Chương 22: Break a Leg

She crashed into me… hard. I hit the ground with her on top of me. The smooth glass of the flask left my hands even though I had wrapped in my arms and held close to my chest. I felt despair and then anger. I was so angry that when I pushed her off me, I used my full strength. She hit the ceiling with a thud and then the floor where she laid unmoving. I looked at her and my anger left me. Regret and pity took its place. She was most likely controlled. I was having issues dealing with Gideon so what could a normal human do against him? I thought of healing her but held off. I did not want to fight her again. Thinking about that, I grabbed the bed sheet and rolled her up like a cannoli. She grunted in pain every time I moved her. I knew from her health window she had a fractured rib and many contusions.

Lilly had stayed quiet through the whole thing and when I turned to ask her if she had belts or sashes to tie up her retainer, I saw her on her knees. "Lilly!" I screamed and rushed over to help. Everything else was forgotten. She lifted her head when I shouted her name and I froze. Her health window did not indicate anything wrong but pitch-black lines pulsed across her face. They were like black webbing. It took me a minute to realize that those black lines were also everywhere I could see skin. It was her blood! Dark veins pulsed as if her blood had changed color. I could see the pain she was in. The glass flask that I had been holding was now held tightly in her trembling hand.

I have never seen her use magic. She rarely talked about it on the trip and from what little she had said indicated she was not good at it. I took it to mean she was weak in magic but looking at her quivering form, I knew her magic was powerful but it cost her to use it.

"Lilly, are you ok? Can I do anything to help?" I asked as I activated my aura to reduce her pain. She let out a sigh as she was enveloped in my golden aura. Shaking her head, she sat down carefully.

"I'll be ok. Here." I saw her carefully handing me the flask. Putting it away, I watched her until I saw the dark black veins fading away. It took over fifteen minutes for the effect to go away. "Teleporting items hurts so much." She gave a shaky laugh, "but it was worth it. She was an enemy and I had no clue." She shuddered at the thought. My human sized cannoli had not moved since I had knocked her out but even so I should finish what I started.

"Do you have belts or something else I can use to tie her up?" I took the dresses she indicated and took their ribbons and belts off to use. Another ten minutes and she was all secured. I healed her then. I do not like seeing people in pain. I also cast one on Lilly too but it had no effect. I did not expect it to, but I hoped it would.

It was not long before her retainer started struggling to get out. She screamed and cried but these rooms were sound proofed by magic, so it did not matter. Her cries of how "he" would win and for us to surrender to his greatness left me scared. 'That could be me' was all I could think. I left her to rant and made sure that Lilly was still doing ok. After that I began to brew once more. It was not long before I held an amber fill vial. I clutched the anticharm potion and looked at the struggling girl. How did you get a fanatic to drink something?

My solution was not pretty but in the end I got it down her throat. Well, most of it. I just hope it was enough. She started cursing after she finished coughing. That went on for another twenty minutes until she suddenly became quiet.

"Isabell, how are you feeling?" I looked down at her and saw tears silently running down her face.

"I'm sorry… sniff… I did not want to… sniff." She looked so pitiful as she apologized for something she could not control.

"It is ok. We understand." I heard Lilly echoing my words as we tried to comfort her. "Can you tell us what the prince had you do?"

"It was Samuel. He wanted me to do something to Lilly, to report to him anything Lilly does and… to stop the princess. Report her whereabouts if I could get away. I did not want to." She shrunk into her cannoli roll as she said that name. Who the hell is Samuel? There was a princess? "I also need to take a pill every day."

Quest: Savior

The school has been taken over. Find the captives and free them.

Reward: Increase Aura Diameter, 1000 XP

Wait, the school is taken over? By who? First things first, "Do you have that poison and can you take us to Samuel?" I saw her nod when I asked her those questions. Crossing my fingers, I untied her. I really hope that potion worked and she was not still charmed.

"We need to get to Bella. Her retainer may also be compromised." Lilly suddenly shouted. I looked at Isabell and she nodded. I went to brew another potion while Lilly unrolled her and got ready to go. Fifteen minutes later I held another anti-charm potion as we ran out the door. I did not want to take the extra time but if Bella's retainer was charmed I was going to need this potion.

***

When we got to Bella's room it was empty. Her door was open but she was nowhere to be found. Panic welled up. None of this made sense. The school was supposed to protect us. I was scared but it was slowly being replaced by anger. These were my friends. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to deal with it harshly. None of this passive crap anymore. No more running. I turned and headed out to look for that bastard. Lilly and Isabel trailing behind me. I drank the resistance strengthening potion before I left the girls dorm. I wanted to be prepared. I was angry, not stupid.

I went to the cafeteria and did not see him. I heard a few notifications as the girls tried to play pranks on me but it was not important. I left quickly and headed to the next area. It was not until I got to the training grounds that he made his appearance. "GIDEON, WHERE IS BELLA?" I shouted at him as soon as I saw him. He smiled his dazzling smile at me.

"AH my lovely Alice. Do not fret she is safe. How about we discuss her over dinner?" His silky voice made my knees a little weak. I saw him flash a satisfied smile at my reddening cheeks. There were students all around us.

I nodded. I needed to get somewhere private with a quiet space to get more information. As we walked I kept seeing +1 resistance… and his nice backside. I mainly ignored the notifications as I followed Gideon. My willpower crumbling with every step. It helped me to think violent thoughts because otherwise I would be thinking sexual thoughts and I would rather just beat him … at least for now.

He stopped in an alleyway. Turning around He started talking, "Alice, I finally have the time to talk with you. I was thinking that we should spend more time together." He looked at the other two people behind me and continued, "Alone." I saw lust in his eyes and for a second thought that sounded like a good idea and I had to think of reasons why that would be very bad before I shook off the affect. I needed to wrap this up quickly.

"F' it" I was thinking too much and wasting time. I moved to beat it out of him. I will see if he can still be charming with broken legs. I rushed him. Every second I stood still was more time I could fall under his spell. Once I got within arm's reach, I slapped him as hard as I could. Not s satisfied with the slap, I hit him with my closed fist. I saw his face go from smug, to shocked, to panicked. I felt my hand hit a fatty face and I watched as Gideon's lean face changed to a completely different face that was plump. My hand making it jiggle for a second before the prince's face came back.

It wasn't Gideon. Some illusion magician was pretending to be him! Was it always a fake or is Gideon currently hiding? I stuck with my 'beat the information out of him' plan and continued to wallop him. When he was in too much pain to maintain his focus the image of Gideon was replaced by a short fat man in servant's clothes.

A delicately carved golden flower was pinned onto his collar. It was so out of place that I removed it. The petals felt as if it was coated with something. The compulsion I have been feeling stopped once I touched it. I hit him one more time and tried to look menacing. A four foot preteen with tiny breasts glowering at him… ok fine, I failed at intimidation but I tried anyway. I heard Isabel say from behind me, "That's Samuel."

I began questioning him. At first he did not say anything but all those thoughts of violence came in handy. Within a half-hour I knew he and a lot of the nobles' retainers have been drugging the nobles and teachers. Then replacing or controlling them using illusion and charm magic. Those charmed needed to take a pill to keep their resistances from freeing them.

The faculty basement held the prisoners but getting to them is going to be difficult. He spilled that Bella was taken there today. To get to her I would have to get past the receptionist first. After that… Samuel had no idea. I confirmed that with a few slaps to his head. Going in blind did not sound like a winning idea but I would not leave Bella there. I had no idea what they were doing to them.

The flower was an amplifier for charm potions. He would use illusions to conceal the application of the potion when he neared his target. I took two small vials he had hidden within his belt. But that opened up more questions. The enchanted flower was well above what the poor could afford and that is even if you could find it to buy. I have never even heard of this type of enchanting.

As soon as I finished interrogating him, I looked at my companions and asked, "What do we do with this guy?" I was drawing a blank. I did not want to kill people even if he is a lowlife but if we let him go he would probably warn that we know.

"Could we tie him up?" Lilly chimed in. "Then leave him in a room." Without a better idea we finalized the plan on where to put him and how to get him there. Now all we needed to do is rescue the prisoners and free anybody that might be charmed…

I needed people. As a healer there was no way I could beat a group. At least, I did not want to risk it. The question is where could I get people? The nobles and their retainers were out of the question. That did not leave many people. There were guards, the "lesser" races and the other poor students. Since I was targeted, I had to assume the other poor students were as well.

The guards were probably taken over. If I was an evil master mind I would target the guards first so I could come and go as I please and any complaints would get ignored. Targeting the retainers was out of my expectations and if they could think of that then the guards were probably compromised. It just made sense.

My best opinion was the other races. The nobles ignored them as if they did not exist. They also were in small groups that tended to keep to themselves. That tight nit group mentality would make it harder for them to be taken one at a time. Because of this they were probably either left alone or taken first. It was an all or nothing gamble. I thought it was probably that they were left alone since I had not noticed anything going on in their groups.

Unlike the nobles, I found watching them fascinating. Watching the pixies was like watching a colorful ballet in micro scale.

I found out the hard way that even though the elves looked human they did not think like us and social norms were not the same. Stepping on a flower could be more of an insult than spitting in their face.

Look it was an accident and I am sticking to that story because the damn lady wanted to duel me. I, for one, did not want to get stabbed by a sword over a flower.

All the different races had their own cultures and style of life. It was weird and wonderful all at once.

The question is which group should I approach and will they even help those that shun them?

***

Character Sheet you can skip ahead

Name: Alice

Race: half-Angel

Level 3

Profession – Angel of Mercy

Experience - 14 of 400

Stats: Points unspent = 2

Health: 81 (Recovery 1 Per Day)

Mana: 370 (Recovery 1 Per Minute)

Strength 9

Stamina 9

Intelligence 10

Wisdom 18

Charisma 15

Dexterity 11

Perception 11

Luck 0

Skills:

COMBAT:

Mace: Beginner 114 / 200

Dodge Skill 19 / 200

Pain Resistance Skill 142 / 200

Camouflage Skill 3 / 200

Endurance Skill 75 / 200

Sneaking Skill 43 / 200

PROFESSIONAL:

Enchanting – Talented 6 / 100,000

Herbalism – Journeyman 15 / 700

First aid – Beginner 3 / 200

Alchemy – beginner 197 / 200

Cleaning – 28 / 100

Tailoring – 18 / 250

Embroidery – 23 / 250

Cooking – 35 / 500

Poetry – 3 / 150

Painting – 3 / 400

Knitting – 10 / 150

Talents:

Holy Casting

Bloodline:

Angels gain following skills

Demonic Counter - Heal spells do damage to demons equal to healing value

Flight – Medium level flight

Holy Aura – A 3-foot aura that reduces pain and adds boost to all healing spells

Speak No Lie – People with angel blood are unable to tell lies

Pacifistic Blow – any attack against others will always fall short of killing them (monsters and demons excluded)

Vision of Diagnosis – Ability to detect ailments at a glance

Spells:

Light heal – (Cost 7) – a minor healing spell that is good for scrapes and bruises

Minor Heal – (Cost 15) – a healing spell that will heal large cuts, scrapes and bruises

Minor Healing light – (Cost 15) – Creates images that float around targets that release pulses of healing energy

Bone Setter – (Cost 6) – Fixes broken bones

Aid – (Cost 9) – Temporarily increase another's health

Slow Poison – (Cost 7 / Upkeep 1 per 10 minutes) – Greatly reduces the onset of poisons

Purify – (Cost 8) – Removes impurities

Lesser Detoxification – (Cost 7 / Upkeep 1 per 10 minutes) – Removes lesser poisons

Sense Minor Evil – (Cost 12 / Upkeep 3 per hour) – map will display creatures that have done evil within the last week; area of affect seven meters

Blessings of the Goddess – (Cost 3 / Upkeep 1 per minute) – makes it harder for others to hit the target of this spell (strength increases with level)

Minor golden armor – (Cost 4 / Upkeep 2 per 5 minutes) – a thin protective barrier

Coat of Arms – (Cost 25 / Upkeep 1 per hour) – Strengthens the target with what they hold dear to the hearts (strength increases with level)

Blinding Flash – (Cost 3) – a quick bright flash of your aura (works better in darker environments)

Resistances

Lightning – 1%

Wind – 5%

Earth – 2%

Charm – 23%

Ice – 3%

Darkness – 1%

Aura Effects:

Holy – See bloodline

Calmness �� Aura will release a calming affect that eases the mind from stress and worries. Small chance of pacifying aggressive, less intelligent creatures