Lament of the Slave

Chapter 84: Threats and Dangers

[Grand Healer: lvl ???]

Seeing the Imperial Chief Healer's level, I swallowed. So far, the system has shown me three question marks on a person only once. The man was standing next to me. As with Deckard, it wasn't just a number I didn't see that gave me pause. It was my instincts, yelling at me in warning to beware, to not let my guard down. The old man, standing in front of me with his hands clasped behind his back, was a level three hundred powerhouse.

He stared at me, intrigued by something only his blue eyes could see, surely using a skill or two. Whatever it was, it gave me goosebumps. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, a shiver ran down my spine. I managed to suppress a growl, not the shudder.

"Peculiar," said the Imperial Chief Healer with interest in his voice that deeply unsettled me. "Apparent control of all limbs, without visible complications."

In response to his murmur, I almost bared my teeth at him, and would have if Deckard's hand hadn't landed on my shoulder. "Easy, girl."

His remark was not something I appreciated, unlike his firm grip, which put me at ease. It took me back to Esulmor, though. Like Esu's words, his seemed to have a deeper meaning behind them. Cautioning about the soldiers standing by the walls and their response, would I have taken offense to the old healer. A reminder that all the old healer could do was to stare. And he did.

That is until Janina scolded him.

"Mentor!" Her crisp voice echoed through the silent room, making some soldiers stir. The Imperial Chief Healer blinked, realization dawning in his eyes. He'd made a mistake, revealed his intentions too early and too blatantly.

He straightened up and cleared his throat. "Apologies, my curiosity got the best of me. Miss Grey, it's a pleasure to meet you."

I forced myself to a slight nod, unable to say the same. An unwinnable fight with a young mossbear sounded more appealing than being here with him.

"You haven't changed either," Janina sighed with nostalgia, returning his earlier remark about Deckard.

He chuckled as a guilty old man caught staring at young girls. Of course, he didn't give a damn. "So far, I have only seen the horrendous results of these experiments in Arda," he said, as if to justify his behavior, then fixed his eyes on me again. "Seeing you is simply marvelous."

"She's my apprentice," Deckard stated. Oddly enough, it made me twitch, nearly shove his hand away. His possessive tone, coupled with the dread from the presence of Imperial Chief Healer, took my mind back to the cold, damp basement, where Dungreen thought of me as his property, a thing he could do whatever he wanted with. Just a twitch, a brief lapse of insanity, and the helplessness I faced there.

A twitch I immediately regretted, feeling a twinge of shame. The hand on my shoulder was not my master's, but...my mentor's. It was not to keep me down but to reassure me. His words a warning to the Imperial Chief Healer, not a show of dominance over me.

"That was made clear to me," the old healer said, glancing at Captain Rayden and back. "I received a report from Sah prior to my arrival mentioning it, a thrilling read, full of the dead and monsters. Trouble, as always, following in your footsteps."

"Not my doing," Deckard objected. He didn't say it, yet I felt his thoughts were on me, on the source of these problems, this time.

"So you say, yet you made her your apprentice," pointed out Imperial Chief Healer. "Quite bothersome, if I may say so."

Deckard shrugged, undaunted by his calm attitude like I was. "It's my right."

"And I do not deny it to you, just don't claim you're free of blame for the mess the Captain and I have been sorting out."