It hadn’t been a day in another god’s territory, and the soldiers from Athenia had fallen ill with stomach aches and bloody vomits. At first, Raven suspected it to be an attempt at sabotage by the giants, but to his surprise, even the citizens of Eclanor were falling unconscious in the streets. Erika and the Holy Order instantly suspected Asmareth, but after a heated argument with the giants, Melenai, the royal scribe, managed to convince them to investigate some more before pointing any fingers.
A wave of relief washed over Raven as he watched the priestess and the Holy Order coming out of the royal mansion. Erika, of course, wasn’t pleased with the outcome, and after getting permission from Raven, she decided to go back to Asmareth’s temple and check for any sign of curses or to find a cure for this problem with their goddess’ help.
’Athenia was right. Some people live with faith, others live for their faith.’ Raven thought to himself, watching the thousand and so soldiers of the holy order following Erika to the site of the fallen temple. ’Her zeal, I don’t know what to say, but I probably need to talk to her about it or find some way to control it just a little.
While he had no doubts that Erika would never betray him, her faith was so strong that it drew obvious concerns. Even so, making a mental note to talk to her about keeping her thoughts and emotions separate, he turned to the others.
"Poison, the food was poisoned," Amedith said as soon as his eyes met Raven’s.
"Weird thing is, no elves were affected, only humans and some demi-humans," Mel added further.
"Also, I talked to everyone who helped with the mess, but I didn’t see any deceitful emotions coming out from them," folding her hands, Liliyana lightly shook her head. "None of them are lying; they have no clue how the poison got in our food."
"Yeah, I don’t doubt that. Moxy helped with the preparations after all, and she’s sick too." Clicking his tongue, Raven squeezed his fingers into a knuckle. "Besides, it’s not just us but the people of the city as well that got sick."
"Could it be that the demon general knew that we’ve arrived and somehow managed to poison the water?" Hearing some footsteps coming from the side, Raven turned to find the prince of Nile and the three djinn sisters, including Elana. "As the god of the desert, I can tell you that’s how many wars were won. By poisoning the one commodity that’s more valuable than gold, the water."
Staring at the prince, Raven gave some thought to his theory, and although it made near perfect sense, he didn’t wanna discount any other possibility just yet.
"Regalia," patting Regalia on her side with the back of his hand, Raven furrowed his brows and looked at her. "Tell the battalion leaders not to let anyone drink any water. I’ll go check with Linkle and see if she can test the theory and potentially purify the water."
"On it." Wasting no time at all, Regalia went on her way to warn everyone.
Her voice already echoed in the back while Raven looked over to the djinns and asked the twin sisters.
"You two okay?" They nodded quietly. Nodding right back, Raven added. "I know you’re mad at that guy from before, but we’ll deal with him later. Let’s keep the chaos to a minimum; we have a lot on our plates already."
Right as he was finished talking to them, Maria, who’d just been waiting for her chance to speak, leaned closer to Raven’s ear and whispered.
"That girl Flitza, she was angry yesterday about the people abandoning their god. Maybe she did this? If you want, I can try to pry and see where that goes. Amelia and Ophe can be around the giants and their advisor too, not too wise to leave them to plot things behind our backs."
Without turning his head, Raven nodded. Smiling, Maria pulled herself away and turned to the other group, which then began making their way inside the mansion again.
"I should get back to healing the soldiers," Liliyana spoke, and with Amedith in her tow, she walked to the front.
Watching them wandering among the sick soldiers, Mel placed a hand on Raven’s shoulder and whispered before joining them.
Left only with Aria, the prince and the Djinns, Raven ordered them to look after their people and aid whoever needed it. Making his way to the workshop tents in the very back, he ran into Felix, Hilma, and Astra, all being healed by a priest as well. He wanted to stop and check on them, but since there was little he could do in matters of healing, he decided to first warn Linkle about the water and at least find some way to purify it.
’I can check on them soon. Just need to get the situation under control first.’ Although his heart ached when he saw his people being sick and vomiting blood, especially someone as innocent as Moxy, Choux, and his girls, he tried not to think about it for now, since the only way to cure this was to cut the problem at the root of its cause. ’I did give them the rings with Elenaria’s blessing, that should keep them stable.’
The ring from long ago, when the party was cursed by Libyan’s curse, and Elenaria had granted them her blessing to help with the poison. Thankfully, Raven had held onto them, and now they were proving useful. That very fact reinforced just how important it was to be well prepared during times of war. For the worst killer wasn’t the enemy, but disease, famine, and whatever plague nature throws at the theatre.
’Poisoning the supply line does sound like something a demon general would do.’ Brushing past the curtain to the workshop with that thought, Raven went inside to find a dozen or more workers being rushed by the witch to prepare antidotes for the poison.
"Linkle, we need to talk," Raven said.
Her hands folded and standing firm, the witch glanced at him sideways.
"We sure as hell do because some sick bastard is poisoning us!" She screamed, and she was right.
A poison had spread through the ranks, and it brought with it a disease that ate away at their stomach. To heal, they needed to eat and drink, but with every morsel and drink, their body threw up blood. A coincidence that it worked this way? A regular poison? No chance in hell, at least Linkle didn’t think so, even if the citizens were affected as well.
"Has to be those giants!" Linkle complained, grinding her teeth in rage.
Watching a bead of sweat trickling down her forehead, Raven instantly knew that she’d been affected as well.
"We will figure that out later, for now. We need the cure." Pursing her lips to Raven’s words, the witch swallowed a portion of her rage and turned to the workers. Pushing one of them off, she slammed her hands on the desk and surveyed the items on top.
"Make your potions and leave, I need to be alone when I make this cure." Her voice remained low as she made that announcement, and yet the grumpy tone came off as a threat. And since everyone knew how scary she could be, the workers finished their work as quickly as possible.
Left alone, the witch turned into her real form, and with it her magic returned to its original state.
"Raven?" Squeezing the table’s edge with her hand, Linkle kept staring at the ingredients.
"What is it?" He asked, slowly walking closer to her.
"Once this is done...and if those giants are behind this," taking a brief pause with a quiver in her voice, she added. "Then we’re fucking on their corpses."
Not knowing what to say, Raven remained quiet. Taking his silence for his approval, however, she began working on a cure. Hoping that at the end of her efforts, she’ll not only get to fuck but also humiliate those who’d done this to her.