by Liara Woo
"So what do I do?" Katie asked.
Aspeniel brought her to the first room in the cavern with the large cauldron and the shelves full of supplies. She reached up and handed Katie a list written on ancient paper. "Gather these on the shelf beside the cauldron," she instructed. She seemed no more than eight years old.
Katie looked down at the list. It wasn't written in English, but somehow she could read what it said. The first item on the list was dragon tears. Katie blinked.
"Please hurry; this water is enchanted and won't take very long to boil," Aspeniel told her.
Katie walked over to one of the shelves and looked for the label marked 'Dragon Tears.' Eventually she found it near the bottom; it was a small vial with a faintly opaque substance within. She grabbed the vial and put it near the cauldron where it was soon joined by ground dragon horn, fairy dust, powdered griffin talons, lizard fat, 15-year-old dragon scales, Nimatil flower juice, and… chocolate powder.
"Why is chocolate part of the healing potion?" Katie asked, bewildered.
"Elves love chocolate more than just about anything except doing good deeds," Aspeniel smiled. "It helps counteract the flavor of the lizard fat, which tastes so awful that any elf who drank a potion with lizard fat inside would instantly throw it all back up. It's that bad."
Katie grimaced and put the chocolate powder on the shelf with the other supplies and rejoined Joran and the others. "How are you feeling?" she asked the elven prince.
"Sick with worry," Joran responded, tightly grasping Halthren's limp hands in his own. "He's been wounded loads of times before now, but never this bad. It's almost as if his Light is fading away, but that's never happened to anyone before. I wouldn't think it was possible."
"Torture can do nasty things to a person," Bloodthorne said gravely. "Even if his physical wounds are completely healed, there will always be damage done that cannot be repaired."
Katie shuddered. "I'm glad I'm not him," she murmured.
Halthren's eyelids fluttered up, revealing the fevered, unnaturally bright irises beneath. "Joran…" he rasped. Then he coughed violently, so hard that Katie thought he might throw up. For many seconds his chest heaved as if he was throwing up, but nothing came out. There was absolutely nothing in his stomach. He went limp on the mattress, panting and shivering. "Joran…my Light…Nashgor…not the Shape-Shifter…a black knife…so much pain…" He cringed and fell unconscious again.
Joran looked more frightened than Katie had ever seen him be before.
"What is it?" she asked. Joran shook his head slowly, not willing to answer, but Katie knew why he was frightened. He thought that the torture had been too much, and that Halthren had gone insane from the agony. Gently she laid her hand on his shoulder, trying to smile reassuringly. "He'll be fine," she whispered. I hope.
"Katie," Aspeniel called. Katie stood and reentered the room with the cauldron. All of the ingredients had been added and the resulting mixture was a bright yellow. "Look in the library for a thick book labelled Senethanil Felrin aln Niadlarin. The title means 'healing secrets of naiads,' and I used it to get the list of materials needed. But…I can't remember what spell is needed to complete the potion."
"I'll find the book," Katie promised. She left the cavern and walked up the spiraling stairs to the ground level floor, and then she pushed open the oak doors and walked outside into the bright, sunny afternoon. She walked past the food market places, the inn where she stayed at night, and a silversmith's forge before at last coming to the small castle that was the library. She walked inside and was met by a rush of cold air as she entered the stone structure. It was dim inside, and it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. When they did, she gasped.
The library had ten bookshelves in total, each going all the way to the ceiling and the wall on the left side. Tall wooden ladders had been constructed that reached the top shelves, allowing people to reach the highest books. Slowly Katie walked forward, trying to take in the thousands of intriguing leather-bound books with silver-embossed titles that could hold an infinite number of magical secrets.
"May I help you?"
Katie turned to her right and saw a shy-looking female elf with a heart-shaped face and large, beautiful turquoise eyes. She wore flowers woven into the braids in her hair. "Uh, I'm looking for a book called Senethanil Felrin aln Niadlarin," Katie told her.
The elf smiled. "This way," she said in a voice as soft as rabbit fur. She led Katie to the tenth bookshelf, at the very back of the room. Then she climbed up one of the ladders and reached up to the highest shelf, running her finger along the spines of the book. She smiled when she found what she was looking for, and she pulled out an ancient-looking tome with ratty yellowed pages. Quickly she climbed back down the ladder and handed the book to Katie. "Who is it you wish to heal?" she asked quietly.
"Halthren," Katie answered. The elf smiled slightly and blushed. Then she looked worried.
"Again?" she sighed. "He always seems to be in trouble like that. Only last winter he fell ill with ivy sickness and Prince Joran rode his horse all the way here to find the same book you hold now."
Katie blinked. "What's ivy sickness?"
The elf shuddered visibly. "A terrible thing. Fortunately it's rare and not very contagious, since it's magical, but it's a horrible thing to go through. Apparently it causes all of your muscles to tighten up and burn worse than anything. This makes it impossible to move, really. I hope it isn't as serious this time. Halthren doesn't deserve the horrible things he has to go through. He is perhaps the most purely good being in all of Allagandria, and he's by far the most handsome." She blushed again.
Katie didn't know what to answer, so she shrugged. "Thanks for the book," she said, turning and walking out of the library.
* * *
At nightfall, Katie returned to the cavern in time to see Aspeniel thumbing through the ancient pages of Senethanil Felrin aln Niadlarin. "I know it's here somewhere," she muttered. "Aha. Here it is: The potion to heal all wounds."
Katie approached the cauldron and inhaled deeply. It smelled like melted chocolate. All at once, out of nowhere, strange words entered her mind and pushed themselves out of her mouth as she breathed out. "Selemniadla nenethion," she murmured.
Suddenly there was a bright flash, like lightning, and both Katie and Aspeniel shrieked and jumped backwards. When they looked again, the potion was a dark, rich purple.
Aspeniel looked up at her. "That's quite a gift you have," she smiled. "Those are the exact words it says in the book. I'll ask Firdin to get it back to the library soon. Would you fill the smallest vial you can find with the potion?"
"Sure," Katie consented, dipping the vial labelled 'Dragon Tears' into the potion and bringing it over to Aspeniel, Joran, and Halthren. Quickly Aspeniel poured it down Halthren's throat. For many moments there was no change. Halthren wasn't even breathing, lying as still as a corpse on the mattress.
Aspeniel sighed. Her shoulders slumped. "Well, he's dead, then."
Joran let out a faint, strangled cry of grief and buried his head in his hands. Katie looked sadly into the dead elf's colorless face. Blood still leaked from his injuries. "I'm so sorry, Joran," she murmured.
Suddenly Halthren gasped, his entire body shuddering as he inhaled deeply. Katie jumped in shock and stared at him. His bruises faded to faint dark marks; the whiplashes became faded red lines on his skin, and the deep cuts on his face and the gashes in his side stopped bleeding. A faint flush of color crept back into his cheeks.
"Quick; give him more," Joran demanded, anxiously watching his friend.
Aspeniel shook her head. "Going from death's door to completely unharmed all at once would do more bad than good. It is better to let the rest of his wounds heal on their own time; most of them are broken bones. Joran, take off those filthy rags he's wearing (they'll likely infect the cuts that are still open and make them twice as hard to heal) and pull some blankets over him. Bandage his face and side. Katie, come with me. I must give him
a small amount of lizard fat from the other room to help with the pain."
"But you said earlier—"
"I know. But in a small enough amount, the lizard fat won't be as revolting, though it will still taste awful."
Katie followed Aspeniel into the room with the cauldron again. "So you're both a naiad and a dryad? How exactly does that work?"
"I am a tree that grows in the middle of a river," Aspeniel answered. "One day, when my tree dies, I will lose my dryad powers and become a naiad only. Every time of drought, I lose my naiad powers because my waters dry up."
"That's kind of sad," Katie commented.
"Not really. It's all part of life," Aspeniel shrugged. Katie found herself liking this little girl even more. "I regain my naiad magic in the spring when the snow on the mountains melts and flows down my riverbed."
"How old are you?" she asked.
"I've been a naiad since the world's first spring. My dryad powers came to me about a century ago."
Joran appeared in the doorway connecting the storeroom to the other room. "He's waking up," he said anxiously. "I…I don't want…to be alone…when I find out…if he's still sane or not," he finished in a rush. He looked terrified.
Katie felt a pang of pity for him. She couldn't even begin to imagine what he must be feeling. She followed him back into the room and knelt beside him at Halthren's side. The filthy, ragged tunic and leggings he'd worn lay in a pile off to the side of the mattress. Warm-looking fur-lined blankets had been pulled up almost to his collarbone, revealing only his bare shoulders. His eyelids fluttered up, and he looked confused. "Wh…where am I?" he asked in a barely audible whisper. There was terror in his dark blue eyes.
"In Velana," Aspeniel answered softly, lightly touching his cheek. "Fear no more. You're safe." Her hand glowed bright green for a moment as she sent a gentle spell into his body. His breathing slowed as he calmed down, but almost instantly his eyes widened in panic.
"Joran!" he gasped, his voice hoarse and rough. "Where's Joran?!"
"I'm here, Halthren," Joran murmured in a voice choked with emotion. Katie saw tears in his eyes. "I thought you were dead, my brother… then I thought you were going insane…" He clasped his friend's left hand tightly.
"This must be a dream," Halthren whispered. "I felt myself dying. I saw the stars coming to bring me to the sky. How can this be real?"
"It is real, Halthren, I promise. You're safe here. You're going to be alright," Joran murmured. He looked over at Katie. "Thank you for coming to Vernisgard. I was wrong to doubt you."
Halthren looked past Joran. His expression softened, and his eyes widened. "Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Katie," she answered, suddenly realizing that she didn't feel shy at all. She looked at Joran briefly before her eyes returned to the elf lying on the mattress.
Halthren's gaze switched between the two of them. "You're the one," he breathed. "You're the one destined to save us."
Katie nodded, pleased that he hadn't called her 'Earthling.' She'd never say so out loud, but the title made her feel like she was some sort of crazy green alien.
Halthren gave a tiny, weak smile. "Thank you for…coming here…and trusting Joran…"
Katie smiled gently at him. Then she felt her cheeks growing warm and knew she was blushing. "Uh…sure," she responded. She looked away quickly.
Aspeniel smirked teasingly. "If you're ready, would you fill an empty jar with some healing potion and bring it here? And then would you wake up Dewrion?"
Katie glanced at Dewrion, who had fallen asleep while leaning against the wall. I hope he doesn't have a concussion, she thought. She returned to the storage room and filled a small, empty pot with purple potion. When she returned, Aspeniel was trying to convince Joran to remove his hands from over his wound. Halthren was watching through half-closed eyes, looking exhausted.
"I'm fine," Joran insisted. "It's just a scratch." He lowered his hands and tried not to flinch as Aspeniel gently probed the injury with one finger. When he grimaced, she raised her eyebrows at him.
"I saw that," she said. "If it really was 'just a scratch' then you wouldn't have felt anything. Just drink some potion and you can be on your way."
"Alright," Joran replied grudgingly. Katie handed him the pot and he raised it to his lips, drinking about half. Then he smiled. "Chocolate," he sighed happily.
Katie bent down and shook Dewrion awake. He looked at her through unfocused eyes. "I think the horses are in the field," he said woozily, dazed and confused. He slumped over, trying to fall asleep again.
"Oh no you don't," Katie said, shaking him awake again. "Drink this." She handed him the pot and he tried to wash his hands in it.
Joran cringed. "He was really hit hard," he observed as Katie pushed Dewrion's hands away and forced the potion down his throat. He flailed weakly and shook his head, trying to clear it, when she took the empty pot away.
Dewrion moaned. The nasty bruise faded from his forehead. "I feel…dizzy." He stumbled to his feet, holding his head in his hands.
"Get some water," Aspeniel advised. She accompanied him to the entrance to the cavern and helped him raise water from the thin stream to his lips.
Katie looked down at a deep cut on Halthren's chest, right over his heart. It looked infected and blood still leaked from it. "Aspeniel, you might want to look at this," she called.
The naiad approached and saw what Katie was looking at. "That is no ordinary injury," she murmured.
"It was made by a Dark knife," Halthren said in a low voice, his face full of terror from the memory. "I don't think it can be healed. And if it can, damage will always exist."
"Why? What happened?" Joran asked, worried.
"The Shape-Shifter destroyed most of my Light," Halthren replied quietly. "He stole it from me with an enchanted knife and killed it with his Darkness."
"Can you still use your powers?" Joran inquired.
Halthren raised his left hand to the cut and tried to summon his Light out from within his soul. His muscles tensed and he clenched his teeth and screwed his eyes shut. His body began to tremble violently. He uttered a heart-wrenching sob of absolute agony.
"Stop!" Aspeniel exclaimed, wrenching Halthren's hand off of his chest. He went limp, unconscious once more. Katie stared in horror at how white his face all of a sudden became. Once again he looked like a corpse.
Aspeniel was furious. "You could see that he had just barely enough Light to live! His powers are gone, and you almost killed him! If he'd succeeded in taking out his Light, he would have died! Do not ask him to do that again!"
"I'm sorry!" Joran exclaimed, wide-eyed. "I wasn't trying to! I didn't know!"
"Don't do that again," Aspeniel said, breathing heavily. "It's bad enough that he'll never be able to use magic again. It's even worse because he's starved and weak. He is… broken."
"I'm sorry," Joran whispered, bending down and looking into Halthren's face. "I didn't mean to hurt you…"
The Forest of Mist
The Forest of Mist
Katie stayed in the cavern with Aspeniel, helping her brew a potion to get rid of poison, and when they'd finished they gave it to Krenej and Relenthus.
"Careful; it burns your blood," Aspeniel said as she handed a bottle to Relenthus. He grimaced as he drank it, and then he gasped.
"That—hurts," he said haltingly. "Isn't there—anything—for the—pain?"
"Yes, but it's so nasty you wouldn't want it," Aspeniel told him.
"What is it?"
"Lizard fat," Aspeniel answered.
Relenthus looked revolted. "You're right; I wouldn't want any," he sighed.
"I at least have something to help you sleep," Aspeniel informed him. "Katie, would you bring me the jar full of yellow potion?"
"Sure," Katie said, returning to the storeroom and grabbing the jar. She handed it to Relenthus.
"Thanks," he said shakily. "This is a much better option than lizard fat."
"Have you ever tried li
zard fat before? What if you like it?" Katie asked, repeating what her mother had always told her about new foods: What if you like it?
"I have tried it before," Relenthus sighed. "When I was barely twenty-five years old, my mother accidentally left a jar of it out where I could reach it. I thought it was some sort of pudding, so I stuck my entire fist into the jar and then shoved it into my mouth. It was the worst thing I'd ever tasted. I was throwing up for days afterwards."
Katie laughed. But her laughter quickly died when she saw another spasm of pain wrack his body. "You'd better drink that potion," she advised. Grimacing, Relenthus nodded and raised the jar to his lips. He'd fallen asleep after only one sip, and Aspeniel took the jar and gave another sip to Krenej. Then she walked over to Halthren with the anti-poison potion and hesitated.