“Me experimentation has found that there is nothing this slime can’t heal, but the amount of healing takes an equal toll on your energy.” He paused, staring intently at her. “Now, would you like ta stick with your honey or try some of this? I must warn you, I have had people who had just a minor cut, but the medicine killed them. They fell asleep and never woke up.”
Blaze didn’t take a second to answer. “I’m not afraid.” If her foot could be completely healed, she would have one less worry. A Traitor wouldn’t be able to beat her in a fight.
Harris grunted. “I see why those Urlificans reacted in such a way ta you. It’s a dangerous combination: your healing knowledge and reckless spirit.” He unstopped the vial and carefully pulled a thin string out that was attached to the stopper. The string shined green, blue, yellow, red, and all other colors as it hung in the lantern light. “Just the amount on this string will be enough fer your cut. Now, try ta hold still.” In one quick motion, he grabbed her heel with one hand while laying the string along her cut with the other.
The pain was instantaneous. Her whole body tensed up as it felt like a sword was stabbed through her foot. Every bit of her instincts screamed to get the slime off, but she focused all of her mental ability on not moving the foot. Her leg muscles twitched, threatening to kick, but she kept it still and continued to stare intently at the string laying in her foot.
Harris pulled the string off and re-stoppered the vial of slime. The burning was still as intense without the string, and she felt herself growing heavier with exhaustion. Harris rebound her foot in fresh bandages with practiced speed, and an odd cooling sensation dulled the pain. “Now, missy, if you’ll just lie back inta this bed,” came his gruff voice into her cloudy head. She hadn’t noticed him get up.
Willing herself more awake, she stood up. “Oh, well thank you, Healer Harris, but I need to get back. Please, how much for...”
“Absolutely not!” he raged, spittle flying from his mouth. “You may have the pain tolerance of a cohe, but I will not let you out of this cabin in your state. You will get inta that bed and sleep up here until you have strength enough ta travel.”
Blaze’s insides boiled, and her senses sharpened. “I am fit enough to travel and will be on my way,” she growled and stormed to the stairs. The burning pain was the same whether she stood on her foot or not, so for the first time since she was hurt, she could move quickly.
“No, get back up here you ungrateful fool!” Harris called down as she made her way confidently down the stairs.
Who is in no state to travel? she thought with a grin as she made it out the door. Then the world turned sideways.
The next thing she knew, the strong, repulsive odor of smelling salts stuck to the inside of her nose. Coughing, her ears started to work.
“...don’t listen ta a lick of sense. Now get your stubborn tough lump of flesh off of the ground and inta me cabin.”
Strong hands grabbed her shoulders and helped her back onto her feet. All she could think of was how heavy every movement felt, as if she had been traveling nonstop for a mooncycle. Instead of going back up the stairs, Harris lead her into the right room occupied by two beds. He set her down onto the closest one and berated her. “Now, if I see you up, I will make sure ta give you enough fireleaf ta knock you out for a quartermoon.” Blaze didn’t have enough energy to contest, so she laid down onto the welcoming bed as he grumbled out the door.
“Stupid girl, what did I tell...”
Chapter 11
“I told you, you deaf fool, she aint been here. And if she had, do you dare question me loyalty ta King Urlifec?” Harris’s crackling voice filled the cabin.
“Healer, watch your tone. I’m a high servant of the great king an’ will search your cabin for the Traitor,” the Urlifican threatened with a thick Northern accent.
“And I have been your blasted healer since you came out of your mama, you ungrateful son of a moaner. I demand some respect!”
“Out o’ my way, old man.”
Blaze leapt between the two beds as the Urlifican’s boots pounded on the wooden floor. The surprise that her foot didn’t hurt was muffled by the panic that she couldn’t find Obrae’s sword. The steps receded into the room opposite of her’s, but she would be found soon.
“Fine then, you spit of a man, search me cabin, in fact why don’t you try the other bedroom?” Harris shouted at the man.
“Ohho! So that’s where you’re hiding her, you kaffing igit. Don’ think those mind games work on me. You urge me ta search the room, makin’ me think that there’s nothin’ in there, so I don’ search. Well, stick this up your kaffin’ stink hatch.” The steps stomped toward her room. Blaze lowered herself between the beds, ready to pounce the moment his stink hatch cleared the doorway.
“THAT one’s going ta die at any moment, and I’d like another shot at curing the disease.”
The curtains to the room shifted as the tip of his black leather boot froze that the doorway. “Die?”
“Yes, poor soul’s got the Green Curse.”
“‘Green Curse,’ ne’er heard o’ it. You’re lyin’ ta me.” The Urlifican’s pale fingers emerged from the crack.
“Well, cross that doorway and tell me I’m lying when you see a woman with oozing green bruises covering her body.” The fingers froze in place. “Her fingers and feet are swollen, but her legs and arms are twig thin. Eyes sunken in and black, like the dead, and all of her luscious locks have given way ta a scaly, cracked, bald scalp. She’s so far gone that she can’t even cry out for mercy anymore. Tell me I’m lying when you turn inta her within two days and have spewed every ounce of your insides out in a bloody mess, and you see the dead as your body burns in an unsinkable fever. When you cry out in the night for it all ta end and I add enough fireleaf ta kill three men ta your water, tell me I was lying when you can’t die quickly because you immediately spew the saving toxic tonic out before it can do its job...”
His escalating voice trailed off dramatically as he let the horrors of this plague grasp the Urlifican. The fingers slowly drew away “No, please, check and see if I’m hiding a traitor in there because of course I would make someone stay all night for a simple foot injury. Go on, I’m an untrustworthy healer who will do everything against the king. Please check because I would love another chance at that Green Curse.”
“Green Curse, huh?” The boot tip receded. “Two days?”
“Yes, two days.” The slightest amusement shadowed Harris’s voice. An uncomfortable silence filled the cabin.
“You know, you’re right,” and the Urlifican headed back toward the cabin’s door. “Why would you make someone, who you knew was on the run, stay because o’ a silly foot injury unless you were wantin’ ta turn them in? And you’re not turnin’ her in...”
“Oh, dear sir, are you sure you don’t just want a peek at the horrific disease of the Green Curse? It really is a fascinating sight,” Harris pressed.
“Kaff no!” and the Urlifican rushed away. “I have other places ta check. Just inform us immediately if she comes around.” The front door slammed shut. Blaze heard the muffled voices outside as he mounted.
“She here?”
“No, let’s go,” and they whipped their mounts into gallops.
Blaze parted the curtains and smiled at the sly healer. “‘Green Curse’, huh? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
Harris laughed as he retrieved the kettle from over the fire, “Hehe, me either. But what a disease it would be ta treat!” His grey eyes lit up with the same passion as Jonathan when he found a natural quandary. She laughed and joined him at the table as he poured the morning tea. “I see that your limp’s gone. The Thundrum Salve must have worked.”
Blaze sat down, flexing and circling her foot with no pain. “I truly can’t thank you enough.”
“Well, take the bandage off and let’s see.” He scooted his chair in front of her’s.
There was absolutely no sign that her foot had ever been
cut. As he took up her foot into his hands, she reflexively jerked it back, giggling. “How is it possible that that tickled! I don’t remember ever being ticklish.”
“It heals everything. After I had recovered me strength, I found that touching anything was a sharper, intense sensation,” the healer explained. He grabbed her ankle, and her leg twitched with the intensity of his touch. “Tell me when it feels normal.”
“Okay,” she indicated when his touch felt normal, halfway to her knee.
“Fascinating,” he breathed, sitting back in his chair and sipping his tea.
“What is?”
“Your body seems ta be highly accepting of the salve. Most of the cuts I have used it on have been healed by that same amount, but only just the cuts. However, half of your lower leg was healed. Ta add ta it, you’re wide awake and fully rested by the very next morning. Most others sleep an entire day...” His voice trailed off. Blaze waited for him to continue. Harris sipped his tea in deep thought, then his eyes locked onto hers. “Missy, you are definitely a dangerous combination. But most dangerous ta yourself...”
Blaze’s brows furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I believe that the salve reacts with your spirit ta heal you. I have found that there are two categories of people: sensitive and hardy. Those who are sensitive get more healed than others with the same amount of salve, but they take longer ta recover. I notice that the sensitive ones are also those who follow rather than led; they are more inclined ta take care of others and want ta be around more people.
“Those who are hardy are quick ta regain their strength, but only have the immediate injury healed. They are the leaders and independents, confrontational and quick ta act. The way your treatment was both quick and intense can only mean that you are both sensitive and hardy, but that kind of spirit is easily at odds with itself. Your passion for others and need for action will get you inta trouble, as I believe put you onta this dangerous road you travel.”
Blaze sat back in her chair with arms crossed. He continued to speculate, his fierce eyes never leaving her. “Training under Jonathan and killing an entire Urlifican troop, my guesses are that the Traitors of Srift were found out. Tell me, did Jonathan survive?” Her gut lurched, and her blood drained as the words clogged her throat. Closing her eyes, she breathed in and out, forcing her grief down. Now was not the time. She opened her eyes and answered in a steady voice.
“No. They burned his cabin, and he was trapped inside. I couldn’t save him.”
Harris’s face remained neutral, but she saw his eyes mist as he shifted his gaze to the fire. Blaze lifted her tea cup and focused on drinking the bitter beverage. The only sound made was the cracking of the fire. She really missed him.
To keep her senses sharp, she drowned the loss by studying the healer’s supply shelves. St. John’s wart, winterbane, shadowdagger, ginger root, she ran through what each and every one could be used to cure. The exercise calmed her, until she saw Obrae’s sword lying in the corner.
“That’s mine!” Leaping up, she rushed over to the blade. The handle’s leather was poorly wrapped back in place. “What did you do? And why was it laying out where that Urlifican could have seen it?” she blurted possessively. Security and relief washed over her as she held the sword.
“Do you know who’s sword you carry?” Harris asked.
“Yes.” she stared at him. “Do you?”
The healer shocked her by nodding affirmative. “Unwrap the leather, trust me.”
Blaze’s curiosity spiked. Carefully unwrapping the handle, she revealed smooth, blackened silver. She sped up the unraveling when letters started to appear. The hilt metal was without blemish, no dints or scratches. In the center of both sides, two small shimmering rubies were inlaid, and neighboring both sides of the rubies were two jaggedly carved letters. She held the sword by its sheath to see the name. A shiver ran through her body; the sword’s name was Pain.
“A very powerful Urlifican was the owner of that sword,” Harris explained. “Only King Urlifec’s most prized servants are given a sword named Pain. When I removed the sword so you could sleep, I couldn’t believe me eyes because I know that sword. It was the small ‘U’ carved into the pummel that gave it away. Uric. He was a man after Urlifec’s own heart.
“Jonathan had created a booming Family of Traitors when we were in Brez. We were given away by someone, and Uric came raging after us. We managed ta get away, but for two cycles, that sword and its unshakable owner hunted us down. One strange day when we were in Lebril, Jonathan comes ta me saying that the True King provided peace. I gave him such a hard time about the True King that day, me faith was weary with the pursuit...” he gazed into the fire, reliving the memory. “But, never had I met someone with such unshakeable faith. He said that Uric would never bother us again, that the Urlifican was killed by a man named Obrae. It was ta Srift he planned ta go and wanted me ta come with him. However, I missed me childhood home here, so we parted ways. Never to see each other again.”
Harris paused, his voice cracked with the last words. Blaze looked down at the sword in her hands with questions and feelings mixing through her. Obrae had killed Uric? Was that what he regretted? Was that what caused him to change from an Urlifican? Staring at the blade, a dark corner of her spirit got thrills at the thought of fighting her enemies with their own prized blade.
Harris sighed. “I always meant ta go ta Srift and see him. Like a son ta me he was.” Then he looked up to Blaze. “But, his legacy stands before me, nearly.”
“Nearly?” she repeated with disdain. It sounded nearly like an insult.
“You aint a Traitor, are you?” he asked without expecting an answer. “You and that Uric are the only people I know who he couldn’t lead ta the True King’s Family.” Blaze didn’t know how to respond to the comment, so she set to rewrapping the hilt. “What are you planning ta do? You can’t stay here; the Urlificans are too alert. We were lucky that foolish Conner came ta search the cabin today. But you will be found if you stay in Krute.”
She sighed in frustration as the same questions Theoverus asked were being thrown at her again. “I don’t know,” she seethed, finishing up the hilt with force.
“Well, missy, we must change that,” he said with spirit and sprang from the table. Shuffling upstairs as fast as he could, Harris grumbled to himself as he banged around in his room. She was about to come after him when he scrambled back down the stairs. In his arms were a dark green cloak and folded piece of worn skin.
“Here,” and he threw the cloak into her hands as he unfolded the skin and flattened it on the table. Blaze looked over his shoulder to the map of Lesira. “Here,” he repeated while slamming his pointer finger onto the dot where ‘Krute’ was dyed in thin letters. “You’re in the worst possible place ta start ta get ta where you need ta go because you need ta get over here.” He threw his finger onto Ekal in the Quatriaal Forest, on the other side of the kingdom. “Thankfully, I have a friend who is taking a shipment of skins down the Thundrum River for trading. Fastest way ta get ta Beccrah, but it will be dangerous as you’ll be going straight through Lebril and Eclamai.” He traced the river’s path as he gave the directions.
“From Beccrah, you will need ta either sail or walk ta Brez, but that will be the most difficult part. You see,” he turned to face Blaze. “The Quatriaal Forest is an undeclared Traitor haven, for it’s said that the True King ran inta the Pere Mountains just ta the north of Ekal. Missy, you’ve gone and made an enemy of Urlifec, the True King may just be your only hope. You’e going ta have ta choose a side sometime.”
Before Blaze could voice her denial of his prediction, he continued. “Brez will be tough. Jonathan and I were in charge of getting Traitors who were looking for safety through Brez. Because Urlifec knows that Traitors escape ta the Quatriaal Forest, the Urlificans are as heavy in Brez as in Eclamai. But, that is what you must do.”
She like the plan for its directness and its existence; however, t
he road was a dangerous one, and not only for her. “Your friend would be suicidal to go through those towns with me,” she expressed. “Thank you for all that you have done for me already, but I don’t want to endanger another on my behalf.”
“Whell,” he spat. “What are you going to do? Ride there? You are going to pack enough food and supplies on that horse to travel all this way?” He tracked his finger along the road that divided Lesira in half. “While still expecting that horse of yours to quickly make the journey? That road’ll take more than two mooncycles, and Urlifec has called his servants ta attend ta you, you foolish rock-brained mule. No!” He stormed to the door, barking his final orders. “Quickly getting ta Ekal is your only option. His boat will make the trip in nine days, the first two will be your only worries. He will be happy ta do it, and if not, he owes me.
“I will take your horse and drop her off at the boat while making arrangements. You need ta stay here until the sun starts ta set, and wear the cloak. Go ta The Thundrum Pass Inn where my friend will meet you with the question, ‘Has the Thundrum monster saved you lately?’ ta which you will reply, ‘Yes, Sirrah knows what he is talking about.’”
“Sirrah?” she asked with a smile.
“Me name backwards,” and he winked at her, his bristles gone with her compliance. “In the meantime, eat, take a bath. You reek of travel which will give you away. Me bath house is just a short walk from the sick house. And toss your clothes; you’ll find a dresser full of clothes that people trade me for me services. There will be something ta fit you.”
“Thank you, I don’t know what else to say,” she said, a smile curling her lips. “My purse is in the saddle bag, could you take what I owe you along with paying Everett for the night that I stayed?”
His head jerked in a nod, and he disappeared through the door. Her stomach announced its emptiness, and she turned to the wall to find something to eat.
Traitors (The Traitor King Saga Book 1) Page 17