The Inner Seas Kingdoms: 01 - The Healing Spring

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “Hello the house!” Kestrel shouted loudly as he dropped the broom stick and strode over to her location, but he heard no response, no indication of assistance nearby. Kneeling, he looked at her closely, but saw no other signs of outward damage to her body. He held her limp wrist and found her pulse, which was strong and steady, while he considered what to do for her. He didn’t know the locations of doctors or clinics anywhere in the city, and the infirmary at the base was an hour away, if he could carry her that far, and if he could find his way back.

  He needed something to magically heal her, something like the healing spring he had stopped at on his initial trip to Center Trunk, the one where he had met Dewberry. Those waters could surely cure her injuries, he was sure.

  Could Dewberry help him, he asked himself speculatively. He’d not seen the sprite since he’d seen her with Lucretia, but she had once upon a time offered to give him assistance. And this situation was beyond his own ability to handle.

  He recollected the instruction she had given him when they had spoken in his room in the village inn. He had to call her name with his heart and his voice and his mind, all together, three times, in order to summon the sprite to come to his aid. He’d never thought he’d really ever try to receive her assistance, but then he’d never thought she’d ever come to him again, until she had shown up and stolen the needed arrows for him at the archery contest.

  “Dewberry!” he called aloud, softly, as he thought of the sprite’s name and image, and longed for her assistance with all his heart. “Dewberry,” he repeated again with the same effort, and then seconds later, he uttered and wished and thought for a third time, and was rewarded with a slight popping noise and the sudden appearance of the beautiful blue enchanted being.

  “Dewberry! You came!” he said with disbelief and delight, despite the circumstances.

  “You called, as required by the ancient rules, and I responded, elf-rescuer,” the sprite answered, hovering aloft in the air, and looking down at the unconscious elf maiden. “And it appears I’m just in time to prevent you from despoiling a sleeping beauty. Is this a habit of yours? I thought better of you, but I remember that you had me unconscious and unclothed at one time too.” She spoke in an idle and speculative tone as she approached Alicia to look at her.

  “Look at me!” Kestrel said sharply. “Do I look like I’m trying to take advantage of her?” he asked as the sprite turned and approached him. “I found two ruffians attacking her, and I chased them off, then called you for help,” he explained.

  There was the sound of a sudden gasp from Alicia, and both the sprite and the elf turned to look at her, but there was no evidence of any change in her state.

  “What help do you think I can give? I’m not a doctor,” the sprite said pertly.

  “The springs, the healing springs where we met,” Kestrel began.

  “You want me to take the two of you to the springs?” Dewberry asked.

  “Can you?” Kestrel replied. He had only expected to ask the sprite if she could deliver some of the water to him, wondering if a small dose of the water would be sufficient to heal the wounds Alicia had. If the two of them could be transported to the spring, so that his guide could be immersed in the water, he was sure she would heal.

  “I’ll need help. Wait here just a moment; and don’t do anything to the girl while I’m gone. In fact, why don’t you get some clothes for her to wear when she awakens?” Dewberry said, resting her hand on his forearm for a moment, then disappearing.

  Kestrel looked around and discovered the skirt and the blouse that Alicia had discarded. They were wadded up and thrown in a corner of the room. He fetched them, then stood uncertainly by Alicia, and wondered about his next problem.

  Alicia was going to awaken, healed, in a strange spring far from Center Trunk, and would need assistance from sprites to travel back to the capital city. She would react, he was sure of that. The Alicia he had met in the office had seemed stolid and unimaginative, and he felt that that personality would not over-react to the extraordinary circumstances. Yet the Alicia who had removed her wig and stripped off her jacket in the street might be a different personality altogether, and might react differently.

  Whichever reaction he had to deal with, he decided he would rely on the authority of Colonel Silvan to deal with the aftermath; the colonel knew of his encounter with sprites, and could order the girl to be quiet once she was healed and they returned to the base. As he sat and contemplated that, Dewberry returned, and then moments later the room was filled with the gently puffing sound of sprite arrivals as five other sprites appeared as well.

  Kestrel stood, and studied the herd of small people intently. They were easily discernible as individuals, he noted. The shades of blue they displayed were spread across a wide spectrum, their sizes were noticeably different, and there were clearly males and females present.

  “Kestrel elf, this is my affianced,” Dewberry, placed her hand on the shoulder of a sprite that was almost a greenish turquoise in color. Though no taller than Dewberry, her fiancé had remarkably broad shoulders, and shoulder-length hair. His fingers were webbed, Kestrel saw, and as he turned his head, his hair moved momentarily away from his neck, allowing Kestrel to see gills. Dewberry had told him that she was engaged to a prince of the water imps, and he saw that there were differences between the two races.

  “I am Jonson, and I thank you for the salvation you gave Dewberry. We are all in your debt,” Jonson said gracefully, bowing deeply at the waist.

  “Her friendship has already more than repaid the debt, and I appreciate the assistance you are here to offer,” Kestrel replied.

  “He’s so gracious. And you said he was a pig!” another sprite said mischievously, grinning wickedly.

  “That is my brother, to whom you need paid no attention,” Dewberry said airily. “None of us listen to him!

  “And these others are Jonson’s brother and sister,” Dewberry motioned to two others, whose hands were also webbed, Kestrel noticed in passing, “and my particular friend,” she motioned to the last, “Reasion.

  “Reasion is the sweetest of all the sprites in the world,” Dewberry grinned at her smaller friend, who appeared to blush a deeper blue.

  “Reasion is an unique name,” Kestrel commented.

  “Thank you all for coming,” Kestrel said. “Now what are we going to do?”

  “Three of us will form a ring about each of you, with hands held, and our bodies pressed against your bodies, and in that manner, you will be transported with us to the spring. Then when your friend is healed, we will bring you back here,” Dewberry answered. “Can you raise your friend, so that we can gather round her?”

  With a sense of awkwardness, increased by the hovering audience of sprites, Kestrel carefully lifted Alicia’s limp body upright, then let three of the sprites surround her and wedge her into a small circle between their bodies, so that they held her upright. Kestrel gathered Alicia’s clothes up in a ball pressed against his chest, then felt the warmth of the sprite bodies snuggle against him, and before he knew it would happen, he felt a churning sensation within his stomach and inside his head, then there was blackness and cold and airlessness, and then he was standing in the small glade on the edge of the spring.

  “Thank you,” Kestrel spoke gratefully, as his cluster of sprites moved away from him. He dropped Alicia’s clothes, then took the weight of her body as her sprites left her. She was a slender maiden, as most females elves were, a body that was easy for Kestrel to lift and move about, even as he was careful about where he let his hands rest upon her. He turned his head as he slipped her skivvies down her legs, then undressed himself, self-conscious of the sprites that were watching, and took Alicia’s body into the water with him. She floated behind him as he maneuvered over to the same comfortable spot he remembered sitting in before.

  “Friend Kestrel?” Jonson came over near him and spoke.

  “Yes, Jonson?” Kestrel looked inquisitively at the imp.
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br />   “We suffer when we touch this water you know,” the small being began. “Well, not suffer so much, but we lose consciousness.”

  Kestrel nodded in agreement.

  “But all of us would like to enjoy the restoration the water provides to our bodies. It feels so good to us – one of the best experiences a sprite or an imp can have,” Jonson said. “And it gives us wonderful dreams; so we wonder, would you watch over us until we reawaken if we join you in the water?”

  “I don’t know if I can hold everyone all at the same time in the water, but I don’t mind watching over you,” Kestrel replied. “Dewberry and I did fine when she was here before.”

  The sprites began to disrobe at the edge of the pond, heedless of any personal embarrassment, then began to float through the air and hovered around where Kestrel sat. Only Reasion was an exception, keeping underclothes on while moving towards the water.

  There was a gasping, and then sputters, and Kestrel felt Alicia’s body, resting beside his, start to shake. Her eyes opened, and she looked about wildly, saw the flock of naked sprites floating above her, and screamed softly. The sprites instantly disappeared, as Alicia reached for Kestrel and grabbed onto him clinging to him tightly.

  “What’s happening? Where are we? Is this a nightmare?” she looked up into his face.

  “Everything is okay,” Kestrel said hastily. “We’re fine. We’re in a pool of healing water, from a special spring.

  “You were in your father’s apartment, and two men attacked you,” he explained. “When I heard you scream and came to see you, you were unconscious, and I couldn’t awaken you. I didn’t know where to find a doctor in the city, but I knew about this healing spring, so I called the sprites and asked them to help me bring you here to be healed.”

  The sprites suddenly reappeared in the air around them. “That was embarrassing!” Dewberry said angrily, as Kestrel hastily clamped his hand over Alicia’s mouth to prevent her from screaming once again.

  “Do you know that we all transported to the court because your girlfriend’s scream scared us?” the sprite asked crossly.

  “And do you know that none of us are dressed?” she further asked. She didn’t wait for an answer. “It’s one thing to go skinny-dipping with friends, but showing your skin at court is not amusing!”

  Kestrel looked down into Alicia’s eyes, and saw the amazement in her eyes. “We’re sorry,” Kestrel apologized. He removed his hand from Alicia’s face. “This is such an amazing thing, for an elf to be with sprites and imps, and she had no idea of what was happening,” he tried to sound reasonable.

  “And I’m not his girlfriend. I just met him this morning, and was giving him a tour,” Alicia spoke firmly.

  “Really? You just happen to be laying naked on top of him in a spring so that you can give him a tour? A tour of what?” Dewberry asked skeptically. “But you’re not his girlfriend?”

  Alicia firmly pressed herself away from Kestrel in response, and looked angrily at the sprite.

  “Are we going to get in the spring or not?” Jonson spoke, interrupting the brewing argument between the two females.

  “Yes,” Kestrel responded gratefully, wanting to avoid upsetting Alicia. “I thought that as you got in the pool one by one, you would pass out, and then I could put you over on that ledge,” he pointed as a small sandy beach area to his left, “where you could safely lie in the water until we take everyone out.”

  “And then you two could continue your ‘tour’,” Dewberry acerbically added.

  “That’s a good plan,” Jonson said, working with Kestrel to cut off the obvious enmity between his fiancé and Kestrel’s companion. “Dewberry, you go first,” he directed.

  The female sprite obediently dropped down in front of Kestrel. “I know you’ll treat me well,” she murmured to Kestrel, “you did last time.” She leaned forward and surprised him by placing a kiss on his lips, both of her tiny dark blue lips fitting in the crease between his, then she dropped down into the water, and immediately fell into unconsciousness as Kestrel’s arms rose to support her.

  He waded through the water to the sandy ledge, and gently deposited the sprite on the clean, soft sand, the shallow water lapping against the side of her body, then proceeded to assist the other sprites, one by one, as they likewise immersed themselves in the water and passed out. Kestrel gently laid each of then beside one another, a neat row of small blue bodies glistening in the sunlight and the water as they slept and reinvigorated.

  “What exactly are you Kestrel?” Alicia’s voice sounded from behind him, and he turned to see that she was out of the water, back on land, where she had discerned her pile of clothing and was donning her apparel quickly. “Are you a human, an elf, or a warlock with mastery over sprites?”

  He sighed, and sat down on the sandy shelf with the sprites, as Alicia came strolling around the edge of the water, and sat down cross-legged on the grass near him.

  “I’m just an ordinary elf, who is trying to figure out some unusual circumstances,” he answered after a long moment’s pause.

  “You’re hardly ordinary if Silvan is interested in you; you’re definitely not ordinary if sprites rely on you to babysit them while they sleep. You may not be ordinary if you fought off two elves to save me when you had no real reason to care about me,” the girl replied.

  “Those don’t sound ordinary,” he agreed after a moment’s reflection, “but I’m me; those are just what’s going on around me,” he told her.

  “How do you know and befriend sprites?” Alicia asked. “That doesn’t strike me as ordinary.”

  “I met Dewberry here,” he answered, “right here at this pool. I was healing in the water when she came, and a wolf seized her. I rescued her and healed her in the water, and after we straightened things out, I think we have become friends, a little.”

  “She kissed you, right there in front of her fiancé. I think she was jealous a little when she thought I was your girlfriend,” Alicia answered.

  Kestrel laughed. “No, she’s a princess of the sprites, and her fiancé is a prince of the water imps. They’re royalty, hardly likely to be jealous of a big, ugly human-elf mess like me.”

  “You’re not really ugly, I think,” Alicia told him. “Once I got used to you I thought you were sort of good looking, in a human kind of way, which I know doesn’t make sense.

  “Where is this spring? Are we near your home?” she asked.

  “This is a spring outside a village between Elmheng and Center trunk; I don’t know its name,” Kestrel replied.

  “I’ve never heard of a spring with miraculous healing water; how did you know about it?” Alicia tried to pin him down.

  “An old lady in the village told me about it,” he answered, unwilling to mention Kere’s name.

  So you do have some discretion, he heard the goddess’s voice call softly. He looked around, but could not see and physical manifestation of her. Good for you; there may be hope for you after all, young elfling.

  “What’s the matter?” Alicia asked, seeing his sudden distraction.

  “Nothing. Just a fly buzzing around, I guess,” he said, baffled by the sudden intervention of the goddess in his life after weeks without evidence.

  “What would happen if the water was drunk, or just poured over an wound?” Alicia asked speculatively, looking at Kestrel with a directness that unnerved him.

  “I don’t know; I didn’t think about drinking it, but originally I thought I might just ask Dewberry to bring some of the water to me at your father’s apartment, when you were unconscious, before I knew she and her friends could carry us here,” Kestrel told her, sharing in her speculation about the medicinal use of the water.

  At last she lapsed into silence, apparently thinking about the water, while Kestrel concluded that the sprites had probably been allowed to soak in the spring water long enough. He hadn’t thought to ask them how long was an appropriate bath, but he thought they had probably had enough to satisfy them.

/>   He stood and began to transfer the sprites to the shore, one at a time, gently placing each on a patch of soft grass, conscious that Alicia was watching him, dressed as she was now, while he remained dripping nude. He had seen her unclothed earlier, he realized, but it felt unfair nonetheless. “Would you look somewhere else please?” he finally asked her as he went back to the water to pick up the fourth sprite, actually a water imp, Jonson’s sister.

  “Of, of course,” she agreed in some embarrassment, and turned away. “How far is the village?” she asked a moment later.

  “What village?” Kestrel asked in confusion.

  “The closest village, the one you were at when you heard about this spring,” Alicia answered with a shortness to her tone that sounded more like the soulless woman he had started the morning with.

  “The road to the village is back along the stream,” Kestrel gestured towards the water that flowed away from the source of the spring. “Follow the stream until it comes to the road, then take the road north towards the village. It’s not far.

  “Why do you ask?” he voiced his curiosity.

  “I thought I might go get a skin or a flask or a gourd or something so that we could take some of this water back to the city with us, for tonight,” she answered, in a gentler tone.

  “Why? What are you doing tonight?” Kestrel asked, as he lifted the last sprite from the water.

  Alicia looked at him, then looked away again hastily. “Oh, I just meant if our feet are tired from too much walking, or just for anything that might happen; nothing in particular,” she replied, but her words had a cadence of dishonesty to them, and Kestrel decided that whatever she planned to do, it was none of his business if she didn’t want to share it.