home

search

Chapter 28—Food and Water

  Chael exhaled sharply and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he leaned back against the door. He was too tired for this. The last few hours had been nothing but pain, blood, and the constant edge of survival, and now, standing in a room that shouldn't exist in this condition, he was expected to care about yet another unseen threat.

  Whatever.

  "If a human comes in here, we can try to talk to him," he said casually. "If they try to kill me, I'll kill them first."

  Echidna huffed, shaking her head as she pushed herself up. Her movements were sluggish and her limbs trembled from exhaustion as she dragged herself toward the bed. "Your optimism is truly inspiring."

  Chael ignored her.

  She didn't bother removing her coat or adjusting the sheets. Instead, she just collapsed onto the mattress with a heavy sigh with her arms spread out, and stared up at the ceiling. The bed barely creaked beneath her weight, as if it had been made yesterday.

  Chael remained by the door with his back pressed against the cold wood. Chael was still extremely wary about this place. The Hollowed Choir. Those very creatures that had given them hell just a while ago were in the same building as them right this moment. And who knew what other eldrich horrors lurked in this cathedral?

  And there was still the roaring wind outside.

  Even through the thick wooden doors, he could hear the sound of the fog thrashing against the cathedral like an untamed beast. It wasn't fading and if anything, it sounded angrier.

  They lay in that uneasy quiet for some hours.

  Not quite asleep, but not fully awake either.

  Chael's mind drifted between thoughts and between pain, exhaustion, and the sensation of his body slowly recovering but never quite healing. His hand and arm were still only barely useful, even as a Harbinger. The wounds were mending, but nowhere near fast enough. Not to mention his hunger...

  Just when was the last time he had eaten? If he wasn't a Harbinger, he would've long since shriveled away by now.

  "Tell me about it."

  Echidna's voice cut into his thoughts.

  Chael didn't react at first.

  "What?"

  "Being a Harbinger? What's it like?"

  Chael let out a low sneer and turned his head slightly in her direction. "If only I became one the night you bastards caught me."

  Echidna sighed, "Hey, I know you hate me, but I'm just trying to make my time here less unbearable."

  Chael rolled his head back against the door in annoyance.

  Echidna shifted her weight slightly against the bed. "You should've just let me fall if you hated me so much."

  Chael turned his head toward her, his expression unreadable beneath the blindfold.

  The words that had left her mouth lightly were almost teasing.

  "Don't get comfortable with me, mongrel." Chael's glared at her. "I'm only keeping you around because you're still somewhat useful. The second I feel like you're dragging me down, I'll end you myself."

  Echidna brought her tricorn cap down to her face and concealed her eyes with them. She lay like that for a while before she began to talk again, "Mongrel, rat, thief. You have every right to call me all that, Chael. I don't expect forgiveness. Every sin I've committed is mine alone. If only fate had been kinder to me, I wouldn't even have looked at the path that I'm on."

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  Chael raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect this kind of talk from Echidna. He studied her face from the reflection of his spear but saw couldn't see what kind of expression she was making because of the tricorn cap.

  He recalled the way she had screamed when they were swarmed by the Hollowed Choir.

  'No! No, don't shut the doors! Let me back in! I'm your daughter!'

  'The chains… they're too tight...please, I'll do anything!'

  Echidna continued, almost as if talking to herself rather than Chael, "But my life is bound to a duty darker than any monster lurking in these halls. And until that debt is repaid, I gave myself no right to yield, even if it meant dragging another soul through hell with me at his darkest moment."

  Chael remained still. It was impossible to tell what was going through his mind right now.

  The winds and the rolling fog outside kept roaring.

  Echidna finally let out a long breath before pushing herself up and she winced as pain flared through her body.

  "Ouch," she muttered, rubbing at her sore ribs.

  From beneath her cloak, Echidna pulled out a small leather pouch. It was worn but well-kept and its seams were stitched with intricate silver thread. She loosened the drawstrings and reached inside -deeper than should have been physically possible.

  And then, she pulled out a massive bottle of water.

  Chael furrowed his brows, "Is that an Interspatial pouch?"

  Echidna grinned and shook the water bottle playfully. "Yeah."

  Chael was shocked beyond belief though he didn't show it. Interspatial Pouches were rare. A luxury only the extremely wealthy could afford. They were crafted by Eldermire City's top artificers, each infused with spatial magic, allowing them to store far more than their physical size would suggest. There were some that could hold entire armories, vaults of gold, and even livestock.

  Only the most powerful or the most wealthy in Eldermire City owned these. Even when he was the Chief of Ashwara, Chael couldn't get his hands on an Interspacial pouch.

  His frown deepened. "How does someone like you have one?"

  Echidna opened her mouth to reply - then suddenly stopped.

  Her brows furrowed and her fingers tightened around the pouch.

  A long silence stretched between them. Echidna then pinched the bridge of her nose, her breath hitching slightly.

  "…I… I don't remember for some reason."

  Chael's gaze lingered on her for a moment longer before she shook her head as if forcing the thought away. Echidna uncorked the bottle, took a long sip, then tossed it toward him.

  He caught it without hesitation.

  "Don't lose that pouch," he said, tilting the bottle back and drinking. The water was cold and fresh. This was the second most refreshed he had felt in the past couple of days, the first being when he first stepped into the Veiled Realm.

  After guzzling down nearly the entire bottle, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and shot her a look. "And if you're going to let yourself die like when we were climbing the cathedral, give it to me first."

  Echidna snorted. "You're a bastard."

  She then reached back into the pouch and pulled out a small loaf of bread.

  "This is all I have left," she sighed, tossing it up and catching it. "Those bastards were insatiable."

  Chael didn't need to ask who she meant. The Mongrel's Vow. Mercenaries were a rowdy bunch and they needed a lot of food to keep their energy.

  She tore off a quarter for herself before throwing the rest to him.

  Chael still wasn't looking in her direction, but he caught it effortlessly. He saw it coming not with his eyes, but through the reflection of his spearhead, which was pointed at her.

  Echidna noticed.

  Her lips quirked slightly, but she didn't comment on it immediately. Instead, she bit into her piece, chewing slowly.

  Chael frowned but said nothing.

  "Don't think too much about it," she muttered after a moment. "You're doing most of the heavy lifting anyway."

  Chael simply ripped off a piece of the bread and ate it, chewing slowly. It was a bit stale and hard, but to Chael who didn't have much to eat for days, this bread was the first proper meal he had in a long time, and he was savoring every bite.

  "So," she said, her gaze flickering toward his blindfold, "reflection, huh? You can see through reflections. That's a pretty handy ability."

  Chael stiffened slightly.

  He didn't want to talk to her. He still hated her with an unending passion after all, not only had she dared to attack him at his lowest, if it wasn't for her, they'd never be in this situation in the first place.

  But… she'd given him food and water.

  And in a place like this, that meant something.

  After a long pause, he sighed. "If you haven't figured it out already."

  Echidna hummed, leaning back against the bedpost. "What kind of deity chose you?"

  Chael finished the last of the bread and dusted the crumbs off his hands.

  "You talk too much," he muttered.

  "Boring." Echidna groaned.

  Neither of them spoke for a while.

  Then, Chael turned his head slightly.

  "How did you survive that fall in the cavern?" His voice was quieter and thoughtful this time. "You didn't fall into the lake like me."

Recommended Popular Novels