Jaigra found herself and Andromeda on the outskirts of Millpoint as the sun crossed the horizon, bringing the glowing embers of dusk to the small town. She had practically dragged Andromeda back through the ravine with her arm slung over her shoulder, fully carrying her more often than not as the Stranger faded in and out of consciousness. It had made the going slow, but Jaigra wasn't going to leave her behind.
Andromeda had been passed out beside her when Jaigra woke up from Grinner’s spell with Andromeda's bloody shawl bound around her waist, leaving her to wonder about the demolished truck parts and mountain of vivisected corpses that surrounded the two of them at the bottom of some ravine.
She vaguely remembered getting shot, but when she checked under the shawl nothing was there, just smooth and unblemished skin. She had wrapped Andromeda's shawl around her neck for safekeeping and took stock of what she knew as she .
Everything that happened was hazy for Jaigra, but she knew the taste of Andromeda’s blood on her lips. Did Andromeda kiss her? The thought was halfway between a memory and a dream, and the Stranger hadn't yet been conscious enough for her to ask.
"You'd better wake up," Jaigra grunted, "You can't just die and leave me like this."
It was at least easy to move through Millpoint's backstreets, keeping close to the cliff face and between the scant few buildings. Jaigra wasn't looking forward to meeting any of the residents with both of her pistols missing, especially not that Paladin that Andromeda had been hanging around lately.
Jaigra peered out from an alleyway and bolted back into the shadows. A platoon of Union soldiers six men strong walked past in formation with rifles at the ready. And where there was one Union platoon, a dozen more were never far behind.
“Damn it.” Jaigra looked at Annie, “I think your soldier boy called in the cavalry.”
Even if Jaigra didn’t basically have “Therult Soldier” written across her forehead by dressing in full Seraph armor, she couldn’t parade around in the open with a wounded woman on her arm without somebody asking questions. She glanced at the Herald’s blade she was holding in her free hand, then shook her head. The sword wasn’t hers to wield, and she wouldn’t betray Andromeda’s trust using it for further bloodshed.
Andromeda mumbled softly and Jaigra leaned her head towards her, “What?”
“Motel…” she murmured.
“Motel?” Jaigra frowned. Did she mean the little windmill themed place? That was on the opposite side of town! She groaned and adjusted her grip on Andromeda, “Can’t just make it easy for me, can you?”
That got a weak chuckle from Andromeda, and then she went limp.
“Son of a bitch!” Jaigra bowed under the sudden weight, then caught herself before she dropped Andromeda, “Fucking hell. You could’ve patched your own wounds while you were going all ‘avenging angel’ you know!”
Andromeda didn’t respond. Jaigra grimaced.
“Fine. I guess I owe you one.” Or two, or seven. Jaigra had given up trying to count a while ago.
She shuffled the two of them back down the alley and then across a side street, limping from one shadow to the next as quickly as Jaigra could carry them. It was just as she was about to slip through a gap in someone’s rickety old fence that she came face-to-bayonet with a leering Union soldier.
“Halt!” He ordered, “What are you doing here?” the soldier’s gaze fell on the sword in Jaigra’s hand and Andromeda’s torn and bloody clothing. His eyes widened and he tightened his grip on the rifle. Jaigra cursed under her breath and braced herself to make a run for it.
“There you are!” A voice called from behind them.
Jaigra saw a straw-haired young girl in a plain dress and apron running towards them and waving.
“I’ve been looking all over for you!” The girl looked from Jaigra to the soldier, “Thank you for finding my cousin for me! She had us all worried sick!”
The soldier kept his rifle trained on the Seraph, “This is your cousin?”
“Yeah!” The girl slipped between Jaigra and the solider and smiled sweetly, “I’ve been looking all over for her! She went off in search of our friend after all the kerfuffle today.”
The man looked at the sword doubtfully, “She’s very well armed to just be looking for your friend.”
The girl looked at her feet bashfully, “Monsters come in from the wastes sometimes. We don’t always have brave soldiers like you around to protect us.”
Blush colored the man’s cheeks and he lowered his rifle, “Right. Of course ma’am, these’re dangerous parts.” the soldier turned to Jaigra, suddenly apologetic, “Sorry for the confusion ma’am. Does your friend require medical attention?”
Jaigra bit her lip, but the apron girl spoke up before she could say anything, “We’re okay, but thank you! I know a mage who can patch her up. I wouldn’t want to waste y’all’s resources on a few scrapes and bruises.”
The soldier eyed Andromeda dubiously but shrugged, “Alright, go about your business ladies. Call us if you need anything.”
The girl was dragging Jaigra away by the shoulders before she could begin to argue, “Thank you officer!”
She steered them up the road and then into another alley, dropping the smile as soon as they were out of sight, “What the fuck are you doing?” she hissed, “The whole damn Union is looking for you and you’re just waltzing through town!”
Jaigra wouldn’t have called slinking through the shadows and back streets waltzing, but the girl steamrolled over her attempt to protest.
“You’re lucky I found you two! What the hell happened? Lorena dumped Connor on my doorstep and said you all got into some kind of shootout and this damn fool—“ she gestured to Andromeda, “—was running after you!”
Jaigra said nothing. Tallis fumed silently for a minute, but not a second longer, “Well? Are you gonna answer me or not?”
Jaigra arched a brow, “Oh, am I allowed to talk now?”
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Tallis turned her back to Jaigra, “Forget it! Shut up and come with me. I swear you Seraphs couldn’t find your way out of a cardboard box without your stupid blood compasses.”
She led Jaigra and Annie away from the ravine and through town, and it slowly dawned on Jaigra that she had indeed been going in the opposite direction of the motel. Not that she was about to admit that to the very angry woman guiding her there.
Sure enough, the Time-Mill-Tell Motel came into view a few minutes later. Annie seemed to be waking up a bit as well, Jaigra heard her mumble “Connor…” softly as soon as they reached the door.
“Who’s Connor?” Jaigra asked the apron girl.
“He’s the town Deputy,” she said, “Actually, he’s waiting in Annie’s room for her. I’ll just take you to him.” The girl opened what could have once been called the front door before half a dozen holes had been blown in it and led them inside.
The motel lobby was even worse off than Jaigra remembered. It was a disaster when she’d been in there last, but tonight it was a genuine catastrophe. Tables were decimated, what few chairs that were left had been smashed to splinters, and the wooden floor beneath them was more sawdust than floorboard.
“What happened in here?” she asked.
“I tried to shoot Annie.” The girl sounded distant.
It seemed like that was becoming a trend in this town, “Why?”
“That magician made me.”
“Oh.” Jaigra fell silent. She had thought that her, Tarthen, and Jocaria were the only ones.
Jaigra followed the girl as she wove her way through the devastation and down a narrow hallway to a half open door. She pushed through into the cramped motel room and gestured Jaigra and Andromeda inside.
“Annie!” That redheaded Paladin shot to his feet and ran over to them from the corner desk. His armor lay scattered around the room haphazardly, a gorget and gloves slung over the chair, shoulder and breastplate laid against the wall, kneepads and hip armor tossed onto the bed. Jaigra knew he had a sword too, but it was nowhere to be seen.
“What happened? Is she ok?” the Paladin who was probably Connor delicately took Annie’s other arm and half dragged her and Jaigra over to the bed to lay Annie down on the mattress. He looked over his shoulder and nodded to the straw-haired girl. Some unseen signal passed between them and she darted from the room, presumably to do something or other. Jaigra didn’t really care.
”You’re a Paladin, right? Can you patch her up?” Jaigra asked.
Connor was silent for a moment before saying, “No. Medical magic doesn’t work on Annie.”
”What?” Jaigra gasped, “That’s…” She thought about what Annie had told her. About the blood on her lips when the magician’s spell ended. “Her blood. Right.” Jaigra said.
Connor nodded, then looked behind her. Jaigra spun around with her needle drawn, already calling threads to it. Apron girl stood in the doorway glaring daggers at Jaigra, carrying an armful of medical supplies and towels.
"Thank you, Tallis." Connor said.
Tallis the apron girl stormed past Jaigra and shoved the supplies onto the bed next to Andromeda, purposefully looking away from the Seraph in favor of Connor and Andromeda.
"You're welcome," she said, "Holler if Annie wakes up. I'll just be over in the office, there's a pile of paperwork I've been putting off." Tallis left the room without giving Jaigra a second glance.
The Paladin cleared his throat, "Jaigra, right? You know Annie from Therult."
She turned away from the door to regard him suspiciously, "How do you know that?"
He shrugged, "Annie told me."
Jaigra didn't expect this sort of stone-faced reaction from Andromeda's self-appointed guard dog. No weapon, no armor, and no magic from what she could see. The boy had balls, she’d give him that.
“What all did she tell you?” she asked.
"Enough.” Connor said flatly.
“The fuck does that mean?” Jaigra’s suspicion was quickly sliding towards open hostility.
He leaned towards her, “I know you two were close. I know she trusted you more than anyone. And I know you stabbed her in the back.”
“You shut your mouth!” Jaigra snarled.
“So you didn’t expose her deepest secret to her family? You didn’t hand her over to the psychopaths that poisoned her body? You didn’t know they were going to tear out every fiber of her being and make her their puppet? You didn’t let her be violated by the people she should have been able to trust? Are you telling me you didn’t do all of that?”
Every word cut into Jaigra like a knife. All of her anger evaporated, leaving her with an awful hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. She sank back in her chair, unable to bring herself to meet Connor’s eyes.
“I don’t know why she would give someone like you another chance. But she risked her life for you, and I’m not going to question her,” His voice darkened, “If you do anything to hurt her, I will send you back to your damn empire in a casket.”
Jaigra flinched back from him and he smiled, satisfied.
“I’m going to check on Annie’s wounds,” he grabbed a cloth from the pile of medical supplies and offered it to Jaigra, “If you want to be helpful, start with running this under some hot water.”
She begrudgingly took the cloth and Connor pointed towards the bathroom. Jaigra retreated, taking the opportunity to try and collect herself away from the Paladin.
Discarded alchemy supplies lay scattered around the bathroom. A portable burner here, various flasks there, goggles and gloves handing from the shower rod, and various plants and reagents soaking in the tub. That didn’t surprise Jaigra though. No, what surprised her was the blood.
There was blood in the sink. Blood and dozens of tiny pieces of shrapnel. More blood had dried on the solitary towel next to the shower and there were rusty red handprints on the walls and along the edges of the sink.
Jaigra swallowed the wave of guilt that crashed over her and ran the cloth under some water in the sink. She watched the specks of blood leave bloody streaks in the porcelain as the water carried them down the drain until the cloth was saturated. She shut off the tap and wrung it out, banishing the last of the blood down the drain. Then she fled back to the motel room.
Connor had removed Andromeda’s armor and carefully set it on the desk in a neat pile along with her jacket. He had also unbuttoned the lower part of her shirt, exposing her stomach and a chunk of the enormous dark scab that started at her hip and crept up her side until it disappeared under the shirt.
“Bring me that.” Connor gestured towards the cloth without looking up.
Heat rushed to Jaigra’s cheeks and she immediately averted her eyes, “W-what are you doing?” she stammered .
Connor frowned, “How are we going to check her wounds if we can’t see them?”
"Why are you undressing her?" Jaigra brought over the cloth and put it into his waiting hand, keeping a hand over her eyes so she couldn't see Andromeda's exposed skin.
"A couple of reasons. One: I can't help with wounds I don't know are there, two: the material of her clothes can get into the wound and then it can get infected, and three: it's what she would tell me to do anyway." Connor began wiping the wounds as he spoke, removing the dried blood that had accumulated.
"Why the hells do you think she'd tell you to do that?" Jaigra couldn't believe the man's arrogance.
"She already has," Connor had unbuttoned the shirt higher than Jaigra would have dared to look, "Oh gods."
Jaigra lifted her hand to see, "What? Is she hurt?"
Connor had fully unbuttoned Andromeda's shirt, exposing her tattoos and the dozens of scars that ran up her body and across her chest. Her shoulder bore the worst of her injuries, a deep piercing wound that wept a trickle of blood despite the coagulated scab that covered it.
"Oh Empress." Jaigra thought she might throw up.
Connor traced his fingers along the scab coating her shoulder, pressing on it slightly in a way that pushed out blood from underneath the scab like an over-filled cup.
"What are you doing?" Jaigra stepped towards him. Connor held up a hand.
"I'm checking to see how well her alchemical seal on the wound is holding. It's a patch job at best, but I think it stopped there from being any permanent damage. She still needs bandages. Maybe stitches too." Connor sounded distant, his mind elsewhere.
Jaigra turned her back to him and Andromeda to stare determinedly at the wall, "Fine. Let me know if there's anything you need me to do."
She heard him drag something over to the bedside. The creak of wood as he settled told her he had brought over a chair to the bedside.
She could hear soft moans and whimpers from Andromeda as Connor worked. Jaigra took a deep breath and dug her fingernails into her palm, drawing a tiny trickle of blood.
Time passed agonizingly slowly, Jaigra thought she might go mad from the anxiety that chewed away at her gut with every pained noise Andromeda made. Then the chair creaked behind her and Connor let out a sigh.
"Are you done?" She asked. There was a hand on her elbow and she spun around. Her heart skipped a beat. Andromeda's eyes were open, and she was looking at Jaigra.
"Hey..." Andromeda smiled.
