How Many People Does It Take…

(4 Ivastaen 5115: Ta’Illistim)

How Many People Does It Take To Help A Bardess?

“The only kind of luck I am having today is bad luck,” she thought. She glanced at her fractured and bleeding leg and her hand as she sat at the Hanging Gardens, snacking on acantha leaves like she had not eaten for days. The Teorainn Dale had not been good to her.

“I would rise to curtsy and greet you, too, Mister Kitagaen, but …” her voiced trailed off and she glanced at her bleeding leg.

Earlier …
She headed out alone with wizard magicks and her own songs wrapped tightly around her. She was confident she could do this, she had before after all. The hunter troll was the first thing to attack her. He succumbed quickly to her song, and lay in a helpless heap on the ground, where she quickly finished him off.

“This is a good start,” she said it aloud with a smile of satisfaction and headed further into the Teorainn Dale.

A scaly burgee was next to cross her path, and it, too, was quickly tossed down and disposed of. A hunter troll crept in, and she sang him a lullabye. He did not go down, but he looked a little more relaxed, so she struck. Before her second strike, another burgee had come along and with it those obnoxious hawk-owls. As soon as she could, she started to sing the lullabye to get the hawk-owl out of the air.

In that split second, the burgee managed a really lucky shot, and broke her hand and the hawk fly down and stunned her. Another burgee joined this gang while she was still stunned and one of them lashed out at her, breaking her leg. She wondered if she was a goner. She wondered what she would do if she was. Who was there in the Ta’Illistim area that even knew where she was?

But she was able to get up and limp back to town.

The rest of the story picks up here …

“Is anyone healing this evening, please?” she asked when she arrived at the dais. Hardly anyone was there, and none of them healers.

She sat down and waited, eating acantha leaf every few minutes to keep herself somewhat healthy.

Mister Kitagaen walked in and greeted her, checking on her magicks. He always did that, watching after her.

“I would rise to curtsy and greet you, too, Mister Kitagaen, but ….” her voiced trailed off and she glanced at her bleeding leg.

“That looks bad,” the wizard winced.

For a few moment they exchanged pleasantries about what had happened, and as she started chewing on more leaf, he looked thoughtfully at the bench that was piled high with potions, herbs, ingredients, and other things she could not even begin to give a name to. Carefully he picked one up and handed it to her.

“Eat this,” he told her quietly.

She tried to protest, saying she preferred a healer.

“Don’t we all?” he grinned at her, and then looked around. His meaning was clear. There was nobody healing.

Before he had finished getting her wounds healed, she was pretty sure she had eaten half a dozen horrible tasting different things, and they had made a trip to the local apothecary. Some of those remedies she had to take a couple times.

When she was all healed up, he offered to go with her and help with some revenge. So they set out, back to the Teorainn Dale.

It was going so well, and so quickly because the wizard threw her opponents down with his sleep spell, and then made her move so fast. Her head felt numb, and had for a couple opponents.

“This should be the last one, Mister Kitagaen,” she was pretty confident about that.

That was when the three-toed tegu struck at her, connected, and poisoned her. Badly. She felt a fierce poison coursing through her veins.

“Bad poison,” was all she could manage to say as she flailed her arms in a panic.

The wizard quickly led her out of the fray as she grabbed some acantha leaf and tried to ascertain how bad it was going to be.

“Oh, really bad,” she groaned as she realized she would never even make it back to town. He made haste around her, then when the last of her leaf was gone, he handed her a bundle of his. Finally she felt like she had enough strength to get to town.

“There is nothing I can do about poison,” he told her quietly.

“If we hurry, I believe I can make it to town,” she nodded at him as he looked on in concern. With haste, she could outlast the poison until help could be found.

He ran with the bardess in tow back into town. She stepped onto the dais, in an utter panic. The wizard seemed practical and unflappable. Aetheri was there to greet her, which helped somewhat. But she had to gobble down more leaf real fast.

“I am going to owe you so much acantha leaf Mister Kitagaen,” she said gratefully.

“Don’t worry about it,” he told her.

Mister Kitagen kept haste on her as she ate more leaf and explained she was badly poisoned. And then Mister Payme, who was standing there watching everything, murmured  a spell softly and gestured at her as soon as he heard she was poisoned. Several times he cast a spell at her, when she felt her skin get healthier and the right color. Now she knew the poison was gone.

The bardess curtsied respectfully to Kitagaen and Payme, “Thank you both so very much.”

“Start carrying that leaf with ya,” Mister Payme offered her a bundle of acantha.

Both Mister Payme and Mister Kitagaen made sure she would refresh her supply of acantha.

“I will go buy some more, I promise,” she told everyone.

Kitagaen quietly told her, “Please do.”

Aetheri had already called for a healer and Miss Starrah arrived just in time to help heal up the rest of her injuries.

“You lived!” Mister Kitagaen told her with a grin.

She was very relieved about that, too! She stepped nearer to Aetheri with a sigh, and felt his warm embrace around her. Everything was all right now.

How many people does it take to rescue one hapless bardess anyway? Today, evidently it was a lot. Mister Kitagaen, twice. Mister Payme. Aetheri. Miss Starrah.

And if she does not resupply her Acantha Leaf, next time she may not be so lucky again…

Luck is in all a matter of  perspective. She did live through the experience.

Author: GSBardess

A young bardess named Luxelle is currently learning her trade and hoping to one day make a name for her songs in GemStone IV. Follow along with her adventures in life and song.

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