Limits

When I woke up the next day, I went straight to the Lazar's house. When I knocked on the doors, I heard a young voice saying "Who is it?". I was a bit surprised, but answered nevertheless. "I'm here to see Lazar. I have something to talk about with him". The voice from behind the door replied "Daddy's not home. Came back later mister". I said "Alright" absentmindedly, and headed towards the workshop.

'To think that this Lazar guy, had a daughter' I thought, on my way back. I soon arrived at the workshop, and went straight to work. As I pounded the metal, I thought 'I shouldn't waste all the Black Steel, on making daggers from moulds. If I could create the same dagger, with my own hand instead of a mould, it would be much better. The problem is, I don't have enough experience, to create such daggers, moreover to a high standard'.

The only solution, was to practice dagger smithing. 'I don't have that much time though. I will make about 2 dozens of daggers using the moulds, the rest of the ingots will have to wait. When I have enough experience of creating daggers by hand, I can then make more daggers' I thought. With the three Azurite Ingots taken care of, I left them in the office, and went straight to the Lazar's place again.

When I knocked on the doors, Lazar was the one who opened this time. He seemed surprised, and elated at the same time. He asked "Did you come here to sell some medicine?". I shook my head and said "I'm here for something else. Can we talk?". He was disappointed for sure, his expression easily betrayed that. Nevertheless, he invited me inside. He asked "What is it that you came to talk about?".

I said "I need to talk with your leader. I want to ask about some things, and he surely would know". After a while of thinking, he replied "It's not going to be easy. He is quite busy with all the affairs. I could go there and inform him, but..". I knew what he wanted, he probably wanted to get his hands on more of that medicine. I said "I catch your drift, but it's not going to happen. If you didn't lie to me, I would even give you one for that favour. Now, you should be the one, who owns me a favour".

He acted, as if he didn't know what I was talking about, and asked "What do you mean?". I said "The medicine I sold to you for 2 Black Hals, is worth at least 20. You knew the worth of that medicine, so you used my lack of knowledge. I don't have any hard feelings, but you can't seriously demand more, after that type of stunt?".

He laughed mockingly at himself, and said "So you figured it out?". I said "I was simply curious, why would my medicine cost more, than my work at the workshop? I asked, and found out why". He said "True, I swindled you, but that was all I could give you. I don't earn loads either, and the medicine… was quite important to me. It still is".

I said "Maybe, but what is that to me? I told you, I have no bad feelings, just convey my message to your leader. I need to ask him a few things, that is all". He nodded his head, and said "Sure, I can do that much for you". I then hear "Daddy.. It hurts again". I looked in the direction of a closed room, while Lazar said "I had a reason to swindle you. You see my daughter..". I interrupted him "Don't explain yourself… Heh, just let me see her".

He nodded, and we went inside the room. There on the bed, laid a small Lizard, but it wasn't red, black or combination of both, she was grey. This alone stunned me, so I asked "I don't mean to be rude, but why is your daughter grey?". He didn't get angry, and said "She is grey because… my partner was from the forbidden race. I'm sure you don't know what that is, but in simple terms, these are Lizards that were outcasted a long time ago. I fell in love with one of them, but she died soon after Suly was born. Only a few people here, don't point their fingers when they see me. It's all thanks to Harlin, that my daughter didn't get chased out or killed". I nodded and said "So the medicine was for her. Let me have a look at her then".

He said "Please, if you are able to create such medicine, maybe you will be able to cure my daughter as well". I shook my head and said "I will not promise you anything. I mostly treated humans, not Lizards". The small Lizard on the bed, seemed to be in pain, as cold sweat was forming on her head. I examined her body, and found out that, she didn't have a high temperature, it was the opposite. 'She is very cold to touch, as if something is freezing her from inside' I thought.

I asked "How long is she in this state?". Lazar answered "Since she was very small. Do you know what is wrong with her?". I shook my head and said "Not really. She is very cold to touch, as if she is being frozen from the inside. Did something happened to her, when she was small? Or perhaps she ate some kind of herb, or something?".

He shook his head, and said "No, she ate nothing like that. Nothing happened to her either, that could produce this type of condition". I thought about it for a while, then took out my dagger. Lazar immediately reached for his weapon, and shouted "What are you doing?". I said "Calm down, I want to check her blood". He still held onto his weapon, then said after a while "Alright, but be careful".

I slashed her hand lightly, and saw some blood coming out, but it wasn't red. It was pale blue, with some red mixed in. I asked "Is this normal?". He shook his head and replied "No, it should be red, not blue. Even my partner's blood was red, why is this one blue?". I had no answer to that question. I extracted some of it, and took a more detailed look.

'This blood, is very cold. My guess was correct, it seems that something is freezing her from the inside, but what?' I thought. I had another idea, but it was risky, so I asked before I proceeded. "I may be able to do something about it, but it's going to be risky. I don't know if it's going to work, and if it works, I have no clue what is going to happen".

He asked worried "What the hell do you have in mind?". I replied "You see, my right arm… is special. I can try absorbing the coldness, but I don't know if that will work. I also don't know what is going to happen, if it works. She may be alright, and cured, or well… anything can happen". He shook his head, and said "Then I rather not try it".

I thought about it for a while, and said "The sad news is, you don't really have a choice. Her life is going to end soon. My medicine, will not help her cure it. She will only develop resistance towards it, then die anyway. It's you call". He paced around the room for a while, then said "What are the chances?". I said "50-50 really. I don't know if it will work. If it does, it should extract the coldness from her body, in theory. She would be weak for a while for sure, but she may also die. That is the worst case scenario".

He gritted his teeth, and said "Do it… If there is no cure, I need to try anything at this point". I nodded my head, and proceeded. I placed my right hand on her forehead, but nothing happened. I thought 'It happened instantly with the Water Stone… Maybe if I focus? it is a living creature after all'. I closed my eyes and focused. I tried willing my hand to absorb the coldness.

Still nothing happened, but then after a while, I could feel something entering my hand. When I opened my eyes, I noticed blue strands of gas, coming out of the little Lizard, and entering my hand. More, and more of that blue gas emerged, and finally, my hand started to freeze. I quickly took away my hand, and thought 'This wasn't my doing…'. The small Lizard fell asleep, and seemed to be in much less pain. I said "This seems to work. I will need to do it couple more times, and there don't seem to be any problems with her health either".

Lazar immediately looked at his daughter and said "I will never forget this favour. If you can cure her, my life will be yours. If you need me to die for you, I will do so". I said "Slow down, I still need you alive. Got to that leader guy, and tell him to meet with me. I will take care of your daughter". He nodded, and said "I trust you", then went outside.

I looked at my right hand, and said "Frosty, come out now", but there was no response. I said again "Come out, or I will cut this arm off, and make you come out!". This time Frosty appeared, scared and pissed at the same time. I said "You did this, didn't you?". Frosty nodded its head and tried jumping onto my shoulder, to change back into a tattoo. I caught it with my other hand, and said "Why are you running away?". It pointed all around the place, and shook its head. I said "Fine, we will talk, when I leave this place. For now, help me extract the coldness from her". Frosty nodded, and I released it. When it changed back to the tattoo, I decided to wait a bit, for the ice on my hand to melt.

'I don't know why, Frosty doesn't want to show its face around here, but it seems to be scared of something' I thought. I would have to inquire about that, when we leave this place. 'For now, I have this little Lizard to take care of' I thought.