Paladins' Parabellum

Chapter Twenty Six: Plans Of Plans

"Three, two, one," a healer countdowns before popping Ulrika's shoulder back into place. "Did that hurt?"

"No. Your tonic is working," Ulrika says.

"Take another vial just in case the pain is unbearable tomorrow."

"Are you sure her shoulder is not broken?" I ask, being overly concerned.

"I'm positive. I saw no form of fracture." He hands Ulrika the green-colored vial, puts her arm in a bandaged arm sling, then turns to me. "How's your stomach?"

"Numbed."

"You two are set to leave," he says. I take Ulrika's shirt and put my cloak around her shoulders to act as a temporary replacement to cover most of her chest. My attention is now on her recovery more than what we agreed after we saw a healer.

"I'll go look for a place we can rest in while we recover."

"That's not what we agreed on," she says, smiling at me. "I'm fine, darling." She holds my hand, leading the way out of the tent. Thyrna jumps off a nearby bench to greet me with a hug.

"Are you two okay?" Thyrna says.

"We're fine," I say, hugging her back. "What the hell was that all about? I can't wrap my head around the whole event."

"If I had to guess, Ivaran's plan changed."

"One of the Paragons we were fighting talked to someone before disappearing."

"What did they say?"

I shrug my shoulders but say, "They were talking to someone I couldn't see or hear about something. But if I had to guess, probably Ivaran."

"Ugh," Thyrna grunts, rubbing her eyes with her fingers. "Telepathic communication. If I was there, I could've hijacked their link." She takes a single deep breath while staring up at the skies.

"What's wrong?"

"We lost fifty of our units, plus the head figure of the Paladin organization is dead. I sense a bad omen." Her eyes wander left to right then her ears droop a bit when she looks at me.

"Are you an oracle?" Ulrika says.

"No, but I do come from a tribe of them." Haleema walking behind Thyrna takes my attention away from the conversation Thyrna and Ulrika are having. Haleema's cheeks are blushed pink. I know they can't be like that because of the weather, so I excuse myself to go see what's up with her.

"Haleema," I say with a gentle voice to not startle her. She glances at me with the side of her eye, yet continues walking. "Hey wait a sec."

"Go away," Haleema says with a raised voice.

"Why?" I get close to reach my hand out to her shoulder. She whips it off and then shoves her hands into my chest.

"Leave me alone!"

"Haleema..?

"How dare you..!" I take a step back with my palms up to my chest. "How dare you two give up on him!"

"We couldn't do anything!"

"You could have tried harder!"

"Settle down," Ulrika says. She stands a foot ahead of me on my right side. "You knew there wasn't anything we could do. We would've wasted all of our mana and become vulnerable to a surprise attack." Haleema tightens her lips and tears flush out of her eyes as she looks off to her left. "You're the most powerful among us, yet you couldn't put a dent in it." Her statement makes Haleema lash out in a silent weep, turning her head left and right. "I'm sorry." Haleema abruptly darts away from us, crying her heart out. I want to go after her, but Ulrika halts me by placing her hand on my upper arm. "Leave her be. She needs to understand there was nothing we could do."