Welcome back to London Part II

Sam had left the Halloween party moments after she saw Barry vanish. Since he had taken her talisman there wasn’t much she could offer in terms of back up but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t going to try.

She drove into the city and parked her car on the pavement next to a bookshop. Moving quickly, Sam entered the shop, ignoring the CLOSED sign on the door, and walked up to the lady at the till.

“We’re closed,” the lady muttered, flipping through her magazine.

“Not for me,” said Sam rolling up her sleeve, “I’m here to see Luke.”

The women glanced at the tattoos then nodded to the back of the shop, which was hidden behind a purple curtain. Sam entered the back of the store then walked down the hall to the large brown door at the end and placed her palm against the old wood. Her gold aura illuminated the door and suddenly it was gone, replaced by a rectangular portal which Sam quickly stepped into.

She found herself in a dimly light passageway, a flight of stairs leading her downwards. As she descended the light in the tunnel grew brighter and Sam found herself in front of a large set of iron doors. When she entered, Sam was in the entrance of the GSA, the Guardian and Seeker Academy. The school was in an underground city, hundreds of acres of rock and soil all used to create a place where young Guardians and Seekers could learn to sharpen their skills and gain the experience to become stronger, as well as socialise and live together. The majority of the cavern was taken up by the village, full of residences, restaurants and a couple of open areas like parks and various areas for designated sports. The ceiling itself mimicked the sky above so that everyone felt like they were in an open environment and there were even a few real clouds that hovered over the village. There were three main buildings in the centre of it all; the Study Hall, which housed different work stations and exercise equipment depending on whether you were a Seeker or a Guardian, the Infirmary and the Hub, a tall cone-shaped building that was connected to different Guardian stations across the world.

Sam stood still for a moment then moved quickly towards the Study Hall on her left, where she knew Archie was, and burst through the steel door and into large room filled with cubicles. Each cubicle served as a workspace for a Seeker in training although very few of them were occupied. Sam moved towards the last cubicle at the right far end of the room. Most of the work stations were empty except for the one that Sam approached now, which was being used by a lanky black panther wearing large round glasses. He was hunched over his computer while a small imp on the floor was tying a small bell to the end of the panther’s tail.

“Archie,” said Sam and the panther turned around, “Where is he?”

“Where’s who?” asked Archie, his ears folding back sheepishly.

“Don’t play coy with me cat,” Sam grumbled, pulling the feline off his chair by his shirt causing Jerry to scamper off in fright with his half-finished project clumsily tied to Archie’s tail, “We both know who I’m talking about. I’m only going to ask you one more time, now, where is he?!”

Archie swallowed and seemed to shrink a bit then he said, “I don’t know.”

Sam raised her other hand in a fist and Archie cringed then squealed, “I’m serious! He didn’t tell me anything just asked about some Aztec god called tez-something.”

Sam threw the panther back down into his chair in exasperation and lean against the wall. If she had her talisman it would have been child’s play to use it to find her partner but since Barry had taken it.

“What was the name of the god?” she asked.

“Hold on,” said Archie and he typed away at his computer, “Found it! The god’s name was-”

“Tezcatlipoca,” said a voice behind them.

They turned to see a rather tall eagle standing behind them, his arms crossed over his crisp grey suit. His yellowish talon feet were bare and his large feathery hands were covered with clean white gloves. There was a large gold watch on his wrist, its crystal face glinted in the dim light.

“Quinten,” said Archie, clearly startled by the eagle’s presence, “What are you doing here?”

“There seems to be an issue with Samantha’s partner,” said the eagle calmly, his face displaying no emotion, “We have not heard from his mentor, Maximus nor the bovine’s own partner, Alexander, in a while. In fact, it seems as if they disappeared around the same time as Bartholomew dropped off my radar. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about this would you Miss De Stellis?”

Sam clenched her fists, she hated it when someone used her last name especially if it was to remind her of her family’s status.

“What do you want Quinten?” Sam asked through her clenched jaw.

“Not your concern,” sneered Quinten and he turned his amber gaze to Archie, “Why were you looking into that particular god?”

“Not your concern,” said Sam, returning the sneer. The eagle’s stare narrowed and he gave Sam a look of sincere displeasure before turning on his talons and walking away with his hands clasped tightly behind his back.

“I really hate that guy,” growled Sam, “he’s such a…”

“Prick, prat, son of an unholy demon?” offered Archie.

Sam nodded then said goodbye to the feline and left the workplace of the Seekers. When Sam left the building, she headed straight across the wide courtyard towards the large building on the other side. Sam stopped outside the door and place her hand on the glyph carved into the wood. It glowed gold for a moment then the door opened into what looked a bit like a hotel lobby as there were couches lined up on the side next to the windows and a large brown marble desk sat in the centre of the room. An enormous white marble wall run across the room and there were two small purple curtains that hung on either side of the large desk, leading to the area behind the marble barrier.

“How may I help you?” asked the desk clerk, a young woman with auburn hair tied in a neat bun and wearing a crimson uniform.

“I’m here to see Luke,” said Sam, “I called him earlier and he should be expecting me.”

The woman typed on her computer for a bit then tapped a glyph on the desk and said, “The curtain to your left please.”

Sam went through the curtain, feeling the dimensional magic shift her across planes until she reached her destination. She found herself in a dark room in front of two large iron doors with large circular knobs in their centre. Sam turned both knobs simultaneously and entered a large study with large bookshelves on either side of her, tiled floors and three great windows that showed a clear view of Manhattan, bathing in the suns glow.

“Sam, I’m glad you could make it,” said a voice. A man wearing circular glasses swivelled in his chair behind an oak wood desk. His long blonde hair was tied in a ponytail and he looked like he had just come back from a game of golf. His blue golf shirt had a few crises in it and his cream coloured long trousers had bits of green on the edge of them, right were the trousers met the white golf shoes.

“Please sit,” said the man politely, gesturing to the chair on Sam’s side of the desk, “Sorry about my attire, I was in the middle of a game when you called.”

“It’s fine,” said Sam hurriedly, “Have you heard anything?”

“Sadly no. Barry covered his tracks well however I did overhear something about an Aztec god being involved in the disappearance of Barry’s mentor.”

“Maximus? But he’s a fifth-tier Earth Guardian,” said Sam, clearly shocked by the news, “Who’s strong enough to take him on?”

Luke shrugged and clasped his hands together and looked at her over the rim of his glasses, his bright blue eyes twinkling in the sunlight. Before either of them could say anything more Luke’ phone rang. He picked up the phone and listened to the person on the other end, his face a grim mask. After a few minutes, Luke thanked the person on the phone and put it down then looked at Sam.

“There’s been a development,” he said sternly, “A massive spike of magical energy was realised in London, too big to be the work of any one person. I’m afraid that a dark god was awakened recently and fought against other beings matching its mystical strength. You need to return to London immediately.”

***

I woke up in a strange place, my head throbbing terribly as were my left arm and chest, the sound of rain echoing around me. I was on my back and I could feel something wet underneath me. I rose and the pain in my chest intensified but I fought through it until I tried to stand. A surge of nausea overcame me and I vomited onto the bricks beside me.

After a while I tried to stand again but suffered the same result as before. After about the fifth time I had failed I leaned back onto a metal box and looked to the heavens. The stars were faded and the air stank of filth. I looked around and found myself in an alleyway, loud sounds and shouts were coming from the road nearby. I heard a scream and I saw a man in a long coat holding a bundle of clothes and pointing at me. He was yelling something at me but in my groggy state I was unable to fully understand what he said. The man threw me his bundle and ran into the street, screaming about monsters and devils.

 I dragged myself to the shadows behind the metal box and leaned against the brick wall to assess the damage to my body. It wasn’t good.

My armour looked like it had been through a war, there were several large gashes across my lower torso and my battle kilt had several large burnt apertures. My wings had small tears in their membrane and every time I tried to move my right wing it throbbed badly. I checked my throbbing arm to see that it had several gashes just below the shoulder and I used the fabric from one of the clothes the man had dropped to dress the injury. I used several strange garments that I found in the bundle to help stem the bleeding from my chest wound. I then looked around the alleyway and noticed a long coat laying on the ground a few metres away.

I tried to stand one more time, using the metal box for support. I succeeded and I stumbled towards the jacket, folding my blackened wings so that it would fit me. The jacket barely went below my knees but it provided me with enough protection against the rain and it came with a hood so I pulled it up to cover my face. I found a scarf nearby and wrapped it around my waist to help stop the bleeding then coiled my tail around it to apply pressure. I knew that my armour would eventually close over the wound but it needed more time before that could happen. As I sat back against the wall I noticed a small object poking above my tail base and it took a bit of work to dislodge it from behind me. It felt metallic and when I managed to pull it out I found myself holding a bronze sword hilt with a broken steel blade. Even though there were only a few inches of blade left I knew who it belonged to and I had to stifle a small sob as the memories of that night came flooding back. I knew that I couldn’t leave it here for anyone to find, nor did I possess the strength to protect this piece of a Soul Shard. I used the blade to cut into the space in between one of the bricks then I took it out and engraved a symbol into the back of the brick with my claws. Before placing it back I wrapped up the hilt in some of the remaining clothes and pushed it into the space where the brick used to be then I slotted the brick back into place. While my physical wounds were extensive I had felt that my magical reserves were sufficient for this task and I found my faith was well placed when the brick returned to its original position, looking as if it had never moved. I sent a silent thanks to the Ancients that my storage spell worked before slowly rising to my feet once more. I emerged from the alley moments later and headed off into the night, away from the loud city behind me.

***

Barry flew down to where Maximus lay and knelt next to his mentor. The bovine’s legs were bent at odd angles and his arm looked like it was broken in several places. Scorpius lighted down next to Barry and so did Alexander, in a flash the panther had the wolf-eared mage by the throat.

“Where the ruddy hell were you?!” he roared.

Alexander did not even try to fight back, though they all knew that he could, but simply stated, “I had a personal matter to attend to, had I known that this could’ve happened I would’ve been here faster.”

Barry’s eyes glowed white for a moment then he suddenly let the mage go and collapsed to the ground, his energies completely drained. Alexander returned his weapons to their sheath on his back then turned to his fellow Zodiac mage.

“Scorpius,” said Alexander, his tone deadly serious, “If I find out that you held back at all or had anything to do with this, I promise on the nine gates of hell that I will destroy you.”

“Whatever do you mean?” asked Scorpius, his tone even, “What would I possibly have to gain by unleashing a Fallen One onto the earth? The PR alone is going to be a nightmare.”

Alexander did not reply but instead swept his hand in front of him and an encircled blue glyph appeared beneath him, Maximus and Barry then, in a quick flash of blue light, they were gone.

Alexander teleported them to the London GSA, in the middle of the courtyard between the studies and the work stations. Two women dressed in nurse uniforms ran up from the infirmary and stood to attention when they saw Alexander.

“These two need immediate medical attention. Maximus is in bad shape so you’ll need to get him to three tier Healer. I’ll notify the panther’s partner.”

The nurses nodded and used their magic to levitate the two warriors to the infirmary while Alexander took out his cell phone and selected a number.

“Hello?”

“Luke, it’s Alexander, is Sam with you?”

“She just left, she’ll be arriving through the portal in a few minutes.”

“Good,” said Alexander, turning towards the Hub, “Something’s happened and we’ll need to call a meeting, now.”

“I’ll make the arrangements,” said Luke, “The request will take some time though.”

Alexander sighed and hung up. He needed the council to convene faster but he knew that this was the best they could do.

His ears perked up when he heard Sam’s footsteps and the Zodiac looked up to see Sam running down the steps towards him and tackling him into a hug.

“Where have you been?” Sam asked, “I was worried something bad had happened to you!”

“I’m fine,” said Alexander, “You should really stop worrying so much.”
“You’re my uncle, I’m supposed to be worried about you. Have you seen Barry?”
“He’s in the infirmary,” said Alexander and Sam punched him in the gut, surprising him.

“Why didn’t you lead with that!” she demanded then sprinted towards the tall white building.

Alexander caught up with her and they burst into the emergency room. One of the nurses stationed there led them to a small room where they saw Barry sitting up on a hospital bed with an IV filled with purple liquid strapped to his arm. The panther was still in his battle gear so Alexander guessed the nurses must have treated him quickly then focused on Maximus. The nurse that led them there whispered something in Alexander’s ear and the Zodiac mage nodded then answered a call on his phone while Sam approached her wounded partner and hit him the arm, hard.

“OW!” said Barry,” What was that for?”

“Would you like the list alphabetically or in order of stupidity?” asked Sam scornfully, “You not only abandoned your partner, but you also took my talisman and risked getting yourself killed all because you were being reckless!”

Barry said nothing and stared at the floor. Sam ripped her talisman from his belt then tuned on her heel and stormed out of the ward. Alexander sighed, turned off his phone and watched Barry lie back down in his bed, staring at the door on the far side of the room.

“They took him through there,” said the panther, “I woke up in time to see them wheel him off into that room. They wouldn’t tell me what was wrong and I can’t help but think-”

“That it was your fault,” said Alexander, sitting in the chair next to Barry’s bed, “Well it wasn’t mate. If anyone is to blame it would have to be me. I’ve been dealing with a side project for months now and it has taken up a lot of my time lately.”

“What is it?”

“It’s above your payrate,” said Alexander, leaning back in the chair, “you should rest. The nurses told me that you’ll be allowed to leave soon, however, you’re back on probation.”
“Oh bloody hell.”

“It’s your own fault, striking out on your own like that,” said Alexander, taking out a cigar and lighting it before taking a deep breath, “I was able to reduce our sentence to six months because of your help in the matter. Tezcatlipoca may have escaped but now we know what he’s after and he won’t get the jump on us again.”

“So, you’re off then?” asked the panther.

“Yep, the council convenes in a bit so I’m going to go brief them on what happened. Take care of my niece for me okay?”

Barry nodded and Alexander turned to leave but stopped in the doorway and looked back over his shoulder.

“One more thing,” he said, “If you ever pull a stunt like that again I’m going to make you eat your own tail. You got me?”
“Yes sir,” said Barry quickly and watched the mage leave the room.

Barry left the infirmary a little while later and he made his way to the main entrance. Sam had left after their fight and he had no other means of getting back to her apartment. Teleporting was out of the question as he lost his second medium so he transformed back into a cat and began his long journey home from the bookshop, the heavy rain plastered his fur against his back.

***

I didn’t know where I was but I knew that I was being followed. At least three of them from what I could gather and their auras stank of black magic. In the condition I was in I knew that I wouldn’t be able to fly let alone hold my own against three dark mages. All three of them wore dark jackets with hoods over their faces.

The pain in my chest seared up again so I had to stop and lean against a shop window. It was becoming harder and harder to breathe but I pressed on. That aura that I had felt before was close by, I could feel it but in my weakened state I feared that I was going to be discovered before I reached them.

I turned into an alleyway and my pursuers followed suit, no longer trying to hide themselves. They probably thought I was easy prey now. I took a deep breath and broke into a run, knocking random objects and metal boxes over to block my pursuers but a loud bang assured me that they were not so easily deterred. I tried to call on the wind but it would not come. Had I lost my Air magic? Without it there was no way I could fight these people, especially unarmed.

While lost in thought I tripped and fell in a pile of garbage at the end of the alleyway. When I looked up I could see a large metal fence a few metres from where I lay but I could also hear my pursuers catching up. I painfully rose to my feet and made it to the gate but when I tried to climb it I lost my grip and fell onto the ground again.

The three figures following me now stood in a row, barely a stone’s throw away from where I lay on the ground and the two on either end raised their hands, summoning black chains from the depths of their sleeves. The chains slithered the ground and encircled me like long dark snakes.

“We have you now,” said the one standing in the middle, “do not resist.”

I picked up a long pipe that was laying on the ground near me and I held it high, as if it were a sword. I focused on the metal rod and tried to energise it with my power but the attempt sent a wave of pain through my left arm and I was suddenly overcome with vertigo.

“You can barely stand,” said the mage on the right, “surrender to us creature, before we have to get serious.”

I swung the pipe and the chains quickly wrapped themselves around my body, trapping my legs, arms, wings and even my tail. The chains lifted me into the air and spread apart my limbs so that it was harder for me to struggle, causing the blood from my chest wound to drip lightly on the concrete below. I felt the dark metal’s touch burn against my skin and there was a little bit of steam issuing from where each chain touched my body.

The figure in the middle walked towards me and drew out a jagged dagger, its hilt decorated with needles jewels and designs.

“We call upon the powers of darkness,” the human whispered, drawing nearer and nearer to my body, “so we may vanquish our foes and dine on your powers.”

The human raised the blade high and ran it into my chest. It shattered against my armour and the human took several steps backward.

“Never mind the sacrifice. Let’s take it to Her,” ordered the human and the chains around me suddenly became tighter against my body. I roared in anger and the chains snapped, freeing me and startling the shadowmancers enough that they took several steps backwards.

I felt a powerful energy build up within me, just like before, and the pain in my left arm dissipated as did the pain in my chest. I pointed the metal pipe in my hand at the shadowmancers and noticed that several red runes had suddenly engraved themselves into the rod.

I swung my weapon in front of me and a wave of fire came forth, throwing the mages off their feet. I suddenly felt drained and had to lean against the wall for support.

So, my combat magic hadn’t left me after all, I thought, it just took a different form.

I swung the pipe at the gate behind me and it melted through the metal easily. As I ran through the opening I had made I felt the pain come back and this time it returned with company. An agonising force rammed through my skull and I nearly fell to the ground again.

I made it out of the alleyway and to the other side the street but before I could go any further a bolt of energy came from behind me and struck a nearby lamppost, blasting it to dust. The shadowmancers from earlier where making their way towards me. I swung the pipe again but no energy wave came out. Instead the pipe started to vibrate and the runes on its surface began to glow violently.

I threw it towards the shadowmancers and it exploded, sending all four of us flying backwards. I hit a car and sent it spiralling into another before it came to an abrupt stop. I got up and ran across the street, into another alleyway, aware that the mages were right on my tail.

***

Sam drove through the rain and headed for a shop near her apartment building. She had just finished paying for her items when a huge explosion rattled the store windows and she saw smoke begin rise a few miles east of her. Sam left the shop, activating the glyph on her phone then putting it to her ear, and entered the street while it rang.

“Sam? What’s going on?”

“Archie I’m going to need you to check I there has been any sudden magical outburst near my location.”

“Yeah, a massive one a few streets from your position, I’ll send you the details in a moment. What happened?”

“I want all scans of the area leading up to the explosion then I want you to call Barry,” said Sam, “and make sure he gets home safe.”

Sam then hung up her phone then hopped into her car and drove towards the smoke.

*

Barry was already on his way there. He had just been crossing the road a few streets over when he had felt the magical pulse realised when the mystically engraved pipe had exploded. Barry had run as fast as his small cat legs could carrying him though the rain and he arrived at the scene a few moments before Sam. He saw her car stop just in front of the crowd of people gathered around there and together they ran through the adjacent alleyway, emerging onto the next street which didn’t have anybody there.

“So, what are we after?” asked Barry, hopping onto Sam’s shoulder but she brushed him off and continued down the alleyway until she found what she was looking for.

“Archie sent me a thermal scan of the area a couple of minutes before the explosion,” Sam explained, “and it said that this alleyway lit up like a Christmas tree, showing readings up to two thousand degrees’ kelvin.”

“In regular speak please.”

“The alley was suddenly hot enough to melt steel. See for yourself.”

The bricks on the floor were scorched and there was a large hole in the fence dividing the alley into two sections, it looked like it had been hit with a welding torch.

“Sam,” said Barry behind her, “We’ve got a problem.”
“What?” she asked as she turn around. She saw that Barry’s fur was standing on end and that his silver collar was pulsing with white light.

“Shadowmancers,” hissed the black tabby, “not many, maybe three at most. This place stinks of dark magic, smells like they had a fight with something big.”

“Yeah,” said Sam, kneeling by several drops of blood on the street, “but who won?”

***

I ran faster and faster, ignoring the pain in my side and in my arm while using my tail to continue to slow the bleeding around my chest. I soon found myself in front of a huge building. It looked abandoned so I headed for it but when I approached the doors I found that it was locked. I tried to break in but no matter how hard I bashed by right shoulder into it door wold not budge.

I then used a different tactic, this time placing my hand against the door handle and concentrating. I heard a clicking sound and the door swung open. I ran inside and slammed the door closed but I couldn’t lock it again, another reminder that my magic was spiralling out of my control, so instead I heaved a nearby yellow cart to the door and tipped it over to block the entrance. There were several flights of stairs above me so I began to climb, all the while my wounds kept on bleeding, leaving small drops of blood against the staircase.

I had just made it to the next floor when I heard a loud bang from below. The shadowmancers were inside. I heaved my uninjured shoulder against the door and it gave way into a long damp hallway. As I leaned against the wall I heard something *click* and the huge corridor brightened so I could see the door at the other end. Another bang echoed through the corridor just as I reached the door and I turned to see all three of the shadowmancers standing in the hallway, their hands crackling with black and purple energy.

“Get it!” the leader yelled and they all fired energy blasts at me.

I smashed through the door but in my hurry, I tripped, bouncing off the banister on the stairs and fell down a metal staircase until I was on the ground floor again. I heaved myself to my feet, noticing that I had entered a large room with oddly shaped cars. I tried to run away from the shadowmancers but, as luck would have it, that was the time when my legs reached their limit and I crashed to the floor. The dark mages walked through the door and encircled me, one of them flipped me onto my back with their foot.

“What are you?” they asked, pulling off my hood, “You’re not any kind of Guardian I’ve ever seen.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said the hood I believed to be the leader, “He’s going to die either way.”

They all raised their hands, fists full of their dark magical energy, but before they could do anything a large grey shape came out from the shadows and ploughed into them, knocking the shadowmancers off their feet.

The creature landed on the ground then skidded to a halt. I had lost so much blood that my vision had become blurry but from what I could tell the creature seemed to fire a bright light from its mouth which struck one of the shadowmancers and it seemed like the blast had incinerated them. The others yelled out something at the creature then disappeared into the shadows. The creature then turned towards me and ran to my side.

“Are you okay?” it asked, its voice sounding like it was coming from far away, “Damn, what did they do to you? Just hang on, help is on the way.”

Then my world went dark.

***

Sam and Barry sat quietly in the car as they drove home, the latter curled up on the passenger’s seat.

“So,” said Barry, “What do we do now?”

“We’ve done all we can,” said Sam, “You’re back on probation so we have to stick to the rules for the next couple of days until things calm down. The GSA will send someone to look into the bombing.”

“Which has magical origins, which they only know thanks to us.”

“Regardless, we’re playing it safe. Report in any strange activities then await further instructions. We were ordered to stand down and that’s what we’re doing.”

They drove into the apartment building’s underground parking and Barry’s fur stood on end and he yelled, “Sam watch out!”

Sam came to a screeching halt then Barry used magic to open the door and hopped out.

“What was that about?” asked Sam, following her partner out the car, “I could’ve injured somebody- oh my god!”

There was a bloody pile of rags and clothing laying on the floor just in front of them. They watched as the pile seemed to slowly move up and down as if it were breathing.

“What is it?” asked Barry, his fur standing up again, “He smells like shadow magic.”
“Those shadowmancers probably thought the tramp was fair game and attacked him,” said Sam bitterly.

“If they hit him with dark magic,” began Barry, “this bloke could be in a lot of trouble.”

“Agreed,” said Sam, “Shift into your full form and help me get him to the lifts.”

Barry did what she asked and they heaved the man towards the lifts. While they waited for the lift to arrive, Sam parked her car just by the entrance then got into the lift with Barry and the tramp, travelling up to Sam’s apartment on the third floor. They walked to their door and Sam unlocked it before dispelling some of the protective wards on her apartment so they could enter.

Barry helped the tramp to the living room and laid him down on the ground, using the cushions from the couch to serve as a makeshift bed. Sam had gone into the kitchen to grab the first aid kit and some blankets from the kitchen cupboard. When she came back into the area that served as the living room Barry had already moved the rest of the furniture out of their way so they could work on helping the tramp.

“Help me take of his jacket,” said Sam, “I need to inspect the wounds.”

Barry nodded and unsheathed his claws so he could cut through the jacket but when they sliced through the fabric both human and guardian recoiled in shock. The tramp had a thick tail wrapped around his torso, a little blood was seeping through. His entire body was covered in grey scales and he had two large wings tucked tightly onto his back. Most the tramp’s scaled body was a light grey, like cobblestone, but most of his chest and the underside of his tail were a lighter grey colour whilst the ridges along his spine were a very dark grey, all along to the pointed barb on his tail. He had on what looked like iron armour and a battle kilt but both were severely damaged and the chest plate had huge gaps in certain areas. When Barry moved the tail out of the way they found a large, bloody blotch the size of an orange on the wrappings around the lower torso. As they stared as the wound the armour begun to slowly repair itself, closing the openings and blocking Sam’s path to the wounds.

“We need to get this off him,” said Sam quickly and she begun undoing the straps on the reptilian’s side, “Come on Barry!”

“Right,” the cat said and he helped Sam remove the chest plate, the greaves that were on the creature’s legs and the bands on his arms. They also removed the different items of clothing wrapped around the creature’s wounds and nearly recoiled at the sight of the gaping chest wound that met them. Holding her breath, Sam then administered some disinfectant onto the wounds before wrapping them with thick bandages while Barry moved some furniture so he could spread out the creature’s wings and applied the little bit of healing magic he knew to the rips in the membrane. The reptile groaned a bit while they worked and one of its eyes flickered open for a moment, revealing an amber iris with slit pupils. The eye seemed unfocused and dazed, not even glancing at the two strangers before closing again.

“Barry,” said Sam, her cheeks turning a bit red, “I’m going to need you to change him out of the rest of his armour.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re a boy, you prick. We need to get him out of any wet clothing before he gets hypothermia.”

Barry grumbled and Sam left the room while he did as he was asked. She went into the kitchen and went to the cupboard below the sink to get out a small black box, bound with two yellow ribbons, from its place hidden in between the pipes. Sam took the box and a small bowl of hot water to the living room where Barry had used a large blanket to cover up the reptilian’s lower body. Sam set the box down on the table next to them, undid the ribbons, then used her magic to Unseal it and the lid opened with a *click*.

There were several small pouches of herbs resembling teabags inside the box. Sam took out one that was full of small orange leaf clippings and dunked the bag in the bowl which frothed over and turned red. When the reptile smelled the potion’s fumes it tried to move away but Barry held the scaly head still, not blaming him because the potion smelled foul.

“Do you think the wound is that bad?” asked Barry, “I mean the worst thing is the gaping chest wound and we don’t even know if the weapon was cursed or not.”

Sam said nothing and begun to chant. Barry wasn’t as versed in the old language but he recognised a few words like purge and expel. While Sam chanted over the bowl Barry tilted the reptile’s head so that they could administer the potion when Sam was done. As Sam finished the spell Barry poured the potion into the reptile’s throat, coaxing him to swallow every last drop. The reptile then went limp and Sam took the box back to its hiding place while Barry gathered the clothes and put them in the bin before he took the pieces of the reptile’s armour to put them into a small tub outside on the balcony to be cleaned in the morning. Barry and Sam then went to their respective rooms, both exhausted from a long night.