Chapter 42

                                    

                                          
 He nodded again and motioned for us to follow him. In turn, I motioned for my team to stay close as we left the alley way. I walked beside Luna as we followed our new elven allies, and I smiled as she laid her head on my shoulder.
                          
"So far so good, eh?" She mused.
                          
I huffed, "Please don't jinx our luck, love. I just pissed off a wealthy jackass who now probably wants my head on a pike."
                          
Luna huffed out a laugh. "It's not the first time someone's wanted your head on a pike."
                          
"And it certainly isn't the last." Nova chimed in.
                          
I grinned, "For our next move, we'll go talk to Delsaran, and then we'll go from there."
                          
"Sounds like a plan, bro," Nova replied, holstering her hand cannon and removing her gauss rifle from her back: "I'll have this baby powered up just to be safe."
                          
Hearing the whine of her weapon as she powered it up, I whistled.
                          
Even though there were about twenty of us (with my team included) traveling through the labyrinth of alley ways, we made good time nonetheless. We spent about an hour following Coyrm's group of men, which comprised of high elves, wood elves, and dark elves. After all of the time spent walking though the twists and turns, I was more than a little surprised to follow Corym into a residential area that looked like it had seen better days. There were filthy tents set up around the charred, damaged husks of buildings. Tents were also situated inside the buildings that weren't as damaged while other buildings looked as if they were going to fall apart. I caught sight of elven women working together to wash clothing while small groups of men worked on refurbishing buildings that were still -mostly- intact.
                          
I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise as I looked around. A cold feeling of dread also creeped into my heart as I sensed the pain and sadness that resonated in this area. I had my guesses as to what Irwin was doing, but seeing it for myself...it makes me wonder how someone could be so evil.
                          
As we continued to walk through the residential area, I allowed myself to drift off in thought. I thought about what I could do to help these people out, among many other things. My train of thought was interrupted by the cries of help from a woman nearby.
                          
"Please! Please, I need help! This man is bleeding out and I need help now!"
                          
Without any spoken words, Luna and I hurried toward the origin of the woman's voice.
                          
"Where are you?" Luna called.
                          
"Over here!" The woman cried, and we ran into a building that was missing its front door. We ran into a decrepit living room to find a woman clad in dark blue robes kneeling before an elderly high elf. Blood covered the man's chest, and he barely seemed to be breathing.
                          
"What happened?" I asked as Luna and I knelt beside the woman-presumably a cleric since she had a few vials full of a light green liquid nearby. She also had the emblem of healing around her neck. (The emblem of healing is represented by a tree laden with golden apples. As far as I know, it's supposed to represent prosperity, fertility, and health.)
                          
The cleric wiped a few tears off of her face and looked at me: "This poor man...he protected his grandson from a guard who was trying to harm him. The wound...is too severe. I don't...I don't think I can save him..."
                          
Luna and I shared a glance before we set ourselves to work, patching up the old man's wounds before he bled out any further. A few moments later, the wound was completely gone.
                          
I heaved a sigh of relief and smiled at Luna: "I'm so glad that worked."
                          
"Yeah..." She agreed, "I've never had to heal such a grievous wound, but we were still able to stop the bleeding..."