Chapter 37: Captain
“Take your hands off of that man!” the golden warrior growled as he reached for the sheath dangling from the side of his belt, eyes under the helm bulging with raging fury as if what Valens carried out here was a dark conspiracy to turn the wounded into scores of wicked beings.
It’s getting a little hard to keep an open mind.
Then again, he couldn’t help but wonder at the sight of that golden carapace if Inferno could solve this man-shaped problem that appeared out of nowhere. Fix his legs with the Gravitating Earth first, and spill the glorious flames through the gaps in the armor, which, while protecting the man from sharp objects, also caged every bit of his body from all around in a way that would surely make it a bit of a hurdle to put off if, say, his skin were to be set ablaze.
When did I start thinking about such things? Though I must admit, that was pretty open-minded of me there.
Master Eldras wouldn’t have approved this sudden change, but the old man himself could get a touch heated, especially against matters that were unjust in nature. So, Valens rather hoped, his Master would forgive his disciple for stepping over the oaths of the Resonant Healers for just this once.
I’ve already broken a bunch of them.
The flaps of the tent parted once again as Valens and the pair from the Duality Guild waited in muted silence against the warrior. Odd that such a simple thing as some leathery canvas had gained an ominous quality in such short notice. And indeed, through the Resonance, Valens proved it was the case as a pair of golden warriors barged inside.
“Mas? What’s happening here?” said the first of them, a man who seemed at least courteous enough to tuck his helm under his armpit and display his face. He had a cleanly shaved chin, as you would expect from a member of a church, with an equally clean head of brown hair marked off his shoulders. He looked around to be forty, with green eyes gentle and questioning rather than muddled with preconceived notions.
Mas visibly straightened at the sight of him, taking his hand off the sheath and giving him a quick, disciplined salute with a fist over his heart. “Captain Edric,” he said, voice unnaturally stiff, raising one accusing finger to Valens’s face. “We have a healer here. I caught him treating a man just then, one of Duality Guild’s wounded. There’s enough evidence to suggest he’s been hired for the occasion, Sir.”
“An outside hand, you say?” Captain Edric’s eyes narrowed, and he turned to Valens with a weighing glance, checking him tip to toe as if he could see through the bloodied robe and under his skin. He scowled. “Arcane Healer? What’s that?”