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.I started at her words.I hadn’t expected her to start telling me her entire life story.“I was confined to the house, usually bedridden due to my blood disease.One night, after a particularly bad beating, my father actually had some good judgment through the haze of his usual intoxication and sent for a physicker.Not only did the physicker keep me from Rizear’s blighted doorstep that night, but he introduced me to the treatment with leeches.“My father would never spend money on something to help his family when it could be spent on booze or whores, but the physicker took pity on me.He paid me weekly visits out of his own beneficence, supplying me with fresh leeches and making sure my father hadn’t crippled or killed me with his beatings.” Kait’s voice was much colder than the morning air, and that was saying a lot, given my heightened sensitivity to the cold caused by the ellifil.My urge to smile faded.Tears began to slide down my cheeks as Kait’ continued.The ellifil was truly doing a number on my emotions.“With the leech therapy, I was able to escape the confines of my bed.In my fifteenth year, I discovered my.talent.I don’t know if the thought of me using magic threatened my father, but when he discovered my secret, the beatings became harsher.I couldn’t take it anymore and ran away.“The physicker declined to take me in, telling me that it was not his place to hide me from my family, but he sent me off with a good supply of leeches and some money.I left Gualain without looking back.I hopped around different cities for a few years, begging and scraping to get by, living in alleys and shelters.That was my life for several years, and I’m not proud of some of the things I had to do just to survive.“As I grew older, though, I started to feel guilty for leaving my mother and sister behind with my abusive, drunken father.I decided that if I could learn to use my talents, I could go back and save them.” Kait’ paused and pulled her cloak tighter against her lithe frame.“I traveled to the Wizard Academy, half-starved by the time I finally arrived.The blighted bastards turned me away.I had no money to pay tuition, and they determined that I only had a singular talent with my metal magic.” She noisily spat to the side again.“They don’t give much consideration to those without broader abilities.”I was taken aback.At the time, I had no idea that there were wizards who were unable to use certain types of magic.I did know that there were differences in magic strength among wizards and in their abilities to use complex magic, but not that some were limited to particular types of magic.Kait’s callous tone shifted to anger, her thick accent making her hard to understand as she venomously spit out her next words.“They gave me a one-hour session on how to avoid killing myself with my magic, and then they uncaringly sent me on my way.I was destitute in a foreign kingdom.I didn’t know what to do.Then he took me in.” Her emphasis on the “he” held more hatred than I’d ever heard in a single syllable before.While Kait’ spoke, her fingers curled and uncurled against the fabric of her cloak as she held it wrapped around her body.Between the way her words poured out and the nervous energy displayed in her hand movements, I figured that she’d probably taken some ellifil herself.If so, it was no wonder that my simple inquiry had led to her sprawling life story.Despite the urge to burst into tears and give her a big hug, undoubtedly from my own dosage of the drug, I remained silent.“Westis Nerefin, a bastard wizard who used to teach at the Wizard Academy.He had a nice house only a couple of streets away.He offered to take me in and teach me to use my magic.Didn’t even take him a day to reveal his true intentions.I lost my innocence to him on that first day.And then I lost five years of my life.” The fury-laced pain in her voice tore more tears from my eyes.“He kept me locked up like some sort of blighted treasure.He thought himself a damned saint to keep me fed and provide medical care for my disease.He took my body as he pleased for payment.I can’t begin to describe the pleasure I felt when I finally learned to control my magic on my own and killed him.” She growled, sounding more feral than human.The memory of the man I’d killed flashed into my mind.Menar, a man sent by Raijom to kill me, had set his men after me.I was greatly outnumbered and accidentally killed one of the men during the fight.Even without the ellifil, I could’ve brought the memory to mind in perfect detail down to the feel of my sword piercing the man’s body.The recollection of his death still sickened me.Of course, if Kait’s story was true, she was completely justified in her actions.Heck, I almost wanted to applaud Kait’ for killing the wizard.However, I couldn’t imagine ending a life and being able to speak so coldly about it.Kait’ continued, emotionless once again.“Westis had more than enough money for me to travel back to Yillia in comfort, something that felt foreign after so many years of abuse.I sent a letter to my mother once I arrived, not yet ready to confront my father.I waited at the local tavern for my mother to show, but my sister appeared in her stead, her belly rounded with child.She was still just a kid, not a year past coming of age.“She started screaming at me for leaving her.She beat me with her fists, blaming me for our mother’s death by our father’s abusive hand.She berated me for her being with child.our father’s child.That’s the moment my heart died—the moment that life turned gray and became meaningless.” Kait’ paused again, and I could’ve sworn I heard her sniffle, but her hood obscured her face, keeping me from knowing for sure.“My father had followed her to the tavern and stormed in, ready to end my life the way he had my mother’s.Before he could even get within reach of me, I used these,” she pulled out a handful of her metal spheres, “to rip through his blighted, gods-forsaken skull.” She shoved the spheres back into her cloak.“My sister dropped to his dead body and cried, calling me a murderer.And that’s the moment my soul died.“I was arrested on the spot.I didn’t care; there was nothing left in life for me anyway.I was awaiting trial when the undead started plaguing the land.When I learned about it, the last shred of caring in my heart flared.I had to save my sister, even if she hated me.Using the chaos of the undead’s attack, I was able to escape my imprisonment, but she was already dead when I found her—both she and her unborn child.It was all my fault; I should have stayed from the beginning.” I was positive I heard her voice catch that time.Tears continued to trace icy rivulets down my cheeks.I had to take a gasping breath to hold back a sob.“Kait’, I—”Kait’ spun to me, her damp eyes burning with anger, her nostrils flaring.“Not a word of this is to ever be spoken to anyone,” she hissed.She turned away, muttering something about the ellifil.After a significant stretch of silence spent trying to take rein of my emotions—following the euphoric rush caused by ellifil, a depressive crash is typical before emotions stabilize, especially in people unaccustomed to the drug—Kait’ stopped and turned to me.Her face was an emotionless mask.“Here we are,” she stated [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]