Chapter 87: Windfall.

Chapter 87 - Windfall.Slurping the turtle blood was even more disgusting than eating the Ashland's stew, but Lee forced himself to swallow a few mouthfuls. The two devils murmured something about the crazy witches, and forgot about the incident right after. Lee wasn't so lucky – the fishy aftertaste never left, but there was no way around it.

"The sun is about to set." Lee said, trying to take his mind off his own discomfort, "We need to decide where and how to spend the night. Are we going to the forest over there or should we return and stay close to the caretaker in case Lunax opens the rift sooner than expected?"

"No need to go back." Arax said, "The Lord never changes the schedule. He'll open the rift the day after tomorrow. Let's go to the forest, but can you take a look at Thorax's leg first? He got a nasty burn earlier."

"Sure." Lee said, and went over to the big guy.

His left leg below the knee was indeed burnt, and even after it was healed, the burn would surely leave a nasty scar in the size bigger than a palm.

"Sorry, brother!" Thorax said, and one could clearly hear the guilt in his voice. Apparently getting the tortoise's spark didn't lift his mood, "I messed up again."

"Don't worry, Leaxa will heal it. I bet a small wound like that won't even leave a scar." Arax said and expectantly looked at Lee who for some reason stood there, staring at Thorax's leg with a silly expression.

'Oh, my god! What the fuck have I done!' Lee suddenly realized the position he had put himself in, 'The politeness of everyone in the city, invites to the squads ... the witches ... witches are the healers! They all think I'm a motherfucking healer! No wonder everyone wanted to recruit me! What the hell I'm supposed to do now?!'

When Tess tutored Ingrid those years ago, not only he didn't try to learn the healing craft, he purposefully ignored them and sabotaged all Ingrid's attempts to make a healer out of him. And now there sat an unhappy giant who looked like a sad devil, and expected Lee to fix his leg!

And he couldn't just stand there! At least he had to pretend to care before figuring out how to get away from them! To become a member of a squad turned out to be a trap!

But Lee has experienced complicated situations before and despite the shock, managed to quickly recover, at least outwardly.



"Let me see ..." He said, while hundreds of thoughts caused chaos in his mind.

Running away, pretending to heal, telling Thorax to fuck off – he tried to assess all the possible options, but the problem was – he didn't have that many.

'Ok, just this once ... please work ... it's my own fault after all ...' Lee though and closed his eyes, gently putting his palm on Thorax's leg.

He focused his attention on the spark and the blue mist that still battled the dirt that surrounded it, and tried to guide it towards his palm.

For a brief moment nothing happened, but then Thorax giggled, and said, "It tickles!"

But that was all Lee was capable of. Nor his chest nor abdomen shone in blue light, but there was nothing he could do.

Inwardly sighing, he opened his eyes and said, "It's not as bad as it looks."

Actually it was exactly as bad.

His little effort didn't have any other effect apart from diverting attention of the onlookers. But there were natural remedies against burns, and he could pretend to heal the guy that way.

A quick glance around gave him only one idea, although he couldn't remember whether one should or not should put butter or sour cream on a burn.



'Screw it! Let's try!' Lee said to himself, and walked over to the turtle's carcass, scraped a handful of fat, and put it on Thorax's wound.

"It will leave a scar!" He said, "And that will serve you as a reminder to not repeat a stupid stunt like this ever again! We're a team now and have to work accordingly! We need to cover each other's backs otherwise a small wound like this will be the least of our worries. Think of it – what if instead of breathing fire at you, one of those lizards took a bite out of your leg? You wouldn't run again, my friend, ever!

Surprisingly Lee's little lecture worked, but he felt his ass burning like this land had under the rays of the scorching sun the whole day long. If anyone got injured during this conquest, he was expected to save them. Ignoring the fact that he couldn't do it – he didn't want to, even if he could!

And then there was the girl! Of course, he would've tried to save Jiraxa, but now he had to make sure she stayed safe! There was no way he was going to let her close to any action!

***

The sun set sooner than the group expected, and for the first time in a long time Lee could experience a natural darkness and a starry night sky.

He wasn't surprised the sleep avoided him, though, considering the predicament he had landed in. In addition, the roars and howls that came from somewhere deeper in the forest caused a bad premonition to surface above all the other chaotic thoughts.

Only the two devils grew more excited hearing the beasts, and spent the night counting the sparks they were about to get the next day. Thorax was particularly happy – he found a new, even larger club and, according to him, finally felt safe.

Jiraxa, on the other hand, passed out right after her head landed on the ground when the group settled for the night.

The camp, of course, was everyone sitting or lying on the ground, but at least they could finally rest, enjoying the coolness of the night. After the sun set the temperature rapidly dropped, and only the two brothers were unhappy about it.

Somehow Lee managed to persuade the devils to wait until the morning before advancing in the forest.



Obviously they were ready to charge right in, but Lee hoped to think of reasonable arguments later to force them to go back to the rift. Not only he didn't want to stay here, in the Inferno Wastes, the forest was way too unsettling as well.

While he would've welcomed any normal, green, forest or jungle, this place looked like it had suffered from a wildfire. And the problem was – it hadn't. The trees were naturally leafless and charred, and it didn't make any sense they were capable of growing in such environment at all. And there was no grass, no moss – just a rocky ground.

No matter how stressed out Lee was, an overnight meditation helped. Upsetting the two devils, instead of rushing somewhere, he began the morning by teaching few tips of spear fighting to Jiraxa. Of course, with how limited the time was he could only show the basic stance and the correct method to thrust, but for now it was sufficient.

When the lesson was over, the squad of four proceeded deeper in the forest, in the direction Thorax was certain the most howls and roars came from during the night.

They didn't even cover a mile when got attacked by a pack of similar dogs they killed yesterday, and while the beasts didn't have any sparks, the excitement the two brothers had returned. Another two miles farther the terrain began to undulate, with small hills popping up all over the place. Their luck was good and no dangerous beasts attempted to sneak attack, but everything changed when they arrived at a larger valley.

From the top of the hill Lee could clearly see a small pond over half a mile away. And while the thought of finally quenching thirst was thrilling, close to twenty beasts lie around the pond, making it impossible to approach the place.

They were of dark brown color and it was too far to tell whether they were covered in scales or not, but it didn't matter. The several corpses they were feasting on clearly indicated they were carnivores. And it was clear they were big. Definitely bigger compared to the lizards that attacked the tortoise yesterday.

The two devils didn't share Lee's opinion, though. This was an unexpected windfall!

"Sparks!" Thorax gasped.

"Finally!" Arax joined, "We're rich!"

And then they rushed down the hill.

"Alright!" Lee said. For some reason he suddenly felt the weight lifting off his shoulders, "They're dead. Let's go back, Jiraxa!"