Tear of the Goddess - 2. II

Amon gently put down Raphael's still body on the forest floor while he set up a make shift camp for the night. It would still take over a day to get back to what he guessed was "some" for himself at the moment. In normal circumstances he could get there in half a day but carrying an unconscious body made things quite a bit more slow. He wrapped Raphael in a few more layers of his and Amon's own cloaks and gathered some dry wood from nearby.

At least it had not rained here in a while so it wasn't too unpleasant to sleep on the floor...

Putting his hand above the pile of wood, a small flick of his wrist started a fire. Amon moved over to the sleeping cleric to check up on him. Brushing stray waves of hair from the other's face, it was the first time Amon had a good look at the young man. It was a nice change, he supposed from the sleeping faces he usually saw before he disposed of his targets. People with ugly, corrupt intent slept ugly too. And died in an unsightly manner in his opinion. He didn't care if that sounded extremely disrespectful to the dead, they were dead so it didn't matter.

For the situation he was in Raphael looked ironically peaceful, his cheek felt soft and smooth under Amon's blistered, singed fingers. It was a side effect of years of casting his fire element magic but it didn't bother him anymore as it didn't hurt. The blonde smelt good- a clean, mildly sweet scent that smelt totally foreign yet familiar at the same time. Amon felt like he and this person were worlds apart even if they currently shared the same time together. An odd feeling came over him a strange pain, kind of like loneliness, like he was suffocating...

He took a sharp breath, pulling his hand away. What was the matter with him? Those sorts of feelings should have died long ago, alongside his happiness, fear, sadness when his clan and lover had died. He was only still alive because he had a duty to carry out, his beloved's last request that he had already half failed to keep and now needed to put right.

Amon was too distracted with his thoughts to notice Raphael had opened his eyes, groggily scanning his surroundings, confused. When the black haired assassin turned back round to look at Raphael his eyes widened, flinching ever so slightly in shock as sharp emerald met brilliant sapphire eyes.

"W...where am I...-"

Raphael didn't even get to finish the sentence before he heard the soft sound of a blade being drawn and the feel of steel against his throat. He blinked, even more confused now.

"Don't move or you are dead."

Amon hissed, confusion and panic was pumping adrenaline into his veins though his face and voice didn't show it as much. How did he wake up? The spell should have been in effect for at least 2 days. It had not been more than 4 hours since he had cast it. It would be impossible for even a cleric to undo a spell if he had been the one put under it...

"....w..what...?"

Raphael was totally confused at the situation he had woken up to. Not only did he feel a little drowsy, from what he could gather he was outside, laying on what looked like a forest floor. And who was this person? A bandit? What did he want? Why was he here? Forcing his muddled mind to work properly, Raphael placed both of his hands on the ground in hopes it made him look less threatening as it was impossible to cast any sort of complex magic towards the other man this way.

"Uh...I'm not going to attack or anything so...please... put your blade down?"

Raphael pleaded, looking back at the man's glare. He couldn't attack even if he wanted to anyway- he didn't know any offensive magic. And in any case, if he ever attacked someone it would be against his creed and it was said his abilities would become corrupt and he would lose them.

"...please... can't we talk?"

Amon weighed up the situation in his mind- Well he had to talk to the cleric sooner or later to get him to do what he wanted, and it was true as far as he knew most clerics couldn't do any offensive magic and running away from him was no option. He guessed he could give the other a chance at least. He slowly lowered his dagger, resting his arm by his side now in case he tried to do anything.

"Thank you..."

Raphael breathed out in relief. Well at least it seemed like he wasn't getting his throat slit right there and then. Black hair, green eyes and very pale skin, like life was being drained out of it. That's what the man before him looked like. Strong Fire element. Maybe a mage? But also...

Amon grimaced in pain, his free hand going to his chest as a groan escaped his gritted teeth. It was hurting again. Probably his fluctuation of emotions was the cause of it flaring up. It was like paralysis, the numbing tingling feeling spreading all down his body while his heart felt like it was going to be torn apart. It made him sink to his knees and it took all his control not to curl up on the floor in a ball.

"A-Are you alright??"

Raphael moved over to the other man in surprise. What was this? He could see faint dark red tendrils all around the man's body, as if clawing at it, tangling itself up around his limbs like ivy. Was he cursed?

"I am fine!"

Amon gasped out, drawing his blade to create space between them weakly, his hand shaking.

"Don't come near me. A..and don't think about running away either. You won't escape."

"No you are not okay! Let me help you!"

Raphael replied, paying no heed to the blade and reaching out, putting his hand over Amon's which was clutching at his heart. A pale blue light spilled from his palm as the cleric started to whisper words of incantation, the light starting to spread and embrace Amon's whole body from the chest down. The pain and paralysis started to ebb away, as if retreating back into his chest.

Amon shuffled back a little as he brushed away Raphael's hand as soon as he was able to. This was not the best way to intimidate someone into doing something. He had ended up showing the blonde his weakness instead. Great.

"I told you. I'm fine. Don't touch me."

"....are you cursed?"

"...it doesn't matter."

Raphael felt a surge of emotion at those words. What did he mean? Ofcourse it mattered! Every life was a sacred gift and should not be laid to waste!

"It does! It's going to kill you!"

"I won't die until I've done my duty. And when I have it dosn't matter."

Amon replied firmly, regaining his composure. He didn't need a lecture or sympathy from the cleric. Raphael looked like he wanted to say more but was silenced by the look the other was giving him which told him he didn't want to hear it.

"Anyway... In answer to your original question, I abducted you from the inn."

Amon replied bluntly, getting back to his normal flow now.

"I will not harm you as long as you do as I ask. After it's done you are free to go. If you refuse or try to run away I will kill you."

He added flatly, twirling the dagger in his hand to check his fingers were working okay after the attack. Seemed fine.

"I had put a sleeping spell upon you but somehow you woke up. If you are going to be uncooperative, I will bind you and drag you there."

"O..oh... well.. I don't really know why but I've always had a strong resistance to magic like that, you know sleeping and paralysis and stuff....so it's why it probably wore off early..."

Raphael smiled a little, trying to seem nonthreatening as the other man resembled a cornered animal in defensive mode. Raphael felt no fear around this person- even though he was threatening to kill him, he felt like he was safe. It was one of those gut feelings.

"Um... My name is Raphael, what's yours?"

Amon looked back at him as if he had asked a crazy, unexpected question. He hesitated for a few moments before he replied.

"...Amon."

He had given his real name without thinking. He should have used an alias....

"Okay Amon, I think I managed to keep your curse at bay for now, but it will start hurting again probably soon if you don't treat it. If you let me, I can remove it for you-"

"NO. I don't need it removed! I told you to leave it alone!"

Amon snapped back.

"Don't you dare think about removing it!!"

"O..oh okay if..you are sure.."

Raphael didn't understand why someone would not want a curse removed. It seemed weak enough, he could probably cast it away pretty easily. But if it is left it will get stronger and stronger till it probably would kill the victim...

"Anyway. Are you going to cooperate with me or not?"

Amon needed to change the subject and this conversation was going nowhere fast enough for him.

"Well... you haven't told me what you want me to do, but as long as it's nothing....immoral I will try my best..."

"You just need to treat someone for me. That's all."

"....I'm not too sure if I am skilled enough but I can try."

Raphael replied, wondering why Amon didn't just ask him normally in the first place. People traveled from other villages to be healed by him all the time.

"And if you try and-"

"...and I won't run away or anything. It is my duty as a cleric to heal people of their illnesses after all and I am more than happy to help."

Raphael added which seemed to quieten the assassin.

"That's fine then. We will set off at dawn so... go back to sleep."

Amon replied a little awkwardly. That...went better than he had expected. He was so used to the corrupt side of mankind and forgot that were people out there who would do things for no return. Or maybe the cleric had something up his sleeve...well if that was the case he would deal with it when it happened.

Amon also noticed the heavy weighted feeling he usually constantly had around his chest where the curse was taking hold felt much lighter now- he felt so much more at ease than he had for years. It also made him feel sleepy, almost so sleepy it was impossible to fight it....

Before he knew it, Amon had fallen asleep, in a curled up position on the ground. Raphael pulled off one of the layers of cloaks he found he was wearing, putting it over the other man. He guessed he should rest a bit more too till dawn...

"Amon! Wait for me! You are running too fast!"

That lingering soft, sweet scent....