“Then shut up.”
They moved out from among the flowerbeds and onto the lawn in front of the manor.
“Seems quiet,” Rufus said.
“Use our summons now?” Farrah asked.
“We go quiet as we can until we find Anisa,” Rufus said. “We don’t want someone deciding to make her a hostage.”
Suddenly glass shattered as a person crashed through a second storey window. He landed hard on the ground, but immediately scrambled up and into a sprint. He was taken aback to find the four people looking at him, but didn’t pause as he ran.
“You think you can run from me?” a woman’s voice roared from the broken window, prompting a laugh from Gary.
“I don’t think we have to worry about someone taking her hostage,” he said.
Three spheres of bright light erupted from the broken window, spinning around each other as they pursued the fleeing man. He was bleeding from the broken glass and limping from the fall, but still moving faster than Jason could have managed. It still wasn’t enough to escape the accelerating spheres of light, flashing white and gold as they unerringly pursued him.
When they caught up, the spheres started spinning around the man, firing beams of light into his body. He let out a painful cry with every beam that lanced into his flesh, but he kept moving in the drive to escape. The orbs tenaciously followed his every movement, firing over and over until he dropped. His screams gave way to dead silence. The spheres vanished.
The group looked back to the broken window, in which a pretty blonde woman was now standing. She stepped out into the air, light glowing under her feet as she delicately drifted to the ground. She started walking across the lawn to meet them.
“Didn’t you all say she was the healer?” Jason asked.
“That’s right,” Rufus said.
“This lady here?” Jason said. “The one with the death orbs.”
“That’s her,” Farrah said.
“Suddenly I’m less enthused about subjecting myself to her ministrations.”
Anisa was slender, almost frail-looking, with platinum-blonde hair and pale skin. She was wearing a practical outfit of fitted pants and top, all in spotless white. Sturdy-looking cloth covered her from neck to boots, with thicker panels over vital areas. There was a belt, also white, with many small pouches and a sword at her hip. Even her boots were white, without so much as a blemishing smear of dirt. Her hair was cinched severely back into a ponytail, revealing ears that gently tapered to a point. She walked with lithe grace and absolute confidence, nodding her head in greeting.
“You got free as well,” she said, as if expecting no less. “Why is there a vagrant following you around?”
17
A Conservative Pillage
“Aren’t you the person that tried to get us out of the cages but got hit upside the head?” Anisa asked, giving Jason a second glance.
“That’s me,” Jason said.
Jason recognised Anisa’s voice from when they had all been locked up in cages. He recalled she hadn’t thought much of him, even then. She looked him over, her expression suggesting her opinion hadn’t improved.
“He’s lucky you were there,” she said to the others. “I hope you didn’t let him slow you down.”
“Actually, he rescued us,” Rufus said.
“I find that hard to believe,” Anisa said.
“It was something to see,” Gary said. “He’s taken a few too many blows to the head, though. We’ve been dumping potions into him, but only a couple of hours in the desert left him a wreck. Any chance you could throw a healing spell his way?”
Anisa turned her gaze back to Jason. With a reluctant grimace, she held a hand out in front of his face and recited a short chant.
“Let the life that has withered return to full bloom.”
“I think ‘withered’ might be a bit harsh,” Jason said.
A soft light started shining from under his skin. The perpetual ache in his head turned sharp, the now-familiar sense of magic healing, although the spell was far gentler than the potions he had consumed.
You have been affected by [Regenerate]
Your health will be restored over time.
An icon appeared in his vision relaying the remaining duration of the spell. The injury indicator in Jason’s vision was still yellow and orange, but over the half-minute duration of the spell, the health silhouette all cooled to a healthy green. His head had long been an overfilled balloon threatening to burst, until the healing magic deflated it to his great relief. He fell into a sitting position on the grass, letting out a long, satisfied breath.
“Thank you so much,” he said, letting himself fall back, arms splayed out. “I’m suddenly very sleepy. I don’t think being unconscious is actually very restful.”
“You can sleep after we’ve cleared this place out,” Rufus said, moving to stand over Jason. He held out a hand, which Jason gripped reluctantly, letting Rufus pull him to his feet.
“You found our gear, then,” Gary said, looking at Anisa.
Rufus, Farrah and Gary had changed clothes, but were still varying degrees of sweaty and dirty, while Anisa wasn’t just geared-up but also clean. Jason looked the worst of the lot. His shirt was sweaty and smeared with trail dust, while his pants could only be described as wretched.
“They have a storeroom in the cellar complex under the manor,” Anisa said. “Most of our equipment was there, but they’d already taken some of it away. Including the dimensional bags, which is why I didn’t bring it with me.”
“Let’s start there, then,” Rufus said. “They didn’t take my boots, did they?”
“Your boots are still there,” Anisa said, prompting relief on Rufus’s face.
“Summoning time?” Gary asked.
“Go ahead,” Rufus said.
“No,” Anisa countermanded. “Your summons are both too destructive. My church is seizing this estate, so I won’t let you destroy it.”
“Let the summons search the grounds,” Rufus said. “If that doesn’t flush out any hiding cultists, nothing will.”
“They’ll ruin the grounds,” Anisa said.
“Priestess,” Rufus said to Anisa, “you brought this contract to us, so I’m willing to accommodate you, but only to a degree. After what we’ve already gone through, I am not going to compromise the capabilities of this team to save your church from hiring a landscape gardener. Is that understood?”
Anisa’s face was a picture of unwillingness, but she nodded acquiescence.
“My dad’s a landscape architect,” Jason said. “I don’t think we could get him out here, though.”
“Alright,” Gary said. “We’ll just whip out the old summons and then pillage the manor.”
“You will not,” Anisa commanded.
“Come on, Rufus,” Gary said, not bothering to appeal to the elf. “What’s the point of being an adventurer if we can’t do a little looting?”
Rufus frowned.
“Any personal possessions you find, you can take,” Rufus said. “Anything that is part of the manor stays where it is. That’s furniture, decorations, art, whatever. And no unnecessary damage.”
He waved a finger between Gary and Farrah.
“This means you two,” he said.
Anisa still looked like she had a mouthful of lemon, but didn’t protest further.
“Fine,” Gary said. “It’ll be a conservative pillage.”
“Not helping,” Rufus said through clenched teeth. “Gary, Farrah, you’re staying out here. Use your summons to flush out any loose cultists.”
“But the loot,” Gary said.
“Maybe think about that next time you open your big mouth,” Rufus said.
“My mouth was closed,” Farrah complained, drawing a scolding look from Rufus.
“Fine,” she said.
“Just find any cultists still on the ground and pick up any who make a run for it,” Rufus said. “Anisa and I will sweep the manor, so you may get some people running out.”