Searching For A Cure

[Daelin]

Leaning heavily on his halberd Ryan stared at the dark edge of the Covian forest from his sentry post on the giant wooden walls that protected Cove.
It had already been a long day for him and the soft rhythmic clanking of the raindrops falling on his helmet was making it harder and harder to keep his eyes open.

Why did he go out that morning anyway? A dull itchy feeling coming from his left leg reminded him of that all too well.
Scratching his left leg Ryan muttered to himself to keep awake and stay alert but his eyes didn’t give into the soft dying muttering coming from Ryan’s mouth and he soon slumped down against the wall while a faint snore was emerging from under his helmet.


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Argrhh! Why won‘t that itching stop!? And can‘t ye do this a little faster?

Ryan tried to hide the grin that was slowly forming on his face as he carefully started to roll off the bandages covering the complaining woman’s arm

Ye know… I could do this ‘ere faster if ye stopped fidgetin‘ about and let meh do meh work ‘ere!

Looking upwards Ryan was greeted by the pouting face of watchman Kate as he kept unwrapping the bandages around her arm.
It had been more then three days now since that horrible rash started and no matter what kind of smelly ointments or foul tasting tonics they used it was only getting worse by the day.

The small rash that had started at Kate’s palms had worked its way up on her arms and it was now a painful looking deep red trail.
Seeing Kate’s arm in that state Ryan didn’t even want to think of what his own leg would look like, whenever the healers would apply their herbal ointments on the rash Ryan would close his eyes because the thought of seeing something like that would not only freak him out but probably make it more itchy too.

A soft dropping against his chest brought Ryan back from his stream of thoughts as he looked at Kate who was shifting around on her stool impatiently while tugging at the bandages on her own.

Why can‘t those healers find a cure for this already?! Its driving me nuts!
 
Sighing faintly Ryan nodded , it had been days now and the hope for the healers to find a cure for them was long since a distant dream.
The healers kept babbling on about how they might be able to find something in Moonglow but that only mages were allowed to study the ancient books in their great halls.

Ye know… we might ‘ave ‘ad a cure already if em ‘ealers were wytches.. Em bloodi Moonglow folk probably be sittin‘ on the cure as we speak.

Staring at Ryan for a while a small quirky grin spread across Kate’s face as she jumped out of the chair nearly knocking Ryan off his feet.

 That’s it! Ye wait here Ryan and I‘ll be right back!

Blankly Ryan stared at the excited young woman who had now slammed the door shut behind her and was making her way down the barrack stairs.
Shaking his head he made his way towards the stool which Kate up till recently occupied and slowly sat down while looking at his left leg which was begging to be scratched.

Sighing heavily Ryan finally gave into the itching after a few minutes while waiting for Kate and placed his hand near his leg to relieve himself of the horrible itch.
The second Ryan scratched the itchy rash on his leg the doors swung open and Kate burst in two fluffy looking robes in her arms.

E..err…. What the ‘ell might I ask be that fer..?

Looking down at the robes Kate flashed Ryan a cheeky grin as he tossed one towards him.

These things here are for getting into the Moonglow library and getting our cure!

Shoving the robe under his arm Ryan shrugged faintly. It wasn’t very likely that they would find a cure by themselves in Moonglow but he was desperate enough to try it.

After a few minutes of walking they reached the Moongate. The bright blue gate started to sizzle and pop as Ryan and Kate came closer to it.
Small blue energy lines started to lick at Ryan’s armour like a cold flame as he put his hand into the gate.

I never liked em things I tell ye… Always wonderin‘ when this ‘ere thin‘ is goin‘ to steal one of meh limbs.

Ryan could hear a faint giggle behind him followed by a sudden shove in his back forcing him to stumble inside the hissing gate and falling face forward on the grass in Moonglow.
As Ryan crawled up he felt Kate slam into his back while sneezing loudly.

Gahh! Would ye be careful damn ye! Ye already made meh fall down once!

The only reply he got from Kate were more sneezes and her shaking a fist towards him while covering her nose with her other hand.
Shaking his head Ryan turned towards the forest line and started scanning the surroundings , everything looked peaceful enough until Kate and Ryan were greeted by a hooded man running out of the thick forests towards them while trying to pull a mongbat off his head.

Aieeeeeeee!!! Somebody help meeeeee!!!

Chuckling to themselves Ryan and Kate both nodded to each other in agreement and drew their weapons.
A slice to the mongbats head by Kate’s blade and a slice to the chest of Ryan’s was all it took for the creature to give a final scream of agony and drop down on the floor as a lifeless heap of flesh.

Breathing heavily the hooded man stared down at the dead mongbat and raised his arms while squeaking a silly sounding victory cry.
 
 Phew! That dragon almost got me!! He would have eaten us alive!

Staring at the mongbat corpse once more and then looking back at the hooded man while still had his arms up in the air Ryan blinked.

D…dragon!? That’s nay dragon! That be a mongbat!

Slowly lowering his arms the hooded man turned towards Ryan and snorted loudly while taking a step towards him.

A mongbat!? A mongbat…!? You call that a mongbat!?

Staring towards the hooded man with a frustrated look Ryan rubbed his head and growled towards him while shaking his fist.

Aye!! That there be a mongbat! And nay dragon!

Putting a hand over his barely visible mouth the hooded man started to giggle like a little girl and shook a finger towards Ryan.

Maybe its what it IS! OR NOT! This is Moonglow my boy things are NOT what they are!



With a final giggle the hooded man walked back into the forests leaving the twitching and angry looking Ryan and confused looking Kate on their own again.
Clenching his fist Ryan stared towards the edge of the forest where the hooded man disappeared. Boy… Who was he calling a boy?! He was already twenty years old and he had proven himself a man over and over again.

The only thing that stopped Ryan from grabbing his sword and running after the slowly fading giggling from the forest was the reassuring hand Kate placed on his shoulder.

Forget about him.. He‘s probably just a local madman. Now hurry up and get changed so we can finally find something to get rid of this itch!
 
Bitterly muttering Ryan walked towards the nearest tree that would cover him and started pulling the robe over his head.
As soon as Ryan tried to pull the robe down his platemail arms the robe refused to stretch to allow the bulging platemail to be hidden under it.

Pulling the robe off his head again Ryan started to unhook the leather straps keeping the platemail wrapped around his arms.
As he slid the platemail arms off his body he painfully rubbed his shoulders. Why did they have to make those things so bloody heavy anyway?

Pulling the robe over his head and letting it slide down his body Ryan stared down at it with a shiver.

This ’ere be lookin’ silly…



As Ryan emerged from the cover of the old oak tree he could hear Kate giggle quietly at his appearance.
Muttering he waved a dismissive hand towards the giggling young woman and walked towards the edge of the forest.

Lets just get goin‘! If ye stay ‘ere gigglin‘ all day we‘ll never find a cure..

After a while of walking through the thick beautiful forest of Moonglow Ryan sighed relieved as they reached a small dirt road which seemed to be leading towards a giant wall in the distance.
Taking hold of Ryan’s hand and gently tugging it Kate pointed towards the walls in the distance.

Come on were almost there! Nay much longer now.

Both of them grinning widely towards each other they started to travel down the dirt road until the  hooded man from before jumped out of a bush next to the road and made a stop sign with his right hand at both of them.

Halt!! You!! Don‘t you move an inch boy! And you too lassy!

Twitching again and clenching his fist Ryan stared at the hooded man and hisses at him through closed teeth.

Nay ye again… What do ye want this ‘ere time?! Nay tell meh ye got another ‘’dragon‘’ after ye.

Chuckling to himself the hooded man shook his head and a grin could be seen from under the shadow of his hood.
Digging around in his pocket for a while the man pulled out a scroll and started reading from it while shooting a glance at Ryan and Kate from time to time.

As visitors of Moonglow it says in paragraph seven of article B forty-three that you are to pay seven hundred and twenty three coins a piece or otherwise you would be in violation of code twenty six of article seven A!

As the hooded figure rambled on about the codes and rules the only thing Ryan did was stare blankly between Kate and the man while rubbing his head.
He had absolutely no idea what the man was rambling on about but he didn’t like the sound of that seven hundred and twenty three coins a piece part.

Shaking her head Kate stepped towards the hooded man who was still busy rambling on about the contents of the scroll he was holding.

But we don‘t have to pay any kind of taxes since were both acolytes of the Lycaeum.

Raises a finger in the air the hooded man snorted as he looked at Kate.

Ahhaaa! But then you‘ll have to fill in form 5.64!

Nodding to himself the hooded man waved his arms around and a blue shimmering gate appeared in front of him.
Grinning towards Kate and Ryan he nodded towards them and motioned towards the gate.
Smiling Kate bowed down faintly towards the hooded man and pointed at the gate as well.

After you M‘lord.. Important people always go first.

Chuckling the hooded man stepped into the gate and disappeared with a loud crackle coming from the gate.
Nodding towards each other both Ryan and Kate had the same idea at that time.. Run! And don’t look back.

Both Ryan and Kate ran as fast as they could towards the large wall of the Lycaeum while hearing a loud scream of anger from behind them fill the air.
As Ryan looked over his shoulder for a moment he saw the hooded man burst out of his robe to reveal a hideous nine foot tall daemon which was now flying towards them at full speed.

As Ryan and Kate reached the safety of the walls they could hear the daemon curse at them in a strange tongue and finally disappearing in a cloud of smoke.



After Kate and Ryan finally caught their breath they moved towards the large building where old and young men alike were walking into or walking out of with busy steps.
As they entered the building Ryan couldn’t help but gasp , never in his life had he seen so many books at once.
The halls of the library seemed endless and the bookcases reached all the way to the high ceiling.

They must have looked through the books for hours on end since the sun outside had already hidden itself behind the horizon to make way for the moon which was now looking down at everyone from high up in the sky.

Rubbing his tired eyes Ryan groaned as he put another book aside.
He could have sworn he was seeing things because when he stopped rubbing his eyes he was greeted by the hairy face of a large gorilla looking directly at him.

Greetings there! I am the librarian.

Rubbing his eyes again to make sure he wasn’t imagining things Ryan stared at the gorilla with a blank look.

E..eh?! ‘’Ye‘’ are the librarian!?

Nodding the gorilla grabbed one of the books from a shelf near him and tossed it towards Ryan.

Indeed I am… Quite handy having four hands you know? Oh and… your probably looking for that.



Staring at the book for a while Ryan looked up from it again to thank the primate but he was already gone.
As he looked down at the book again he saw the picture of a old man with a wrinkled face looking back at him.
The name ‘’Hendrick Von Gluten’’ was written above the picture along with the title of master alchemist.

Nudging Kate with his boot Ryan held out the book with a tired green on his face.
As he handed the book to Kate he started to explain to her about the gorilla helping him with getting the book and how this Von Gluten fellow was a master alchemist who might be able to help , Kate just shook her head at the whole story and snapped the book shut.



I guess this Von Gluten fellow is our best shot… but the book said he is living in Britain now.. So…

Sighing Ryan nodded at Kate’s words he knew exactly what that meant , more travelling!

The way towards Britain was pretty dull for them both but they kept themselves busy with sharing a few stories of each other and at least they didn’t have any hooded daemons chasing them this time.

As they entered the city of Britain Kate took charge and led the way since she would know her way around here best , the only times Ryan had seen Britain was when it was under siege by the invading forces of Despise.
Kate stopped as they reached a rather old looking building with a rusty metal signpost out in front of it reading ‘’Britain public library’’.

As they searched through the limited amount of books in the library Ryan mumbled faintly to himself as he tossed another book over his shoulder.

Err… ye still remember the name of that there fellow? ‘Endrick or somethin‘..? If we can find ‘im ‘e might be able to tell us of a cure eh..? Sure beats the ‘eck out of searchin‘ em duty books over and over again!

So…. Might ‘ave a look at em wytches eh? Ye never know where ye can find yerself an alchemist.



Nodding Kate crawled up from the dusty wooden floor and led Ryan through the maze of narrow streets of Britain once again until they reached a large stone tower.
As they entered Kate started asking around about the alchemist Von Gluten but the wytches in the tower didn’t seem keen on answering the question of a woman.

After a few minutes of nagging from Kate the wytch finally gave up and told the alchemist Von Gluten was on an expedition in the lands of Ilshenar.



Going after this Von Gluten meant more travelling but they were finally getting close to the cure now and Ryan and Kate were not planning on giving up after having gone that whole way.

As they reached the lands of Ilshenar Ryan pulled the rope off and tossed it down on the ground with a grunt.
That thing was starting to boil him alive and there was no more reason to torture himself with it anymore.
They were once again greeted by more woods but with the help of a map of the local area they were able to find out that there was a local tavern near them and where there was a tavern there’s information.



As Ryan swung open the old tavern doors he and Kate were greeted by an silence throughout the tavern which seemed very out of place.
Glancing around Ryan yelled loudly if there was somebody there but the only reply he got was a deadly silence.

W..well.. Uhh… who knows maybe em went out of business eh..? Or maybe em be sleepin‘… ‘ow about we ‘ave a look upstairs?

Nodding Kate and Ryan made their way up the squeaking stairs and started to look through the bedrooms one by one.
All the bedrooms were as empty as the next except for the last. There wasn’t anyone there at first sight but there was a steaming pie standing on the dresser on the other side of the room.

W….what the ‘ell..? A pie over ‘ere..? Well… shame to let it go to waste.

Grinning widely Ryan walked towards the pie and picked it up but the second he took hold of it a loud voice bellowed throughout the room.

HANDS UP! Turn around slowly and nay funny stuff! Otherwise I can introduce you with one of my arrows.

Cursing quietly Ryan raised his hands but kept the pie in his hands. As he turned around slowly he was greeted by two hooded black clad figures aiming their bows at him.
Ryan wasn’t wearing his armour and if he attempted to even reach for his sword he would have two arrows stuck in his chest so he did the only thing that came to mind to him.
Ryan aimed the pie he was holding towards their leader and growled at him as loud as he could.

 Oi! Ye shoot and I‘ll pie yer boss! The choice is up to ye!
 
The boss of the group laughed sarcastically but his friend seemed to be taking the situation a whole lot more serious then him and quickly lowered his bow while yelling to his boss to do the same.

Not the pie! I haven‘t eaten in ages! J…just don‘t hurt it!

Ryan slowly made his way towards the door and kept the pie aimed towards the hooded men while motioning for Kate to get back.
As soon as he stood outside of the door Ryan tossed the pie towards the leader as hard as he could and shut the door behind him while running off with Kate towards the exit.



As they escaped the tavern Ryan and Kate ran towards the forest and fast as their legs could take them.
They finally stopped as they almost ran into a house standing on a rock and four pillars.

Staring up at the house while catching his breath Ryan raised a brow. Who would want to live up there? And for what reason?

W..well.. Uhh.. Ye first..?

Grinning nervously Ryan pointed up at the building. If there was some sort of wytch living up there he didn’t want to be turned into a mongbat first.
Shaking her head Kate started making her way up the ladder followed closely behind by Ryan.



As they made their way up they were greeted by a messy room which smelled faintly like meat stew.
After searching the scattered books on the floor they finally came up with something useful , a personal dairy of the man they were looking for Von Gluten but he was nowhere to be found.

Raises his arms and muttering in a frustrated way Ryan walked towards the bookshelf.

Goin‘ all this ‘ere way and ‘e‘s nay around!

Ahh ‘ell… I‘m takin‘ somethin‘ alon‘ with meh anyway! There might be somethin‘ useful around ‘ere.

Shoving a few random books under his arms Ryan grinned towards Kate. 




They might not have found the cure that day but there might be something in those books to help them along.. And if there wasn’t at least they knew who to look for this time.