Faith threw the door closed and came to the bedside and knelt opposite Danielle. “Are you going to do the same thing Cargius did to heal his shoulder at Ra’majum? Use your blood, I mean?”
Danielle began to roll up her sleeve. “I have to try. The only problem is Kane has touched the wound. I can sense the taint in James’ blood.”
“Poison?”
“It’s more complicated than that.”
Faith reached out and caught her arm, her brown eyes pleading. “I hate to say it, but perhaps you should summons Cargius?”
“Why? He won’t come. I’m not the one in danger.”
“Rubbish. Kane is trying to get at you. Next time it might not be via someone else and he might not be so weak.”
“Faith, would you please just help me get this done? I know a little more than I did at Ra’majum.”
“Your dream? Or should I say dreams.”
Danielle nodded and held out her hand expectantly. Reluctantly Faith picked up the dagger and took hold of her wrist. She hesitated. “Perhaps we should wait for Kimberly. We don’t want the maid with her to see this.”
“There’s no time. Lock the door.”
Faith did as asked and then came back to the bed with the dagger. With steady hands she placed the sharp blade against the palm of Danielle’s hand. Danielle had grabbed her clean handkerchief ready to wet it with her blood. Now she looked away and braced herself.
“Ready?”
“Just do it.”
The pain came in a rush. She clenched her teeth until it became bearable and then made a fist. Blood dripped between her fingers and spattered onto the handkerchief, soaking it red.
Faith got up and knelt down on the bed and began to cut away the deeply stained bandages from James’ back. “Should we wash it first? And what about the herbs Cargius used?”
“Like I said, there’s not enough time. I don’t think they are necessary in this case anyway. Just peel the bandages back.”
Faith gave her a sympathetic look as the bandages came away. James’ back was a latticework of raw, torn flesh. Danielle felt horribly responsible and a rush of grief threatened to undo her. She forced it down for there was no time for that right now. The taint in James’ blood was so strong she could feel it oozing out of him. She began to dab the lacerations with the blood soaked cloth hoping this was going to work. James stirred and groaned against the pain she was causing him.
Faith moved quickly to restrain him as he started to squirm. “Are you sure you know what you are doing? I expect a natural poison like dara wood is a far cry from the touch of a Hand,” Faith said, worried. “Perhaps your physicians could help? He’s burning with fever.”
“Do you really want them to see what I’m doing?”
Faith shut her mouth and muttered a curse of frustration “Where in Vellums name is Kimberly and the water?
“There is a jug of cold water on the bedside table there.”
Faith grabbed it and began to damp down James’s head.
“The taint has stopped growing, but it is resisting me. And if I don’t get it out of him soon, he’ll die. We need more blood. I have to try and cover all of the wounds at once.” Her hand was throbbing as it was and her arm trembled as she held it out for Faith to cut again. “Go deeper this time.”
“No. You only have so much blood.”
“What else can I do?” Dee stopped herself, and pushed the panic down.
Faith jumped up and ran to a side table. “Let’s try something first.”
“Faith, we don’t have time.”
Faith emptied the contents of a fruit bowl onto the floor and rushed back to the bed. She tipped the remainder of the water into the bowl and then grabbed Danielle’s wrist and eased her cut hand into the water, which immediately reddened.
“What are you doing?” Danielle tried to pull away but Faith held her fast.
“Shut up and make a fist and hand me that cloth.”
“You’re wasting time. It won’t work.”
Faith grabbed the bloodstained cloth, removed Danielle’s hand and began to wring it out.
“It’ll cover his back with your blood all at once, won’t it?”
“Perhaps.” Danielle wasn’t sure this would work but she was unsure of what else to do.
Faith carefully picked up the bowl and poured its reddened mixture over James’ back. It flowed over the wounds and down his sides to soak the bed sheets.
“Anything?” Faith asked.
Danielle shook her head. Nothing happened. The taint was still there devouring James’ strength. She held out her wounded hand. Cut me again - deeper this time. And don’t argue!”
Faith cursed loudly and reluctantly picked up the dagger. Danielle held out her hand. As she did a drop of blood fell from her wound and splashed on James’ back. The wound immediately frothed and steamed, as if they’d put water on a hot iron stove. James screamed and bucked.
Danielle recoiled slightly in surprise. The taint was recoiling.
“Do it again,” Faith urged, moving to restrain him as best she could.
James’ chest was heaving. “What are you doing to me?”
He ground his teeth and swallowed a scream as Danielle made a fist and dribbled blood on his back.
“It’s working!” Faith said
Danielle nodded. The taint was evaporating from James’ blood. She could taste it at the back of her throat and feel its coldness on her skin and accumulating in her stomach.
She squeezed her hand harder, ignoring the nausea that was beginning to wash over her in gathering waves. Everywhere the blood landed, the wounds on James’ back began to froth. This she had seen in her dream and the sight of it brought her considerable relief.
“James, how do you feel?” Faith asked.
He was slowly catching his breath, but still grimacing a little. “Better. The pain is subsiding.”
“I don’t know how, but you’ll be pleased to know the lashes on your back are healing as well.
Danielle forced a smile as her friend laughed and slapped her on the back. Her head was now spinning and a sharp pain was throbbing behind her eyes.
“Are you alright?” Faith asked, her smile quickly fading. “You’ve gone awfully ashen.”
“I’m fine.”
James bent his neck and head so he could see her. “Dee? Are you alright?”
He reached for her and seemed surprised when she recoiled, and got to her feet as quickly as her unsteady legs would allow. She had to be out of here. She grabbed one of the unused bandages, and wrapping it around her hand she hurried towards the balcony doors.
“Dee? Faith was coming to her feet, concerned.
“Stay away. It’s not safe.” She could feel the taint inside her trying to force its way out. She staggered onto the balcony and vomited over the railing.
Faith was in the doorway in an instant.
Danielle threw up a hand stopping her in her tracks “Don’t. It’ll harm you. Even kill you. I’ll be all right in a moment. See to James.”
There’s no need.” James was in the doorway looking only slightly weathered by his ordeal. “There’s no pain except the shadow of an ache. Even my head feels better and I have more strength than I should. Whatever you did worked, but obviously at a price. Dee, what’s wrong with you?”
Still fighting the nausea, she warned him off, before sinking to the ground. “Don’t.”
Faith pushed past James and put a glass of water on the balcony railing, before crouching down. “Dee, talk to us.”
“I’m going to be fine. You just can’t touch me, or I you for a moment.”
“Why?” James asked.
She didn’t have the strength to tell them so she showed them. A hedgerow was growing through the balcony railing so she reached out and touched one of the flowers. It immediately withered and blackened and fell off the vine.
Both James and Faith stepped back, the seriousness of her warning patently obvious.
“Ho
w long will this last?” James asked.
“It’s just about done.” She heaved herself up and downed the cup of water. When she held out the empty glass, Faith took it without hesitation and then James came forward and held her tight against his chest. His heart pounding under her ear, and his fingers twisted in her hair.
“I assume all this was part of your dream?” he asked.
She could feel the tension in him and offered a grim nod. “Dreams,” she corrected, before looking up at him and saying, “I think it’s time I talked to my father.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
“I’m not sure Druid’s Bane is what we think. In fact I doubt that the blood of the First Mother runs in my veins at all,” Danielle said bitterly, after she had explained to her father what had just happened. She had been dreading this moment for days now. But they had to know about her dreams and what she feared however unpleasant.
Her father and Joseph had arrived shortly after Danielle, James and Faith came inside from the balcony. Bastion was with them of course, and Michael and Kimberly had entered the room too, the latter carrying a bowl of steaming water and a bag of medicines and bandages belonging to Mr Florantus. After strict instructions were left with the guards to keep everyone out of the hallway, the door had been closed and locked.
“I’m not sure I agree, lass,” Joseph said as he examined James’ muscled back. There was no evidence to show that he’d received the whip less than half an hour ago. Not even a welt. And even the fresh scar on his shoulder had faded and he had improved movement. The wound to his head, too, had healed.
“Such miraculous healing has happened before. Father Patrick of the Ren was said to have healed thousands simply by laying his hands on them. Moratus Summerthian apparently washed the sick in water he’d blessed with equally miraculous results. Lady Bylton of Corren sang to the ill, healing anything from broken limbs to the illness of the lungs with the power of her lyrical voice. And you know as well as anyone familiar with Druid myth that apothecary is part of their tradition.”
“Yes, Kathiusian and Larniusian alike,” she said pointedly. She knew they’d resist her conclusions. After all, what father wanted to hear that his daughter was quite possibly a monster?
“What are you saying, Danielle,” her father asked. Michael and Bastion looked equally confused.
She thought about how to word this so as to lessen the blow. “I hate to say it but I suspect Joseph is right. O’Brook’s account of the Children of Light, including Druid’s Bane, is likely more honest than the sanguine version Cargius would have us believe. In short, I think the Children of Light are likely an abomination, a dark conjuring undertaken by the Kathiusian Druid Council at a time of extreme desperation.”
There was general disagreement and alarm at this. Danielle put up her hands. “Please, can I finish?
When they were quiet again she continued, saying, “It would explain Cargius’ reluctance to share too much and O’Brook’s troubling account. Cargius and his kind know what I am, what I’m capable of, and I think we should be concerned when even they fear me.”
“If that’s what you think, then you clearly have a great deal more to tell us,” Joseph said, pointedly.
“I would think that the fact I can use the taint to do harm would be proof enough. It’s hardly a gift associated with the First Mother.”
James said, “Milord, with all due respect, your daughter drew it from my blood. It had to go somewhere. It also made her violently ill.”
“James has a point,” her father said.
“No, he does not. It’s not that simple. The taint I drew from his blood entered the rose on the balcony because I willed it. Do you not understand? I can control the taint like any witch or Child of Maig—only a great deal more effectively. This is not the working of a Kathiusian Druid, and certainly not one who supposedly has the blood of the First Mother flowing in her veins.”
“And you base this alarming summation on that observation alone?” Joseph asked.
“No. Of course not.” Danielle winced as Faith tightened the bandage around her hand and tied it off. Everyone was looking at her, waiting for answers. She knew she couldn’t put this off any longer.
“My last two dreams have led me to believe it so. The first was about the taint.”
“The first? I thought we agreed …”
Joseph laid a hand on her father’s shoulder, stopping him mid-sentence. “As you were saying, lass?”
“It revealed what is well known. That it’s an evil that often permeates a wound in the flesh or the mind, and causes corruption or madness.” The likelihood of the latter scared her immensely, since O’Brook had mentioned that it had been the end of many of her kind across the centuries. “When I woke I realised I could sense its presence on objects and people around me, even people who had no obvious sign of illness. If I concentrate I can even see it. And as I said, I can draw on it, and use it to my ends.”
“Though not without causing yourself pain, as James noted,” Faith said.
Danielle rolled her eyes at her friend’s disbelief.
“Can you sense the touch of the First Mother?” Joseph asked.
Danielle shook her head wearily. “No more than anyone else in this room sees it manifest in extraordinary beauty or a charitable or selfless act. The usual ways.”
“And the other dream?” her father asked.
Danielle rubbed her arms wondering where to begin. “It’s no less troubling. You will recall how Cargius said I’d be able to converse with animals? Well, I dreamed of that also. I could see through their eyes and hear what they heard. Even understand them. But there is something horribly wrong. I tried it when I woke. I went out into the garden and found one of the ducks on the lake. That poor fellow and every animal I’ve approached fled in terror at my presence.”
“You’re probably yet to master the skill?” Bastion said.
“It’s not a skill. And I think everyone in the room knows well enough that if the blood of the First Mother ran in my veins, animals would flock to me, not flee in terror.”
“I don’t understand, you rode only yesterday,” Eden said. “Your horse did not flee.”
“It’s with animals I don’t know.”
“So there were horses in the palace stable startled by your presence?” her father asked.
“No. Only wild animals.”
“With all due respect, milord, we can not seriously believe that your daughter is a witch,” Faith said.
“If she is what O’Brook suggests, then she is something much worse than a witch,” Joseph said, considering the problem. “She’s likely an amalgam. As Danielle said, an abomination, and a very dangerous one at that.”
“I refuse to believe that,” Michael retorted. “Dee controls the taint, not the other way round. And isn’t the Kathiusian faith based on free choice?”
“Yes, it is,” Joseph said calmly. “But such rules would not apply to an amalgam, or one that has gone mad as O’Brook says has been the fate of many Children of Light across the centuries.”
Danielle was relieved that Joseph at least was giving her fears serious consideration.
“Then she has to stop this ritual now,” Michael said. He’d been sitting in a chair listening. Now he was on his feet. “Father, are you listening to this? It can’t go on.”
“I can’t stop now, Michael.” She walked over to him but he refused her hand and glared at their father again.
“Milord, if she is right, then Cargius will use her and then kill her. Do you really think they’ll just vanish into the ether and leave such a dangerous weapon to its own devices? That’s what she is saying.” He glared at Dee. “Isn’t it?”
“If it was my decision to make, I would agree with you. But it is not,” their father said grimly, his gaze settling on Danielle.
Her younger brother was bemused by that. “Then I’m sorry, father, but I will not hide behind her skirts or watch her die.”
“Michael, I have no intenti
on of going mad let alone dying. But this ritual is necessary if we are to have any hope ending this prophecy once and for all. And I am sorry if what I think disturbs you, but what am I to do? I’m berated for keeping these things to myself and then you berate me when I say things you do not wish to hear.”
“I don’t know, sis. But you seem to take a perverted pleasure in playing the martyr.” At that he turned and left the room, slamming the door as he went.
“I’ll see to him.” Faith was already half way across the room.
“Is Michael, right?” Bastion asked, his steady stare finding Joseph. “Are we just going to stand by, and let these Druids do as they please with our future protector?”
“No, we are not,” the king said with mild impatience. “We’re going to see that she is prepared. Every detail of every dream and every conversation with Cargius will be scrutinized and studied, and answers will be sort of the appropriate people. We have six months to discover the truth of all this. And you, lass, are going to make sure that the next time you have a dream or learn anything new, and I mean anything, you will come to Joseph and I immediately. Do you understand?”
“Yes, father.”
“Good. Now, you said Kane reached out to you through the ether. That he did this to James to hurt you. Do the rest of us have reason to be concerned?”
“I don’t believe so. The only reason he could harm James was because he had wounds that already contained the taint and which were done with violence.”
“I’d expect that’s right, at least for now,” Joseph said. “At least it tells us he hasn’t been anointed yet and if you’re right and he’s in hiding in a village General Hendrix has just searched, I suspect we’ll have him soon enough. What concerns me is how he found you? Those amulets around your neck are supposed to keep you safe.”
“They did. He couldn’t touch me. As for finding me, it wouldn’t have been difficult. He knows where my chambers are and I’m not exactly in hiding.”
Joseph saw her point. “Fair enough. And you say Kane couldn’t enter the cathedral?”
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