"This thing?" Maledic said. "There are a lot of things I could gift you that are worth more than a traitorous liar."
"Then maybe he isn't worth calling in this favor," Aureum said. "Vitreum must be worth a lot more to you. But I need him."
"Need him?" Maledic said. "What could the pupil of Spesavia need from a man like him?"
"What? It's not like he owes me money or something. I just want him alive. Can you give that to me, my Lord?"
Aureum tried to play off her innate need to puff up her posture with some playful words, but Maledic wasn't laughing.
He eyed her contemplatively, with as much patience as the dirt.
Aureum swallowed.
"Do you know why I was trying to detain him?" Maledic said.
Aureum felt dread wash over her.
What did he do…?
Somehow, in between all of the chaos, she hadn't gotten the answer to that question.
It was a very important question, but she had assumed that Maledic wanted to kill Hiems because he was a tyrant. And evil.
The Lord Maledic in front of her looked kind of sad, not evil.
Wait. That's not the point. I needed Mendax to help us out of this mess. It doesn't have to be about his human decency right now.
Aureum's composure came a little too late.
"Heh," Maledic said. "I suppose you don't know. Yet you still want him? If I give you this favor, I won't be giving you another one."
"I don't need an endless supply of favors, my lord," Aureum said. "Just one."
"Are you sure?" Maledic said. A hand idly rubbed the arm of his chair. "A life for a life is what you're proposing… I could forgive anyone else. Or even you."
Aureum stiffened.
There was one person she could definitely think of that deserved a pass from Maledic.
"How about Spesavia?" Maledic said.
"Don't pretend like you could kill her… my lord."
Her words were sharp. Maledic gave her a calm smile.
Spesavia wasn't the face that came to mind. It was a little slobbery and very round and pudgy.
Gemmo…
If anybody deserved a chance at life, it was a baby. But, she doubted Maledic's word would cover that life.
"I can see your thoughts bubbling," Maledic said, tapping the chair.
"My lord, how could anyone's life I know compare to Vitreum's?" Aureum said. "Don't all four of our lives weigh little against your granddaughter's?"
Aureum's face revealed her real thoughts.
It's a stupid deal. This whole thing is a farce.
"And how could anyone judge the worth of one life fairly?" Maledic said. "A life for a life is a simple and fair way to do it."
Aureum noticed herself scowling. She looked at the ground to hide her expression.
"Is all you're seeking to get from this is justification, my lord?" Aureum said. "It's unfortunate that that isn't what we're talking about here. I'll take Hiems' life for now. And you'll still need to find a reason to take the rest and his."
Aureum went to pull Hiems up. She saw sweat against his neck and felt a wave of mana disperse as she touched his shoulders.
I didn't feel it even as it was right next to me?!
Aureum was momentarily shocked.
"Urgh!"
Hiems fell to the ground with a cry as the mana released. Aureum went to grab him, but she just ended up touching his shoulders after he had fallen.
"Reasons present themselves when it's time," Maledic said. "Don't regret this decision later."
She looked up. Rage twisted her face.
"It's easy to call this a decision when you hold onto everything," she said. "The one who's forcing this is you! I just want to live in peace!"
Maledic looked down at her from his chair. Neither hate nor rage showed up in his face in response. It looked like an expression of nothing. Maybe acceptance.
"It is unfortunate these will not be times of peace," Maledic said.
Aureum could have spat. But she was trying to carry Hiems out, so she was occupied. She settled for a glare.
None of the guards outside the door stopped her. They didn't help her either.
She stumbled on with Hiems half on over her shoulders, half dragging. She tripped.
"Stand up!" She growled.
Then she almost dropped him. Her eyes stung.
"I can't carry you…"
Doubt clung to her.
How is this going to help?
She had just wanted to help him, really. Not in the most romantic way either.
Simply, for what he had done and what he could have done but hadn't, it seemed too sad and pitiful to let him die here.
She was serious about the rest of it too. The odds were stacked against them, and going along with Maledic's desires didn't make sense.
Maybe the one pebble that dropped away could start an avalanche.
Maybe Mendax could help me, like before.
"Crap!"
Aureum adjusted and pulled Hiems back up. He was sweating, and his eyes were glazed.
It seemed more like this pebble was about to crack into a million pieces of dust.
"Mendax!" Aureum said. "Can you hear me?"
He blinked and squinted. Then nodded.
"Can you try standing…? Maybe Spesavia can help you—
"I'll be fine."
He slowly pulled himself up onto Aureum's shoulder. Then he eyed the ground in front of them. He made a normal field look like a treacherous den of snakes.
"Let's go slow," Aureum said as she tightened her grip on his shoulder.
Step by heavy step they continued. It was always such a pain to try and keep pace and balance with this awkward pose.
"What did you do to him to make him do this?" Aureum asked.
"I rejected…," Hiems spoke with long pauses between the words. They took a few more steps in the time it took him to finish. "…An offer."
She looked at him askance. He looked back with a little surprise. He didn't offer anything else.
"Whatever."
She could pressure him for details later.
Another few steps.
"Why is it always such a mess when you're involved?" Aureum grumbled.
Hiems kept his mouth shut to that. A drop of his sweat rolled onto her.
They made it back, and Aureum dumped him on Spesavia's bed. The old woman frowned down at him.
As soon as Hiems lay down, he closed his eyes. What Aureum could see of his skin seemed wrong. He was already pale, but it was too pale and shiny.
"I suppose you want me to help him now?"
Aureum nodded.
Spesavia sighed.
"What did Maledic want from you?"
"He just took it as I've used a favor from him," Aureum said. "Basically…"
"And that was all?" Spesavia growled.
"I can't ask anything else of him," Aureum said. "But what does that matter?"
"It shouldn't be a surprise that Maledic surprises me," Spesavia mused. "If he's a tyrant, he's the most forgiving of the lot."
"Forgiving? How does this even look forgiving to you? He did this—what did Maledic even do to him?"
"Maledic probably used his mana to hold Hiems down," Spesavia said, craning her head over Hiems. "Forcefully, of course. However, your little man has a problem with his mana right now. So it caused it to flare up. Thus, his sorry state."
Spesavia shook her head and took a few steps to the desk. Which was cleaned off in her earlier panic to flee. She cursed and went about pulling things out.
"Problem? Can it be fixed?" Aureum said.
"Well, theoretically," at this point Spesavia threw some strange vials onto the desk, "it can be solved by breaking and reforming his pearl. Unfortunately, it's by his heart. So…"
The old woman shrugged.
"Will it kill him if it breaks?" Aureum said.
"Unless we figure out a way to disperse the mana already inside his body, yes," Spesavia said. "You had a similar case, and taking inspiration, I could experiment on him. But experiments don't usually work on the first try…"
"You're not going to try that now, are you?"
"Hmmm? No! I plan to get more work out of him after the trouble he caused. Really, I had it all nicely lined up too…"
Aureum sighed.
"By Malum, how are we supposed to get out of this mess?"
She dragged her hands across her face.
Why did I think saving him would solve anything?
Her fist clenched as she beat it against her head once.
"…" Spesavia said nothing.
"We're out of options here!"
"Ugbuh?" Gemmo said.
Aureum pulled him onto her lap before he could cause trouble.
"Aureum, relax," Spesavia said, between tending to Hiems. "Despite the whole hullabaloo, nobody is dead. For now. That's worth… something. Apparently a favor. What exactly went on between you and Maledic? Let's start from there."
"Fine…"
It wasn't a brief moment, but soon enough, Hiems seemed more stable, Spesavia was caught up, and Gemmo still wasn't crying. Or peeing.
"WHAt?!" Spesavia shirked. "You had a favor, for any of our lives, and you used it on this FOOL?"
Aureum froze. It was the loudest she had ever heard her mentor.
Spesavia took a bottle and threw it against the wall. The glass shattered, and Spesavia lifted the very liquid from the shards on the floor. It swirled onto Hiems' skin.
Aureum looked from that back to Spesavia. The old woman held her head.
"With a favor like that, you might have been able to trade one of us, say, maybe even you AND Gemmo, out of here… and I could have waited it out."
"But then wouldn't Mendax have died?" Aureum said. "What did he even do?"
Spesavia looked down at the man she had just helped. She sighed.
"I guess his real crime was being close at hand. And? I know you're fond of him, but… Look here, he's of no use, and we might all die anyways. A different choice would have been better."
"I didn't have time to think everything through," Aureum said. "Mendax was getting crushed!"
"As much as training can help, perhaps it's time you started thinking. You or Gemmo might be the ones getting crushed next."
Aureum felt like she'd been punched. She pulled Gemmo off and put him on the bed. He was startled out of his doze and watched her stand up with wide eyes.
In a heartbeat, she was halfway out the door.
"Don't go too far, Aureum," Spesavia said. "Let things calm down before making any more ripples."
Aureum glared at Spesavia. The older woman didn't even look up. She left that room and dashed into the hallway.
Once she reached the end of the hallway, she stopped.
There was no real place she felt comfortable going to in the manor. This still felt safest. As much as her heart felt black staying right now. She sank to the ground.
"Does it just, continue…? Like this…? Forever?"
The only one who could answer was time.
It did indeed continue, but it was not exactly as it was before.
Spesavia got a new room. Hiems had claimed one bed out of need. The old woman quickly cluttered her new one.
Maledic barely acknowledged what had happened. Within a day or two, Hiems was awake and stable. And Gemmo was only growing faster.
Aureum stopped taking him out. He might have passed for a baby when they arrived. Now he was breaking his way into being a real toddler.
"He's cute," Hiems said.
Aureum sat by the bed as Gemmo played with a few empty wooden jugs.
She'd washed them thoroughly before the boy could have them. Now he knocked and rolled them around to hear them thud. Then giggled over this amazing thing. He also tried to eat them, but they were too big for him to swallow.
"Sure," Aureum said.
Hiems and Aureum had hardly spoken. With Hiems ill, she'd hardly had a chance.
It was also difficult for Aureum to think of anything to say when he was awake. And when he was asleep, her inner rantings helped no one.
"What are you trying to do?" Hiems asked softly.
"Everything I can," Aureum said.
"You've been at it for hours," Hiems said.
He could see a damp spot of sweat on her dress's chest. She had been layering since he'd opened her eyes.
"If I can't talk or trick my way out of this, then I can just get stronger."
"This isn't the sort of thing that can be solved with a few hours…"
"I know that, but if the only option is to wait, then I had better get started. Ah!"
Her hand went to her head. Her eyes widened. For a moment, neither of them moved. Then she finished forming the layer and relaxed.
It had been close, but no errors had occurred.
"Aureum," Hiems said, pushing himself up. "Stop. You've done enough. For today, this has to be enough."
"It isn't enough if nothing is working!"
He grabbed her hand.
"It is," Hiems said. "Sometimes it simply has to be. You can try again tomorrow, but working yourself until you make yourself sick does nothing."
Aureum pulled her hand away. She'd stopped, but it was just to retie her hair.
"Do you expect me to stop?" She said. "A few soft words and I'm supposed to stop trying? Why?! I won't rot here. I'm not going to be stuck here forever!"
She swung her arm out erratically and knocked over a glass set by Hiems' bedside.
A strange green liquid sank into the floor, alongside pieces of glass.
"Gemmo!"
The boy looked at the glass and gurgled.
Aureum picked him up from the floor and placed him on the bed.
"Dammit!"
"Gwamkt!"
"Yeah, yeah," Aureum said. "Gwammit. Wait. Don't repeat that."
"I'll help," Hiems said, swinging his legs off the side of the bed.
"I thought you were on bed rest? Put shoes on first."
Hiems ignored her other than the part about the shoes. It might have taken a little longer, but he came back with a few rags and was helping her pick up glass soon enough.
They worked in silence, and Aureum felt herself unwinding a little. Which is when he spoke again, of course.
"Things take time," Hiems said. "And even if you had time, not many would be a match for this. Sometimes you have to wait."
"Hah!" It was an angry laugh.
Anything that had been soothed inside her bristled once more.
"I have to wait! And wait. And wait! What am I waiting for! Our deaths? We need to do something—
"We are doing something," Hiems said. "We're picking up broken pieces of glass."
Aureum lifted her hands and made fists.
"Really? That's the best you got?"
"It's what I can do."
Aureum continued on in disgruntled silence. They got through the mess.
"I didn't expect to be here," Hiems said, scraping the pile into a dustpan. "Maybe everything else won't go as expected either. The fact that we're being overlooked is a good sign."
Aureum groaned.
"This can't be all I can do," she said.
"In time," he said, "you'll do more. I believe it."
That got a faint smile. Even if it disappeared the next moment.
Hiems was right. Things didn't go as expected. The next day brought some long overdue travelers back to the Hidden Manor.