Balm in Gilead: Chapter 7 (Patreon)

A/N: Soooo, I've been a bit busy lately and kinda forget yesterday was Monday. Sorry everyone! Here's the chapter!

*~*~*
*~*~*

I lunged.

The man flinched back in alarm. Was he expecting me to cower, after he promised to rape me until I bled? A classic bully, the man had clearly spent too much time around people who could not fight back.

His sword was too slow. My pickaxe bit deep into his skull. Shattering it as easily as it broke the exoskeleton of killer ants, more even. 

He was dead before his blade cleared the sheath.

Around me, the other five Soma Familia shouted, swords clearing their sheaths.

I kicked the corpse off of my pick, into the woman in front of me. She squawked in surprised as it crashed into her. But I didn’t have time to see if she stumbled.

I stepped forward, stuttering left and right. The second man lashed out. He wasn’t as fast as Canoe had been.

And I was much faster than I’d been a week ago.

His sword whistled through the air, chiming against the stone ground. The tip of my pickaxe rang as well, but only against the back of his gorget as it ripped through his throat.

The second man gurgled as I yanked my weapon free, already running forward again. I heard the sound of footsteps as I turned. The three that had been behind us were giving chase, expressions enraged.

The last one, the woman, had just pushed her way free of the first man’s corpse. My expression tightened when I saw her look towards Lili. 

It looked like I didn’t have time to play things safe. 

“Get back here, bitch!”

The third man was just a bit faster than his two companions, getting a bit of distance. It proved to be his undoing.

I stepped into his swing, arm raised as I braced my own weapon against my shoulder. He tried to pull back, but I flicked my wrist. It caught his weapon arm right below the elbow. And he howled, dropping his weapon to the ground.

I twisted, jerking the man by his wounded arm. The head of the pick caught against the armor. He screamed again. Just in time for the forth to run him through with his rapier. I stepped back, letting go of my weapon as a short sword swiped at me. Number five swung his blade frantically, pushing me back with a flurry of blows. 

I wasn’t a swordswoman. In fact I was barely more than a brawler, which was why his frantic attacks worked. 

At least, until he tripped over an outcropping of stone, and I stepped forward to burry my holdout dagger in his throat. 

He sank to the ground with a soft hiss of air, the blood bubbling out of his wound, staining my clothes and the stone tunnel in equal measure. I snatched a sword from nerveless fingers, coming up just in time to see the man with the rapier slide to a stop a bit away from me.

He was wary of me now eyes narrowed on my weapon. 

I frowned. I didn’t have time to—

“Don’t fucking move!”

I hissed, eyes flicking over rapier man’s shoulder.

The woman had caught my supporter and was holding the girl by her hair. Lili’s massive pack lay discarded a short distance away, camping supplies and magic stones scattered everywhere. Lili’s hood was cast back, and I caught sight of two russet ears flicking back and forth on her head, framing her captor’s hand.

“Yeah, that’s right, bitch!” The woman shouted. “Make one more move and I’ll cut her pretty little face off!” 

I let out a low growl. But I didn’t move.

“Fuck.” The man with the rapier relaxed slightly. “You gave us a real hard time, you know that?” He glared at me. “Soma better keep his promise.”

I blinked. “Soma?” I’d expected a reprisal from their guild, but not from their god. 

“Shut the fuck up.” He pointed his sword at me. “Drop your weapon and put your hands—well,” he smirked, “hand, on your head.”

“You killed them!” The woman glared at me. 

Of all the self-righteous hypocrisy…

“Oi, Sombre. Relax.” The man with the rapier shrugged. “That’s just more Soma for us.”

“Why would Soma send you after me?” I asked.

“Eh? Didn’t I tell you to shut the fuck up?”

“What?” I made a show of lowering my weapon to my side. “Not going to tell a dead woman why she’s going to die?”

The man spat. “Like you did, cunt?” He raised his sword again. “Put your weapon on the ground. Or I’ll make it slow.”

“You were going to do that anyway,” I said.

“Heh. Maybe not such a stupid bitch after all.”

My eyes flicked over his shoulder, to where Sombre still had Lili by the hair. “Let my supporter go and I’ll drop my weapon.”

“Heeeeeh?” The man leaned forward. “You think I’m just gonna let another fine piece of ass go, because you asked nicely?”

“Soma just said to rough her up.” Sombre gave Lili a shake. “I don’t give a fuck about this little rat.” 

“Let her go,” I said.

“Oh, I will.” The man grinned. “After she apologizes thoroughly.”

Sombre rolled her eyes. “Whatever, fucking—”

Lili’s arm snapped up, a folding crossbow popping out of her sleeve just in time for her to shoot it through the woman’s arm.

Sombre screamed. The man turned.

I moved, without stopping to be surprised for even a heartbeat.

“What the fuck are you—grkkk!”

He looked back towards me to see my borrowed sword buried in his gut. His eyes widened as he slid to the ground, grasping frantically at his gaping stomach.

I took a steadying breath. “Unlike you,” I said. “I don’t play with my food.”

My sword bit through his neck, and his head went rolling across the stone.

I stepped over the body.

Sombre screamed as I moved towards her. “D-don’t kill me!” 

Why did they always beg?

“I might be persuaded not to.” I walked to the left, cutting off her awkward crap walk. Sombre scooted backwards until she hit the stone of the tunnel wall. “How does this sound. If you tell me just why you all came here to kill me, I’ll let you live.” I put on my nicest smile. “Who knows, you might even make it out of the dungeon with one arm.”

She shook her head, eyes rolling in her skull.

I clicked my tongue. “I mean, the offer is still on the table.” I spun the sword once. “But I think it might be a bit harder for you with zero functional arms…” I turned to Lili. There was a different look in her eyes now, but not one of fear. It seemed she was showing her true colors at last.

Now why did that feel so familiar, I wondered. “Should I take off a hand to start, or a foot?”

Lili jumped, before turning to look at me. I waited, even as Sombre continued to sob and plead.

The girl’s face hardened at the sound of begging. “Lili thinks you should take off a toe.” She glared at the woman. “That way you can make it last longer.”

“Well there you go.” I turned back to Sombre. “I don’t like dragging things out, but—”

“Soma told us to go after you!” she shrieked. “H-he made an announcement! Anyone who found you and roughed you up a bit would get six cups of Soma!” 

To my left, Lili sucked in a sharp breath.

Soma…

I’d done a bit of research on that god, learned a bit more about the Soma familia, what it did in Orario, who served Soma. 

“Hence why there were six of you?”

“Y-yes! Yes!” Sombre nodded frantically. “We agreed to split it, but other people are doing the same thing! It’s not my fault! I’m just doing what I was told!”

But there was a deeper meaning in his name too, for a student of the modern age. 

“And all of this for a cup of wine?”

“It’s the truth!” She pressed herself against the wall! “I swear it’s the truth.”

Lili nodded. “People who drink Soma…” she shuddered. “Will do anything to taste it again.”

I sighed, lowering my sword.

Sombre’s eyes latched on to my hand. “Th-that’s it? I can go.”

“Well.” I took a step back. “I won’t kill you.”

Sombre tilted her head, eyes blinking slowly.

Then her entire head rocked back as a crossbow bolt slammed into her eye. I turned to look at my supporter. She was breathing heavily, arm trembling as she held out her little wrist mounted weapon.

When she looked at me, I nodded.

“Good work.” Then I paused. “And I’m sorry.”

Lili blinked. “Sorry?”

“You’re my supporter.” I sighed. “There were too many for me to hold my ground, but it’s still my fault I failed.” I nodded again. “Good work. If not for you. We would have been in a difficult situation.”

Lili’s eyes narrowed at me. “We?”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “I meant what I said earlier.” I was confident I could get out of whatever the two of them tried, as long as they let Lili go first. 

“Whatever.”

I shrugged. “Whatever.” Actions spoke louder than words after all. “Let’s see about getting as much as we can back up to the surface. It’ll should cover the shorter delve time, so I can pay you the normal amount.”

Lili jerked again. “I thought you were just paying me what we made before now…”

“I did say that.” I nodded. “Now I’m planning to pay you more.”

She gave me another suspicious look but didn’t say anything else as we busied ourself stripping off the better pieces of armor and weapons. They were all lower quality, nothing like the nice sword Canoe had carried. But each of them had a pouchful of Valis with them. They went into the bag. 

I raised an eyebrow at Lili as she slipped Sombre’s own purse into her sleeve, and the girl froze. 

But I just shrugged. “Keep what you kill, if you need it so bad.” 

We made our way silently back to the surface, Lili’s bag bulging with her own supplies as well as our spoils. 

I place a hand on her shoulder just before we rounded the bend to the final staircase.

“It seems like you’re familia is…”

Lili just bowed her head.

I closed my eyes, letting out a slow breath. Why couldn’t things ever be simple. “Well, it seems like we’re in the same boat now, aren’t we?”

Her head snapped up, eyes locking onto mine.

“I don’t know why your god put a hit on me,” I said. “I intend to find out. But in the meantime, I could use someone who could watch my back.” I looked at her. “And if you have your own axe to grind against your Familia...”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Lili is not very good in a fight.”

“I don’t need you to help me fight.” I snorted. Gods knew I’d fought more than enough for the both of us. “I need someone who can keep their head like you did back there.” I started up the stairs. “If you decide you want to keep working with me, meet me at the base of the tower tomorrow morning.

Lili didn’t reply, but after a moment, I heard the soft sound of her footsteps padding up the staircase behind me. 

In the end, we split the profits 50/50 this time, even with the lower rate the guild payed on ‘salvaged arms.’

Call it hazard pay.

I used my hard-earned funds to purchase new clothes and a private room in a bath house before slipping into the back allies and heading towards our church. My thoughts whirled in my head as I walked, but one thing rose above it all. 

I couldn’t let Hestia worry about me. She’d try to get involved and end up drawing attention to herself. 

This was my kind of fight, one I could control, as long as I knew the players and the stakes.

Six cups of Soma for my head? If Soma just wanted revenge for Canoe, he wouldn’t put a limit on it. The whole thing was clearly planned, and by a god who reportedly only cared about wine. I was still missing some of the pieces, I could tell.

But it was a start.

I slipped into the church, feeling a weight slip from my shoulders in the same motion.

“Hestia.” I opened the door to our little alcove. “I’m home.”

“Taylor!” My goddess raced up the steps, and I let out a sigh of relief as I saw she was unharmed. 

Just like I thought, right now, this was about me for some reason. And as long as I kept it that way, presented Soma with an easy and visible target, then Hestia would be safe.

All that remained was figuring out how to handle the dungeon, now that there were also going to be six man kill teams going after my head. 

And with one arm no less.

“Taylor, Taylor! Come look what Hephaestus just finished!”

She tugged me down the stairs, into our room where…

I blinked, rubbing my eyes. 

On the table in the middle of our room was a sleek black arm, done with muted gold and blue accents. It looked perfectly sized to fit over my stump.

I swallowed. “Is that?”

“Yep!” Hestia grinned, pushing me forward. “She worked really hard on it! Try it on! Try it on!”

I shook my head, kneeling next to Hestia instead, all thoughts of shadowy conspiracies and hidden wars flying from my head. I felt my heart swell, even as my vision started to swim.

I held out stump. “Would you… make me whole, my goddess?”

“Oh, Taylor.” Hestia smiled, cradling my head against her bosom. “You were neven broken.”