A Brace of Beasts

[Avin]

My brows rose as I heard and considered what he said. So he was here, healing and doing what he could to help these village people, who struggled against some other adversary. Head tilting slightly I blinked a few times, my eyes moving from the Erik man to the girl he had just finished assisting.

Small and slight she could not be older than seven or eight years. Her wild hair with leaves and grasses tucked within spoke of her nature as a local girl. By the way she clutched to the man behind her, and the similarities between them I deduced he was her father, and he was a farmer or other seasonal labourer. A simple family, simple relationship. A tear in the back of her dress spoke of how large the injury had been that Erik had just healed with his abilities.

For a moment I simply stared between the humanoids around me. I thought of where I was going - namely back home to where my two masters lived. And I thought of my orders. They had been to go and quieten the guardian beast called Quetzalcoatl. That I had done, with help from others who had been in the vacinty, or likewise been sent.

So now ... Now I had nothing. I had completed what I had been sent to do. Nothing needed to hold me back. Neither Sabazios or Vindrexis had mentioned anything about what I might be able to do on the way back.

And they didn't know how long my journey home might take. Or if I had been (which I hadn't been but nevermind, I could have been) asked to stay with the villagers under the Quetzalcoatl's guardianship, and make sure all was well.

Thus, I huffed and my brow rose again. I nodded, grunting and thinking, "Why the hell not?" Better to prolong my return by another day and avoid whatever experiment my lord Vindrexis wanted to do on my body. I could imagine him now.

"Let's see how you cope with death by being hung, drawn and quartered." The thought made me consider if indeed I had guts. My experiences thus far had not allowed me to discover if they, alongside my heart, had withered to nothing. In that moment I considered taking one of my blades (likely my tanto, as the smallest) and slicing open my abdomen in curiosity. I realised though that doing such in a pub, with a small child before me, may not go favourably.

I might find out when I got back to the temple, my home of now. But I was going to remain here for now. I respected Vindrexis enough to return but not enough to hurry back.

"Yes," I said simply. "What beast? Where?"

I looked around at the people who stared at me oddly and grunted. I leant heavily on my Naginata and kept my eyes on Erik. I promised to myself I would go poking around in my body until I was finished with this new mission. I would not be useful to anyone if I was in pain and had a large whole in my body.