Solace

by Bethany Adams

  “You’ll have to come back for me,” Aris replied aloud. “I’ll try to give him enough energy to survive the flight, but I won’t be able to tolerate prolonged proximity.”

  “I do not like this, skizik,” Kezari complained.

  Aris gave her the slightest nod. “Nor do I, but we both know how close to the edge I am.”

  She merely huffed in reply.

  Unaware of their conversation, Lord Morenial eased closer. “What can we do to help?”

  “Ideally, I’d need access to a waterproof cloak and someone who can levitate objects.”

  One of Morenial’s men slung his cloak from his shoulders, and Inona stepped forward to help with levitation. It was easy enough to direct the scout to stretch the cloak out on the ground and explain to Inona what he wanted. Now, all they needed was for Aris to keep it together long enough to do his part.

  “Kezari,” Aris said. “You’ll grab the bundle and fly toward Oria. Carry Morenial, if it doesn’t break some dragon rule.”

  Her head lowered toward his, her teeth bared in a dragon’s grimace. “That is too far. We are not transport for bipeds, Aris. Only a skizik should ride—”

  “Please,” Aris sent quietly. “You’ll need to know where to take Korel. And if there’s any resistance, the lord of the estate can only help.”

  Her annoyed snort curled heat around him, but she ceased arguing.

  “I don’t want to, but I will,” she sent. And not just to him, considering the lord’s wince.

  There was no time for apologies. If they didn’t hurry, their informant would be dead. Aris crept toward the heap of man as swiftly as he could manage without looking directly at the crumpled form. Then he pointed the sword toward Korel and forced through enough magic to flood the area with green light, so bright he had to close his eyes until it faded.

  Once he was done, Aris braved a scan with his power. The sick energy wasn’t gone, but it was lessened, and Korel’s pulse was slightly steadier. It was the best he could do against so many severe wounds. He gave Inona the signal and stepped back.

  Then he made the mistake of opening his eyes.

  Korel hovered in his line of sight as Inona shifted his body to the cloak. The light of Aris’s sword coated the deep gashes in the man’s side a sickly shade of green, and a memory flickered through his mind. Perim had once slashed him in just that spot. She’d allowed him to be warm that day, no numbness to dull the bite. The chamber had been flooded with light. Not quite green, but—

  Aris dropped to his knees, the hilt of his sword slipping from his hand. Frantic, he shoved his palms to his eyes in a vain attempt to block the images. He could fight this. He would not be lost to the dark memories.

  Gods, don’t let me get lost.

  Warmth washed around him. Kezari’s breath. “I’m here, skizik. I’m sorry. I didn’t think of how this would affect you.”

  “Go. Make the others run to Oria before I lose control.”

  She hissed. “I will not leave you.”

  Aris fought against the memories waiting to swallow him. “You must. I refuse to cost us this information. Fly swiftly and return.”

  A wash of dragon language filled his mind. All swear words, no doubt.

  Then she did as he commanded. Voices swirled around him like the wind kicked up from Kezari’s wings, but all of it blended and shifted around the memories of Perim’s harsh commands. The hiss of the blade. And blood, endless blood.

  Aris had no clue if the clearing was empty when his hold slipped and his power exploded forth.

  Lial perched on the edge of a stool while Maddy, Fen, and Anna sat across from him in the spare chairs they’d gathered into a loose circle near the stone operating table. Lynia had her books spread out along the workbench, her focus on her work rather than him or the vial of blood Fen drew from a thick pouch. Lial had to hope she found something if he didn’t, because Ralan’s reaction had been…unsettling.

  Lial shoved the memory from his thoughts and reached out his hand. “If I may?”

  “Be careful with it,” Fen warned. “If something happens to the Seelie queen’s blood…”

  Blood was a powerful thing, a tool that could be used against its source. That the queen had granted it at all was a sign of trust.

  “I am aware,” Lial said, accepting the vial when Fen finally passed it over.

  He ran his fingers over the warm, smooth glass before settling it in his palm. Then he closed his eyes and activated his magic, sending his awareness into the blood. The power of it hit him first, the strength of the ancient Seelie queen evident at once. That, Lial ignored. Instead, he focused on the composition of the blood. Namely, anything off.

  It didn’t take long.

  Like a broken bone, the flecks of darkness stood out to his sight, but unlike the normal components of blood, he had no name for them. They reminded him of the specks in Naomh’s body, but he hadn’t been able to examine those this closely. Considering their suspicions of Meren’s involvement, there was a high probability the similarity was no coincidence.

  A more detailed examination didn’t help as much as Lial would have liked. What could the little intruders be? They weren’t alive, but they might have been once. A hint of magic encased the tiny spheres, maintaining them along with the rest of the blood, but it wasn’t the same as the preservation spell.

  “I take it your magic is preventing the blood from decomposing,” Lial said to Fen. “But there’s also a different kind of energy surrounding the dark specks in the blood…magic that doesn’t have the same resonance as yours. Remind me when this was collected?”

  “It was part of what we drained from the queen while healing her.” Fen exchanged confused glances with Maddy and Anna. “I made sure the sample contained the flecks we’d detected, but I didn’t sense anything else.”

  “I thought I sensed energy similar to Meren’s caustic water spell,” Anna said. “But I assumed that was the speck itself.”

  Maddy shrugged. “At the time, I was too busy trying to keep control of my healing gift to notice that kind of detail.”

  Lial scanned the sample again, searching for more clues, but without breaking through the energy surrounding the flecks, there was little else to discover. Except that the queen had been low on essential nutrients, of course, but that was hardly relevant—or unusual, considering they’d had to feed her while unconscious. Many who woke from an improperly cast deep-sleep spell suffered the same affliction, and the healers there had no doubt hesitated to put her under as completely as they should have in case it made it difficult to detect a change in her symptoms.

  “You said she was unable to wake,” Lial mused. “If these flecks are capable of affecting consciousness, they must be able to cross the blood-brain barrier.”

  Lynia spun partly around, one hand resting on a large book spread open on the workbench. “That sounds like something I would read in this text. I don’t suppose you learned English from a human scientist? When I asked Arlyn earlier, she said much of this is technical language that she didn’t understand.”

  After handing the vial back to Fen, Lial joined Lynia by the table. His hand found the curve of her waist as he leaned over to examine the book, and for a moment, he let himself relish the feel of her body brushing against his when she eased closer. But he couldn’t enjoy it for long. He skimmed the text, and any hint of pleasure fled.

  “Much of this is unfamiliar to me,” Lial admitted, though one of the illustrations caught his attention. According to the label, it depicted a virus. “This reminds me of the structure of the flecks in the queen’s blood.”

  It looked like an innocent ball of fluff, with patterns highlighted by different colors. But the patterns depicted on the page were different than the ones he’d seen in the blood sample. Lial slid the book closer, releasing Lynia so he could flip through the pages. There was a great deal about the structure of viruses and their methods of cell invasion that he could partially understand, especially with the d
iagrams and images. But these depictions were for humans, and it was difficult to tell if the terms were unfamiliar for that reason or because their healing methods were so different.

  Maddy appeared at his left. “Maybe I can help? I’ve studied a little of this stuff.”

  “We don’t have much time if Ralan’s vision was accurate,” Lial said. “But if the source of this plague is truly a virus, I need to understand how it works so I can direct my magic to dismantle it.”

  Lynia tapped her finger against her notebook. “That theory matches some of the information that Meli found for me. Remember the account of Tebid Ored? If Bleyiak found out about the viruses they were researching in animals, he might have experimented with them. But I haven’t found anything about that by our healers.”

  She was likely correct. According to Tebid Ored, the primary illness they’d studied had infected animals who had their own primitive magic systems. That would be a good base for creating a sickness to afflict elves. Of course, it wouldn’t be the same thing depicted in the human books, but there could be enough similarity to provide some assistance.

  “Maddy, would you mind helping Lynia find and copy descriptions of how viruses work and notate some of the language I’m unlikely to understand? Like…” Lial frowned down at the current page. “rDNA? Leukocytes? As much as you can identify yourself.”

  “Ugh. Definitions.” Though the young woman’s nose wrinkled at the suggestion, she nodded. “I’ll do my best, but I’ve only studied this a little myself. Guess I should have taken biology class a little more seriously.”

  “Yes,” Lial agreed, but he softened the word with a smile. Then he glanced at Lynia. “What about you, love? Do you mind doing this? I know there is little time, and you’re already trying to research the source of the illness and its original treatment.”

  For some reason, Lynia’s cheeks pinkened, but she opened her notebook to a new page and gestured for him to move back. “It’s for the same cause. Of course, I’ll do it.”

  “Both of you will need to relocate upstairs,” Lial said.

  Her eyebrows drew together. “Why?”

  “Because I’m going to try to crack open the magic surrounding the potential virus in the queen’s blood,” he answered, his voice calmer than he felt. Hopefully. “I want you and Maddy shielded. Fen, too, once he’s helped me separate the blood into several vials.”

  “Fucking hell,” Fen muttered behind him. “Crack open the magic? That is definitely going to damage the Seelie queen’s blood.”

  As Maddy and Lynia rushed to gather books and head upstairs, Lial turned to face Fen. The young man had gone so pale he resembled his uncle Vek. “It will not. I plan to divide out a few tiny samples in case I need more than one, then remove the flecks and add them to a vial of my own blood.”

  A clatter sounded from the stairs, and his feet propelled him forward before he’d had time to process the cause. But he drew to a halt in the center of the room at the sight of Lynia picking up a book she must have dropped. Unusual for her. Then she turned her angry gaze his way, and he recognized the cause.

  Worry.

  “You will not experiment on yourself,” Lynia said, one brow lifting regally.

  “I didn’t say I would, Lyni.” He offered a slight smile, though it only heightened the anger in her eyes. “I won’t put the possible virus into my own body, only into a blood sample.”

  She marched back across the room to face him. “You know very well that is not without risk. The spell placed on those dark specks could follow the energy signature in your blood directly back to you, which is why you won’t risk trying this on the queen’s sample. I may not be a healer, but I am not ignorant of such possibilities, either. I’ve certainly read enough healing texts of late. There were a great many pages on the things the unscrupulous could do to someone with their spilled blood.”

  Lial grimaced. “You’re right, but I will do my best to shield against such an event. It must be done. Not only is there an immediate threat here, but there’s also Naomh. These specks of darkness resemble what I found in his blood. If I can determine what we’re facing, virus or not, I’ll be one step closer to helping him.”

  Biting at her lip, Lynia stared at him, and for that instant, the room seemed frozen, no word or breath breaking the silence. Then Lynia tugged him close with her free hand, her lips meeting his with quick intensity before she stepped back. Her eyes pierced his as she brushed her thumb along his cheek.

  “Take care of yourself or else,” she commanded before striding back toward the stairs.

  The air left Lial’s lungs in a whoosh. He couldn’t decide if he should curse or thank the presence of this disease, for while it prevented him from sending the others away and carrying her upstairs, the problem had also brought them closer. But the sooner he eradicated the virus, the sooner he could enjoy his newfound good fortune, so he forced himself back to his worktable.

  Time to find his focus.

  Chapter 27

  Kezari’s shoulders itched with the urge to shuck the foreign elf from her back.

  There was nothing wrong with the man, or she would never have let him ride with her in the first place. But he wasn’t Aris. She had no bond with this one, and his very presence in the saddle she’d formed for her skizik was an offense. If not for the nearly dead weight of the prey she shouldn’t have captured, she would have turned back at once.

  “There’s a tower on the eastern edge of the estate, attached at the outer wall,” Morenial shouted, as though she couldn’t hear the squeak of a rodent in the grass far below if she wanted to. “That’s where our healer resides.”

  Kezari replied in a quiet, calm mental voice in the hopes he would follow her lead. “I will land just outside.”

  “Thank you,” the man yelled.

  Her breath hissed out in a sigh, but it was carried away by the wind before it reached him. This was all her fault. If not for her foolish, hasty actions, she wouldn’t be on this wretched mission without her skizik. How could she lament? She deserved this discomfort for the pain she’d caused Aris. As though summoned, another wave of his anguish surged along their bond, and her very wings ached to beat back to him at once.

  She deserved far worse than itchy shoulders.

  She should have known better than to attack Korel without speaking to Aris first. If it sounded practical to her, it would probably be a bad idea to the elves. Their traditions were strange and sometimes incomprehensible. Why not incapacitate an assassin immediately? They had two other captives to help find any other allies, didn’t they?

  Apparently, that was not sufficient.

  A few choice curses rumbled up her throat as she circled the stone estate below. Awful place. Who had designed such a plain, blocky edifice? An ancestor of the man on her back, no doubt. If they escaped this disaster unscathed, she should offer her skill with stonework to help the place blend into the environment better. This obvious building would be easy raiding if her kind invaded the Moranaians again.

  Kezari had no trouble finding the tower the elf had indicated. She descended carefully, mindful of her cargo. Korel, she held secure, but Morenial would no doubt fall off if she landed too roughly. Unlike Aris. He’d managed to stick to her even at his worst. As it was, her passenger squeezed her shoulders uncomfortably as she beat her wings to hover down to the clearing.

  If I toss him, Aris will be displeased, she reminded herself.

  She released the bundled man a moment before landing, satisfaction filling her at the thud of his body hitting the ground. Not hard enough to cause more damage, though from the way Morenial scrambled from her back as soon as her talons sank into the ground on each side of Korel, he didn’t know that. As though she would risk causing Aris more distress with carelessness. Didn’t the foolish elf realize that crushing the man as she landed would be no better?

  She spotted the elf reaching for Korel. “Aris said not to touch him.”

  Morenial drew his hand back with a frow
n. “Then how are we supposed to heal him?”

  “You’ll have to ask your healer,” Kezari answered, extending her wings enough to test the air. The breeze was shifting, and a hint of moisture danced on the air. “I must fly back before the rains hit. It will be ice higher in the atmosphere.”

  Kezari didn’t wait for assent. He might be some kind of nobility, but despite becoming a citizen of their people, their branching web of rankings still made little sense. Whatever rudeness she might be committing, she launched herself upward, using a hint of magic to assist her climb. Returning to Aris was all that mattered.

  Almost grudgingly, Lynia set her notebook on the table and dropped the human-made textbook beside it. She hated being sent upstairs while Lial did his experiment, though she understood the reasoning. She and Maddy needed to analyze sources, and he needed to experiment on the Seelie queen’s blood without distractions or concerns for their safety. Even Anna had decided to return to the guest tower rather than stay up here while they studied. Lynia was only surprised Lial hadn’t hauled Caeleth up here, too.

  “I don’t know if I’m going to be as helpful as Lial is hoping,” Maddy confessed as she sat beside Lynia. “Delbin should have thought to buy a medical dictionary.”

  Lynia opened the textbook to the page showing the contents—a pleasingly detailed list including relevant page numbers. “I wish it had occurred to me, as well. I should have considered the differences between human medicine and elven healing.”

  “We’ll just have to do our best.” Maddy leaned over to scan the list. “Let’s start here.”

  Following the line of Maddy’s finger, Lynia flipped to the page beside the heading “Virus Structure.” Simple enough to understand—until one attempted to read the information on the indicated page. DNA, RNA, capsid… So many words she’d never had cause to learn. Without a deadline, it would have been interesting, but now, she could only grind her teeth and mourn the lack of a dictionary. She tried to read it three times without much success while Maddy considered the text.