“Again, thank you” Sage said with a warm smile to the pretty cleric who held a smooth delicate hand to his forehead. Her fingers held a calm green glow that slowly and gently cleaned and healed his wound in minutes to what would have normally taken days.

“You are very talented, I can hardly even feel the spell” he admitted easily enough, remembering his own disastrous attempt at his own healing spell during his time with his master. Healing spells when done right were soothing and could gently knit even the deepest of wounds back together. But when done wrong the healing spells would often hurt more than the wound itself as it brought to mind as poring salt into an open wound before setting it on fire.

His attempt was enough to make him to reconsider learning any healing spells until his was more familiar with his own anatomy.

“I’ve had a lot of practice” She answered, beaming with an ill-concealed pride and a wide smile at his compliment.

“Now, how did you even get a wound like this in the first place?” she inquired ending her spell and pressed her thumb against his forehead to check to see that the spell had not accidentally left a scar.

Sage opened his mouth to tell her what had happened but hesitated for a brief second.

“Someone… pushed me from behind. And I hit my head against the wall” Sage answered reluctantly with only a half truth that only omitted the fact that he had been mugged. He didn’t like to lie and genuinely felt bad that he had done so to the kind adventurer that had came to his aid out of the kindness of her heart.

And yet, as bad as he felt for lying, he also felt relieved that he was not potentially bringing her into harm’s way.
“And did they even stop to apologise?” She asked gently but had a sour look on her face.

“I’m afraid not, I assume that they were in a bit of a hurry.” He replied with a tired smile that agreed that such a person was rude beyond all compare.

“The nerve of some people” The cleric complained before stepping back satisfied with her own handywork. “Well the wound has healed nicely” she commented sounding quite pleased with herself.

“Again, I cannot thank you enough” Sage repeated himself yet again feeling as though he could not say those same words near enough times to truly convey his gratitude.

“Just look after yourself okay” the Cleric admonished him and tapped her finger against his nose causing him to smile brightly and almost forget the fact that he had lied to her.

“I shall endeavour to do so” He promised. It was certainly something he would try to do and yet at the same time he could not help but feel like he was approaching a veritable beehive with a really short stick.

“Then I must be off, I told my companions I would only be gone for a short while” The cleric said while gathering her things back into a satchel. She had all kinds of medical aids that she had set aside in case she needed them but his wound had been easy enough to heal with just a single spell.

“Then I won’t keep you any longer” He said recalling that this woman had been one of the group of adventurers that he assumed would be venturing out to deal with any nearby Goblins that had been raiding the town for its supplies.

“Farewell” The healer answered waving her own hand as she set off to reunite with her companions.

“And you as well!” He called back waving his own hand in return as he turned around and closed his eyes and began to focus on what his Familiar was currently up too. The raven had no issue in tracking his assailant, his magic tome was quite unique and the man had made no attempt to conceal it within his cloak with any modicum of effort. Canen had actually cawed in disbelief, and Sage himself almost scoffed with the same sentiment.

Sage then began to slowly head in the same direction with a calm and sedate pace that allowed himself time to gauge the man and assess the situation. If it even looked like he was in way over his head then Sage would summon his book and be on his way, his curiosity be damned.

The man was certainly in a hurry to get somewhere, and he took an almost direct path towards an estate located on the outskirts of the town. The raven found a perch on a nearby rooftop that gave Sage an unobstructed view of the courtyard. Another man had come out from the estate to meet him and though they spoke to each other out of earshot of his familiar. It also did not mean what they were doing was also not completely obvious, as the thief exchanged his tome with the stranger for a tidy sum of money. Sage scoffed when he realised the amount given to the man was rather paltry in comparison to the enchantments that had been placed on the tome.

When the thief began to leave, Sage was torn as to who to follow, but ultimately chose to keep an eye on the estate, for they were the ones who were now in possession of his tome.

“So, what exactly is going on here?” The boy wondered inquisitively.

But then the situation turned strange, people began to gather into the courtyard of the estate wielding pitchforks and torches and it did not take a genius to figure out that they were Goblins.

Now that begged the question to what were they doing at this mysterious estate, and it also begged the question as to how did they even get this close to the town with such flimsy disguises. Sage wistfully turned around to face the street that the kind cleric had gone and wondered if he had done the right thing by not telling her the truth.

Probably not, but he was sure there was a life lesson to be learned here.

From what his raven saw, the two groups briefly communicated with each other before one of the men ran back into the estate and a woman came sauntering out moments later holding tightly onto the end of a leash that was …

“What?” Sage questioned in disbelief causing him to pause mid step.

Even his raven looked on in morbid fascination as attached to the wrong end of the lead was an elderly man who did not look like he had been having a good day, or even a good week. He appeared to have been beaten and battered quite extensively if the bruising was anything to go by. Curiously the dried blood on his lip was a deep dark blue in colour that suggested an ancestry that was not quite human.

But the man could have been a half leprechaun and half Unicorn for all Sage was concerned, because he was too busy wondering what kind of sick and twisted person would actively yank someone around with a leash.

“Are they slavers?” The young mage speculated. He could only assume that these people were going to sell this man to the Goblins to work as some kind of labourer. He started to doubt that was the case, if that were the case then why not a younger slave?

Sage was growing very uncomfortable, and once more he pondered just summoning his book and be done with the whole affair when the sight of that man bound like that just did not sit right with him.