Getting inside, I saw an arrow lying on the coffee table with three lizard-rats skewered on it; they had already been skinned and gutted. Making sure to close the door behind me, I followed Owl. He picked up the arrow and we went to the attic, where he set up another ritual with the silver coin.
"You have good instincts, Boy. You seem to have a talent for reading your enemies." He studied me; part of me expected a scolding right about then. "Just make sure you live long enough to use them properly. Getting out with your leg like that wasn't the smartest idea. The fortress is not safe, and no matter how many of those things I kill, they always make more, dragging in people unfortunate enough to wander too close to the outside of the walls."
"You are in a den of madness that breeds monsters and sets them out like wild hounds. Do not think for a moment you are safe in here. You are not. Not even I am, and I'm much stronger than you."
His expression softened.
"All that being said, good job. They might be endless, but two fewer wander the streets now."
I nodded, finding myself taking his words to heart. I knew what I did was stupid; I knew it was a terrible decision to go out, and yet I had done it anyway. 'Am I doing this on purpose? Is this some misguided attempt at self-flagellation? Or did I just mess up my mind so much with training that having to wait a few days without doing anything is already enough to make me go crazy?'
"Let me take a look at that leg." He approached my outstretched leg and slowly undid the bandages.
"We will have to move soon. If we stay in one place too long, our smell starts to permeate the area; more and more of them show up, eventually bringing the skinless' attention to this place as well." He continued undoing the bandages, revealing the injury on my leg. There were small signs of bleeding; to my eye it did not look too bad. It was inflamed, but it did not seem infected.
"I can offer you protection for a while, but I'll be honest: this place isn't for you. This isn't your fight. After your leg heals, I'll help you out of here, out of the fortress. I know a guy in the nearby city of Terenys. You aren't as skilled as one of us with your hands, but you'd make a decent blacksmith assistant—"
"Wait!" I cut him off. "I know you're just trying to help, but I'll have to refuse." I looked at him seriously. "I have to try to make my way home." He did not seem surprised.
"As you wish." He sighed. "But don't forget my offer just yet. It stands until we get to Terenys."
"I can help, you know. I don't need to be just a burden. I'll be a lookout when we get to the library, so you can get whatever you need in there."
He studied me for a while, then nodded. "Fine. I can trust you with that."
"Your leg is healing. It's not infected; I don't know how you managed it, but your medicine worked. I'm curious: did you just grit your teeth and stand the pain when you dressed it the first time? It must have been excruciating."
"Oh, I just took some painkillers. In fact, I've been taking them all this time." I fished the bottle of painkillers from my backpack. It still had about twenty pills inside. I opened the bottle and poured one onto my hand.
"Can I take a look at it?"
"Hm? Sure." I tossed him the pill and he effortlessly caught it.
"Fascinating..." He sniffed it, broke a piece off, smeared it on his hands, and looked back at me. "So you just swallow it and the pain goes away?"
"Kind of. These pills are usually for smaller amounts of pain, so they don't help much. I end up taking more than one."
"And what are the side effects?"
"Uhh... There aren't any?"
He stopped, shrugged, and downed it anyway.
He's nuts.
"Fascinating..."
"What? Don't tell me you're going to pass out!"
"No, I won't. This drug is too mild to affect me; I was just studying its properties and... I think I can make something with it to take your pain away. Can you give me five of those?"
"Sure, as long as you know what you're doing."
He took the pills, drew a circle on the floor, and took out a core. Placing the pills in the center, he traced symbols in the air and muttered something I could not understand even with the help of the amulet. A bright mote of light appeared at the center of the circle, illuminating the attic, and a small, round, shiny pill dropped back into the center.
"There you go." He handed it to me.
I stared at him. "Aren't you going to explain what you just did?!"
He smirked. "Just some magic!"
"Thanks, I hadn't noticed. Seriously, magic for what? Can I do it too?"
"Technically yes, but with one fewer finger it will be harder for you. You also need to pronounce the words correctly. After our trip to the library, probably... maybe."
"Alright, when do we leave?" I asked.
He laughed. "I'll prepare the scavengers I've picked up. You wait here and don't take the pill yet. It should last about two hours and take away your pain, but save it for emergencies. If you start moving without feeling the injury, you'll just do more damage to yourself."
I nodded.
[Two hours later]
We moved slowly through the streets. When Owl served me a lizard- I mean, scavenger, I thought it would be awful, but it seems his race is skilled at artisan things; his cooking was pretty good. It was still a rat, but it tasted way better than the gray slop.
I walked a little ways behind him, making as little noise as possible while he scouted ahead. So far we found three husks, all walking toward our hideout. He was right; they had caught our scent.
Turning a corner, he gestured for me to stop and drew his bow. 'He found another one.'
[Twang]
His arrow flew true and I heard it connect with something out of sight. He gestured for us to keep moving—we had agreed on some gestures before we left, since we could not talk again until we reached his other hideout. That was for two reasons: first, we could not use the amulet in the middle of the street—it would attract too much attention; second, making noise while walking on the street would be a death sentence.
His accuracy was terrifying, especially considering the insane draw weight of the bow he used. Funnily enough, he barely had to draw it to deal with husks; he usually released his arrows after drawing them less than halfway. Given how I had managed to drive my knife through the skulls of two of them, if he used the full power of his bow he might end up breaking his arrows on the walls and streets behind the creatures, or even cracking the streets themselves.
I felt it simmering inside me: the desire to wield power like that. I loved reading before Dad died. I read many adventure stories and, like many children, I dreamed of being a hero for a long time. 'Who knows.'
We continued like this through the streets, sometimes ducking into alleyways or buildings. The houses all had a dilapidated look, but nature never took over, as if the very walls were poisoned. The tall buildings made me mildly claustrophobic; it's hard to realize how used we are to the look of our houses until we're thrown into a place where they are all slightly taller. I felt trapped in a dollhouse, a tiny puppet.
I held my knife tighter. Owl had told me something before we left; I had meant to ask him about it but forgot.
ººº
"There is one thing you must be careful of above all else when we go out. If you hear the bell toll, run inside as fast as you can. Forget about me; forget about making noise; just get out of the streets." He spoke extremely seriously. "If you don't, it's guaranteed you will die."
"Why? What happens if—" Then I remembered how the skinless had sprinted away as soon as the bell tolled. "The streets will be infested. They will all pour into the streets toward the bell as fast as possible, right?" He just nodded.
"Though, don't worry. It happened not long ago, and it happening twice a week is extremely rare." He said, easing his tone.
"What does the bell mean?" I asked.
He turned somber. "It means the Baron is inflicting madness on another batch of victims."
ººº
'We wouldn't be so unlucky, right?' Then I felt my skin crawl.
'Wait. I paused.'
'Did I just jinx myself?'