Efrion had left the caravan with Landel on the context of getting help from the village which was still a considerable distance away from them, but without any wagon or carriage, they could easily cover a week's journey in a day.

  Whilst travelling they observed many destroyed carriages, wagons and lives lost – those that had been a victim of the same demonic forces that had ambushed Harwin and his party earlier.

  It was late in the evening of the next day that Efrion returned. Accompanying him were five captains, ten younglings and Iquaral — the ‘chief mage of the village'.

  Graftel was not amongst them, as he could have not left the village now that there had been a reported attack on one of their parties; this could have left the village open to a possible raid by the enemies who might have been hiding, rather awaiting for the opportunity of finding sword-saint absent.

  With the presence of the five captains, the caravan could not have been more secure.

  “Alisa, explain to me what kind of spells or treatment have you given to Gor till now.” Iquaral inquired before beginning the treatment himself.

  Alisa explained with the utmost detail.

  “Very good, you have used what I taught well. There is really no need to cast any more healing spells, but I will cast one just incase.” Iquaral began chanting an intermediate healing spell, his concentration and experience allowed him to even talk in between:

  “Where is the dismembered arm? Did you preserve it as I had taught?”

  “Unfortunately no, he was barely saved by myself. Lady Alisa was already quite busy using any offensive spells she could muster without collapsing, and on top of that she had to heal the wounded. You can see she is already past her limit.” Farelen answered in her stead.

  “Very well, but that is quite an unfortunate thing, if the arm had been preserved I could have performed an advanced healing spell to reattach it. He might have been to able to use it again after a few weeks.”

  Iquaral certainly was disappointed in Alisa, but he did not scold her in front of the others — fearing he would not have found any support there.

  As they were busy getting Harwin back to his senses, Farelen held a small meeting among the captains. He inquired about the latest developments that had occurred in the village, and regarding the absence of the scouts of Sarial around the edge of the forest and its outskirts:

  “So where were the younglings of Sarial? We were attacked, and almost our entire forces would have been annihilated if not for the presence of myself, Efrion and Landel; even between us if two were missing the whole caravan would have been massacred, so there better be a good excuse for such a conduct.” Farelen tried to speak calmly but it was clear he was trying to hold back his anger.

  “The village has been hit with another plague and this time it has affected one of the village elders —Lief who seem to have the initial symptoms. Iquaral has been busy trying to find a cure. Chief-commanded Graftel had ordered Sarial and his entire scouts to find another place for the whole village to move to incase that the plague can not be stopped in its initial phase." One of the captains explained and then another took over:

  "We are at our wits end in the village. The chief has locked himself in and has refused to eat anything at all. That is the only reason that there were no guards present. It was very difficult to even bring Iquaral here who refused multiple times as he wants to cure the elder as soon as possible, but the commander ordered him otherwise.”

  Farelen got up from the meeting and addressed everyone as he firmly placed his hand on the shoulder of Iquaral, who had always held Harwin in the lowest of regards:

  “I see. Then, we have arrived just in time. Saving Gor here is the most important thing that this village has to do right now, as it was by his help that we were able to find the cure of the plague or disease that has been haunting us for the past few decades. He is a key figure of the village now and must be treated with the utmost respect and care.”

  “Is what he is saying true, Alisa?” Iquaral anxiously looked towards Alisa who was almost ready to collapse — barely holding herself together.

  “Yes, this is the potion and information regarding the……….disease. It is……quite commonly found in the forests…..the alchemist at the city was able to brew it just in time before…..our eventual departure.” She spoke while pausing alot in between to catch her breath.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “So what was the name of th—” the firm hand on the shoulder of Iquaral got even more sturdy as to shut him up.

  “Lady Alisa, you should rest now, as we have everything under control. Iquaral will be able to figure out everything using the notes and by examining the potion itself. We are safe now, even if a thousand men attack us, so please sleep in that wagon for now. I will make sure Gor wakes up. Landel go guard around the wagon where the Lady Alisa will be resting,” Farelen spoke with great compassion as if speaking to his own daughter.

  Alisa followed the kind offer of Farelen, and with the help of Landel slept peacefully for the rest of the night.

  Iquaral observed the potion and read through the notes. He even did little squeaks of excitement like someone who had just found what they were looking for in the nick of time.

  One of the captains, Realaus, was a torturer in the royal army, and he made his way to the captured demon to make him talk — extract any form of information he could obtain.

  His methods were so sophisticated that it did not kill the target no matter what he did — no matter what he removed from their bodies and no matter how much he mutliated them. The screams were greatly muffled as he placed his hand firmly on his target’s mouth as he performed his job.

  It did not take more than an hour to completely break the demon who was now scared to death even at the sight of Realaus. It was a grotesque and horrid scene, but the other captains seemed to enjoy themselves while the younglings ignored it as if it was a necessity.

  His findings were:

  - The demon was from the northern part of the continent and he was not part of the group of bandits, but rather was a hired mercenary.

  - His contractor had not even once revealed himself. Infact, he did not even once order them directly, rather the group received letters through various men, different each time and the men who provided these letters themselves never interacted with the contractor either. It was a long chain of command and planning, with the mastermind an unknown assailant.

  Ofcourse under normal circumstances the words of a demon could have not been trusted, but due to the the method of the torturer, there were hardly any place left for false stories or lies. The once arrogant demon was not even able to make eye contact with anyone.

  In the morrow Farelen ordered all of them to resume their travel once it was a made clear that there will be no more attacks on them; it was only through the help of the captains and younglings who carefully scouted throughout the whole area — making sure to not leave even the smallest of stones left unturned.

  It was a perilous journey even though the distance was short, but they had to move carefully. Without the support of Sarial and his scouts, they were highly susceptible to any attacks especially since they were carrying two injured men with them.

  It was not until the late hours of night of the third day that they reached the village. Fortunately, there were no troubles on the road till the village — only a few hurdles for the carriages as they had followed a different path than before incase of a pursuit.

  Graftel received them and immediately ordered, much to Iquaral’s dismay, for the injured to be transported to Iquaral's house which was also his workstation — all so he could take better care of the wounded.

  Harwin was carefully carried by Farelen while Alisa was woken up Landel and led to the house of the village chief, even though she insisted on staying with Harwin.

  The rest of the night went by rather uneventful. Iquaral worked through the night — understanding the contents of the potion and also the notes that had been provided before testing it on the victims of the plague. It was certainly a great challenge at first, but once he performed various tests and matched his own research with the notes, he was able to completely understand it.

  It was in the early hours of the morning that he went to the chief’s house which was covered in a gloomy atmosphere, but he, none the less, made his way without any permission whatsoever. He was not stopped by any guards as well as he severely outranked them.

  “The cure for the plague has been brought-in by Gor and his party. I have completed all my tests, and I am sure this will be able to cure them. I even took the time to test it on an infected animal whose symptoms were suppressed and soon it began to recover almost immediately. It is truly a work of wonder, the creation of genius alchemist and could not have been made better by anyone else.”

  It was rare for Iquaral to appreciate someone else as he was quite arrogant and proud. This was the proof that the alchemist of the city of Neilwisk was extremely talented.

  “Is that true Alisa? Did you talk to this alchemist yourself?”

  The village chief asked his grand-daughter who was busy trying to feed her grandfather a meal after much persuasion.

  “Yes grandpa, he knew about all the symptoms and told us that there had been many records of such a disease before us. Infact, it is quite common for the people living in the forest for the past few centuries, but he also said that it can be planted by enemies.”

  Alisa wore a tiresome expression as she explained all details to her grandfather who listened very attentively. She was mainly tired due to the tedious travelling bit now, but had completely recovered from the magika exhaustion.

  "Who should I give it to first? I think the butcher's son should be the first."

  “Very well, I give you full permission to test it on my son before anyone else. It is my duty as the chief to be ready to sacrifice even my family if there is a chance to change the condition of my village....."

  This statement was rather rare from men in his position. Now all depended on the genius of the alchemist of whether the village would be able to be saved or not.