Her Own Medicine
Dulce turned and looked at Ignacio’s nearly perfect body stretched out on the ground and felt guilty. She had allowed a man to take his own drug earlier, a drug that would have knocked her out, and here she had done something similar to her friend. Of course, she wasn’t planning to do anything to harm him, but it certainly wasn’t a great solution. She had not expected him to try to take her with him, something that once would have made her happy. Now, it was like the final twisting of a knife in her heart, a complete perversion of what she had once hoped to have with him.
After everything, she was not willing to drag out her misery beyond that night. So many of her friends and colleagues had been killed for no good reason. Nations rose and fell all the time, and humans were more than happy to use magic users for their own personal gain. But as soon as things started going wrong, magic users were always the first ones to blame. The steady decline of Ishtar was the rule, not the exception.
With a sigh, she moved back to Ignacio. He was definitely asleep now, and he had not even tried to shield himself, which meant that he had been totally focused on her.
“Foolish boy. You never let the mark get the upper hand. Didn’t you learn anything in all this time?” She smiled as she knelt down beside him. “Sleep well. I’m not about to let you be easy prey, and when you wake, you won’t need to feel guilty anymore because it will all be over.” Pulling his magics out of the pouch, Dulce prepared them. She walked in a circle around him, chanting the words he had taught her, and she felt the magic pull from his body. A part of her was jealous of the magic users who could control their abilities, but she didn’t let it distract her from putting up the barrier around him. Some seers could do more than just see the future; nearly all of them were capable of healing, but Dulce had never had any abilities beyond her visions. And those she had in far greater volumes than anyone else. Tapping on the area where the barrier was, the seer made certain he was protected before turning and walking down the trail to the place that she could only think of as her temporary prison. Knowing that he was safe, she felt there was no more left she could do for him.
Her fingers laced together behind her back as Dulce walked along the trail, humming. Unlike the last time she approached the place, this time she felt very much at peace. As she neared the structure, she turned to look back at the trail, her mind going back to the sleeping figure on the hill. Silently, Dulce wished him luck.
“We have been waiting for you.” The voice was low and menacing, but she didn’t feel compelled to turn to look at the man. When she didn’t seem to hear him, the guy growled the word, “Witch.”
Dulce turned, a huge smile on her face. “No, of all of the magic users, witch is the least accurate for a seer. We don’t have anything flashy, and I don’t think even the Unwashed want us to quit using our healing abilities.”
“Your lies and deceptions are done. Humans will no longer be charmed by your pretty face and sweet words, Dulce. They will learn about the horrors you have wrought in their name.”
“Horrors?” Dulce frowned. “You mean saving the Ishtar fleet from the Sumarian attack? Or maybe the time I offered myself to the Unwashed in exchange for the Prime Minister? Oh,” she snapped her fingers, “I know. You are talking about that time I stopped the Battle at Triniage. Yes, I can see what a complete horror of a legacy I have left in my wake.” For the first time in her life, Dulce said exactly what she thought, holding back none of the negative thoughts. “Spare me your propaganda. Everyone here knows you are full of shit, so stop trying to preach and—”
A rope flew out of the air at her head, and she quickly dodged it.
The man across from her grew angry. “Who talked to the witch? What follower was stupid enough to get near her and let her know what we had planned to end her reign of terror?”
Dulce’s laughter was bone chilling. “My reign of terror? My reign of terror? The only terror in this country is wrought by the monsters here in front of me, justifying their worst desires and torturing women. What big strong men you prove to be every time you take down a woman.” Her words were biting and she could see several men flinching, and she felt a small sense of satisfaction.
“Don’t say another word, you cunning little bitch. We will not be swayed by you and your—”
A gasp from one of the men caught everyone’s attention. All heads turned to a man standing near a gravestone a ways from everyone else. He was looking down at his chest where something seemed to be sticking out. He looked up, blood streaming out of his mouth and down his chin.
There was a sickening sound as the object was pulled back through the man’s body, and he collapsed to the ground at about the same time as another man’s head struck the ground next to him. In seconds, all but the leader lay dead on the ground. A total of nine men dead without any chance to respond.
The leader looked at his slaughtered followers and took a few steps back, his eyes trying to take in everything that had happened. “How? How is this possible?” He turned back to Dulce, “What kind of mag—” Suddenly, the man let out a scream and Dulce heard a crunch. She watched as the man began to crawl, a look of panic on his face. “Assassin! She has an—”
A tall figure stepped out of the shadows. “Everyone knows that seers have champions.” No wasted words were uttered, and the figure gave the Unwashed just long enough to look up. As soon as the leader met the champion’s eyes, the champion kicked him over onto his back and ran a large sword through him. The man lay gurgling on the ground as the champion looked down at his sword in disgust. Picking up the corner of the dying man’s robes, the champion wiped off his blade. He then dropped the cloth and kicked the body away.
Without another word, the champion strode over to Dulce. Holding out a hand, Dulce finally could get a good look at her unwanted rescuer. His hair was blondish with black highlights. About an inch long, it looked soft as it moved gently in the night breeze. The fury that had been present in his orangish eyes was gone as he looked at Dulce.
The seer took a step away from the champion. She had never seen him and had no idea how he had known to be there that night, but she was not happy that yet again she was being forced to continue on in a world that no longer held anything for her. Giving her head a little shake, she hoped he would get the point.
For more than a minute, neither of the two moved, almost like they were having a battle of wills. Apart from his hair, the champion did not move, and it would have been easy to mistake him for one of the statues. Finally, Dulce spoke, “Why are you here?”
“This is not your fate.”
Clenching her teeth, “Oh, so you are able to see my future?”
“I don’t need to be a seer to know when to intervene.”
“What are you even doing here?” She folded her arms across her chest.
“I am here to stop the most well-respected and admired seer from destroying herself.”
“What do champions even care what happens to seers? Your kind disappeared after Darinon died.”
“We did no such thing.”
“Oh really? I have only been trapped here for a year. Before that, I lived in Copan. And I remember when the champions left, and I have not seen any other until today.”
“Earlier tonight, you reprimanded a man for accusing seers of hiding. Yet here you are doing the same thing to an entire species. A species which, I feel you need to be reminded, is still somewhat endangered.”
Dulce frowned and narrowed her eyes, again feeling how hypocritical she had been. “You are right, I have been acting like a human, but—”
“And now you use a broad brush to insult an entire race. I am starting to wonder if they were wrong about you.”
Dulce blinked. The rebuke was harsh, but not unwarranted. “Clearly you are right. So, you should have let them kill me.”
“I could not.”
“You just said yourself that people were wrong about me.”
“I think that those who care what happens to you would be sad to see what you have become. Living alone with only your pain was certainly the wrong decision, and they clearly should have talked to you first. You were unsuccessful in your self-destructive behavior, and I can’t believe they felt this was the best way to protect you. All it has done is cause a downward spiral of your mental state so that you are nearly unrecognizable.”
Dulce glared at the champion, “Who the hell are you to say anything about me? I don’t know you, and I sure as hell did not want you to intervene.”
The champion finally put his hand down, stood up straight, and bowed to Dulce, “I apologize. That was very rude of me, but who I am is irrelevant. I am here to secure your safety, with or without your consent.”
Dulce had known many champions, but this one was decidedly different, starting with the color of his eyes. Orange was not a normal color. Having an orange hue in her own, she knew just how effective the color could be. But unlike hers, this champion’s eyes were just orange, and there was something in them that made her feel nervous, unsettled as he looked at her. She reached into her small pouch to pull out another handful of power. Taking a step toward him, she smiled, “It is very kind of you to try to save me.” Stretching out her hand, she prepared to knock him out.
Before she could release the powder, the champion grabbed her hand and moved it close to her face. It only took a few specks of the dust to start to take effect. Her hand loosened, causing the rest to fall out of her hand and into her face. Dulce wanted to protest, to do anything to stop the man now sweeping her off her feet.
“One night away from your abode and look how much trouble you have caused. But it is good that you left home for the evening because I would not have known about your methods otherwise. It was very enlightening watching you, right down to how oblivious you are to the dangers around you. I wonder if that is because you are currently indifferent or if you have always been so oblivious. There will be plenty of time to learn. Sleep for now and we will talk when you wake.”
Dulce struggled to stay awake, her eyes fluttering. She finally managed one slurred word, “Where?”
The champion’s face was blurry as he spoke, and his voice sounded like it was spoken into a piece of cloth. “You are just as strong as they said. Anyone else would be out by now. Ignacio certainly was. You certainly keep some very interesting friends, but whatever I may think of assassins, he was definitely right about you no longer belonging here.”
Dulce moved her hand, trying to push him away, but all she managed to do was place it on his chest. She could see his confused expression as he looked down at her hand as it slipped between the buttons and ran against his skin. Dulce was vaguely aware of how smooth he was, but she was mostly mortified that it looked like she was trying to seduce him.
There was a gentle rumbling as her head flopped against that chest. “Don’t worry, we aren’t going somewhere that will bring back bad memories. I will be taking you somewhere safe where you can start to recover.” Her hand was pulled away from his chest and placed on her stomach as her eyes closed. “Like you said, sleep well. When you wake it will all be over. At least, I will try to help you see that you can move on.”
First the first time in years, Dulce felt comfortable. A part of her was angered by the feeling, but her mind was too far gone to focus on the anger. Allowing herself to finally relax, the seer felt her mind drift into darkness.