“Don’t move for now,” Vevin told her while putting a comforting arm on her shoulders. “You were very sick and your fever just broke yesterday.” He squeezed a little more water into her mouth then took a cloth off her forehead. She could hear him put it in water and wring it out. When he replaced it, it was cool.
This time she made sure her throat was clear before speaking. “Where are we?”
“We’re in the village of Rethram outside of the Willden.” He gave her a little more water.
Water made the hunger worse. “Village? How long have I been asleep?” Her voice sounded pitiful to her ears.
“Off and on for five days,” he answered near her ear. Vevin continued running fingers through her hair as he talked. “I was so worried about you. You fell sick the night after we left. I used a lot of magic to enable everyone to travel faster and longer. There was some doubt if we’d make it out of the Willden, but we succeeded after two days. The worst of your fever broke after leaving the forest. It took another couple of days to get here. That was yesterday morning.”
“I’m hungry,” Liselle said plaintively. She wanted to ask more about the journey, but her stomach was demanding attention.
“I have some broth, which is all your stomach and throat can handle,” Vevin propped her up with pillows behind her back. “There’s a healer here that gave orders for your care. She’s young but capable.” Liselle heard a sizzle, knowing that Vevin used magic to warm the broth. “There we go. Here take a sip.” He held the spoon to her mouth.
Broth had never tasted so heavenly. Her lips were tender and cracked, so she tried to gather healing power only to find it suppressed. “Ah, ah. You’re not allowed to perform magic. It could tear your body apart after being weakened by fever.” The flower in Liselle’s hair tightened and she could see it in her mind as well. It was agreeing with Vevin.
After she finished the broth, Vevin rearranged the pillows and let her lie back down. It didn’t take long to fall back to sleep.
***
“Liselle, it’s time to wake up.” The voice wasn’t one she recognized. Liselle groaned at it in protest. The voice persisted. “Come now, I know you’re tired, but you need to wake up.”
She tried to open her eyes. Something still covered them. Liselle tried to bring her arms up again. It was difficult. “You want to remove the bandage over your eyes? Go ahead, but open your eyes slowly,” the woman’s voice told her. It took all Liselle’s strength to remove the cloth before someone took it from her hands. “There you are.”
At first, everything was blurry shapes, but then it started to come clear. The candlelit room contained the wooden bed she was in, a simple table and chairs, and a hearth with a crackling fire. It looked more like a living room than a bedroom. Vevin sat next to her, Tathan and Anilyia were on chairs near the table and Sir Danth stood apart from the others, next to the fire.
“Hello.” A young woman was sitting next to her on the bed. Her voice was pleasant. “I’m Ponella. You’ve just gotten over a terrible fever.” Her hair was brown and she was dressed in simple clothes. There were old claw scars on her face. “I’m told you used magic before that and need nourishment. We’ve brought you some food,” she pointed out to bowls and plates set out on the table. Tathan grabbed one and handed it to her.
She took a bite out of some cheese and grabbed a slice of bread to go with it. Ponella watched Liselle take the first few bites. “Good, you can eat. The rest of the healing should go well now.” Ponella put the back of her hand on Liselle’s forehead. “There’s no fever. How are your eyes?”
Liselle stared at the healer while chewing. It always seemed like someone wanted to talk to her whenever she was ravenous. Too much time had passed since she performed the magic and her body was wasted. Fever and time lost in getting nourishment added to the toll. After chewing most of the food, Liselle answered. “The candles hurt them a little, but it’s not bad. I can heal myself.”
“No!” Vevin, Ponella and Tathan all exclaimed in unison. Ponella explained. “Magic takes physical strength. When a person as weak as you are uses it, it does permanent damage to bones, heart, brain, and other internal parts. It could kill you.” She leaned over and put her finger just in front of Liselle’s nose. “Don’t you dare use even the slightest bit of magic, is that clear?” Liselle opened her mouth and gently bit the proffered finger. Ponella was not amused and stared until Liselle let go. “Is that clear?” she reiterated.
“Yes.” Liselle might have tried to fight it harder but her magic was still being suppressed, whether by Vevin or the flower that was squeezing her hair, she didn’t know.
“You’re a very healthy woman. The fever took its toll on you, but you’ll recover soon and can leave anytime.” Ponella gathered her bag. “Eat well and take care of yourself.” She shivered before reaching the door. “Brrr, I sense an early and harsh winter coming. You may want to put more wood on that fire.”
After the healer was gone for a few moments, Sir Danth went to the door and looked out. He came back with a nod of his helmet and re-took his position.
“Good, I don’t like her. I don’t like any of them,” Anilyia said. The princess tried to grab a piece of food from the table. When Liselle glared at her, she stuck out her tongue and took a bite anyway.
“How are you really doing, Cousin?” Tathan moved to the vacant side of the bed Ponella had just vacated. Liselle stuck out her tongue back at the princess when Anilyia had to surrender the hand.
Liselle thought about the question for a moment. “I’m hungry, weak, tired and confused about everything. You tell me how we got here, I’ll eat and when we’re both done, I’ll go back to sleep and take care of the other two.”
“Alright, so you remember Sir Danth battling ghosts and then you filled his armor with blue fire and brought him to his senses, yes?” Tathan asked.
“Filled him with fire?”
“Oh yes!” Vevin nodded vigorously. “Your blue fire was coming out of his helmet. We thought you were destroying him.”
“Your fire cleansed me and clarified my thoughts, Milady. It also saved my sanity,” Sir Danth told her with a bow. It was obvious that everyone else was still cranky with him. “Your power is extraordinary in both its magnitude and gentleness. I will die for you should you wish it, Milady.” He banged his fist to chest, creating a loud clang that made her wince.
Vevin glared at the knight. “I wish it.”
“Vevin, please,” Liselle said with her mouth still partially full. She swallowed the bite, scraping her tender throat. “I know you’re mad at him, but it’s not his fault. There was something evil back there. You need to understand that, while Sir Danth was affected, he did not cause the evil.”
Vevin glared at the knight a moment longer. “Alright, but if he ever endangers you like that again, regardless of whether or not it’s his fault, I’m going to kill him.” Liselle noticed that Anilyia shifted her chair a bit further back from Vevin and glanced at Tathan as though wishing he would bring his hand back.
The knight bowed. “I accept that, Sir Dragon.”
Liselle didn’t have the strength to listen to them. “Let Tathan tell the story so I can go back to sleep.” She did have the strength to take a chicken leg from a plate. It wasn’t as good as the Rojuun drumsticks, but she was hungry. Not being able to get those drumsticks was probably the worst part of having made the entire race hostile towards them by rescuing the princess.
Tathan continued, “We woke you up the next afternoon for food and you said we needed to get out of the forest . . .”
Liselle’s mouth was too full to answer so she nodded and gestured with the chicken leg for him to continue.
“Vevin carried you all that night and the next day. He used a lot of magic to keep us all going and we made good time. The next evening we stopped to rest when you began talking in your sleep about flowers and dark skies.” There was a concerned frown on Tathan’s face. “You were whimpering and moaning until we woke
you up. You said the flowers were keeping you safe and fell back asleep.”
“I remember that. I think the dark sky was the entity controlling the ghosts of Sir Danth’s people.” She took another bite.
“I don’t like that dark entity thing.” Tathan looked back at the knight who shook his head in accord. “I noticed you were sweating and when I felt your forehead, you were running a fever. We camped awhile in the early morning hours before sunrise and you were tossing and wailing in your sleep. I made you some broth that I knew was good for fevers and made you drink some. We kept waking you up to take more.”
“I remember waking up once,” Liselle said around half-eaten food.
“Sir Danth told us that the spirits were getting closer and closer,” Tathan said. Liselle nodded in agreement. “He thinks they were making you sick and causing your fever.” Liselle nodded again. Vevin narrowed his eyes at the knight, obviously blaming Sir Danth for the whole thing . . . especially the part where the knight was swinging his sword at Liselle. “We had to sleep, so Vevin stood watch, not trusting Sir Danth to do so,” Tathan said. “We traveled all the next day and reached the edge of the Willden after sunset. That’s when things went bad.”
“The evil attacked,” Liselle said. “I remember Vevin being above me in dragon form and her highness begging me to wake up.”
Princess Anilyia stood and waved her arms. “Well yeah! We could actually see the ghosts coming from the forest leaking black ooze out of their eyes. Then your boyfriend went dragon and was going to eat me!”
Vevin protested. “I was not going to eat you, I promise!”
“You were too! I know you were even if you have everyone else fooled, you evil dragon!” She spat out the word evil.
“I am not evil!” Vevin protested. “I’m not! You quit being mean to me!”
“You are too evil!”
“ENOUGH!” Tathan yelled in a booming voice that surprised everyone and battered Liselle’s skull causing her to cringe and cover her ears with her arms. “Nobody’s eating anybody, nobody’s killing anybody, nobody’s attacking anybody and nobody’s hurting anybody. Is that clear?” He glared at them.
“Nobody does a lot of bad stuff to anybody. Nobody’s a real jerk. I don’t like the guy named Nobody,” Vevin said. Tathan’s glare snapped onto the dragon who looked innocently up at the ceiling. Liselle tried to repress a giggle, but failed. Soon the room filled with laughter, easing the tense atmosphere.
A few minutes later, Tathan finished with the basics of the story. “Sir Danth and I protected Vevin’s flanks while he defended the front. We were able to hurt the phantoms, but not enough to make them go away. While you were lying underneath Vevin, your body caught fire and it spread out to the phantoms, burning them.”
“I thought you were going to burn me, but it didn’t hurt at all,” Anilyia told her.
Tathan nodded, “It didn’t hurt any of us. “It did make the phantoms scream and caused the black tendrils to shrink back. Then all the flowers in the forest caught fire as near as we could tell.”
“Oh yes!” Vevin exclaimed. “It was like that time in the caves where all the plants used you, only this time it was different because you were working with the flowers and they weren’t using you and it wasn’t against the sstejj, it was against phantoms and the dark misty thing, and you weren’t conscious this time, and it was really, really beautiful because you and the flowers are beautiful and you work together.”
Everyone stared at him and tried to digest all of his words. He looked around and decided to clarify. “It was like that one time, only different.”
Tathan shook the confusion out of his head. “So after that, the spirits were gone. It took us a minute to realize it and Anilyia was yelling at you to wake up. She said you did for a moment but passed out.” Tathan motioned toward the princess. “After that, it was all quiet. We traveled through the night even after leaving the Willden and didn’t stop until midday. At night we traveled again until we got here.”
“And it won’t be soon enough before we leave.” Anilyia’s arms were crossed and it was evident she was mad. She didn’t seem to be the only one with that sentiment.
“What’s wrong?” Liselle asked.
Tathan rubbed his face. “We’re in an abandoned house away from town. The townspeople saw you were sick after coming from the forest and they weren’t willing to take a chance you might bring disease.” His jaw was set in anger. “Their healer wouldn’t even come out, so she sent her assistant Ponella, who couldn’t wait to get out of here. They asked us to leave as soon as possible. A few wanted to try to force us out, but realized that would be a bad idea when Sir Danth and I drew our swords.”
“Tathan . . .” Liselle frowned at him disapprovingly.
“Don’t judge me, Cousin,” he replied with a gentle smile. “You needed rest. This house has been abandoned for a long time and it’s a good ways away from the forest. Sir Danth said there are no spirits around and I believe him. It sounds like they might be trapped in the Willden.”
“That would account for the stories of the forest being haunted.” Liselle felt better with the food in her belly, but her body was exhausted. It was taking all her effort to keep her eyelids open. “Can I at least sleep until morning? I’m so tired.”
“Yes, of course.” Tathan stood, kissed her forehead and went outside, followed closely by the princess. Vevin lay down next to her and fell asleep too. Sir Danth gave Tathan and Anilyia a minute to leave before going outside as well. Liselle was asleep by that time.
Chapter 6
Anilyia had left Tathan sleeping and gone to collect her thoughts for a while. She stopped by the murmuring stream not far away from the cottage. Dim blue light was growing above the forest in the chill morning air. A few leaves on the trees she walked through were beginning to turn colors, their leafy smell carried on a light breeze.
She was irritated; irritated with the stupid townsfolk of stupid Rethram, the stupid Willden Forest they had just left, the stupid Rojuun for keeping her a prisoner, the stupid agents of stupid Iynath that had kidnapped her, and with her stupid father for not making her stupid wedding happen years ago.
More importantly, she didn’t understand how her companions couldn’t see that Vevin was an evil dragon. Purple and black dragons were evil while white and orange dragons were good. Anilyia was also irritated by how mad Vevin and Tathan were with Sir Danth. It wasn’t his fault that his entire civilization had died and was now haunting the stupid forest. How did they expect him to react?
Worst of all, Princess Anilyia was mad at herself. She was in love with a thief. That didn’t bother her. It was fun being with Tathan. What she didn’t like was how she turned into a love-addled idiot whenever he was around. She couldn’t stop holding his hand or staring into his eyes.
Tathan made her feel good when he caressed her arms, back, legs and . . . She was becoming warm and tingly again, which irritated her even more. Anilyia was a twenty-year-old princess adored by her people. Many considered her one of the most beautiful women ever, yet here she was with an irreverent rogue and his companions, romping through the woods.
Anilyia found a rock to sit on. At one time, she never would have considered sitting on a rock or log. Servants would bring chairs and there were guards to protect her from peasants and other dangers. The thought occurred to her that she was alone at that moment without anyone to protect her. Anilyia looked at the nearby trees and the clearing across the stream. She couldn’t see anything, but knew wolves and other dangerous creatures might be around. Even worse, Vevin might have followed to eat her. Looking back toward the cottage, she saw nothing.
A deep breath calmed her nerves. So many things had changed in her life and it was hard trying to get everything sorted in her mind. Tathan was the main thing she wanted to sort out. She loved him. That wasn’t in doubt. The problem was that she was supposed to get married. She didn’t love Prince Albrato, but recognized it as a good marriage and wanted very muc
h to go back to living in luxury. At the same time, living a rogue’s life with Tathan sounded thrilling.
Ladies of the court often talked about living an adventurous life with dangerous men. It was girlish talk, but here she was doing exactly that. The question of her purity would arise when she got back to the palace. Anilyia would tell them the kidnappers violated her. They had wanted to after all, but their leader told his men to leave her alone. The king would make an exception considering she was the only royal child available for marriage.
Tathan. What was she to do with him if they did get to Mayncal? Prince Albrato would have a problem with her keeping a boyfriend. She wondered if her father might hire him as part of the secret service since Tathan rescued her where no one else had. Anilyia wondered if her father had even tried to rescue her sometimes. It didn’t feel like it when she was imprisoned. She sighed, and then laughed softly. Sighs seemed catching around Tathan and the others.
In court, she had to keep up with political intrigue, but a princess was trained for that sort of thing. Life on the road was hard. Sleeping under the sky, sitting on rocks and running away from phantoms and Rojuun all wore on her.
One of the biggest shocks was when the peasants wouldn’t let them in town. Tathan had told her not to let them know she was a princess. It could put the companions and the townspeople in danger. Anilyia didn’t like peasants anyway. She didn’t admit it publicly of course, but they always wanted . . . things. The refusal to help a sick traveler was appalling to her.
Anilyia hadn’t figured out what to think of Liselle. Sometimes she seemed like a country peasant, other times she was beyond human. They called her a flower child and it was easy to see the flowers turn toward her when she walked anywhere. Flowers were pretty, not powerful, yet Liselle controlled vast power beyond what court wizards back home could manage. Anilyia decided to be friends with Liselle. It was best to keep it simple.
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