The Rise of the Wereheretic

CHAPTER 6

I sat up with a start, panting heavily. The scene from the playground lingered in my eyes for a couple of moments before fading. My hand flew to my chest as a gust of air escaped my lips; deflating the tension.

Hera had decided to spend the night at a tavern and I was alone in my room. My gaze drifted to the open window. It was still dark. I crossed my legs and straightened my back. I took long deep breaths; recollecting and composing my thoughts.

I had fared terribly the previous day, getting all flustered and jeopardizing the mission. I had to do better if I wanted to achieve my objective. I had seven days to find Hera’s weakness; seven days before she would pretend to test me and probably kill me.

I had to retain my focus, attaining one objective at a time. The first step was to obtain her blood for research. I had to do that before I left the town. My mind veered to the conversation I had with Melinda about this.

I had been completely boggled at the thought of collecting her blood, “This is impossible!” I had snapped, almost shouting. “Do you think, the wereheretic will just hold out her hand and say, ‘Here love, stick in your syringe and take all the blood you want?”

“We are not that unreasonable, Justin. We don’t need a full syringe. Even a drop will do, just so we can analyze her DNA.”

Another sigh left my lips and I massaged my neck. I had to find a way to make this work first thing in the morning.

With a little meditation and self-talk, I managed to gather my thoughts; forcing myself to stash all the traumatic memories in the recess of my mind.

This part of the plan played out surprisingly well. I pretended to stagger with weakness while heading toward the restaurant. Using this opportunity to accidentally bump into her, I stabbed her hard with a needle.

She winced and tried to pull away reflexively but I held on, sneakily holding the vial close to her skin. I managed to collect only three drops of blood before her wound healed.

I had just slid the vial into my pocket when I was thrown back by the impact of her magic. I bumped into a nearby table, crushing it under my weight. The waiters came rushing and helped me to my feet.

She inspected her arm but there was nothing; given that her wound had already healed. We sat at another table and she ordered a selection of dishes. The savory aroma of the delicious food made my stomach rumble.

I couldn’t stop myself from grabbing a sandwich from the table. Hera raised her eyebrows, “Who told you that you could eat with us?”

My eyes widened and the sandwich slipped from my fingers, “Why am I here then? You could have as well left me in my room….”

Her eyes narrowed and the table trembled, cutlery and all, “Don’t forget your place, wolf boy. You are my prisoner!”

I gulped and lowered my gaze, “I am sorry…. I… I will ask permission before doing anything next time.”

“Hmm… Now, look at me.” Her lips lifted in a smirk, drawing my attention to them. I zoned out for a moment but I didn’t let myself get drawn this time.

“You are here to watch us eat…” Her smirk grew wider at my pained expression. “I want to see you squirm and twist as you watch us eat the most delicious food in the world. Your stomach will grunt and growl but you won’t even get a bite….”

Water filled my mouth and a different kind of ache gripped me, “Are you going to starve me for seven days?”

She shrugged, “I might… It depends on my mood.”

I rested my head on my chin as I watched her put pieces of delicious food into her mouth. She took her time; stopping to moan in pleasure and describing how each dish tasted with great precision. Dreki supported her wholeheartedly; pointing out the flavors or descriptions she missed sometimes.

When I volunteered for this mission, I had hardened myself to go through all sorts of torture but this was not one of them. You have no idea how tormenting it is to feel those pangs of hunger gnaw at your insides while you are forced to watch someone else enjoy their meal; that too when you haven’t eaten in over twenty-four hours.

I was completely crazed with hunger by the time she finished eating. But, I held on to those threads of composure with everything. I had already obtained the blood. Now, I just needed to pass it on to Melinda. I couldn’t screw it up just because I was tantalized with food.

It was a relief to finally walked out of the restaurant. The cool breeze slapped across my face. I noticed that the streets were more desolate as compared to yesterday. Most of the shops were closed except for one or two here and there. When we were about to pass by Zesta’s candy store, I asked, “Gigantic elephants are doing samba in my stomach. Can I at least buy a candy?” I held my head as I continued in a weaker voice, “I am afraid I will faint if I don’t get anything.”

She stopped walking and turned to face me; her expression bemused, “You still eat candy?”

I shrugged and averted my eyes indignantly, “It is not my fault that humans make such delicious candy. I can’t stop myself.”

She giggled; mellow, sweet laughter followed. “Go ahead, buy your candies, Wolf Pup.”

My face flushed and I rushed to the candy store. I knew this was embarrassing but we couldn’t come up with a better plan to relay messages. It had to be something so stupid, so silly that Hera wouldn’t suspect.

Walking over to the counter, I stole a glance at Hera and Dreki. They had made no move to follow me. I tapped the counter three times and placed a gold coin on the glass counter.

The shopkeeper’s eyes widened for a moment but he regained composure pretty quickly. He handed me two large eclairs. I opened the one with the red wrapper and scrawled quickly. ‘Point 1’ and added a tick mark beside it. Then I wrapped the sweet again before handing it over to the shopkeeper with the vial. With a curt nod, he handed me a pouch of colorful candies.

I pocketed the other eclair quickly and rushed back. Hera’s arms were crossed over her chest and she was tapping her foot impatiently, “What took you so long?”

“I am so sorry to keep you both waiting.” I gave them my silliest grin as I held up the pouch, “There were candies in so many colors that I got all flustered. In the end, I bought them all….”

She shook her head but didn’t comment, “Let us just continue walking. We need to be somewhere before dusk.”

“Are we going on a killing spree again?”

“Maybe…”

My face turned pale and I stuttered, “B…But, you promised to give me time to recover before testing me again….”

“I promised to not make you fight monsters before you recovered. I will still be testing you in other ways.”

A sigh of resignation left my lips. This was exactly what I needed. I took out a yellow colored candy and held it in front of her, “Will you spare me if I give you a candy?”

She kept quiet for a long time, probably too stunned to react. I kept holding the candy in her general direction as I trotted along to keep pace with her. After a few moments, she grunted and pushed my hand away, “You think you can bribe me with candy?”

“I had to try.” Shrugging, I continued, “You should try it even if you don’t want to get bribed; the lemon sherbets are absolutely the best.”

“If you are so hell-bent on giving the candy to someone, I will take it,” Dreki said, whisking the sweet out of my hand. He popped it into his mouth before I could even react. Hera gave him a warning glare but he just smiled as if saying it is okay.

I popped a blueberry-flavored one into my mouth. I had taken my first step in achieving the second point. I had to normalize eating candies and then convince Hera to try them out as well. That way, we could try out different drugs on her.

We took the rocky road towards the east. Hera kept prodding me to walk faster but my legs just wouldn’t move quicker. I was still wounded and I hadn’t eaten anything either. The scorching sun wasn’t making it any better. My face had turned completely red and I was drenched in sweat.

Reaching a shady tree, I grabbed a trunk and slid to the ground; refusing obstinately to take another step. I had expected wisps of magic to clutch my legs and drag me but nothing of that sort happened. I raised my head and looked up to find that Hera wasn’t there.

Dang! Hera had just left at some point in the journey and I didn’t even realize it. That is how exhausted I was. My brain was so roasted that I couldn’t even curse myself for being careless.

Dreki smiled at me kindly and sat beside me; stretching his legs just the way I had. He looked me in the eyes, “We return every act of kindness tenfold.” His smile widened as he held out a package, “You gave me your candy. So, I will give you my lunch.”

I was so hungry that I didn’t think of anything else. I ripped off the package and gobbled the sandwich in two minutes flat. By the time I realized that something was wrong, it was already too late.

My vision blurred and my head started spinning. The last thing I remember is my head dashing against the strong trunk of the tree.