“Aenge!”
The voice, even if it was no more than a whisper, immediately woke Aengellania up. The Age of Chaos had taught her to be a light sleeper.
An arm briefly passed over the bed searching for Améline, before Aengellania remembered that she was away from Barak-Drak. Her heart dipped for a moment, before she rolled over to look up at whoever had gotten into her room.
It was the Apothecary. The spectre was hovering a foot over her bed, swaying in a smooth if irregular rhythm. Her skull showed no expression, but she was rubbing the flat of her blades together, producing a metallic scraping sound. Aengellania knew the Apothecary well enough to know that she was scared.
“What’s wrong?” Aengellania asked, as she propped herself up on an elbow.
“It’s Sadet.” the Apothecary answered quickly, her voice straining to communicate her fear through her perpetual whisper.
“Have they hurt y-”
“No! But they’re angry. They’re tearing up papers and throwing them all over the place. Shouting about all kinds of things! I tried to calm them down, but they didn’t listen and swiped at me.”
The Apothecary stopped rubbing her blades together to hug herself.
“I had to get help! I knew you’d be sleeping, but you’re the only person I could think of. ‘Aenge can help’, I thought. ‘She can help Sadet like she helps…’.” her frantic babbling trailed off.
“You. I know.”
Aengellania had already been collecting her tools while the Apothecary talked. Some aetherquartz, and her bowl. She didn’t bother changing out of her night-robes or doing up her hair. She could tell from the Apothecary’s agitation that time was of the essence.
“Where is Sadet?”
“Locked up in their room. They took precautions. But you have to hurry! They might hurt themselves, or someone else if they open the door!”
The Apothecary glanced up at the roof.
“I-I don’t know how to get you to their room. I didn’t think that far ahead, I just floated through the walls until I got to you.”
“It’s fine, Apothecary. That won’t be a problem.”
Aengellania walked up to the Apothecary until she was just a few steps away.
“Can you keep a secret about me?”
The Apothecary’s eye sockets dart back to Aengellania, and she nods.
“Of course.”
The Cathallar lifts up a hand and gently touches a finger to the Apothecary’s arm. Her translucent glow spreads to that finger, up Aengellania’s arm and spreads out across her body, until the Apothecary can see the metal wall behind her.
Aengellania gently takes the surprised Apothecary’s arm in her own and looks up to the roof.
“Now, take me to Sadet.”
They made their way through the steel walls and pipes that made up the Skyport, and darted over pools of bilge water. The Apothecary finally stopped before a wall. What were the sounds coming from the other side…?
“They’re in there.” the Apothecary whispers. “I told them that I’d be getting you, but I don’t know if they heard me.”
“That won’t be a problem, Apothecary. Wait outside, I’ll take it from here.”
She smiled reassuringly at the spectre, then walked through the wall.
“Sadet? I heard that you needed-”
There was a rush of air. If Aengellania hadn’t been incorporeal, Sadet would have taken her throat out with their claws.
“-Help.” she finishes.
The vampire was in a bad way. Aengellania recognised the signs; pupils so dilated their eyes were mostly red and white, teeth grown past the lips, and an animal keening escaping their throat.
Blood withdrawal exacerbating existing stress, Aengellania reckons. This will require delicacy.
“Sadet, if you can listen to me-“
The claws pass through her form again.
“Very carefully and focus on my voice, then we can stop you doing something…”
Sadet draws back when they see their physical assault fails. Their fingers begin moving in subtle weaving motions.
“You’ll regret…” Aengellania finishes, her voice trailing off as her witch-eyes notice the coalescing of magic around them.
The arcane bolt is barely deflected by a mystic shield of dazzling light.
Sadet hisses and furiously blinks the afterimage out of their eyes, and Aengellania seizes the moment to try to reach to them again.
“Sadet, I know you’re not feeling well, but we both know that you don’t want to hurt anyone.”
Sadet shakes their head and growls again, but it’s a low instinctual noise rather than a threat. They rock back onto their haunches, and wraps their arms around their knees. Aengellania risks shedding her ethereal form and regains her corporeality. Sadet’s eyes focus on her, still animalistic but wary.
“Now, how do you feel?”
Sadet rocks back and forth on their heels, breath whistling through a tight throat. Aengellania could see their fury slowly drain out of their eyes, but there were still shivers all over their body as they tried to hold their bloodlust at bay.
“Hungry.” they growl, “And I want to find a deep cave and hide there.”
“How so?”
“There’s a lot of people in Barak-Drak. Lots of people who depe…”
Sadet’s voice trails off as they cock their head to the side, listening to another sound. Aengellania was about to ask them what they’d heard when the sound reached her ears too.
The scraping of the hatch being opened. The metallic sound ignites a red glow in Sadet’s eyes, demolishing the progress Aengellania had made.
Aengellania was about to shout a warning when the door was flung open, revealing a Runefather.
“What’s all this shouting?!” Barlimn yelled as he strolled in, “Is anyone hu- Grimnir’s beard!”
Before either the Fyreslayer or Aengellania could react, Sadet leapt at him. Barlimn caught their wrists just in time before their claws could rip into his flesh. Muscles swollen by raising magmadroths held against Soulblight might, and held. Only just.
“Don’t hurt Sadet! They’re not in control of their actions!” Aengellania shouted, while fumbling through her pack, frantically searching for an empty aetherquartz.
“So’s a magmadroth when it gets food-poisoning, doesn’t mean it can’t swallow an anvil! Get this zangunaz off me!” Barlimn roared back, sweat beading his hair as fangs snapped inches from his face.
There’s a chill at Aengellania’s back, and she turns around to find the Apothecary hovering behind her. The spectre was staring at the violence before her, blades covering her mouth as she watched on in horror.
Seeing the blades gave Aengellania an idea. A horrible idea she didn’t want to have to suggest to the Apothecary, but there might be no other recourse.
“Apothecary, does Sadet have any blood in their room or anything sharp?”
The Apothecary tore her attention away from Sadet and shook her head at the Cathallar.
“N-no, otherwise they wouldn’t be in this st-“
The Apothecary stopped and glanced down at her hands then back up at Aengellania, voice expressing the distress her face couldn’t as she realised what the aelf’s intention was.
“Aenge! I can’t cut you!”
“Don’t think of it like that.”
Aengellania reached up and brought a hand to one of her blades.
“Think of it like helping Sadet. Just one small incision, and we’ll be able to calm them down.”
The Apothecary floats backwards, threatening to disappear into the metal wall.
“I don’t want to…”
“And I won’t force you to. But this could be the best way to stop Sadet from killing someone.”
The Apothecary looks back up at Sadet. Guilt sparks in Aengellania, seeing her agonise like this.
Ultimately, it’s the Apothecary’s care to her friend that wins out over her fear. She extends an arm towards Aengellania, then looks away.
“J-just do it quickly.”
Aengellania bows her head, as her fingers finally grasp a charged aetherquartz crystal.
“Thank you. I promise that you won’t regret it.”
She lifts up her other hand, and runs the palm of it on the edge of her blade. Blood starts dripping onto the papers on the floor. Aengellania’s heart breaks a little, hearing the Apothecary’s whimpers.
Sadet’s head snaps to Aengellania, but before they can attack her the Cathallar raises up her aetherquartz and draws upon her magic. Her amethyst irises glow softly, as the crystal’s own light fades away.
“Sadet,” Aengellania whispers softly, despite seeming to speak normally. “Give me your burdens.”
The vampire hisses and lets go of Barlimn, but stops dead in their tracks. Their eyes remain intently fixed on Aengellania’s bleeding hand, but everywhere else their body relaxes as the Cathallar steals away their fury. They shake their head as if waking up from a dream.
“Aengellania, was anyone…?” Sadet begins, but is quickly silenced by a shake of the aelf’s head.
“No.”
Aengellania extends her bleeding hand towards Sadet, ignoring the grumbled complaints from Barlimn. Sadet’s eyes follow her.
“But right now, we both need you to properly calm down. If you don’t, you’ll only relapse when I take away my spell.”
Dazed, the vampire takes a step forward, then hesitates.
“You are awfully brave, putting yourself in this position.” Sadet murmurs, voice straining to stay purely observational and contain their hunger.
“I like to think that I’m just brave enough for others.” comes Aengellania’s reply. She keeps her voice from quavering, as she channels Sadet’s fury through herself into the aetherquartz.
Sadet hums a non-commital response, then takes Aengellania’s hand in theirs, brings it up to their mouth, and drinks.
Fighting down the faint-headedness of having her blood drained, Aengellania keeps up her spell upon Sadet, until she feels the vampire become more and more fulfilled. Slowly, she relaxes her magic as she feels more sure that Sadet could control themselves, until finally she lets go entirely.
Sadet releases Aengellania’s hand, leaving the Cathallar swaying and feeling numb.
“Soulbound blood.” they murmur through stiff lips. “Better than I had expected.”
Aengellania feels an arm thread under her shoulders, supporting her, then a hand holding a canteen appears in front of her. Sadet’s voice commands;
“Drink. It’s Aqua Ghyranis… Nothing else.”
The life in Aengellania’s body returns when the liquid in the canteen is drunk. Her light-headidness fades away as does the weakness in her body, and Sadet’s arm loosens as she regains the power to stand by herself. Aengellania still feels like lying down for a good few hours, but at least she is alive.
She turns around to look at Sadet properly. The vampire is moving slowly, smoothing down their clothes and purple and silver hair. It strikes Aengellania, in the way that insignificant details do after near-death experiences, that Sadet is dressed in oddly homely clothes. Comfortable cotton shirt and trousers, bordering on if not actually night dress. Then she remembers her purpose.
“I can stay if you still need me.” Aengellania offers, trying to sound as if she wouldn’t collapse in a stiff breeze.
Sadet’s eyes pierce straight through the aelf’s lie.
“Thank you, but I think it would be best if you had a rest now.” they say, absentmindedly wiping Aengellania’s blood off their lips. “Barlimn, could you help Mrs Anvil-“
“Tearworn.” Aengellania mumbles.
“- Miss Tearworn to the infirmary?” Sadet corrects themselves, not missing a beat. “And fetch Miss Anvil. I’d wager she’s already felt something go wrong, and is currently tearing through Barak-Drak trying to find Miss Tearworn.”
Aengellania sags, knowing that she can’t protest. When Barlimn looks up at her she gives him a nod, and he starts leading her away.
“But, Aengellania?” Sadet calls after them.
The Cathallar turns around.
“Yes?”
“Don’t think that what you did for me will be forgotten.”
Aengellania lingers, sensing that Sadet has more to say. The vampire shifts a little, hesistant to speak further, before their aloof manner drops a little.
“If there’s anything I can do, don’t hesitate to ask.”
Those last few words hang in the air, weighing all the more heavily for their absence. In Sadet’s eyes Aengellania can see only earnest sincerity, and more than a little fear.
Aengellania knows that dread well enough. It’s one that dogs her steps.
Power comes at a cost for some; the fear that with it, you’ll become a monster. The truly faultless don’t need to draw lines and promise they’ll never cross them.
“There’s some friends from Gehenna’s Rest that you can help me find.” Aengellania finally manages, breaking the silence. “I’ll give you their names and descriptions later.”
She lifts up an arm and points behind Sadet, trying not to shake with the effort.
“But right now, I think she needs you more than I.”
Sadet turns around, and when they see the Apothecary shrunk into a corner of the room rubbing her blades together immediately approaches her. As Barlimn leads her out of the room, Aengellania can hear them whisper to each other.
“You’ve been brave, Apothecary.”
“But I ran!”
“You came back. And besides, I would have asked you to do so if I was in the right frame of mind.”
The metal scraping of the Apothecary’s blade hands dies down.
“Really?”
There’s a pause, and Aengellania is able to catch one last snipped of the conversation, before Barlimn closes the door.
“Yes. I don’t want to hurt a frie-“
