Chapter 36: Herbalists.

Chapter 36 - Herbalists.The more they conversed, the more friendly Ingrid became. Lee easily played her with phrases like you surely are incredibly gifted or I've heard for some people it takes days to absorb a spark. It was easy to pull out information from her although she never went in to techniques she used.

At one point it seemed he broke some kind of a barrier inside of her, and she went on an endless rant about her mission in life and her wish to help the others. She wanted to become like Tess and save people suffering lethal injuries, and help to build a better future for all the children in the world.

It clearly was the result of meticulous brainwashing, but it wasn't Lee's place to judge. After all, it wasn't like she was his sister or anything.

In the end, when they got to the hills across the river, Lee was forced to realize that with all the blabbing Ingrid hasn't said anything useful.

Summarizing, her spark came from a saltwater archelon, a ferocious sea beast, that lived far in the north. She hated any form of meditation, but she was forced to practice it for several hours a day. And she had a bunch of idealistic dreams.

According to her, she had a very large family, but she never mentioned her parents. Lee's guess was that either they were dead, or she had a conflict with her father, in short – daddy issues.

After finally getting to Tess's task, Lee decided he should take his time with her. She was a bit slow, but he had no better source of information on the subject of sparks.

They didn't intend to go far. According to his stepmother, every hill was like the rest and they slowly walked along the river, enjoying the sights. The objective was only to pick some fresh mint leaves, lemongrass and chamomile.

From what Lee understood, after another month many more useful herbs will bloom and then will be the prime time to gather them.



He already began to ponder whether there was an option to run here every morning, look for fresh herbs and then go for a swim. The river was wide, the water – slow, and it surely seemed like a good idea, until from a thick cattail shrub a wolf charged at them.

It probably was sleeping there after clenching his thirst, or maybe lying in an ambush, waiting for a smaller animal to come to drink.

At first Lee thought it was a random dog, but the determination in the hungry eyes was evident. In addition, the gray skin along with the long teeth surely indicated the beast was rushing towards its lunch.

The wolf was clearly starved. Its bony rib cage was a sign it hasn't properly eaten for quite some time, but Lee couldn't wrap his head around why it dared to come so close to the civilization, especially since it was alone.

He wasn't worried though. Ingrid was a superhuman who had absorbed a spark and dealing with minor threats surely was no big deal. In fact, he kind of looked forward to see the idealistic girl show her dark side so he could have something to tease her about in the future.

Ingrid wasn't in a rush. She didn't even move and let the wolf freely run at them. But when it was only few yards away, Lee glanced at her only to realize she had no dark side! She was so terrified, she couldn't move or even say anything. Her body was paralyzed, but the eyes, wide as saucers, and the trembling lips indicated she was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

'What a waste!' Lee thought before the wolf jumped at him. It was hard to imagine someone had spent a fortune in resources to groom this useless piece of ...

"Arhh ..." The feeling of wolf's fangs sinking in his right shoulder surely was painful, and forced Lee to loudly scream.

The beast was almost his size and the weight was enough to easily throw Lee's childish body to the ground. Fortunately, either because it was old, sick or weak, it missed Lee's throat and had hard time dealing even with his shoulder.

"Oh, Lord! No!" Lee's cry of pain woke Ingrid up from stupor.

Probably because the scene aroused some kind of maternal instincts, she forgot the fear and kicked the wolf in the abdomen. Unfortunately the kick wasn't heavy enough and only provoked the beast. The upside was it let go of Lee's shoulder and charged at her.

Somehow Ingrid managed to avoid its jumps, and after few failed attempts to bite her, the wolf bit her skirt and began to wildly tear it. Lee knew the easiest way to deal with attacking dog and, praying it would work on a wolf too, grabbed it by the hind extremities and pulled up, spreading them apart.

The shoulder burned with pain, but he ignored it and when the beast let go of Ingrid's skirt, spun around a couple of times and, using the inertia, threw the wolf in the river. It seemed surprisingly light, but sooner or later Lee's diligent training had to have practical benefit, or maybe the burst of power was an illusion created by the adrenaline pumping through his veins.

Either way, Lee didn't think of it much. He grabbed Ingrid's hand and pulled her towards the bridge, and as soon as she realized his intention, he let her go and increased the speed. In addition to the fresh wound, he was already not in his best form, but she probably had never been much of a runner.

Neither had the time nor the ability to look back to see whether the wolf was catching up, and fully focused on escaping.

They weren't even close to being as fast as they wished, but made it to the bridge nevertheless, although completely out of breath. There were few travelers on the road and a bit further, a lone carriage as well. It was unlikely the wolf would chase after them here.

While Ingrid slumped down in the grass, panting, Lee went over to the river, took off the shirt and washed the wounded shoulder. Obviously he had to clean it at home properly, with the water from the well and, probably, Tess's medicine, but for now this had to do.

The question was – how to stop the bleeding? Wolf's fangs sunk deep in his flesh and if the wound was left unattended, he might as well die from the blood loss.

"Can you patch me up?" Lee approached Ingrid who once again gave off symptoms of having a seizure. He didn't know, but the bleeding wounds on his shoulder looked hideous, and the poor girl had a panic attack when thinking of how to explain everything to his mother.



"Ingrid! Hey!" Lee poked her forehead and shook the bloodied shirt in front of her eyes, "Can you use the sleeves to bandage me? I think I can make it home if you do it properly."

"What? ... no ... yes!" She finally reacted, "I'll fix you! Sigh ... that was scary ... who would've thought that a wild beast can appear in these parts ... alright, you washed it already ... you'll feel a tingling sensation, but don't worry, I've done this before. It's hard though ... I have to concentrate ... the wound isn't that bad, it'll probably cost me only a day or two of my lifespan ..."

At first Lee thought she was spouting random nonsense out of stress, but the last words made him jump a step back.

"Wait! What did you say?" He asked, sternly looking at her confused face. His expression didn't fit his age at all, especially combined with the bloody wound.

"I ... I have to concentrate?" She said.

"No! After that!" He said, "What about the lifespan?!"

"Oh, that!" Ingrid relaxed and smiled, "Fortunately the wolf didn't tear off any flesh and it's not that hard to fix you. Of course, I can't completely cure you, probably only your mother could."

"The lifespan?!" Lee repeated.

"Yes, two days at most." She nodded, "Oh, you might not know that. We, healers, categorize ailments and wounds by the approximate amount of lifespan we have to spend in order to heal the person. Don't worry! It's no big deal! It's the path I was destined to walk. It's my pleasure to sacrifice my life for the others. Come, sit! I'll stop the bleeding ..."

Lee stared at her and couldn't believe his ears. What the hell was she talking about? Were her days some kind of a currency? The problem was – he had the premonition that what she said had everything to do with Tess's sudden excessive aging.