The Axe Falls -Ch29- (Patreon)

Nick carefully pushed Jessie off himself and then got to his feet.

“What, dumping me already?” asked Jessie in a groan. Her voice sounded absolutely filled with pain.

“Can’t fix you without getting up, nitwit. And no, I don’t have my egress crystal. Lost it with my pack,” said Nick. Stretching out his back he let out a sigh and then realized this wasn’t going to work. There was no way he could treat her in the dark.

It’d be better if he just acknowledge now he had other spells available if he was going to help her. Because she had been right earlier.

There was no way she was going to get through this with her leg broken as it was.

She hadn’t seen it yet, but Nick had. A break the likes she had wasn’t going to be something she probably survived.

Nick had made a study of corpses with his father after they’d been executed. A break like this tended to have some serious repercussions due to the fact that one couldn’t manually set the leg easily.

There were things like muscles in the body that would pull the leg in weir directions. Making it nearly impossible to get the leg to set right.

He had no name for them, nor did his father at the time, but he knew they existed. That they existed and Jessie would probably die from lack of treatment if he didn’t get her to a healer, medicine, or out of this pit that was a dungeon.

None of those seemed likely at the time, other than Nick using his minor healing arts. Wrenching her leg with maximum force while healing her.

Which meant he’d have to trust her with information that could be the ruin of him later.

“You’re… thinking about killing me, aren’t you?” asked Jessie in a tone that was so far subdued Nick would swear it was a different person.

“Yeah,” admitted Nick who then sighed. “If I help you, I’ll be revealing far more about myself than I want to. If I don’t help you, you’ll just die down here. There’s no way you’re getting out of here with your leg like that.”

“Really? Even with the whole… you can have all of me, offer?” asked Jessie, still sounding quite defeated.

“It’s a really bad break, Jessie. We need a healer for a chance,” said Nick. “That means getting you out of here quickly and from what I can tell… that doesn’t seem likely. We’re at the bottom of a collapsed dungeon that’s probably swarming with monsters. It’d be hard enough to get you out without fighting anything at all. I don’t have a weapon, other than a flimsy make-shift club.”

“Ah,” Jessie murmured. “I get it now. So… there’s two options. First is kill me or let me die of my wounds, second is help me and run your own risk that I won’t betray you later.

“And given I’m not exactly a shining example of society I can see how that’s problematic regardless of how great my ass is or how freakishly good looking I am.

“Which I am, by the way. I’m really good looking. I can totally make it worth your while and promise to keep your secrets. Super duper promise. Keep your secrets, fuck buddies, I’m super hot and sexy.

“Uh… I can’t think of a sexy way of saying cross my heart and hope to die stick a needle in mny eye. Erm… tie me up an’ make me cry, stick your dick in me till I’m… err… something? That doesn’t work at all. Whatever. Pretend I said something fun and sexy. Also… ow… this really fucking hurts. Help me, Nick?”

Hm.

Compared to Iris she’s a never ending stream of words.

Well, we could appoint her to a position, couldn’t we?

If we appointed her, and she accepted, she’d be just as much on the chopping block as we would be?

“That’d work, Sire. Though… what would we even hire her as? There’s no position that’d match her or her skills,” warned Lucian.

What about something like a Thief-Catcher? Use a thief to catch one? Could I make a position like that?

“Yes… we could make a position like that. Would she be worth it though?” warned Lucian. “Outside of casual sex, wouldn’t we need to confirm her maximum potential?”

That was something Nick couldn’t disagree with. He needed to be sure of her if he was going to offer her something like this.

If it didn’t work out, he could execute her for her crimes and then pay a small restitution to the local security force. Her crimes wouldn’t have met the requirements for execution, but it wouldn’t be against Nick’s favor other than blood money.

Nobody cared if you killed a thief.

“Show me your status card,” Nick said and then held up his left hand. With a faint whoosh the Firebolt spell activated in his palm once again.

Orange light flooded the room and gave him something to see by.

Laid out on the stones in front of Nick was the full woman that was Jessie, not just her lower half. Which was still quite remarkable despite the broken leg.

The upper half was also clad in leather armor that would most certainly be worn by the Thief types. Her body shape was squished by said armor and made her look like an athletic man more than a woman.

Her hair was a pale white that only barely came past her elongated ears. She had wide dark eyes that were watching him from where she lay. A dark black that was akin to an glass inkwell. Sparkling around the edges and absolutely fathomless at the center.

Jessie was most certainly attractive. Or at least, extremely attractive to Nick.

She was far more appealing than Iris to him or even Sera, regardless of her being a Dark Elf. The only person she lost to was Claudia and that was just a matter of opinion.

“Okay, so, I wasn’t expecting you to pull that out,” Jessie said, sitting upright and holding her hands up. She winced but managed to keep her seated position. “I know I said I was beautiful and I swear I am by my own people’s standards. I—”

“Am very beautiful, yes,” said Nick, not wanting to waste time. “I agree. You’re actually incredibly good looking. Hopefully you have a bust under that leather armor, too.

“But that’s kinda beside the point. Show me your status. I need to see your maximum level.”

“I… my b- oh, my tits. Yeah, I’ve got good ones,” Jessie said, her hands pressing to her chest. “They’re really squished in here but I’m good. Promise.

“And my status? That’s fine. Better than dead.”

Jessie’s status window popped up in front of Nick.

Ninety-seven.

That’s… really good. Not many people get close to that mark.

Her stats are also quite good. Though that lack of wisdom is odd for an Elf, isn’t it?

“Her intelligence is high so it balances out. If both were low, than I’d be concerned,” Lucian argued. “Your wisdom score is only two points higher and her intelligence is far larger than yours, by the way. Don’t complain. Offer her the position. Then… club her in the head or accept her. Those are our options.”

“So you like it, huh?” asked Jessie in a grimace while watching him. Sweat was rolling down her face as she sat there in clear pain.

“Like it?” repeated Nick, then closing her status window.

“Me, my status,” clarified Jessie. “You like me, right? We have a deal?”

“Kind of,” said Nick and then sighed. “So, I’ll make you a deal. If you say no… I have to kill you or just let you die here. If you say yes, you’ll be bound to me. There’s no in between on this. Thoughts?”

“Same as earlier. Alive and giving you the best sex you’ve ever had is better than being dead and feeding the worms,” said Jessie with a nod of her head. “Doesn’t hurt that you’re good looking. I was kinda surprised when I got a look at you after we took that tumble. Then I was kinda like, ‘Can’t wait to tumble him later’. But that’s not the point.”

Ah… she can see in the dark. That’d be helpful.

“Alright. As the last of the royal line of the Randolph family, I Appoint you as my Thief Catcher,” said Nick and putting the command of an ability into his words. “This is a life-time position that only I can take from you. Do you accept?”

“Yup,” Jessie said without any hesitation at all through partially clenched teeth. Sweat continued to roll down her face in waves. Then she closed her eyes and started to wobble where she sat. “You gonna fix me now? Cause I’m startin’ to feel a little woozy here.”

Household member gained!

Thief Catcher has been created!

Thief Catcher has been assigned as Jessica Tiller!

Before Nick could act, Jessie slowly tipped backwards and then went still on the ground. Her breathing was labored and he could hear a strange rattle in each one.

“Best act now lest you lose her already,” warned Lucian.

With a click of his tongue, Nick began to cast Minor Heal with his right hand, while targeting Jessie. The spell went off without an issue.

I’ll just… dump out my entire mana bar into her, adjust the leg by hand after my mana bar refills, then heal her again. That should give the leg the best chance, right?

“I would think so, Sire,” agreed Lucian.

Eliminating the Firebolt spell, Nick sat down at Jessie’s feet. He found a tear in the leather and then began ripping at it. Pulling it apart until he got it all the way up to the point where the break was. He could see the mangled skin and bone quite clearly now.

Laying his hands to the ankle of said broken leg he tried to gently align the leg without putting any force to it.

All the while he continued to cast his only healing spell.

Wishing for Claudia to be present would do him no good, but he still did so.

Nick settled in to do some tedious work.

***

Pulling at Jessie’s leg immediately woke her from the daze she was in.

Screaming at the top of her lungs Jessie practically sat bolt upright.

Nick had expected something like this though and was braced accordingly. He had one foot against a wall, and the other firmly planted between Jessie’s legs.

It was probably not the best place to push against, but his options were limited on how to pull the muscle like bands in her leg into position. He needed leverage which she could provide him.

Holding her leg Nick could see by the light of his impromptu torch that it looked to be in the right spot. The bone had slid back into her skin and appeared to be in the right position.

“Heal!” said Nick between his teeth as he held onto Jessie’s leg.

The spell activated and did the exact same thing it’d done every time he cast it on her. Vanished and made no outward sign that it was helping her.

He needed her awake if he wanted to know what was going on with her. She made no sign of rousing while he healed her though.

As the scream faded, Jessie groaned and then began to sob. Shivering nearly uncontrollably.

“I’m sorry,” she whimpered. “Don’t hurt me.”

“Heal!” Nick said again, ignoring her. Right now she wasn’t in a place where she could help him with her own treatment. “Heal!”

Nick could see his mana bar was steadily decreasing with each spell. All he could do was hope that her bone would partially knit itself back together. At least enough so that he could splint it without the bones coming apart again.

Casting over and over while Jessie sobbed and begged him to stop, Nick worked as if the job was endless. His mana bar slowly dwindling away.

“Okay handsome, it said it’s only a fracture now, you can stop,” pleaded Jessie as he still held her leg after another twenty or so spell-castings.

He wasn’t about to stop until he was sure that it wouldn’t just go back the way it was. The fact that Jessie wasn’t brokenly crying anymore seemed like a positive change.

“You sure?” Nick got out, looking up at her. The torch was burning low now but he could just barely see her features in the flickering light.

“Uh huh. It said its only a fracture. That it was going to be a four week status thing,” Jessie said. “Please, let go? You’re hurting me. You said you weren’t into hurting me so… time to stop.”

Grunting, Nick slowly let go of her leg. The pressure he’d been exerting on it to keep it held where it was felt strange to release.

When he was no longer pulling on her leg, and it was just resting between his own, he saw there was no change. The bones didn’t shift away from each other and it looked quite straight and whole.

“See? All better. Just a fracture,” said Jessie. “You fixed it right up. Still hurts but it’s nothing in comparison. I can even move my foot again.”

As if to make a point of that, Jessie flexed her booted foot and moved it. Her ankle and calf stretched fluidly, the gray flesh and hard muscle moving well and without a hitch. It seemed like she was trying to wriggle it up between his legs in fact.

“Ugh, you’re so much taller than me that I can’t reach you,” Jessie said then gave up with her foot. Instead she folded her arms and gave him an odd look. “While it’s kinda fun having your foot on my cunny, time to move it, yeah? Gonna bruise me up before you even get a chance to jam it in me. Where’s the fun in that?”

Nick blinked, then pulled his foot off of Jessie’s privates. At that moment, the torch burned for another second before going out with a hiss.

“Oh, it’s a lot darker than I thought,” said Jessie. “I can see well enough but you can’t see a damn thing, can you?”

“Nope,” said Nick and then held his hand up to cast Firebolt.

Unfortunately it didn’t respond to his command. There wasn’t even a flicker.

He just didn’t have enough mana at the moment.

“Just a human I’m afraid,” Nick said and let his hand fall to the ground. He’d try again in a short while.

“Totally a hot and royal human. I didn’t realize that you were the fallen-whatsit-thing. I saw the message when it came up, didn’t think much of it,” Jessie murmured. She sounded far more sure of herself at the moment. “Hey, wanna take me to pound town and ride me? I figure for all the work you put in already, you might as well get some early down payment on me.”

“Uh… yes, I do. But not here,” Nick said honestly. “The ground wouldn’t be very fun for either of us, and honestly, there’s so much dirt in the air I feel like I’m slowly being suffocated.”

“Ah, yeah. I’d be alright with a little choke play if you were into it, but the dust and dirt is definitely too much,” agreed Jessie. “So… what do we do next?”

“Explore, gather supplies, figure out where to go next. We need to gather things that’ll help us survive. Trying to rush to the exit won’t help us at all.”

“Mm, mm, mm. Yes, yes. Got it,” said Jessie. It felt like she was a lot closer to him now that he couldn’t actually see her. There also seemed to be a lot of pent up energy in her. “Water won’t be hard. There’s an old spring that runs under the dungeon. If we’re really on the bottom, we can just dig a well.

“I read about it previously in history class. Not an issue. Just dig and boom, then you can wet my whistle as easily as you get me wet. No problem. Food will be a bit tougher though.”

History class? She went to school somewhere then.

“Yes and no,” Nick said. He had a thought about that. If they could find a dungeon beast, not a monster, they could kill it and eat it. “But you’re right. Water first and tools for survival.”

“Great, I like it. Love it. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun,” Jessie said with a high pitched laugh. It felt like it was right in his ear.

He felt like there was more she wanted to say, but she finished on that sentence alone.

Holding his left hand up, Nick once more cast Firebolt into his palm.

Jessie was inches away from him. Staring into his face with wide eyes and a wider smile.

Gazing at him without any concern for anything else.

Even after the spell lit the room, she didn’t pull away. She just grinned at him.

Hm. Know anything about Dark Elves?

“No. My dealings with them are very limited. Their race is extremely secretive and dislikes being among others,” Lucian said cautiously. “Though I would suggest we find out what we can. If we survive.”

Jessie scooted even closer to him bodily, though her face remained where it was.

“Should we get to digging?” she asked, her eyes scouring his face. “Cause you already said no to messing my back up on the stones, I can’t think of anything else to do.”

“Yeah, let’s dig,” agreed Nick. “Water first.”

“Then me,” Jessie added. “Maybe?”