Hunting Death- Sick Fey
#23 of Hunting Death
And here we have the second break of perspective where instead of Mige's perspective we get Rophan's, partly to give a new way to see how the group dynamic is as well as advance the story in a more natural manner when the main character is currently indisposed.
Sick Fey
From Rophan's Journal:
So get this. The Fey I have been travelling with finally let me travel with them. I guess I managed to finally pass their test. I was getting concerned by how often they kept knocking me out and leaving. But I'm sure they have a reason, probably to test how good my tracking skills are and how devoted I am to persevering. They kept claiming to not trust me but that has to be a lie. After all, what would a Fey have to fear from me? On top of that they seemed to trust that human I found them with well enough and we all know how well humans can be trusted. That cat lady seems to be paying the bills so I guess she sort of gets a pass. But unfortunately, the Fey seemed to be getting sicker every moment once we had left the town. I half wonder if they forgot something in town or ate something bad. But they had that special necklace thing they showed me so that couldn't be it. Yet they kept going and not trying to hold us all back, despite it being clear to everyone that something is going on. They even did their best to help fight off some bandits despite their condition. Unfortunately, I didn't do a good enough job at paying attention to my combat lessons when I was growing up and seeing so many I panicked and hid.
Just when all seemed lost a couple of mercs showed up and ended things quickly. We were apparently being used as bait for these two, but if that was the case why did they decide to wait so long to come to our aid. When using bait on a fish, you don't wait until the fish has already half eaten all your bait before trying to reel it in. And then to top it all off after putting us through all of that they have the audacity to decide that they're going to come along with us to the next town. Which is rude to say the least. But considering the Fey is not in the best of shape at the moment and we might run into similar resistance down the road I can't really complain for having someone else to help protect our most valuable charge. A few hours later the Fey collapsed from a fever. While I rushed to go and get some water to help cool him down one of the two mercs had apparently cast a spell and found that the reason for the Fey's sickness was that a magic parasite was drinking them dry. And everyone knows that magical creatures like Fey don't do so well without their magic to sustain them. It didn't take much for us to capture that parasite and just when we were trying to decide whether it would be better to just kill it off the Fey does something extraordinary.
If they were one of those deplorable Draaknei I would not be surprised if they would fake such a condition for the sole sake of getting someone killed. They are creatures of evil like that. Anything in Gerhart's name. And yet this Fey, who might have been almost on death's door if we hadn't found the parasite as fast as we did, showed compassion. Barely able to walk, barely able to keep his head off the ground still tried everything he could to try and save the parasite's life. Thus is how great my Fey companion is and all the more enthralling to just what all my destiny will lead to following such a noble creature. Naturally given the extent they went to it was agreed that for now at least the parasite would be allowed to live.
For the time being it was decided that at least for the moment the parasite would live and so that human mage went about binding it up in a spell that not even it could escape from. Then came the even larger debate about what to do about the Fey. I personally was of the opinion that it was best if we simply stayed and rested for a few days until they were well enough to continue on their own power, but most of the rest of the group did not like the idea. Not only would it delay what was apparently an important mission but it would leave us in a very vulnerable location for who knows how long of a time. The goblin was of the idea that it may be simply easier to put them out of their misery. Thankfully everyone else seemed to be against that idea but I have to make sure that I watch that goblin closely, he may be one of Gerhart's. Thankfully the fey woke up just enough to lay to rest the question on if it was okay to move them. After making sure that the parasite was in fact still alive they admitted that the sickness wasn't going to kill them and that they'll be better eventually. With that we decided to simply create a means to carry them with us.
We found a way to bind the parasite so that it couldn't get away as we travelled and had constructed a sort of makeshift sled to be pulled by the horses with the supplies. Naturally the Fey being a somewhat proud creature kept trying to get out of the sled so eventually we had to bind him into it so that he couldn't get out. I was against such actions of course and under stern protest they made it so that the bindings could easily be broken from someone healthy enough to move without half passing out, which I had to concede. The moment my companion is strong enough that the bindings wouldn't be necessary they'll be strong enough to just break through them.
Thankfully we don't run into any more bandits along the way, though I don't know how much of that is because we're too far from town or that the goblin and mage are doing something underhanded. Either way I don't like it. But it does let our precious Fey recover. I'll admit to taking on the personal role of watching over Mige as often as possible, even going so far as to grab that special amulet and holding it over any food that we give him and it doesn't do anything. I am half concerned it isn't working right but one of the few lucid moments from them they say that it would take into consideration their current condition, which is definitely useful. Would be nice if they were to make one for all of us. I do note that he seems to have also copied my translation stone, which brings me no end of pride that he found something in my possession useful enough to make one himself. They aren't always lucid, though. Whenever they aren't lucid but awake they tend to ramble on in a language of gibberish, or at least neither my stone nor the one they created seem to be making anything of it.
The human mage seemed to like trying to use these moments of whatever to try and interrogate him. Particularly they seemed interested in the scythe. They're nothing but thieves, that's what they are. Considering they went through the process of using us as bait for those bandits I would not be surprised if it ends up that they set that parasite on them as well. In any event each time that mage comes by I've started just immediately shooing them away. The last thing the glorious Fey needs while trying to recover is someone pestering them all the time. At any rate, I'll let you know what happens after we get to this next town.