That is enough," Percy snapped, Anthony was ready to swing his other fist towards him. Magic started to swirl around Percy, red thick clouds came up from the ground and created a small fire inside Percy's hand. "Are you sure, that you want to do this?" Anthony looked at the fireball, and then at Percy.
"You wouldn't dare," Anthony hissed.
"Do you want to bet on it?" Percy locked eyes with him, Anthony was not that big. He was handsome, Percy needed to give him that. And specially those grey eyes of his, that exotic amber skin tone. But that was only from the outside, from the inside the man was rotten to the core. Currently, those grey eyes were trying to pin him down, calling out Percy's bluff. The only problem was, that it was not a bluff. Percy meant it, he was not going to sit here, listen to this piece of shit, and he was not going to be used as a punching bag either.
"Anthony, stop it." That was Rosina, but Anthony was not going to step back, and neither was Percy.
"Alright, that is enough. Really, Anthony, you have changed a lot since Audery left your sorry ass." Daniel said. "Forget it, I am out of here. Percy, let's get out of here and lets those to figure their shit out." Those were the wisest words Percy had heard in a long time. This sorry excuse of a man was not worth the wreath of his flames. Percy closed his hand, the fire ball hissed but vanished into nothing.
"Lead the way," he said. But he didn't break eye contact with Anthony. "Oh and Rosina." Percy finally looked at her when he reached the door. "The wizards of Air mountian are always welcoming students. When you are sick of him, and you will be sick of him. Go there and devolope that skill of yours." He closed the door of the cabin, Daniel walked besides him.
"I am so sorry Percy, I really thought that this job was going to be easy." Daniel said. Percy snorted loudly, it was an easy job. Getting rid of some Divos was a job that even a rookie could do. But apperently a secent Adventerur like Anthony was not up for a job like that. "Where will you go?"
"I was on my way to a city called Aeria, in the Slator district. My former father-in-law recommanded it to me." Percy didn't had any reason to ly against Daniel, he was kind enough to let this hot headed wizard take part of this, what ever it was. He didn't get paid, but he was maybe able to point a new student towards his former mentors. Which in his book was always a win, and it will become a much bigger one if she kicked that good for nothing man to the...
"Aeria?" Daniel said, "Well, do you mind if I tag along?" Percy simply shook his head and went on his way. Together with Daniel, and once there he didn't know but one thing was for sure. He wouldn't team up with Anthony for as long as he might life.
