vengeance (chapter three)

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Chapter three

I woke up slowly and peacefully. Suddenly, I made the realization that I was not awakening in the same place I had fallen, and panic began to set in. I assessed my surrounding hurriedly as I jumped to my feet. Dean was nowhere to be found, and I found myself in what looked like the interior of a stone cottage. The only person I saw at first glance was a girl who looked about eighteen. Instinctually, I drew my weapon and leaped forward at her. She gasped, clearly not expecting such a violent greeting. In a haste to escape the reach of my sword, which was now pointed at her face, she tripped backwards over a shelf of glass vials and backed into a wall. Her frail body expanded and contracted with vigor as she began to hyperventilate. Tears began to form in her crystal blue eyes, and fear was written all over her face. My fear melted, and was replaced by a pang of guilt. A logical voice in my head still told me to be cautious, so I kept my sword drawn, but withdrew it enough to not be menacing.

"Who are you?" I asked, trying not to sound intimidating.

"My name is Sarah, who are you?" she responded, fearfully eying my sword, her hands visibly trembling.

"I'm Duncan, nice to meet you," I said, realizing how out of place this sounded after the last ten seconds of sword drawing and glass vial smashing. I heard Dean waking up, and realized that he had been on the floor the whole time. For a brief second I wondered how he got there, then dismissed the question from my mind to focus on more pressing matters. Like where I was.

"So, where exactly am I?" I said, sheathing my weapon, and hoping the stunning blond girl before me would conveniently forget that I almost cut her open with a sword moments before.

"This is my home," she said timidly. "I make medicine here." For the first time, I noticed to room itself. The stone walls were lightly covered in moss and vines, giving the place an ancient feel, and the room itself was filled with four beds, and many shelves of empty and full glass vials. Scattered on these shelves were also assorted roots, herbs, powders, and balms, most of which bearing a label written in another language. Light shown in from a square hole in the ceiling with a grate underneath for rainwater. Other than that, there was only one opening in the building. A rotting old wooden door covered the exit, despite serving neither the purpose of keeping heat in, nor keeping intruders out. Suddenly it made sense to me what she meant by "medicine".

"So you're a witch doctor?"

"We prefer the term, medicine woman," she snapped back, looking hurt and offended.

"Oh, sorry. But still," I said, pausing to gather my thoughts so I didn't offend her again, "You cast... well spells, right?"

"It's a little more complicated than that, but yes... I cast spells," she declared, trying to judge my reaction. I didn't want to seem insensitive, so I attempted to not show any reaction, even though quite frankly, I was surprised. I had heard stories about shamans and medicine women, but had never met one. I honestly expected her to look a little more like a hag, and less like a girl, but nevertheless, I decided to try not to treat her like some kind of strange creature. Even if she could do magic. Sorry, medicine.

"Where are we?" Dean asked, looking confused but reassured that I was remaining calm.

"Some medicine woman's house," I responded.

"medicine woman?"

"witch doctor."

"Oh." Once again I found myself thankful that no one could hear my conversations with Dean. Dean then began to stare off into space, implying to me that he was conversing with Sarah's Chi. Well I hope they get off to a better start than we did, I thought to myself.

"Did you bring me here?" I asked Sarah, trying not to sound accusatory but failing.

"You were in pretty bad shape. You must have hit your head on a rock or something, because your head was bleeding all over the place. I took you back here to heal you."

"Well thank you, but I have to leave now, I need to get back to my quest," I said importantly.

"I know who you're looking for."

I paused for a moment and stopped walking towards the door. This was unexpected.

"How do you-?" I began to ask.

"When I found you there were dead bodies everywhere. They were all Kane's men. Obviously you're on a quest to kill him."

"Okay, well like I said before, I need to go."

"Did I mention I know where to find him?"

For the next several hours, Sarah and I had dinner, while pouring over a map of the region. I wondered at one point how much more Dean must know from his conversation with Sarah's Chi. After all, conversations move much quicker when no one has to pause to eat.

The area where Kane's camp was, seemed breathtakingly difficult to reach. Judging by the map, which looked to be about a hundred years old, to get to Kane we would have to either cross miles of plains filled with highwaymen, then venture through a forest which few people have ever survived, or we could navigate through miles of underground tunnels, then climb over several mountains. Sarah and I both agreed on taking the former choice.

I packed only food, water, one change of clothes, and my sword, which seemed almost nothing compared to what Sarah packed. In her backpack there were hundreds of herbs, creams, and vials. She also packed several rocks, much to my confusion, and an assortment of books and scrolls. I was amazed she still had room for five pairs of clothes.

Sarah had already decided she would be going with me, and while I wanted to tell her to stay here because it was far too dangerous, several things stopped me. If she could in fact do "medicine", then she was probably a valuable asset, and could come in handy. In addition, I would be lying to say I didn't enjoy her company. She made me feel like I was at home whenever I spoke with her, and for someone without a home, that was a rare commodity.

We decided against leaving until morning, and spent the night in the cottage. Dean slept in a random spot on the floor, or on a table, because as I have learned, Chi don't seem to find anything uncomfortable. As I laid in bed, Dean filled me in on the things he had learned.

"She's actually really nice, it's a shame you can't see her."

"I get it, get to the point."

"Well anyways, she told me that raiders often come through here looking for healing, and Sarah gives it to them because they threaten to kill her. Did she tell you she can do magic?"

"I told you that. Really, don't you ever listen to my conversations with people?"

"I do... sometimes... when the person you're talking to doesn't have a cute Chi."

"Did you learn anything else?"

"Yeah, did you know Rebecca has a really good memory? She remembers most of the stuff that Sarah needs for her spells, it's really-" I cut him off.

"Did you learn anything not about Rebecca," whom I assumed was Sarah's Chi. He paused for a moment to think.

"not really..."

I sighed, and let sleep overtake me. The next day's journey was not going to be easy.