Dark Body, Light Soul (Or the Tale of the Stalfos)

by Garino

31: Toxic Times

Chapter 31: Toxic Times

Don't ask how it's possible, but I whistled as I went to rejoin the group. The fight with Mordroc was so quick, I almost feel compelled not to tell you what happened. Almost. So I sum it up in a few words.

I throw shield, shield hits Mordroc, Mordroc goes out like a light. From there, I just found a bit of poison joke (which was conveniently a few yards away) and dragged him into the flowers. I didn't stick around to see what happened to him, but I bet it would be hilarious.

Returning to the clearing, I saw that everyone had decided this was the best place to regroup. Jack and Wisp were trying to comfort Melody, who was holding a rose I had never seen before. Shiira was moving Morva's body around as Drac used his magic to try and close the wounds. But no matter how much he put into it, the wounds kept reopening.

"He's been poisoned," Shiira sighed. "He's not going to heal unless we have the antitoxin to stop it. But as it is, none of us have it." I was about to ask about the rose, but Shiira was a step ahead of me. "The rose is meant for healing wounds, not curing poisons. He's not gonna make it through the night."

Morva shook his head. "I'm not...going down yet," he rasped. "We can...find the cure..."

"Not in time," Drac replied. "Even if we found the Weeping Willow, it takes time to make the powder from its leaves. I'm sorry, Morva."

Morva coughed badly. "I can't...just stop now. We've gotta..." He started to stand up, but I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Stop moving," I ordered. "I'm no expert on field injuries, but I'm sure the more you move while poisoned, the faster it goes through your system."

"You have that right," a familiar voice called out from behind us. The six of us turned to find Marcy with her saddlebags. She reached into the one on the left to reveal a vial with green powder.

"Is that...?" Melody started.

"Weeping willow leaves and an amoxy clover crushed into a fine powder, with water added to make it go down easily. Gives you some lost energy, and cures nine out of ten poisons," Marcy stated. "I still have quite a bit."

Marcy approached the weakened Morva and opened the vial. "I apologize now, because this is going to be VERY bitter," she stated. "If you want to live, though, you have to get this in your system."

Morva’s eyes shot open. “Make it quick. There’s a green elephant about to charge this way.”

I could only facepalm at the statement. “You might want to hurry, Marcy: the poison has hit the brain and he’s going to go insane before death.”

Marcy opened Morva’s mouth and started to pour the antidote down his throat. As the first drops touched his tongue, though, Morva started to thrash about.

“No! I won’t drink anymore of that!” he yelled in delirium.

“I thought this might happen,” Marcy sighed. “We need to hold him down so we can get the rest of this antidote in him. If we don’t, he won’t live for very much longer. Worse, if this poison is the type I think it is, he won’t come back to life.”

Drac and I ran over and tried to hold down the now-crazed lizard man.

“Let me go!” he shouted. “I have to go save the marshmallow ponies from my draconic brother!”

“Stop moving so we can cure you!” I yelled, trying to keep my grip on him as he kept thrashing.

Marcy resumed giving the antidote to Morva. As luck would have it, the arm I was holding broke free of my grip, swatting the antidote away and breaking the vial against a tree. Judging by Marcy’s face, and subsequent agitated growl, the amount she administered wasn’t enough to cure the lizard.

“Dammit, Morva! Maybe you don’t realize this, but if that poison isn’t removed, you WILL die!” If Morva could understand what Marcy was saying, he didn’t show it as he continued to ramble nonsense. Marcy searched her bags again, pulling out another vial. “Curses. I thought I had more,” she muttered. She turned to Drac and me. “Okay, you two make sure he does NOT move. This is the last of the antidote and if he destroys it, he’s completely screwed.”

The two of us nodded. Drac refocused his magic to bind Morva while I kept Morva’s head from moving around too much. Our efforts allowed Marcy to use what remained of the antidote properly. Morva’s flailing and incoherent speaking didn’t seem to stop.

“That doesn’t seem good,” Jack observed. “An antidote is supposed to cure him. Why is he still thrashing like a mad dog?” No sooner had the words left his mouth, Morva’s body suddenly ceased moving. Drac nodded at me and we both released him, causing him to collapse onto the ground.
“Is he going to be okay?” I asked.

Melody floated over and leaned her head against the lizard’s chest, her eyes closed. “He’ll be fine. It’s faint, but his heart’s beating and his breathing is easy.” She turned to Marcy and smiled. “Lucky for us, you were here with the antidote.”

Marcy beamed as she closed the saddlebags. “He was supposed to have more energy,” Marcy said. “Must’ve burned it thrashing about. Let’s get him back underground.”

We turned around only to find the entrance was resealed. Jack, Drac and I got to work trying to get it open. Try as we might, however, we just couldn’t do it. It was almost as if an outside force was wanting us to stay out.

“Seems like we’re never going back,” Wisp sighed. “I guess no one has an idea of where shelter could be?”

The gang sans Morva looked at each other, hoping they had some kind of information. We all finally rested our eyes on Drac. He, in response, could only raise an eyebrow. After a moment, he sighed and said, “Fine...I guess I can show you all my topside stronghold.”

Jack and I picked up the unconscious Morva and placed him on Shiira’s back. Together, the eight of us traversed through the swamp.

---Drac’s Topside Stronghold, in the Black Marsh---

“Okay, I’ll be the first to admit. I expected it to be...bigger,” I said.

What we were looking at was a standard house you’d see in the swamp: rundown, one story, rotting boards above, below, and in between, and no noticable in-door plumbing.

“It would only be him,” Melody sighed. “You didn’t expect, like, a castle in the swamps, did you? The very idea is just stupid!”

“Yeah, it’d sink into the swamp,” Jack added.

“I know a guy who did so, in spite of his peers,” I mumbled. Granted, his castle DID sink in the swamp, but I wasn’t going to tell THEM that.

“Enough chitchat out here,” Drac ordered. “Let’s get inside before someone sees us.” The unicorn pushed the door open and led us inside. As we filed through, one by one, I wondered why Drac was so worried about someone finding this place. I then remembered the paladins and quickly threw that thought out the window.

The inside was a bit more spacious than I thought it would be, considering the size of the house. Yes, there were the rotting boards, but it didn't look too shabby. There was a simple fireplace with a kettle over it, a small twin bed (it was the same size as my own bed...don't judge), and a bookshelf with a handful of books. Unfortunately, most of the titles were faded out, so I couldn't tell if it would be a good read.

"So why were you so afraid of having someone find THIS? It's nothing special," Wisp said.

"There are a number of reasons," Drac answered. "The biggest, however, behind the bookshelf. Daniel, if you will, pull the orange book for me."

I walked over to the book case and looked for the requested item. Hovering my hand over the books, I found it on the third row from the top. With a quick tug, there was a loud *clang* as the book shelf moved forward, then to the side! The only thing behind the shelf, though, was a staircase that lead back down.

"Don't tell me we're going underground again!" I complained.

Drac placed a hoof on his chin before saying, "Okay, I won't tell you." He then bucked me into the new room, sending me crashing down the stairs. (For those wondering, yes, I was well aware that this seemed to be a running theme)

After tumbling down the stairs for what seemed like hours, I finally hit the bottom. I had a feeling that they were going to take a while, so I got to work reattaching myself once again. The process was quick this time, so I decided to take a quick look around the place.

This was fruitless as it was dark and I couldn't see my bony hand in front of my face if I tried.

I toyed with my beam sword as I waited for the others. I had planned on using it as a makeshift flashlight, but it didn't light the area well enough. Soon, I was writing jokes in the ground, just hoping the team regrouped with me soon.

Finally, I just couldn't take it. "Okay, seriously, where the hell ARE you guys?!?" I shouted. I expected Melody or Marcy yelling happily, Drac or Wisp saying something sarcastic, or Shiira scolding me for raising my voice. Instead, I was answered by what sounded like a wolf's howl.

That didn't sound good, Bard said.

Sounded like a puppy, I thought. What if it's hurt?

Bard sighed. Listen, I know you have good intentions, but you've been ignoring this thing we sane people like to call 'common sense.' Just this once, if never again, listen to it this time.

Okay, okay...I'll stay here.

...yeah, I didn't last five seconds before I got up and followed the sound. Navigating the tunnel with so little light is taxing on the sight. I had my jagged sword out, charged up and ready to go. Like the beam sword, it didn't work as a makeshift flashlight due to its low output. I walked quietly, making sure I didn't kick a stray pebble or step in a small puddle. Again, darkness made it pretty difficult to perform.

Finally, I caught a glimpse of light in the form of a torch on the wall. In its light was a dog, lying on its side. Its fur was mostly black, but it had patches of blue on the top of its head, front paws, and near the back. When it tried to get up, it would howl and fall back to the ground. I glanced around, making sure nothing else was around before I approached the dog.

When it saw me, it growled angrily and tried to stand up again. Just like before, though, it let out a howl of pain as it collapsed. I kept my sword fixed on it and approached slowly, still aware it may be a trap. When I finally got close enough, the dog whimpered, afraid that its life was over. I glanced over and realized the dog was a boy because of the bigger build and...yeah, just don't stare at it.

"Don't worry," I muttered. "I'm not here to hurt you." I set my sword down as I ran my hand over the dog's legs. He howled again as my hand touched his front-left leg, and again when I touched the back-right leg. Whatever he was fighting, it really did a number on him. If I left him alone, he likely wouldn't make it through the day. But if I helped him, would he attack me? Not likely, by the way he was now looking at me. I rubbed his head, making him close his eyes and pant a bit.

I couldn't leave him. I had to lend a hand. With this in mind, I grabbed my sword and gave the mental command. I placed my left hand on his front leg and focused, feeling the magic heal the dog. When I was certain it was good enough, I recharged the sword (about a minute and a half) and moved to the back leg. The dog looked on curiously as his back leg's pain, at least to him, seemed to mysteriously go away. As the last of the magic disappeared, I collapsed backward, somehow exhausted from it all.

The dog slowly got back onto his feet, this time staying upright. He jumped left and right before releasing another howl. This one, however, was one of energy and joy. He charged at me and started to lick my bony face.

"Hey, calm down, boy!" I laughed. "You're gonna be okay. You'll be okay..." I scratched his head and looked around, hoping to find a clue as to who was his owner, current or otherwise. Then again, if he's all the way down here...

My train of thought was derailed when the dog stopped showing me affection and jumped off of me. Looking into the darkness and taking an aggressive stance, he started to growl. I got up (uneasily) and took a stance of my own. I had to squint, but I saw exactly why he was growling.

Dogs. Six of them, but their color was more of grey with red fur. Almost like a palette swap of the one by me. Unlike my new friend, however, they were all uninjured, and didn't really look like they cared for him. That probably meant they were enemies.

And, by association, that made me their enemies, too.

Author's Note:

This chapter is dedicated to Judoon_Warrior for his assistance in making this segment work. So go! SHOWER HIM IN PRAISES, TOO!!!

Comments

[AlolanRaichu]

Those poor, poor, marshmallow ponies. Great chapter.

[Blue Spark]

Surprised he didn't mention Mordroc.
Overall though, cool chapter.
Every hero needs a totally awesome companion.

[Garino]

2085267

Y'mean to the others?

[Blue Spark]

2085275
Yeah, despite how wimpy the guy was you'd think he would at least mention his encounter to the others.
Maybe they'd um, I dunno, wanna do something to/with him??? :/
Not sure, but I bet he'll regret it later possibly...
I know Mordroc will regret ever meeting him though once he wakes up. XD

[SafariJohn]

The third castle burned, fell over, and then sank into the swamp; but the fourth one... stayed up!

[revilO]

Dogs! And good half-normal dogs at last!

[Bubbabob]

His friends are going to find him, in pieces, being gnawed on.

[Plasmadon]

Do my eyes deceive me, or do I detect yet another Monty Python reference?