18: There it is!
**Aife pov**
My hand was all but glued to Bane’s beast. Even when the healer asked us to walk to his personal tent, I still held onto Bane, fearing he was right and if I let go, the monster inside him would wake again.
As we walked through the camp, all eyes were trained on us and it truly made me more uncomfortable than ever before, but somehow, I managed to ignore the stares.
I could only imagine how uncomfortable Bane felt. Not only was he literally locked inside a beast, but everyone glared at him like he was the biggest monster the world had seen.
I kept sealing glances at him, double checking he didn’t show any signs of aggression, and he really didn’t. He just walked by my side, eyes focused ahead, following the healer as he led us to his tent.
When we finally entered the tent, Bane’s claw instantly covered my hand, “you need to sit down and rest,” he said in that deep, growly voice the beast had.
“I’m not tired,” I tried to reassure him, but he had none of it.
“Sit, I sit with you,” he growled.
The healer looked between us like he expected a fight to break out right before his eyes. Instead, I just sat down on a chair and Bane sat on the ground next to me, grabbing my hand in his large one and not letting go.
For now, this was completely okay - I didn’t mind the constant skin to skin contact to keep that monster away, but I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen later.
How would he react when we couldn’t hold each onto other? What would happen at night while I slept? Or when I needed to use the bathroom? Would he follow me and hold my hand while I peed still?
I shook my head to stop thinking about it, focusing on the present instead, promising myself that the future was the future me problem, not present me.
“Okay,” the healer spoke up, breaking the odd tension and silence in the tent. “May I approach and take some samples?” He asked, looking straight at Bane.
Bane made a huffing sound and nodded.
My eyes followed every movement the healer made. He was holding a small object that looked like a lab vial, but I couldn’t be sure until he got closer.
His hands were trembling more with every step he took closer, his eyes trained on Bane like he was ready to take off if the beast made even the slightest movement.
After a far too tense few seconds, the healer stood in front of Bane, still shaking like a leaf, and cleared his throat. “Open your mouth, please,” he asked, voice trembling.
Bane made a sound, but opened his mouth and let the healer take a sample of his saliva.
I watched with great interest, trying to understand if the healer’s suspicions were right. Honestly, I didn’t believe there was any venom in the beast’s saliva. Maybe he did carry some, but not in the saliva - it had to add some sort of damage to everyone close to him, right?
Even I had some of it dripped on me while the beast stood close to me. If the venom was strong enough to leave Zion in the state he was in now, it had to be bad even on skin.
“What are you going to do with that?” I asked suddenly, accidentally startling the healer.
He let out a weak chuckle while Bane’s large claw squeezed my hand gently.
“I’ll check if my suspicions are correct. This is enough sample to see how it reacts to different powders I have over here,” the healer mumbled and rushed to a cabinet, pulling out vials and jars of different colored powders. “Some of these are just herbs while others are dried bones and body parts. Don’t ask me how I got them.” He mumbled and started setting everything on a large table.
Bane, the same as I, watched the healer with great interest.
One by one, he poured the different powders into different vials and then added a bit of the saliva samples he gathered, then stirred each carefully and waited for some reaction.. One minute.. Two.. Three.. And? Nothing. Absolutely no reaction at all.
The healer looked over at us and frowned. “Seems I was wrong after all. The venom isn’t in saliva. If it was, it would’ve reacted to the samples I added it to,” he trailed off and looked at Bane carefully. “Do you think we could get some samples from your canines? I have no idea if the venom is injected into victims through it, but we could try to check?”
Bane glanced at me, as if seeking permission I wasn’t the one to give, but I still nodded. “This will help Zion, remember?” I whispered to him and squeezed his large claw.
Although hesitant, he still opened his mouth for the healer to see. Just like once before already, the healer couldn’t stop gushing about the wonders of nature and how many rows of teeth the beast had.
Quickly, he ran to get another vial and returned, gently pressing it against one of the larger canines and muttered, “this might feel uncomfortable, so please don’t bite my hand off while I collect the sample, okay?”
The beast only grunted and let out a low, pained growl when the healer pushed the vial into its gums, possibly to force the release of venom, which to my utter surprise, worked.
“There it is!” The healer cheered, managed to get some more and rushed back to his work bench.
I sat aside watching him work and frown. Like before, nothing happened - no reaction at all. I seriously considered asking him to give up, but the man was so lost to his own ideas that he only kept mumbling to himself, trying to figure out the mystery none of us knew how to figure out.
After glaring at the vials like they owed their life to him, the healer gasped. “What if I try..” he trailed off, poured some powder into a separate tray, then added both the venom and saliva in and the reaction started immediately.
His head snapped up, eyes met mine, wide with wonder. “The beast chooses whom to harm or not. The venom works only if it’s released and instantly mixed with his saliva. Sit back, I need to check if there’s any antidote that works on this combination.” Then, he looked at Bane and nodded once, “please don’t go anywhere, I might need more samples from you.”
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