It was quiet and cool in the dark where Zeter lay. Soft whispers from the healers were barely audible but not clear enough to make out what they were saying. Just a pleasant hum of calming voices. Sleep was what he needed and he was eagerly pursuing it when his rest was interrupted by the frantic voice of Ketty Pordis.

“I’ve been shot! Get healers to the Autay Wa market! Beware Jerlinzia!”

Each exclamation grew weaker than the one before it.

“Is anyone else with you?” he asked as he pushed himself up from his bed.

Where was the nearest healer? His eyes, normally well adjusted for seeing in the dark, were clouded from over channeling and made it difficult to pick out individuals.

“I need some help,” he called out, noting how Ketty failed to reply.

A pair of figures hurried over to him, emerging from the fog in his vision. Two women of advanced years and kind eyes bent down over him as he dressed himself.

“What’s the matter?” they asked. “You’re in no state to be leaving just yet.”

“Jerlinzia’s attacked Ketty Pordis in the market,” he said, pulling on his boots. “She needs healers there right away. I don’t have any other details.”

The women didn’t ask how he knew, they just nodded and clapped their hands, summoning the other healers over to them. While they got themselves organized, some of them donning armor while others collected healing salves, bandages, and other tools of their trade, Zeter tried to rise to his feet. As soon as he stood up, his vision blanked out and he lost his balance as the world beneath his feet spun away from him. He was prepared for this, thankfully, and caught himself on the bedpost. A few hands reached out to him and held him up for a moment before helping him back down to his bed where he sat until his head stopped spinning and his vision cleared.

“You may not be ready for so much activity,” one of them said in their ever-friendly manner.

“I’ll be alright, I just stood up too quickly.”

Zeter tried again, this time taking his time. His knees quivered a moment but that was it. Still, the healers kept a wary eye on him as they moved out of the healing quarters and began making their way towards the market.

Now that they were outside, Zeter could hear the distant cries and shouts of alarm. The market was less than a kilometer away and flashes of magic could be seen even in the daylight.

“We appreciate your coming along,” one of the healers said to him, “but I wonder how much magic you could channel without doing yourself some real harm.”

“I can do more than just cast spells,” Zeter said with a confidence he didn’t fully believe.

Realistically, what could he do? As the healer had pointed out, magic was out of the question. His best bet would be to sneak around the fighting and attack from range. He had a pair of daggers on him and presumably he should be able to find other weapons in the market but that wasn’t a given.

The real question was why had Jerlinzia shot Ketty? The diminutive merchant was odd but helpful. She was one of the few merchants who had agreed to lend any of her wares to help aid the city in those early days after the attack. Ketty would have to explain it to him once this was dealt with.

As they neared the market they were met by people fleeing the chaos.

“What’s happening?” Zeter called out to them.

“Jerlinzia’s gone mad,” replied a merchant who was bleeding from a shallow head wound. “She’s firing her crossbow at everyone and flying around like a Sage of the Mercurial Robe.”

“I don’t see any undead or fiends coming to help subdue her,” one of the healers remarked and only then did their absence strike Zeter as ominous.

“I saw a few skeletons fighting alongside Kasyn,” replied the merchant, “but that was all.”

“Do you have any weapons? Or a shield?” Zeter asked before the merchant could leave.

“I only got my personal effects on me,” the merchant said and was gone in a rush with a healer in tow, dabbing at his wounds with a cloth.

Once they reached the market, Zeter and the healers moved far more carefully, staying to the back of the stalls and tents the merchants used as their temporary storefronts while they waited for the rest of the city to be restored. Kasyn and Damarys were calling out to one another, coordinating as best they could. Zeter caught only brief glimpses of them, dodging both spells and bolts while trying to return fire. Above them, Jerlinzia flew in unpredictable arches through the air, stopping and changing direction each time either Damarys or Kasyn tried to hit her.

The healers spread out, searching for wounded to treat, leaving Zeter alone. Jerlinzia’s stall wasn’t far from him and he could see a healer trying to reach Ketty but Jerlinzia kept firing down both spells and bolts at everyone who moved in her sight. The bolt in Ketty’s chest glowed slightly, revealing the magic that had allowed it to bypass Ketty’s defenses. Fortunately, Ketty still had a faint aura around her, revealing her defenses were still active which meant she wasn’t dead yet. Of course, the longer it took them to reach her the worse off she’d be.

The more he watched Jerlinzia fight, however, the more he came to realize something. She wasn’t very experienced at it. Her aim was good but she only aimed at where her targets were, not where they would be. It was a good thing, too, otherwise there would have been far more bodies lying around with bolts in their chests. What she was expert at, however, was dodging. By staying aloft, Jerlinzia could dodge in all three dimensions making it all but impossible for Kasyn and Damarys to hit her. This is, as long as she saw the attacks coming.

Zeter sneaked around, keeping out of sight until he reached Jerlinzia’s stall. He crept inside, careful not to disturb anything and looked around. She always had a bit of everything for sale and soon he found a large crossbow and more bolts. Neither was magical but that didn’t matter. Jerlinzia had no aura around her besides the flying spell so a single, good shot was all he needed. Winding the crossbow was a chore, given how tired he already was but he managed it after a painfully long minute.

Propping the crossbow up on a crate, Zeter aimed the crossbow up and out of the stall, waiting for Jerlinzia to come into view. She darted in and out but always hovered a moment before she attacked. As always in a fight, time seemed to crawl and it felt like an eternity until Jerlinzia finally stopped and took aim at a healer as they tried again to reach Ketty.

Zeter held his breath and released the bolt.

There was no way his eyes could move fast enough to track the bolt as it traveled the distance between himself and Jerlinzia but even still he thought he saw the streak in the air as it flew. A wet, meaty sound seemed to echo in the market square and Jerlinzia looked down in confusion. There was no bolt sticking out of her. Only a small tear in her shirt marked where the bolt had been, passing straight through her tiny body. At first, Zeter feared there was something even more powerful at foot here, as though his attack had done nothing to her, but then blood began to pour out of the hole, soaking Jerlinzia’s clothing, and she fell out of the sky, hitting the ground with a dull thump. Her arms and legs were bent at odd angles now, having broken from her fall, and she twisted in silent agony, looking around for the source of the bolt that had brought her down. However, before she could find Zeter, Kasyn’s skeletons were upon her with their spears. Even wounded as she was, Jerlinzia managed to blast one of them before they could end her.

It took everyone a moment to realize the fight was over, but then there was a flurry of motion as the healers sprang into action. Besides Ketty, there were three other people who were seriously injured. Damarys and Kasyn weren’t too badly hurt though neither had escaped unscathed.

“You alright?” Damarys asked Kasyn as they approached Jerlinzia’s corpse.

“She grazed my side,” Kasyn pointed to a bloody patch beneath his left arm, “and my vision’s still a bit blurry from some spell she hit me with, but that’s about it. You?”

“Her last shot at me hit my prosthesis,” she held out the broken arm and Kasyn shook his head.

“Glad you two are all right,” Zeter called out to them as he climbed out of Jerlinzia’s stall.

“I was wondering who’d shot her,” Damarys grinned.

“I thought you were still resting?” Kasyn said, sitting himself down onto the ground and wiping his forehead.

“I was until Ketty let me know she’d been shot.”

The three of them looked over to where the healers were treating Ketty. The bolt was already removed and healing ointments were being applied, sealing the wound back together.

“Either of you care to explain what happened here?” he asked.

“Turns out Jerlinzia was the kidnapper,” Damarys said. “Ketty helped us track her down but Jerlinzia figured out what we were doing and shot Ketty, then started attacking everyone.”

“Any idea where the people she’d been kidnapping are?”

“No.”

“I can ask her,” Kasyn said, though he didn’t move from his spot on the ground. He was just staring off into the distance, as though distracted by other thoughts.

“You alright?” Zeter asked.

“I’m fine…Fine,” Kasyn waved a hand vaguely in the air.

“Could you ask Jerlinzia now?” Damarys furrowed her brow in concern as Kasyn continued to stay where he was.

“Yes, of course.”

Kasyn didn’t move.

“I think,” a healer spoke up, having watched this interaction, “that Kasyn may be in shock.”

He walked over to Kasyn and placed a hand on Kasyn’s shoulder. A moment later, both of them began to glow faintly. The light burned Zeter’s eyes slightly to look at and he shielded his gaze.

“You’re a member of the Tower of Light,” he said with dawning comprehension.

“I was,” the healer admitted, “but I renounced them the moment I saw what they did to our city. Now I’m just a healer.”

The light faded and Kasyn shook himself as though waking from a dream.

“How are you feeling?” the healer asked.

“I feel good,” Kasyn said, “a lot better than I’ve felt in a while.”

“I suggest each of you take it easy for a few days, a week if you can manage it.”

He went back to helping with Ketty who was beginning to come around.

Kasyn got up and moved over to Jerlinzia’s corpse and placed a hand over her forehead. A pale aura began to glow and Jerlinzia drew in a rattling breath.

“Where are the people you’ve kidnapped?” Kasyn asked.

“Most are gone,” Jerlinzia spoke in a carrying whisper, “but the few I still have are in my stall, in barrels and crates.”

Damarys and Zeter hurried back to the stall and began prying lids off of the barrels and crates, the insides of which were larger than they appeared on the outside. People were crammed in each of them, their eyes shut and their breathing shallow.

“I’ve found Jelvaic,” Damarys called out and she heaved him out of a barrel. “I can’t wake him up, though.”

“What have you done to them?” Kasyn asked.

“Poison of the green squid,” Jerlinzia rasped. “Puts them into a trance.”

“Do you have an antidote?”

“Yes, in my pouch, a small smelling stone will wake them.”

Kasyn searched for a moment until he came up with the stone. It took a moment but, starting with Jelvaic, the unconscious people began to stir as the stone was held beneath their noses.

With a grunt and a grimace from stiff joints, Jelvaic sat up and looked around with confusion.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “Where…I remember Arjana and I…we were…”

He trailed off when his gaze fell onto Jerlinzia.

“We found our kidnapper,” Zeter explained. “She was hired by the fiends to kidnap both you and Arjana.”

Jelvaic massaged his arms and legs as he took in the scene of people being removed from barrels and crates in Jerlinzia’s stall.

“Is everyone accounted for?” he asked.

“No,” Zeter admitted.

“There’s a list of all the missing people,” Jelvaic said, catching the attention of a healer.

“No need,” Kasyn cut in before the healer could send a runner and then turned back to Jerlinzia. “Where are the people you sold?”

“Dead. Fed to a vampire cult.”

That gave everyone pause.

“We need to find them and destroy them,” Jelvaic barked.

“They’re gone,” Jerlinzia said when asked about their whereabouts. “Fleeing the chaos the Tower of Light brought and heading for Shinrai.”

“Good,” groaned Arjana who was just coming around. “I always hated vampires. They were the worst forces to fight in a night attack.

While the others saw to the work of waking the kidnapped citizens, Zeter found himself a soft patch of ground and lay down. Still exhausted, with the excitement of the moment wearing off, he was feeling the fatigue once again. It was with relief that he saw Ketty sitting up and the two of them locked eyes for a moment. She nodded to him and he gave her a small wave. With that, he closed his eyes and let himself surrender at last to his weariness and fall asleep.