Chapter 15

I awoke to the sound of a crackling fire, the smell of something cooking and the softness of a bed beneath me. I felt completely drained of energy and gingerly opened my eyes to see where I was, hoping that I had not been captured by an unseen enemy. I saw old grey stone above me and turning to look to my left, saw a form sitting in front of the fire. The person was humming a tune that I did not recognize, but it put me in a sense of ease and contentment, as it almost seemed familiar. I tried to move and found that my arms were bound to the bed using leather straps and panic began to set in. I tried to move my legs and found that they, too, were bound, the same as my wrists. I tried to force my way free, but found I neither had the energy, nor the strength to do so. My attempt to free myself did make enough noise to stop the person near the fire from singing, as they turned and began to walk towards the bed. I felt trepidation at being helpless at the hands of this person and as they neared, they became less hidden by the light of the fire. The form of an old woman slowly began to be revealed and once she was close enough, I recognized Celka. My fear dissipated as I realized that I must have been brought to her cottage, after I had passed out. Memories of what happened flashed through my mind, and I remembered the state Liza had been in when I passed out.

I once again fought to free myself, I had to make sure Liza was ok, or I would never be able to forgive myself. How long had I been out? were my friends ok?

“Calm down, Davik, you will not be breaking out of those anytime soon, as the tremors and the poison made sure of that. No doubt you are worried about your companions and you are right to be, as so many people were hurt by being in your vicinity over the last day or so.”

Her words were painfully accurate and filled me with shame, as well as disgust at what had happened. Liza was put into danger and Clive was almost killed and all because they had traveled here with me. Had Ilane not been with me to see Celka, she too could have been hurt or nearly killed as well. I had brought this down on all of us. How many more would suffer because of me?

“Take heart, child, your friends are ok. Liza is back at the inn, resting carefully with protection watching her room. Other than some light bruising, and shock from the terrible ordeal, she seems to be fine. Her mind though, is troubled with the kidnapping, taking that man’s life and almost being a victim of rape. She will need some time, but with your help and the help of her friends, she will heal in time.

As for your friend Clive, though his wounds were quite bad, he is on the mend. He suffered multiple cuts and lacerations, but none have become infected. He lost a fair bit of blood, but with rest and food he will get better. Ilane is watching over them both, as she was free of any injury from this ordeal but she is worried for all of you. She is keeping Liza company and occasionally checking on Clive as he sleeps, to check and change his bandages. Nikos brought me to the camp, where I found you passed out. His leg will be ok, he will need to take some medicines to make sure that he did not get any toxins in his blood, but he will make a full recovery.

“Liza regaled me with what had happened, when you and your compatriots arrived to rescue her and I became especially interested in what happened during those last moments. As Liza tells it, you moved faster than she had ever see you move and broke that man’s neck like it was a twig. Seeing your handy work on the man’s head, I am inclined to believe her story, as the bodies were brought back to the village for burial. The question is, what caused it to happen? Was this a onetime thing or will it happen again? Was there a physical, emotional or chemical cause for it to happen? These questions will need to be answered, as she stated that you were free of you debilitation when you attacked that man and used your injured shoulder to break the mans neck. It was not until whatever changed you wore off that the strain caused an attack to occur, instead of continuing the tremor prior to your feat of strength.

“As for why you are bound to the bed, you should know that you suffered three attacks as we moved you to the wagon and another one when we moved you into this room. When you had your last attack, it took Ilane helping me, to hold you down and even then you threw us off the bed. We had to restrain you, just in case you had another violent attack, as we feared that they could become more than either of us could handle. Those straps restrict your arm and leg movement enough that you are much less likely to hurt yourself or others, should an attack occur. Plus, she needed to return to the village to help the others and I needed to be able to manage you on my own. Thankfully, there have been no more tremors for the past few hours so I believe that we may be in the clear, but I will give it a little more time before I am completely sure that they are over.

“Now, as to what happened, I honestly do not know and anything that I could come up with would only be a guess. The dagger was coated in poison, of which kind I cannot discern, but it is not from these lands. It is reminiscent of a plant that once grew in my home, but it has not been seen in this province in centuries. I had heard of a potent poison that could be made from it, one even more powerful and cruel than Wolf’s Bane. However, no one alive in my province knows what the method is, but the fact it is here is very disturbing. Even so, that does not explain why it interacted with your curse the way it did, as there would be multiple factors. Perhaps it was an unknown side effect, given the concoction you have been taking, that is still in your system. Perhaps it requires a ritual that changes the makeup of the poison and how it interacts with your curse. I cannot be completely sure, but the question remains, will that happen again if your injury encounters the poison again?”

“I cannot say much other than what I had felt when it happened,” I answered dejectedly. “I saw that man over Liza, ready to defile and rape her. The look of sadistic glee on his face, the gloating and vile comments flowing from his mouth, as the sounds of Liza’s pleas went unanswered. My heart raced and it felt like my anger was causing my blood to boil in my veins. Heat filled my body, as the pain and tremors stopped, instead replaced with an urge to end that man. One second I was laying on the ground, and the next, I had pulled him off her and had his head in my arms. I got to him before he could do anything to Liza thankfully, but the terror on her face was still hard to see. He begged for me to spare his life, but visions of what he had planned to do to her filled my vision and I let the rage I felt make the decision for me. I twisted his neck as easily as I could break a dried twig and I felt nothing but contentment, that another despicable creature was gone.”

She nodded, “So anger and extreme circumstance caused this. I know from our talks before this incident, that you had never had an incident like this happen before these events. After your rage subsided, how did you feel?”

“I felt the heat leave, almost as quickly as it had come, and it seemed as if all the energy in my body had left with it. Once that heat and energy left me, the pain from my shoulder returned worse than ever and I passed out from the intensity of the pain.”

Celka approached the bed and released the restraints, allowing me to sit up and stretch my aching muscles. She then made her way to her bookshelf and started searching through her collection of books, a look of determination on her face.

“There is a stew in the pot and it is just about ready, so why don’t you get a bowl and get yourself a serving? You need to get your energy back up, if you expect to make your way back to the village any time soon.”

As she continued her search, through the dozens of books on her various shelves, I made my way over to the fireplace. I saw a stack of dark clay bowls on a shelf next to where the pot was simmering and I took one and a spoon from the shelf below where the bowls were stored. I knelt down and took the thick linen rag she had placed to the side of the pot, to remove the lid and reveal the delicious food inside. The various smells of the stew were simple, but it was enough to make my stomach growl and I wondered how long it had been since I last ate. I had no idea what time it was, but I had not eaten since that last mid-day meal, before I headed off to rescue Liza and I felt like I was starving.

I lifted a ladle that was hanging nearby and scooped up a generous helping of the stew, before I returned the ladle and the lid to their respective places. I stood up and made my way back to the bed, as there was not much room elsewhere to sit and eat. On the way, I noticed a loaf of fresh bread and tore off a piece, to enjoy with my meal. When I returned to the bed, I noticed there was a cup of water sitting on the side table. I looked back at Celka and she was still looking through her books, but there was a slight smile of her face.

I sat down and took a scoop of the stew, blowing on the hot broth, before I took a tentative taste of it. I found that while it was rather bland, compared to the robust flavors I was used to from Liza’s cooking, it was still flavorful to my pallet. I dipped the bread and took a bite and found that it had a slight spice to it, but the real flavor came when I dipped the bread in the broth. The mixture of flavor was like an explosion on my taste buds, and I found myself craving more. By the time I completed my bowl of food, Celka was reading from one of her books. It looked to be of the same language as the other one that she had read from before, but the images on the cover were different. She seemed to be solely focused on what she was reading, which meant that she might have found what she had been searching for. After a few minutes, she closed the book and stepped over to stand in front of me.

“I have some troubling news, my friend, but it may give you answers to part of what has been happening. Based on the research I was able to get done after you left, it seems that the individual who was feeding you the Wolf’s Bane mixture, was attempting to cure you of the curse. There were a few stories, back in my old land, of a mixture of a specific group of herbs that, when ingested over a long period would hold the curse at bay. Given enough time, the curse would lose power and eventually fade - but they were stories that were never confirmed. I believe that whomever is responsible for your medicine being spiked, was trying to administer what they believed to be the cure. As for the poison on the dagger, I believe it to be curare. However, it had unexpected results with the curse. The blade was only lightly coated, if it had hit any other part of your body, you would have been temporarily paralyzed. The fact that you still suffered your fit, and then acted as you did, means that there could be repercussions that we are unaware of.”

I pondered her words before replying, “I believe I know who has been sneaking the mixture into my medicinal drinks. The question I have is, what will happen if I keep taking that ‘cure’ and what happens if I am hit with a heavier dose of the curare?”

“There is no way to say what will happen,” she said, with a shake of her head. “I do not know enough about the curse itself, let alone what would happen in either case. The medicine seems to hold back the curse, the other seems to ward off its effects to hold off your attacks.”