บท 28: Finding Wine and Answers
"Okay," Ravi said, gulping once more and falling with his ass to the ground, not being able to hold his balance in a crouching position. He chuckled loudly and waited. The woman seemed to get more and more scared of the way the swordsman was dealing with the conversation. She started crying and sobbing harder, but Ravi didn't notice.
Alex got close to her slowly and crouched at her side. She looked at him with pleading eyes as if she was seeing a long-lost friend, even though he was a white elf while she was a dark one.
"Can we talk, miss?" Alex asked a tone he had been trained to use with victims of traumatic situations. As a cop, this was pretty much everything he did in the first year of Alex in the force. Going from house to house to help women in distress and lock up or threaten one or other abusive husband.
Alex remembered with joy the days he and his sergeant had beaten one of these pieces of shit who had violented her wife until her face was unrecognizable. These moments were some of the ones he missed in his previous life. Be the means of justice. Be the one delivering to the scum of the Earth what they deserve.
In the past, it wasn't strange for Alex to wake up already expecting some piece of shit to react to his approach, and he knew several of his coworkers felt the same.
Alex had done his wrongs; he couldn't deny that, but he had always respected those who treated him well— or at least ignored them, never showing distaste at first sight, even if he felt it. He needed to be rational and cool-headed to overcome Eath's problems. Tevia wasn't different.
As Alex looked at the dark elf, he could see all the other women he had helped in the past and was pleased to be able to help again. Old habits die hard, he thought.
The woman continued to sob, but she was breathing heavily, trying to control her building desperation.
"That's fine. Take your time. Breathe. What's your name?" He asked in a slow and calm tone of voice, trying to use his body language to ensure her everything was fine. Ravi kept sitting on the ground, watching the interaction without getting in the way.
"My name is Val'Mari," she said between cries,
"That's a beautiful name, miss. It resembles my own. My name is Valther. Can you tell me what happened? Are you with the orcs?" Alex asked, and the woman instantly started to nod negatively. Her face was full of disgust and anger. Alex looked over his shoulder and saw that Tina was feeling for the woman, already understanding the situation.
"They kidnapped you?" Alex asked, and she shook her head violently, agreeing with him and crying more, but then she took a profound breath and started talking.
"I'm from FrontHold. They plundered our town two days ago and took me hostage. There were other elves, but they…" She didn't complete the sentence; she just looked down to the ground and then to Alex again. "Are you going to kill me? I swear to the Godddes, I'm not with them."
"We are not going to kill you, miss. Right, Ravi?" Alex looked to the man, who seemed surprised to be called upon. Ravi just shrugged as someone who says 'maybe,' and the woman cried again.
"He's joking. He has a terrible sense of humor," Alex replied and continued, "Tell me more about what happened,"
"Our city was devastated by the monsters which escaped from the dungeons. First came the Cerberus. We somewhat dealt with them. Some died, others escaped. We had fifty soldiers of the empress in FrontHold, but then other creatures started to rise at night. And then the soldiers started to appear dead in the morning one by one. The city was defenseless. As if smelling it, the orc bandits appeared," She sobbed.
She is probably from the city we will help, Alex thought while he waited for her to continue. He knew he needed to let her talk. That was an essential technique for cops called active listening. He kept there watching her as she retook control of herself and started talking,
"the city wasn't prepared; the monsters had done terrible damage at night, but the orcs came by morning. We were sleep-deprived, with no capable soldiers, and defenseless. They took all that they wanted and some of the women to guarantee no one would come after them. As if there was someone…"
"Looks like they found what they were looking for," Ravi joined the conversation, getting up and cleaning his clothes. "Today is your luck day. We saved your life, killed all your captors, and we are heading to your hometown. We are from the adventurer's guild."
The woman's jaw dropped to the ground instantly. She looked at Ravi with different eyes now, the fear replaced by admiration. With these same eyes, she looked at Alex and Tina.
"Thank you for saving my life, all of you." Tina smiled at the woman, and Alex nodded at her,
"No problem, miss."
"Okay, let's get some horses, help your wounded friend, and return to camp. We are kinda late, but I think we'll arrive in time," Ravi said, walking towards the horses in a more level-headed walk.
"What's his problem?" Val'Mari asked in a mutter to Alex, but the young man shrugged,
"I wish I knew…" Alex replied and followed Ravi. There were so many corpses on the ground that it was hard not to step upon one or another along the way. Alex reached the horses and unstrapped one for him, one for Tina, and one for Val'Mari. They jumped on the beasts and started galloping to the hills.
When they reached Rel'Tir on the other side, he was already sitting with a confused expression. He tried to grab the arrow leaving his arm but failed every time. The pain was too much for him to handle. There was no trace of the boy's previous smugness in his face. Just the evident relief of not being alone in the middle of nowhere.
The boy's clothes were all red, just like Alexs' ones. But the Devil's Hand host was covered in the enemies' blood, while Rel'Tir was full of his own blood and piss. The other members of the group hadn't one drop of blood on them.
"You are alive! Thanks to the Goddess!" The boy exclaimed as Ravi got out of his horse and stepped towards the elf,
"Yes, we are, but you're close to dead, kid. Let me see that wound." Ravi watched it with care and removed one cloth from his pocket. "Look, that's going to hurt a lot, but it's better than you getting even more hurt while riding the horse, okay?" Ravi asked, and the boy nodded.
The human pushed the arrow further into the boy's chest until it left on the other side. He then broke the projectile and removed the stick with speed.
Rel'Tir was screaming when Ravi removed the cork from his wine bottle,
"Forgive me, forefathers!" he cried to the skies, dropping the wine on the wound to sterilize it.
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