Chapter 18

I took a deep breath and said, “Ladies we need to have a very serious talk, because one of you has been feeding me Wolf’s Bane!”

The look on both of their faces was a mix of shock and confusion at my sudden outburst, not knowing what had brought it on. I looked into their eyes and both showed a different level of fear, but there was no sense of guilt from my statement.

“What do you mean one of us has been feeding you Wolf’s Bane?” Violet asked indignantly. “How could you even think that I would ever do something like that to you?”

I sighed, “Violet, after I met with Celka, I talked with your mother. The only way I could have gotten Wolf’s Bane into my system, was in the medicine that you were bringing me to drink. Ilane never helped make it, nor did she ever handle it any point from when it was made, to when I drank it. That left you, but you are not always in the clinic, which also meant that Lillian could have also done something with it. Also, before you reply, I know that there is Wolf’s Bane being kept in the clinic, so the question is which one of you is responsible.”

Violet stood there shocked, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, but no words were coming out. Lillian looked very uncomfortable and was fidgeting with her hands and feet, while keeping her eyes downcast. Violet slowly turned and looked at her friend, causing her expression to change from confusion to anger, when she saw how Lillian had been reacting to the news.

“What in the seven hells did you do to him? I know you blamed him for Brant, as well as feeling like he stole me away from you, but to poison the man that I love, intentionally! You had to know that you would be caught and what would happen when you did Lillian. I am so disgusted, that I cannot even look at you right now, without wanting to hurt you. I am sorry, Davik, but I need to go and clear my head and get away from the target of my ire. If I stay, I am likely to commit murder, and I know none of us wants that to happen.”

She gave one last look at Lillian, tears filling her eyes, before shaking her head in disgust and fleeing the room. Lillian’s eyes were still downcast as her friend left, but I could see the tears forming in her eyes. She looked up at me, with shame and defeat apparent on her features and a pleading look in her eye. I walked over to her and opened my arms, in a gesture of goodwill. She looked at me with bewilderment, before letting out a soft smile and dashing into them. She could no longer hold back her emotions and let the tears fall, as she wailed out in pain and shame. I just held her as she cried out all the bottled emotions she was feeling and I do not know how long it was until her sobbing stopped, causing me to release her from my arms.

“Why would you do that for me Davik? Offer to hold me, after everything I have said and done? You should hate me right now, and yet you are trying to console me, why?”

“Lillian, I am not mad at you,” I answered with a reassuring smile. “You believed I had murdered Brant and stole Violet, your emotions and actions were justified, if you intended to try and hurt me. I hope that the steps I have taken, to have Violet continue your friendship, have helped to alleviate some of those emotions. I believe that you did what you did to try and cure me, not poison me. That is why Celka, the woman who is helping me, has come back to Cartha. She needs to converse with you on what, you were trying to do, and how you did it. She commended you, as your mixture has been holding the curse at bay, but if the wound is overstressed or injured, the curse lashes out. That is what has been causing my attacks and I think you are aware of it, trying to adjust the mixture to fix it.”

She looked down and replied, “Yes, I am aware of the curse causing your tremors. I thought that the mixture I made was going to cure you, honestly and I made it with the same ingredients that have been passed down from my elder mother. I do not know what is causing the curse to remain, and I have been trying different mixtures to try and find the one that would help, but I have not had much success.”

“You are afraid that the only way is to increase the Wolf’s Bane, that you might end up using too much and kill me, rather than cure me.”

She nodded, “If I was responsible for your death, even by accident, I would not be able to live with myself. Violet’s love for you is stronger than anything I have ever seen in my life and I know she would be devastated beyond reason if she lost you. She would then not rest until she knew who had been responsible for your death, not caring about why. My life would also be shorter, as no matter where in the world I ran, she would find me and kill me. I have also grown to know you and have found that you are a caring and honorable man, one that has become a good friend I to would not, like to lose.”

“Well, that is why you are lucky that Celka is here, she has much more experience with these matters and should be able to help you make a cure. Besides, she will need to talk to you about a strange side effect we witnessed during our trip to Dru’Tirk.”

“What do you mean, side effect?” Lillian asked, cocking her head to one side. “Other than the tremors you suffer from, there should be no other effects from the mixture, unless I got the mixture wrong.”

“During a fight to free Liza from kidnappers north of the village, I was stabbed in my cursed shoulder with a dagger. The dagger was lightly covered with a poison known as curare - it renders people paralyzed, though it had been modified by a ritual of some kind. From what Celka told me, if the blade was saturated in the poison, it could have stopped my heart and lungs from working, killing me. However, the effect it had on me was different and instead of paralyzing me, it allowed me to fight through the tremor. In fact, it stopped the tremor all together and filled me with power and strength I had never felt before. I moved faster than I ever had and was stronger than before, when I grabbed the man. His weight felt like nothing and I broke the man’s neck like a twig!”

Lillian had a shocked look on her face and began to pace around the room in thought. It looked like something I had said had triggered some thoughts and she was attempting to work them out.

“Curare should not have caused that effect, unless there is something I am missing. If the curse was being held back, curare could have stopped the tremors, but it should not have allowed you to overcome the attack. Plus, the added speed and strength are unheard of, unless something that was done to the curare paired with my medicine. You said Celka has some knowledge of what I was doing, but unless she is from my province, she would not know enough.

“My dear, I believe she is, as in her youth I hear she had red hair much like yours. I know that is not very common in this province and I also know that she has books in a language I do not recognize, that she read when I mentioned my condition. She mentioned stories she had heard as a young girl about the beasts, how they were able to identify them as humans and how they were killed, though I believe that she knows more than she is letting on.”

She stopped and stared at me wide eyed at what I had just told her. “She is from Vishant Province? I have not met anyone from there, neither had my parents, or elder mother. I cannot wait to talk to her, not just about your problem, but also about what it was like back there.”

“Well, I am sure if you ask nicely, she will answer your questions, but her focus right now is to figure out what you were trying to do and what you used.”

She nodded and said, “I am going to need to get my notes from the clinic, I should be back in about ten or fifteen minutes. I will be bringing along samples of the herbs and liquids I used in the ritual to make the medicine and hopefully that will help her understand what I was trying to do.”

“Wait, what? You just said ritual! What the hell do you mean ritual? She assumed it was some sort of medicine.”

“No, while there is a medicinal portion to it, there is also a ritual that needs to be done to it to give it potency against the curse. The medicine helps fight off the physical effects and the ritual fights off the spiritual effects.”

With that she left, and I went to find Celka. She was arranging things in her room. I knocked lightly on the door, to let her know I wanted to come in.

“Come in dear boy, it is your house after all, you do not need to knock on my account. What is it that is on your mind - I saw both ladies dash out of the room, though one left far later than the other?”

“While it may be my house Celka,” I replied warmly, “this room is yours until you leave. As such, you will be afforded the same courtesy as any of my other house mates. As for the girls, Violet was the first one to leave and Lillian was the second. Violet was upset at my accusation when she realized who had be responsible and even more upset when Lillian admitted being the one feeding the medicine to me. She felt hurt and betrayed by her friend, so felt that she needed to leave and clear her head somewhat. Lillian stayed and after letting out all the emotions she had been carrying, we got to talking. While she had some animosity towards me in the past, she had tried to help me because of her feelings for Violet. As such, she was actively trying to cure me of the curse, based on what had been passed down by her family. However, each mixture she tried only helped keep the curse at bay but did not cure it fully. She feared that to cure it fully, it would require increasing the amount of Wolf’s Bane in it. She was scared to use too much of the poison, causing me to die instead of curing me.”

She nodded, “She is right to fear how she handles the Wolf’s Bane, as it is one of the most potent poisons to try and use. Where curare and laudanum are poisons that, used in specific doses, have some medicinal properties, Wolf’s Bane has no known medical use. I still have not been able to figure out why it is used and how you are not being poisoned by ingesting it.”

“Yes, well she mentioned that there is a ritual that needs to be performed that allows it to attack the curse both physically and spiritually.”

Celka thought about it, said, “Of course, the nature of the curse is like a disease, on that weakens the body physically to allow the curse to spread and change you. The medicinal portion fends off the physical toll the curse places on your body, while the spiritual portion attacks the curse directly. The ritual must change the Wolf’s Bane so that it only affects the curse itself, but if too much is used, the poison then attacks the body. It still does not explain the effect of the curare, unless a ritual was used on that as well. Perhaps the man trying to kill you, believes that the curare will attack your body, and the curse, but if so, that wouldn’t have killed you outright. If that is the case, I wonder what effect a stronger dose would cause, though I do not plan to try that out.”