[hr][hr][h1][color=39b54a][center]Karlus Marsh[/center][/color][/h1][hr][hr]
They had taken him to the infirmary. It was a place both familiar and strange to him. There are commonalities between all hospitals, hospices and infirmaries, Karlus had been trained and had often worked in the one that had been attached for the college, so that was why this place felt familiar. But it was also strange, not just because this was the first time he had visited this particular one, but because of the illnesses he had seen as they had been taken to this examination room. The sick here... screamed... a lot more than the ones back in Cambridge.

They had inspected them for something, the 'taint', by examining the whites of their eyes. The sister was there, but it was this strange, foreigner, who was the healer who ran this place. She was an elf, but her skin was dark and dusky. A dark elf, Karlus had never seen one up close before. She was old and withered, hunched and hobbled, but her hands were quick and nimble enough to work her instruments and pull strange tinctures and concoctions from the long many-pocketed coat she wore. 

The first examination was inconsequential enough. But then the sister spoke a sentence that sent a shiver of cold fear up Karlus's spine.

[b][color=a187be]"Father Marrow wants to ensure there are no signs of blood magic."[/color][/b]

Panic filled his mind. He thought those in charge here at the Order already knew what had happened, but perhaps the masters of the college had neglected to tell them the whole story. If that was the case, what would they do? [i]What will they do to me?[/i] Karlus's eyes began to frantically shift around the room, looking for an exit, for an easy escape of some kind. 

But then the old healer, Aemma, sent the sister out, what did that mean? He tensed up, mind reeling, ready to run or to fight somehow. He supposed it was to his advantage, she was only an old woman, he could probably overpower her if he put his mind to it. And yet, she wanted him to trust her? [i]Why should I trust her? Because she's a fellow mage? I know what mages to do other mages. I know what we do to ourselves.[/i]

He could feel himself shaking with the tension as she stroked Lambert's ear, his hands curled ready into a fist as she examined his arm. He would do it, if he had to, they couldn't know, they would hang him if they knew. [i]Or worse.[/i]

Then she showed her arm, and Karlus's jaw dropped open. 

She was a blood mage. The Order tolerated that? It was unthinkable compared to what Karlus had been taught at the college. Lambert asked the question that had also been on his mind as he was was passed a vial of Casters Milk by the old dark elf. His eyes followed her around the room, the shock and awe barely contained in them. [i]Perhaps... perhaps I can trust her? Perhaps its better than trying to hide it... It didn't work, after all.[/i]

He drank the concoction, barely listening to the conversation about Arlo and the trial that he was most likely facing. Karlus was too absorbed in his own thoughts. He had a choice to make, to deceive or to trust. Most of his life he had tried to hide so much of himself from the world around him. Deception was natural for him. It was comfortable. [i]But... it has also led me here.[/i]

He was so wrapped up in his own mind that he started when the doctor turned her attention towards him. 

[b][color=39b54a]"Sorry... what did you say, just now?"[/color][/b] He asked meekly, warily.

[b][color=goldenrod]"The examination? Your arm, please?"[/color][/b] She replied in her strange foreign accent, reaching out to take hold of his hand. Karlus flinched away from her touch.

[b][color=39b54a]"Please... I'll... I'll... show you... Just don't touch me."[/color][/b] He set the empty vial and pulled up his left sleeve.

The skin was lily white, except for around the wrists, which were still red, bruised and raw from his time bound and shackled. The sleeve went up past his wrist to expose his thin weak forearm, and up further still, to the elbow. It was there, right at the top, almost in the pit of Karlus's elbow that the mark lay. It was almost gone now, a small collection of freshly healed scars, only the deepest of them still bearing any redness. They were arranged in a cluster, like a figure of eight composed from straight lines, scored through down its length. 

The old elf's eyes widened as she saw the mark. She looked at it for a few moments saying nothing, but she did not reach out to take his arm to examine it more closely. Karlus was thankful for that. Lambert was staring at him too. Karlus did not like it, but he let them look. He had made his choice now, and he would live with it. [i]Or die for it.[/i] Finally the doctor spoke.

[b][color=goldenrod]"What have you done, boy?"[/color][/b] Her voice was low and husky, thick with that strange accent Karlus could not identify.

[b][color=39b54a]"I only tried it once. It didn't work."[/color][/b] He whispered back, not meeting their gaze. She sighed and rubbed at her corners of her wrinkled eyes.

[b][color=goldenrod]"Then you are lucky. It is a dangerous art, Blood Magic, especially so for those who are young and inexperienced. You should not covet this power, it has a cost, it always has a cost."[/color][/b]

[b][color=39b54a]"But you use it."[/color][/b] His voice almost had an an edge of defiance to it. But underneath that there was something else, a yearning for something. Understanding. Vindication.

[b][color=goldenrod]"Indeed I do. It is a tool like any other, and it can used to do good in the right hands. But it can also be abused. Either way there is a cost. I am willing to pay it." [/color][/b]

[b][color=39b54a]"I've already paid for it too. I'm here aren't I?"[/color][/b] Her face crinkled, there was a look of sympathy... or pity, in her eyes.

[b][color=goldenrod]"That is not the sort of cost I am talking about."[/color][/b]

He felt the need to explain himself. Why he had done what he had done, why he had need powers beyond his own. She must be able to understand him, after all, she had done it too. He wanted to explain himself, but the words wouldn't come, not like how he wanted them to. He had to force them out, and even then, they didn't explain much. They barely explained anything. 

[b][color=39b54a]"I just wanted something... and I thought it was the only way. It wasn't evil. And it doesn't matter now, I'm not there anymore, so it doesn't matter. I won't try it again." [/color][/b]

Karlus let his arm drop back to his side, and slowly slide his sleeve over the fading remains of terrible, terrible mistake.