Chapter 154

Chapter 154<~> Chapter 154

I stretched just outside the Ruby Vixen. After we finished up the conversation with Oceane I went back upstairs and put on my gear. I wasn't expecting more than a conversation with Nathaniel about the 'Order of Lilith' but I wasn't sure what the plan for after that is. I'll probably leave town soon once we finish up at the Brothel, as much as I've enjoyed my time there I still felt like we had put off the capital trip much longer than I meant to.CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m

When we approached the castle, it seemed busy at the moment. Lots of guards were running by and what looked like a large group was gathering in the courtyard. Before our group could even approach the gate, Jasper noticed us. He quickly said something to the guard he was talking to and started heading our direction. I may have been cautious under the circumstances but he looked relieved to see us.

"Lilith! A word please." The gate guard stood aside as Jasper corralled us into the courtyard. "Lilith, Nathaniel found a location on the cult of Amphores from that book you gave him. We're organizing a raid and having your group as part of the team would be reassuring, we don't know if there will be any demons or summoners still there but having you along will allow us to get an idea about what we're facing. I would have sent a messenger to deliver a message to you this morning but no one seems to know which inn you're staying at."

"A raid? Is it really a good idea to have us along for something like that?" I asked.

He nodded. "You'll just be with us as specialists, if anyone is still there we don't want you fighting this time. We just want to know if there will be demons, give a little support at our rear line, and heal anyone who's injured."

I turned to my group for their opinions.

Bella nodded without hesitation. "I'd like to help."

Torien, Mimi, and Silva all nodded a moment later.

Morrigan looked grim. "I want to see all of this through. After seeing the castle... I want to stop them."

I turned back to Jasper. "Looks like all of us want to help."

He smiled. "Great, that's a relief. Of the healers that are still in the city after the attack, none of them will work with us in the field right now. And it'll be great to know if there are any demons before we go in."

"You don't have any healers in the city guard in a town this large?" I asked.

A flash of anger crossed his face. "All of the city's healers were killed during the initial attack. Ah! But we'll work hard to keep you safe during the raid of course!" I got the sense his anger wasn't directed at us but it was still a bit scary to see that expression on the man.

"Sure, that's good to hear." He looked relieved to hear me say that, he looked scared we were going to change our mind on helping him after his outburst.

"Wait here for a little while, I need to finish getting the teams prepared." He ran off when I nodded in reply.

I turned to my friends. "When we came to this city I didn't expect for us to get as wrapped up in all of this as we are, even after what happened to Fae."

"Yeah," Morrigan agreed. "But this kind of thing happens a lot when you have rare titles like [Demon Hunter] or [First Explorer]."

Silva nodded. "True enough."

"What do you think Silva? You said you didn't trust him," I asked.

She cocked her head, eyes searching the ground. "I'm not sure. Maybe whatever I was feeling was misplaced. I don't see how this kind of thing could be a trap though. If he was going to do something, it would have been when we were clearing the castle."

"But he's still in pain," Bella protested.

The guard shook his head. "I'm sorry but you need to conserve your mana and he shouldn't have run. With all due respect, that's enough healing for him. You might need it for the next group that gets pulled out of there. You can heal him after the next group comes back if you still have the mana."

Bella almost looked like she was going to keep arguing but just clenched her fist and walked back over to us. She awkwardly rubbed her arm as she kept looking at the man sobbing into the dirt, still covered in painful-looking burns.

"I don't like this," she whispered to me.

"I know... I'm sorry," I replied.

She leaned her weight against me but didn't say anything more as we waited for the next batch of guards and prisoners. It was a long ten minutes watching the man sob in the dirt before the next people came.

"Bella!" Jasper was carrying the fox woman, both were covered in blood and a tourniquet was tied tightly above the stump of her left arm. He was clutching the loose arm in his other hand as he rushed over to us. The man was moving at such a fast speed that I would have been scared he would crash into us had I not seen people move at even greater speeds before.

He laid the fox woman on the ground in front of us, she looked pale, unsurprising from the amount of blood she must have lost.

"Quick! Hold her arm in place. I need to heal her now before she loses too much blood!" A flow of green mana was already flowing from Bella's scepter into the woman's wound. Jasper did his best to align the torn arm with the bloody stump as Bella's healing worked to reattach the arm. Already small strings of skin, muscle, and bone reached out to connect the pieces together.

"She's going to be okay right? You're a powerful healer, she's going to live right?" Jasper was babbling despite his sturdy hands holding her arm perfectly steady.

There was a long pause from Bella as she kept working, deeply concentrating before closing her eyes for a moment. "I don't know, I need to focus. I've never reattached an arm before."

All of the guards were silent, the only noise was the burned man sobbing off to the side. Finally, after a tense few minutes, Bella leaned back and exhaled. "If she hasn't lost too much blood already she'll live and her arm will be fine. If she doesn't wake up by tomorrow... she won't wake up again."

"What about a blood transfusion?" I asked.

Bella looked over at me with a confused look. "A what?"

"Can we give her someone else's blood?"

"Blood from others is usually poisonous..." Bella replied.

"Oh, uh, different people have different blood types. It has to either match the same type or come from someone that has a specific universal blood type."

Bella looked back down at the fox woman and then back to Jasper. "Get her somewhere safe for now. She should be okay to move." Then Bella turned to me. "Lilith, tell me more about this—"

Before she could finish a loud distorted howl came from the building.

Jasper set her back down, hands tightened into fists. "I have to go back in. Please watch over her."

The guard captain ran through the door and back into the fray.