(71) 2.24. Borrowed Time

Vin woke with a start, his heart racing as he sat up and took in his surroundings. He was surprised to find himself lying in one of the many beds dotting the sick bay within Madam Trebella’s manor. Looking around, he quickly spotted Alka and Scule’s unconscious forms, letting out a sigh of relief as he noticed the subtle movements in their chests that indicated they were still breathing.

“Ah. You’re awake.” 

Following the voice, Vin frowned as he spotted the familiar Xaril sitting in one of the far chairs, open book in hand. With a sigh, the infernal marked his spot and shut his book, getting up and brushing off his robe.

“Madam Trebella asked me to inform her once you’d regained consciousness,” Xaril explained, sounding bored out of his skull. “Don’t leave the sickbay. She’ll be with you shortly.”

Not waiting for so much as a nod of acknowledgement, the infernal strode out of the room, again not bothering to close the door behind him. Vin could only stare at the open doorway, trying to wrap his head around what the heck was going on.

“If we can’t find any way to put me to rest, I think I’m gonna haunt that guy for a few years,” Alka said, appearing beside him and giving him a tentative smile. “How do you feel?”

“Strangely enough, I feel… fine?” Vin felt at his chest with his hands, trying to figure out the strange sensation he was currently experiencing. He didn’t really feel good or bad, which was of course a distinct improvement over feeling like you were rapidly dying.

“Fine isn’t the right word… I’d say it’s more like I feel…”

“Nothing.”

Vin and Alka turned to see Madam Trebella standing in the doorway, watching them carefully. Closing the door behind her and doing something he couldn’t quite make out, the infernal walked over to his bed, standing at the foot of it and peering down at him.

“The sensation you’re trying to find a word for is the feeling of nothing,” she repeated, her eyes scanning over every trace of his body. “Which means the ritual was a success. Naturally, seeing as I’m the one that cast it.”

“What did you do?” Alka asked, frowning at the impassive infernal. The Slayer clearly wasn’t pleased with her friends being the focal point of an unknown ritual, but seeing as they appeared to be doing better, she couldn’t exactly be angry.

“I stole your future,” Madam Trebella said, as calmly as though stating she’d given him a cough drop. “...temporarily that is.”

“You what?!” Vin yelled, his eyes bulging. If Alka hadn’t looked just as shocked and confused as he felt, he would have thought he’d misheard the infernal.

“Oh, don’t get your undergarments in a twist,” Madam Trebella snapped, holding up a simple looking necklace. Hanging from a basic twine cord was one of the four gemstone shards from the recent ritual. However the once white gemstone was now a dark, cloudy black. Vin couldn’t help but stare at the living black storm within the gem, the dark energies seeming to swirl and thrum in complete chaos the longer he watched.

“This is the future I stole from you,” Madam Trebella explained, shaking the necklace and causing the energies within to swirl about even faster. “Don’t act like I took anything important. As you were so inclined on shouting earlier when you stormed into my manor, you were quite literally hours away from death. A rather bleak future if I do say so myself.”

“How can you just… take someone’s future?” Vin asked, still barely believing what he was hearing. If it wasn’t for the foreign sensation of absolute nothingness inside him, he probably wouldn’t have believed her. “I didn’t know magic was even capable of such a thing!”

“Maybe not your paltry magic, but I’m a bit more experienced than you, kid,” Madam Trebella said, rolling her eyes and tossing him the necklace. “There’s a reason Witches and Warlocks practice ritual magic. It may not be as convenient as regular magic, but it allows us to do things far beyond our level.”

“Of course you’re a Witch.” Vin could only shake his head, not even surprised by the revelation at this point. He’d seen far crazier things than Witches in his travels after all, so why not?

“Well, now that the pleasantries are out of the way and you’re no longer dying, it’s about time we had that chat I wanted earlier,” Madam Trebella said, staring at him like he was some strange pest she was trying to figure out. “You. Ghost. Leave us.”

“Like hell I’m leaving him alone with you,” Alka snorted, crossing her arms and floating a few feet higher off the ground until she was looking down at the infernal. “Whatever you want to ask him you’ll have to do with me here as well.”

“Do you honestly think I’m afraid of a ghost of all things?” Madam Trebella drawled, staring at Alka like she was stupid. “Even if I can’t destroy that strange anchor you’re bound to, I could trap your spirit inside a doll and chuck you in a closet for the next few decades. How does that sound?”

Alka’s bravado faltered, and Vin witnessed the rare sight of fear flickering across the Slayer’s face as she realized her bluff had been called.

“Alka, I’m fine,” Vin said, not wanting the ghost to make an enemy of any powerful Witches that could actually harm her. “Why don’t you go check out the manor for a bit? Make sure we’re not in any danger?”

“Fine,” Alka frowned, turning and drifting through the closed door. Slipping her head back through, she glared at the infernal one last time. “If anything happens to Vin or the others, I’ll find a way to kill you if it’s the last thing I do. Witch or no Witch.”

“Yeah yeah, go annoy Xaril or something,” Madam Trebella said, not even bothering to look at her. The infernal waited to ensure Alka was truly gone before turning her full attention to Vin.

“First things first.” Reaching into her robe sleeve, she pulled out a small bell that looked to be made out of copper or something similar. As she placed it at the foot of the bed, Vin realized he could faintly detect some strange sort of magic he’d never felt before radiating from the bell.

“This is a Bell of Truths. A charm I created that I like to use whenever I think my apprentices are trying to sneak something past me. You and I will take turns asking the other questions, and if either of us lies, the bell will chime. I want you to understand that while the bell won’t do anything other than detect the truth, every time you lie, I’ll shatter one of these three gems.” The infernal held up three more simple corded necklaces, and Vin immediately recognized the three gem shards hanging from each one as the gems that had to be tied to his friends’ futures. “I doubt I need to inform you how quickly they’ll perish after their futures are returned to them.”

“No, you don’t,” Vin growled, not the biggest fan of having his friends’ lives dangling over his head as collateral. “Why are we taking turns asking questions? Wouldn’t it be easier just to ask me whatever you want to know?”

“Ritual magic works better when there is give and take,” Madam Trebella explained, pulling up a chair and taking a seat at the foot of his bed. “While I probably could have made a charm that was one sided as you say, it wouldn’t have been nearly as effective. We’ll call that your first question by the way.”

“Why not,” Vin said, rolling his eyes. Goddamn Witches.

“Now, my first question is rather simple…” She paused, leaning forward and piercing him with her golden eyed stare. “How were you able to find this place?”

Vin blinked, not expecting such a straightforward question. “Uh… My friend Shia, that elf over there, told us to head in this direction before she passed out. I don’t actually know how she knew we’d find you here. We kind of just assumed it was because she’s a Druid and you live in a giant forest.”

“Her being a Druid wouldn’t bypass the ritual I have set up,” Madam Trebella frowned, squinting at him. “How-”

A soft but powerful chime erupted from the bell, and the infernal grit her teeth, clearly displeased. “Your turn,” she said, waving for him to ask something.

“This ritual of stillness you cast on us… how long is it going to last?”

“Assuming you don’t do anything to damage your physical form, about twenty four hours,” she explained, shrugging a bit. “If you go get yourself stabbed or anything like that? Far less.”

Damn… That’s not a lot of time. Vin wanted to ask about the other ritual Xaril had mentioned, but he understood he had to wait until it was his turn again.

“Regardless of how your friend knew we were here, how were you able to follow her directions in the first place?” Madam Trebella asked, wording her question carefully. “After dealing with that raving divine warrior, I set up a large-scale ritual around the entire town that should have prevented anyone from being able to simply walk in. In attempting to find us, you should have naturally found yourself wandering in a different direction, and the effect only would have grown stronger the closer you got. So my question is, how did you bypass my ritual?”

“Oh, is that what that was?” Vin couldn’t help but chuckle, happy to hear at the very least his brain hadn’t been melting after all. “I’m an Explorer. I have the Mental Map passive, so I always know exactly what direction I’m heading in. I noticed I kept veering off course on the way here like a drunk trying to find his way home, but I thought it was the radiation poisoning.”

“Hmm… I suppose that would work…” She muttered, tilting her head and rubbing one of her horns absentmindedly.

“The divine warrior you dealt with earlier. Did he have any sort of offensive divine magic?” Vin asked, doing his best to keep the excitement out of his voice. Now that they weren’t facing immediate death anymore, his focus had once again returned to trying to find a way to put Alka to rest.

“He had a sword that blazed like a setting sun, and I couldn’t detect any magic emanating from the blade, so I’d bet my favorite horn it was in fact divine magic,” Madam Trebella nodded, scowling at the memory. “Idiot barely said two words before declaring us evil abominations and trying to cut off my head. A good reminder of why we chose to live in the wilderness in the first place.”

“Which leads me to my final question,” she said, watching him carefully. “Do you or your friends harbor any ill intentions toward my people?”

“Definitely not!” Vin said quickly, his blood going cold as the bell let out a quiet, almost questioning chime. Seeing the frown on Madam Trebella’s face, he tried to explain. “I absolutely don’t have any ill intentions toward you, and I can say with confidence I don’t think Shia, Alka, or Reginald do either. Scule, however…” Vin paused, wondering how to word this in a way that wouldn’t get them all killed.

“Scule… The small man over there… He grew up in a holy citadel crawling with divine classes. I’d like to say he wouldn’t have any ill intentions toward your people either, but to be honest, I just don’t know. I can say however that in the little time I’ve known him, he’s proven himself to be a good man and risked his life to save ours on more than one occasion. Maybe just… Lock away anything particularly valuable when he wakes up.”

To his surprise, rather than pull out the necklaces and shatter them right in front of him, Madam Trebella actually chuckled at his explanation. Picking up the bell, she returned it to her robe, giving him a small smile.

“Your friend’s a Rogue, is he?”

“Yeah…” Vin nodded, wondering where she was going with this. “Is that good?”

“Not good per se, but in my experience, Rogues don’t often have the balls to do anything as extreme as attack a more powerful opponent. Meaning regardless of his feelings toward my people, your friend is harmless.”

“Well then, now that we've gotten all that unpleasant business out of the way, why don’t we talk about something a little bit more interesting,” Madam Trebella said, giving Vin a predatory grin that sent shivers down his spine.

Shia could learn a thing or two from the infernal about giving spooky smiles.

“The ritual of stillness was only a stopgap to buy you a little bit of time,” she continued. “None of you will get any worse, but neither will you get any better either. In order to actually heal you and your friends, I’ll need to cast a purification ritual, and I don’t currently have the materials on hand for such a casting. However, I know where you can get them.”

“Hold up, you want me to go gather the materials?” Vin asked, not sure he was hearing her correctly. “Aren’t I in something of a bad way right now?”

“Witches and Warlocks are powerful on their home turf with their prepared rituals, but significantly weaker on the move,” the infernal explained. “Normally we’d send our Gatherers to collect these reagents for us, however, nearly all of our high levelled Gatherers were away when the relocation happened, and the few we still have here are still inexperienced enough that I’m not willing to risk them just yet. Not for the lives of a few strangers I’ve only just met. If I send you however, either you survive and bring back the materials I need, or you die and aren’t my problem any more. It’s a win-win in my book.”

“Lucky you,” Vin muttered. As annoying as the Witch was, he had to admit the infernal had a point. They had just come barging onto her doorstep demanding that she use her powers to heal them. He supposed it was only fair that he shoulder the risk of gathering the materials needed to fuel the ritual. “Fine.”

“Tell me what you need.”