Chapter 197 - The Hateful Eyes Of Stagnation

As Anna applied the Sage's Bosom to his wound, a potent burning sensation ran through the cut on his head, allowing him to vividly feel each section of sensitive flesh be taken into the embrace of the concentrate. 

"I know it isn't a pleasant feeling, but you'll be thankful for it when your cut isn't infected and leaking pus and maggots by next week."

Obviously reading the grimace on Lucas' expression as the vibrant burning of the liquid spread throughout his wound, Anna gave him words of advice while Abraham chuckled to himself. 

"...Thanks for the calming image."

Being assured with a less than beautiful image to imagine, Lucas continued to wince quietly to himself before the orderly woman wrapped the new, fresh bandages around the compromised section of his crown. 

"All set."

"Thank you--all of you."

"Don't sweat it, kid. You're going to get us out of here, right? You need to be in tip-top condition, dont'cha?"

Abraham released an unexpected, playful slap on Lucas' back that rang through his bones. 

"About that…The sooner the better for us to get down to the brass tax of this."

"What good is rushing things going to do?…I mean, going back out there…"

Replying to Lucas' interest in getting the townsfolk to safety, Ben almost seemed against the idea entirely as his hands trembled at the thought of what lies outside. The other two didn't seem exactly passionate either way, holding their silence before Lucas parted a sigh between his lips. 

"…When I was out there, I came across a boy."

"A boy?"

Anna asked quietly in a soft breath, keeping her hand near her lips. 

"Mm. I believe he told me his name was "Finn"—he's out there right now, waiting. He's likely so scared that he can feel his heart in his ears…Time is valuable."

As he told them this, a visible twitch came from Abraham's bushy eyebrow. It was the very reaction Lucas hoped for, looking at the gorilla-man as he could see he was about to speak. 

"Finn?...Damn, you're not pulling my leg, are you? If you are…"

"I'm not, but...I can't guarantee he's still safe. I didn't have much time or rationale to fully secure him. Right now, he's stoked away inside of a tree within the forest."

The last thing he wanted to do was get their hopes up of the boy's safety. Even still, the short-on-brains Abraham took this as one-hundred-percent certainty. 

"Then what the hell are we waiting for?! If he's out there, we've got to move now!"

As if a fire was lit directly under his rear, Abraham shot up from his seat with his arms in the air. Immediately, Anna stood with him--to calm him down. 

"...I think Ben is right; we have to go about this carefully...Rushing out there is certain death."

"Still!...He's waiting out there for us."

Anna's kind eyes seemed to take the fight out of Abraham as he slumped his shoulders, looking down as his eyes held a unique melancholy to them. Watching all of this, Lucas felt more and more like an outsider looking in. 

"So, you know Finn?...If so, do you know where his dad is? Or if…"

Choosing his words delicately, Lucas muttered out the last few before all eyes turned back to him. It was only now that he noticed the tired bags under all of their eyes, wearing the stress and terror plain on their faces. 

They've been through a lot...Even so, they can still smile, Lucas thought. 

"He's my nephew. Well, not by blood or anything, but...Me and his dad were like brothers."

Abraham's tone lost its usual rambunctiousness, sitting back down as he scratched the top of his head with a pained sigh. 

"Were", huh? Lucas frowned a bit. 

"If that kid really is still out there--I-I can't just be sitting around here, twiddling my thumbs. Dammit…"

"You're in luck."

Hearing the worried tone come over Abraham, Lucas' somewhat confident words garnered the full attention of the other three. 

"I didn't come here alone. Well, not completely. Two companions of mine were with me until we got separated by some sort of weird fog that attacked us."

"...By the sounds of it, you don't sound too worried about them actually being alive."

Anna's hesitant words only put on a bigger smile across Lucas' lips, who began to feel his strength return to him after his nauseating headache dissipated. 

"That's because they're stronger than me; I am quite a proud person, so take that for what you will. When I say we need a plan--what I really need to know from you all is the route of safety in all of this. That's to say; once we escape, where is the safest route for you to take?"

Ben, Anna, and Abraham all exchanged looks with one another before turning back to Lucas, who was now standing up as if already prepared for battle. 

"It would be best to ask Lina."

"Lina?"

Repeating the name given to him by Anna, he placed his hand against his chin as he waited for a further answer. 

"She's part of the group here...A traveler that knows this region like the back of her hand."

"Then what're we doing waiting around?"

"But your head--"

"I'm fine."

Brushing off Anna's concern, Lucas followed the three townsfolk he had grown accustomed to down the hall of the mayor's manor. 

It's odd; I would've thought more of the survivors would've shown themselves by now. I guess I can't blame people for being apprehensive, but still, he thought. 

Coming to the center hall, it was clear as day the transformation such an event had on the lavish manor; blankets were strewn about, people holding hopeless eyes and faces full of stress--the dreary mood was palpable. 

"And this is the boy I've heard about? The mage?"

The stern, hollow voice came suddenly to Lucas' ear--turning to see a towering, slender man dressed in all black garments with the trademark clerical collar of a man of holiness. 

A priest? Lucas thought. 

Looking down at Lucas with his cold, soulless eyes, the stone expression of his held no frivolity in it; keeping his arms behind his back as he awaited his answer. 

"Father Karl!...Yes, this is Lucas. An adventurer that came to help us."

"Help us?"

Repeating what he heard in an almost mocking tone, not losing any of the cold, rigid sternness to his voice, Father Karl looked at Anna as her words seemed to be cut off just by his gaze. 

"Indeed; that's why I'm here."

Challenging the demeaning gaze of the pale, somber priest, Lucas stepped up to him with his arms folded across his chest. 

"A little, frail practitioner of magecraft. What good will bringing such practices into this shelter of ours become?"

"…You have a problem with magecraft? What about that barrier I saw outside?"

Lucas' smart-mouthed reply seemed to make the prominent bulge in Father Karl's forehead press against his skin in a stupor of irritation. 

"Do not mistake the teachings of the All-Father with your practices of avarice, boy."

He became beet-red in the blink of an eye, leaning down to bring his fanatical eyes directly in front of the mage's. Averting his gaze to garner the reaction of the townsfolk—they seemed to care little for the conversation, keeping to themselves as they seemed more focused on retaining their sanity. 

"So you made that barrier?"

"I brought the All-Father's will into this world, yes. Such is the work of true miracles; beyond the minuscule "grandeur" of a heathen's magic squabbles."

"Father Karl…Please, stop it."

"Yeah, I'm with her on this one. I appreciate what you've done to keep everyone safe, but Lucas here is a good guy."

Anna and Abraham stepped between the two, defending the new outsider as the priest held a more perplexed look than anything. 

"Hm. It's your responsibility to watch out for this one then, Abraham."

With the fanaticism in his eyes not faltering in the slightest, the priest placed his hand on Abraham's shoulder before heading down the hall, disappearing behind the door at the end.