by Leah Putz
I smiled at my own foolishness. “Sorry, Grandmother. I’ll be on my way!”
With that, I strolled back through the house and outside. As soon as I set foot on the emerald grass I quickened, making my way to the edge of the forest a half mile away as quickly as possible without sprinting. Grandmother had told me to hurry along, and I wasn’t keen to disappoint her any more than I already had today. After a pit stop in the towns center to purchase the berryroot and sage, I was in the forest within thirty minutes.
I began my search as soon as I had reached my destination, and quickly found it to be much harder than I had anticipated. As I scanned the ground with my eyes, I felt the prickle of a foreign feeling nearby, but I pushed it aside, assuming it was one of the villagers heading to our house on some errand, and I wanted to harness my focus and turn it towards pursuit. All of the plants looked the same to me, despite having examples of the dragonshearth and thimbleweed to compare them to. “I don’t know how she does this,” I muttered, pacing around somewhat aimlessly.
“What are you looking for?” an unfamiliar voice asked. Startled, I jumped, whirling towards the direction of the voice to find a woman I had never seen before. Strange, I thought. I know everyone in the village. Although maybe this is an out of towner come for healing.
“Who are you?” I asked in return, rather than answering her question.
She stood, feet together, and bowed. “Siofra, captain of the prince’s guard, as well as one of his personal guards.”
I eyed her closely, suspiciously, trying to work out whether I was going to choose to believe her or not. Her garb matched her title. She was adorned in silver armor nearly from head to toe, in stark contrast to the simple brown riding pants and long sleeved tan shirt that I wore basically every day. She was holding a helmet at her side, and short chestnut-colored hair which framed her round face. “Why would one of the prince’s bodyguards be here?”
She raised her eyebrows and took a step forward. “You haven’t heard?”
I took a mirrored step back, still unsure about her and her story. “Heard what?”
“The prince is coming.”
Eyes widening in shock, I forgot to be wary of this stranger and took a step forward towards her. “Coming here? Why?”
“That is a matter of royal business that only concerns the prince and those he seeks.” I made no reply, waiting for her to continue as I could sense that she clearly had more to say, or perhaps more she wanted to ask. After no more than a beat, she did just as I suspected. “What are you looking for?” she asked, repeating her initial question.
I hesitated, then decided I might as well just tell the truth. Even if she wasn’t who she said she was, it wasn’t as if my collecting herbs in the forest was a secret. “These plants, dragonshearth and thimbleweed. I need to find them for my grandmother.”
She scrunched up her nose, bunching up her freckles. I almost giggled, it was a funny look on such a previously serious face. “Why would you want dragonshearth and thimbleweed? They’re fairly useless, aren’t they?”
I shrugged and went back to my searching. “Most people think so. They have their benefits, though, apparently,” I added as an afterthought, realizing I didn’t really even know what they did, I just trusted grandmother’s word that they were useful.
She raised an eyebrow, but pointed at the ground to her right, nonetheless. “Well, there’s some thimbleweed right there. I can’t help you with the dragonshearth, though. I don’t see any around.”
Without hesitation I scurried over towards the spot she pointed out and, sure enough, found a thick patch of the purple, thorny thimbleweed plant. “Thanks very much!” I exclaimed, pulling the plant carefully out of the ground so as not to prick myself on its occasional thorn.
She shrugged, and I chose to think that it was a silent ‘you’re welcome.’ Growing curious, I tried to see if I could snuff out her purpose. I sensed her wariness and determination, but that really didn’t tell me much about why she may be in Loch. “What are you doing all the way out here anyway? If the prince really is coming into town, shouldn’t you be with him, you know, ‘personally guarding’ him as his ‘personal guard’?”
She shifted her stance to put her weight on one foot and crossed her arms defiantly. “I’m securing the perimeter. We need to make sure there are no bands of thieves, vagabonds, or even rebels lurking on the outskirts of the village or even hiding-” she gestured towards the forest “-in the woods.”
“I suppose that makes sense. But there aren’t any. Not in Loch.”
She shrugged, unconvinced. “I have to check, I can’t just take the word of whoever. I best be getting back to it. Happy to help you find your thimbleweed, and good luck with the other one!” She called the last bit over her shoulder, having already begun to walk away.
“Thanks!” I called after her. “Have fun guarding the prince!” I added as an afterthought, still unsure whether I believed he was really coming here or not. It seemed too far-fetched. Why on earth would a member of the royal family, especially one immediately next in line for the throne, and for all intents and purposes already king, be coming to our small village? The only out of towners that ever visit were looking specifically for our family and the healing we may have offered, and I highly doubted the prince would be so injured as to come this far. And if that had happened, surely I would have felt a buzz like nothing before coming from the town. But I felt nothing more than what I had already been dealing with since the news of the queen’s death. If the prince was coming, or already here, it was one hell of a well-kept secret. If even one person from town had known, surely the news would have spread like the worst of wildfires.
Finally, after a few minutes of pondering, I shrugged, deciding I didn’t really care if or why the prince might be here. I re-poured all of my focus into searching for the plant, not wanting to waste any more time meandering. I weaved amongst the signature narrow, tall trees of our country, careful not to step on any moss covered rocks and slip.
Sure enough, after only a few minutes of searching without distraction, I found a patch of dragonshearth nestled up against a pine tree, almost completely hidden from view. Once this was plucked from the ground, I hurried home, all the way worrying that I had spent too much time in my collection. On my way, I made sure I had my mind blocked. If the boy had beat me there, and truly had a broken arm, I didn’t want to be burdened with all that pain upon my arrival.
“Finally!” My grandmother grumbled when I strolled inside. I sighed when I saw that the fisherman and his son had already arrived, thankful that I had thought to block myself. But that also meant everyone was definitely waiting on me. “Here, I’ll take those,” Grandmother gently took a bundle of herbs from my arms and began inspecting them closely before making a sound of contentment. “Good job. These are in good condition. Now what took so long?” As she spoke, she made her way over to her fire and began breaking some of the herbs into small pieces before sprinkling them into the fire.
“I ran into a stranger and got distracted.” She looked up sharply, alarm evident in her deep set eyes, but I shooed away any worries of danger. “It was fine. She meant no harm.” I finally took stock of the guests we had, seated on cushions near the fire, but not too near. I winced as soon as I saw the boy, who could not have been more than seven or eight, cradling a mangled arm to his chest.
“Give me your arm, dear,” Grandmother said gently to him, holding her hands out. Reluctantly the boy tried to move his arm, but a sob was ripped from him. He bit his lip to try to hold it in, clearly trying his damnedest to be as strong as he could. Whimpers still escaped despite his efforts. “Lisalya, will you take a cup of that?” She nodded to the water simmering on the fire. “Hand it to him.”
Nodding, I ran to fetch a cup from the kitchen and did just that. I felt a little light-headed as I leaned over the bubbling pot, breathing in the warm fragrance of the boiling herbs. Whatever this was that brewed was undoubtedly very strong. As quickl
y as I could I scooped up the potent liquid and handed the hot cup to the boy, who took it with his slightly trembling good hand.
“We’ll wait until it cools off a bit, and then I want you to take the biggest drink you can manage, okay?” The boy nodded at grandmother’s words.
The next few minutes were spent in silence, waiting for the liquid to cool enough for the boy to drink it without burning his mouth. Grandmother rubbed some of the leftover herbs on her hands, along with some lavender oil. “It should be cool enough now. Drink, my dear.” The boy looked nervous, and a tad skeptical. He sniffed it and hesitated. “It will help to numb your pain,” Grandmother said, and with that reassurance, his eyes went wide and he immediately put his lips to the cup, draining it quickly enough that the rest of us couldn’t help but chuckle as his eagerness.
“It should kick in almost instantly. When you’re ready, try to extend your arm to me.” She held out both hands, prepared to take the arm once the boy was ready.
Nearly as soon as the cup was empty, he passed it to his father and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and attempting to prepare himself for the daunting task of moving his damaged arm. Once steadied, he slowly moved it a bit towards grandmother. His eyes snapped open and he grinned. “I can’t feel it! It doesn’t hurt anymore!” The joy in his voice made me smile, and I opened myself up a bit so I could feel how the healing process felt in his body, now that the pain was numbed and replaced with a warm, tingling sensation. Once I broke down the wall I had built around myself, I felt multiple sensations, among them the fisherman’s concern for his child, and my grandmother’s calmness during the act of performing a healing like so many others she had done in the past. By far the strongest sensation was the warmth and tranquility coursing through his body, which I assume stemmed from the drink.
Once he realized he had no pain, he extended his bad arm towards Grandmother without hesitation. She took it gently and began massaging the oil and herb mixture from her hands into it. As she did this, she hummed a low, relaxing and familiar melody. I’d heard it many times, always during the mending of broken bones. I knew it from when she had repaired my own broken ankle twelve years ago, when I was a mere eleven summers old. The song, which was a soft melody that repeated itself every minute or so, lasted no more than five or six minutes. She never stopped her careful messaging of his arm, sure to cover every inch of the red and angry flesh and, as she continued, it became less red and less angry. By the time she reached the end of her song, it no longer had the mangled look it held before. In fact, it seemed as good as new.
“There you are dear,” she said, releasing the arm at last. “Leave that oil on until you are finished walking home, then you may rinse it off. Your arm is fully healed now.”
“Thank you, truly, Madam Maneyeo. You really are a gift to this community.” His father stood and bowed down to Grandmother. He grabbed a basket that I hadn’t noticed sitting at his feet. “Here, please take these fish. They’re the freshest catch we’ve got. I only brought them in from the lake two hours ago.”
Grandmother took the basket, smiling and thanking him as she walked both he and his son to the door.
I sat back down near the fire and heaved a sigh, contemplating what I had just witnessed. But I was struggling to keep my eyes open, still exhausted from my lack of sleep, and the energy it took to maintain the block I had made until the boy was numb had drained me even more. Sure, I had seen Grandmother heal people before, plenty of times. But I had never paid as much attention to it as I did today, and I had certainly never before watched with the knowledge that this will be my job someday at the forefront of my mind. I still wasn’t sure I could handle the pressure, and I most certainly did not feel ready to handle anything on my own, let alone being the sole healer of a full village.
Chapter Two
Viktor
I shifted foot to foot, trying to appear calm to all that saw me. All but one, my best friend and right hand man Jion, who could surely see I was agitated. Being friends since childhood meant he could easily recognize the signs. I chewed the inside of my cheek, and my hands clasped together behind my back tight enough that I was sure my knuckles were white. My eyes, hidden from view of the crowd in the hall by the long silver hair that fell past the bridge of my nose in loose waves, bore into the floor with enough intensity that I was surprised I wasn’t boring a hole into it.
“Sire?” One of the councilmen spoke up, attempting to get my attention after a few minutes of being ignored. I gave no indication that I heard the man.
Taking a breath and probably hoping not to royally piss off the royal, Jion gave me a slight nudge and a whisper of, “Vik.”
After a moment I lifted my head, and my pale blue eyes met the court before turning to Jion. “Hmm?”
Jion jerked his head toward the awaiting nobles, and I followed his gaze before taking a deep breath and speaking. “Yes, I know it’s time for a coronation. I know it’s well past time, and that preparations need to begin immediately.” The deep baritone of my voice commanded all attention as I threw their words back at them. “I am aware of all of this.”
“You must put your servants to work to begin preparing the castle,” the same councilman said, confident he had my attention, and, he thought, my ear.
I cleared my throat. “What I must do,” I began, “is to protect our country from the threat of our neighbor, and until recently ally, Bushand.”
“Surely King Siglind wouldn’t launch an attack now, so recently after your step-mother, the Queen of Doctsland and his mother, died. Surely he will respect the peace of the mourning period. It is a universal custom.”
Rapidly losing my patience, I waved him, and all the others, off. “Please leave. There is much for me to do as you all have mentioned, countless times,” I added, the snarky tone heavy in my voice.
Jion, who had been fighting to keep his thin lips in a tight line in an attempt to thwart laughter, let loose as soon as the last courtesan left and the door shut behind him. “I’m sorry, Vik, but their cluelessness is astounding.”
I shot him a glare, but there was no real threat in it, and finally I smiled, though it didn’t quite reach my eyes. “Will you shut up, Jion? You look like a rabbit with that stupid grin and your teeth sticking out.”
“Hey!” Jion said, only partially affronted. “My grin isn’t stupid!”
I clapped him on the shoulder sympathetically as I walked past. “You keep telling yourself that. Now, are we going to figure this mess with Bushand out or what?”
“What about ‘the coronation’?” Jion asked, quickening his steps to keep pace with me.
I shot him a sideways glance. “You’re joking right? You know I don’t give a sod about that ridiculous party.”
“Time was when you would have leapt at the chance to throw a party like that.”
“Yeah well.” I paused, reminiscing the days when I loved any opportunity for a dance and a drink. “That was before.” I hoped Jion recognized the hint of nostalgia and heartbreak in my voice. He must have, because he decided, compassionately, to change the subject.
“Alright, so we’re skipping the coronation. What are you going to tell the council?”
Smirking, I stopped walking as we reached the door to the front entrance of the palace. “Nothing.”
Before Jion could respond, I pushed the doors open and took a look around to make sure no one was near before continuing outside. I threw the hood of my cloak up, pulling it low over my face in the hope that I could walk through the city unrecognized. “Let’s head to your house. We need to come up with some sort of plan, and we need to make sure none of the members of the court get a whiff of it. Otherwise they’ll come barging down my throat with this coronation garbage again.” Jion nodded, but I stopped suddenly. “Will Hope mind?”
Jion snorted and started to laugh. “Not at all. He’ll either be gone attending to a patient, or he’ll be reading something, paying us no mind.”
I smiled, relieved,
and we continued on their way. We walked through the city in silence, trying not to draw too much attention to ourselves, or to have our words picked up by the wrong ears.
We arrived fairly quickly. Jion, being one of my closest guards, lived close to the palace with his husband. That way, should anything happen when he’s not on duty, he would be able to be by my side in a short amount of time. “Hope?” Jion called, pushing open the door to his cottage. “Are you home?”
Hope, seated in a comfortable chair before a small fire in their sitting room, barely looked up from his book. “You’re home early. Ah, and you’ve brought Viktor. Hello!” He grinned widely at me before becoming flushed. “Goodness, Jion, couldn’t you have told me? I would have tidied up or something before the literal prince of our nation comes visiting.”
Jion merely shrugged, tugging off the formal cape he had to wear whenever he was on duty at the palace, and draping it over a coat hanger in the corner by the door.
“Don’t worry, Hope. This place shines compared to my quarters,” I said, smiling.
Hope barked out a laugh. “Your quarters must be disgusting. It was Jion’s turn to clean up the kitchen after dinner last night and he does a terrible job.”
“Hey, hey. Easy. I do my best,” Jion said, strolling into the kitchen and clearing off the kitchen table. “We can sit here. There is enough space for three or four. Is Siofra coming?”
I put my palm to my forehead. “Damn, I forgot to tell her. I think it’s her day off. She’s probably out in the fields with her dog. I’ll go grab her.”
