Animal

Blood and Starlight Chapter 8

Blood and Starlight: A conjurer, a vampire, and a mechanical demon embark on a rescue mission.

Audience: Adults (contains violence, strong language, and sexual content)

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Chapter 8

Animal

A day passed. Then another. Rav did not return. The doctor did not appear. The pain did not subside. Quinn brought him warm tea spiked with zaqual.

"It's been in the cupboard a long while, but it can't hurt you much more than you've hurt yourself, old man," he reasoned.

With the medicinal beverage, the hospitable skeleton brought a pile of his handwritten manuscripts filled with knights and adventurers and a rather satirical depiction of nobility in old Dianessa.

"Are they true?" Ely asked.

"The names and places are plucked from history or legend," Quinn replied, "but all just pretty fiction."

The stories certainly did pass the time. For all the daring do and intrigue, it was the skeleton knight's flair for slow-burning romance that kept him wrapped up in the ink-blotted pages.

The nights were the worst when the pain kept him up, but he found that if he consumed starlight straight from the source and not first filtered through his spell-carved flask, the healing effects magnified. Why had Dr. Faidra so strongly cautioned him against this practice? Had she really meant to keep him weakened? No. Surely, it was simply to keep him safe when such potency was not required. Surely.

A week passed.

The tower of manuscripts grew thin. So did the pain.

When he could sit up comfortably, Quinn carried in a rickety table and set his Caj board between them. As they laid out their sets, it became swiftly apparent that Quinn's mind remained preoccupied.

"What's bothering you?" Ely asked.

Quinn scratched his bony pate, heaving a sound like a sigh.

"Elyssandro," he said, eye sockets trained on the board. "I think it may be time for you to consider leaving the Vale."

"Leaving?" Ely frowned.

"There must be somewhere among the living you may happily settle," Quinn said.

"The living will not happily let a necromancer settle among them," Ely replied.

"Do you not have Etrugan friends?" Quinn pressed.

"Why are you so adamant about this?" Ely asked. "Have I worn out my welcome in my invalid state?"

Quinn shook his head. "Never, my dear fellow. You have reminded me how fragile it is to be alive. And..."

He paused, considering his words.

"I don't like how this episode has played out. It isn't right. Leaving you here like this when something could be done."

"It's my own fault, Quinn," Ely insisted. "She told me not to touch the fire, and I set my hand straight in the flames. I think she's just hoping this time I'll get the message through my thick skull."

"I doubt your skull is any thicker than standard, old bean," Quinn replied.

Then he swept the board in a final triumphant coup.

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Another two nights of pure starlight saw Ely walking again with hardly even a limp. On the third, he felt a familiar presence as he sat at the window.

"You can come in," he invited.

Rav slipped between the shutters from his perch on the apartment wall. He appeared dusty and windswept like he had just returned from a long, arduous journey.

"You look much better," the vampire observed.

"The stars work wonders, so it would seem," Ely said.

"Did you not drink from them before?" Rav frowned.

"I live on them," Ely said. He held out his flask for Rav to examine and explained, "Dr. F taught me to filter it first to consume it safely."

"And I take it you can't read glyphs," Rav said with a sideways glance.

Ely stammered, "Well, I'm not the best at it, but...no, not well. Hardly at all, really."

"You're being poisoned, conjurer," Rav informed him.

"Poisoned?"

Rav tapped a pale finger to a series of characters. "That has watered your starlight down to exactly one tenth of its potency. These have made your blood thin and prone to hemorrhage. And these..." Rav's brows raised in bewilderment. "These I've only ever seen used for animals."

"Why? Why would she do that?" Ely whispered.

"Render you weak and docile? I couldn't imagine how she might benefit from such a thing," Rav scoffed.

Ely sat down on the bed, feeling suddenly tired and achy.

"You don't need her anymore, Elyssandro," Rav said.

Ely looked up at him. "So, what do you propose?"

In an instant, the vampire was at his side, breath like ice as he whispered, "Help me free Ariel from the horror of the Hollow, and you will no longer be alone in this world."

Rav dropped the flask into his hand. Ely stared at it, sickness welling in the pit of his stomach. Rage followed. He raised his eyes to the vampire's face.

"Where do we begin?"

END OF MOVEMENT I

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