22. Nowhere and Everywhere – Rosemary
Nowhere and Everywhere
ROSEMARY
I stared down at Elias's unconscious form for a moment before dropping to my knees, tearing his tunic open to expose the ugly wound. Teeth marks beneath his ribs oozed black blood, the surrounding skin inflamed and feverish. The venom had already spread, darkening veins beneath ashen skin.
Fear clenched at my stomach. This was an injury that couldn't heal on its own, and he had left it to fester until time had nearly run out for him. I prodded the skin of his chest, unblemished but far too hot. The fever would take him first if I couldn't find a way to break it.
"You stupid male," I muttered, already reaching for my pack. "We could have avoided this if you’d only told me sooner!"
He didn't respond. No cocky half-smirk. No flirty banter. Nothing. He lay so still that I would have thought him dead already if not for the slightest rise and fall of his chest beneath my fingers.
I dug through the contents of my pack as my mind raced. The nickname Rosie had fallen from him as if he had used it hundreds of times before. It could have just been a coincidence, but it had seemed too odd that he would use it only now, when he lay at death's door.
Glass clattered beneath my fingers as I rifled through my pack, searching for anything that could take the bite of fever from his skin.
"I should just run you through now and leave you for the forest for being such an idiot," I threatened his unconscious form.
The words held no ire though, my worry obvious in the way each word quaked.
I pulled a clear liquid from my pack, uncorked the vial, and poured it over his wounds.
Yellow foam fizzed and bubbled from each hole as his body jolted beneath me.
Using his tunic, I blotted away the grime and poured more until the liquid ran clear.
Each contact with his skin made his body writhe, the pain inescapable even in unconsciousness.
He needed more aid, but at least the wound was thoroughly cleaned.
Now, I could focus on the poison flooding through his body.
This was a wolf bite. This was no ordinary poison flooding Elias.
It was a poison mingled with an ancient lycanthropy curse.
I knew I had wolfsbane in my pack. If I mixed that with yarrow, I could attempt to slow the spread of the poison long enough for me to think of something that could counter the curse hidden within the poison.
In minutes, I had fresh creek water droplets in my mortar, blending the plants into a paste.
I applied it to his wound, smoothing it over until fully coated.
I pressed my palms against the outer edges of his wound and tried to channel healing magic, but only the faintest warmth responded.
My power seemed to retreat when I needed it for someone I cared about, as if emotion made it harder to control.
With remnants of his torn tunic, I tore strips and wrapped them around his middle, tying them to secure everything in place.
Wiping the sweat from my brow, I climbed to my feet, staring down at his prone form, so pale, so weak, so...
still. His chest did rise and fall with breath though.
I had bought him time. Though, he could no longer travel.
I would have to hide him and pray that he would remain safe until I could return.
Hours. I had only a handful of hours left until the full moon bloomed, and I had to choose between saving him or saving Briar.
I dashed to the creek, scooping up handfuls of mud and clay.
Returning to Elias, I smeared the mud across his chest. Trip after trip, I coated his skin, avoiding only his poisoned wound.
The mud crept into his trousers, tangled in his hair, and streaked his cheeks and brow.
It had to work, enough to disguise his scent from any predators nearby.
I gathered brush from the woods' edge, piling it around him.
Thick branches and tall grass hid the lower half of the stone, leaving only its top visible.
I gazed at Elias, at the muddied hair on his brow, his lips pale with pain.
I had to save him. Even if he was an unseelie, he'd shown they weren't all bad, risking himself to support my quest. I couldn't let him die for that.
"You had better live so I can tell your pretty, dumb face all about how I saved your life," I said, pulling my dagger from the holster along my side.
I placed my fingers against the cold stone peeking out from the brushes I'd placed, whispered an apology, and then carved a single rune into the stone.
I wasn't sure why I'd done it, or what the rune even meant.
It had flashed within my mind and felt right.
As I holstered my blade, I let my fingertips dance over the carved stone. "De se mah Nee 'natae bre," I whispered my words in the language of the old fae, stepping out of the brush and into the small clearing. I whispered a prayer and hoped that the gods would protect Elias until I could return.
With the stone marked, I hoped I would be able to find this place again.
Then I turned from where his body lay hidden and sprinted off into the direction Elias had pointed out earlier.
I sent a silent prayer to Brigid, the goddess of miracles, as my heart thundered within my chest. I prayed I would find the daemonacus flower in time.
It could break any curse, and right now, the lycanthropy curse was killing Elias as it fought to control his fae blood.
Tree limbs and drooping vines slashed at my face as I barreled through the forest underbrush.
The heavy scent of pine needles burned my nostrils as my lungs heaved for air.
I ignored the burning in my muscles, pounding my feet into the dirt faster.
Finally, the trees began to thin, just as he’d said they would, blurring past me as I raced forward.
I lifted my hand to wipe at the moisture along my brow, and when my fingers came away crimson, I realized the cuts along my face stung only a little.
I hadn't bothered to hold those branches out of my way as I hurried through them.
These tiny wounds paled when held up against the stark, blinding fear thrumming through my veins for Elias and my sister.
That thick tome that had held tale of the daemonacus flower forewarned all of this.
For power so great that it could break any curse, heal any wound, or poison any foe, came with a steep cost. Even the book had warned against traveling this deep into the Everland Forest. Over the centuries, any who had attempted such a feat had never returned.
And now Elias might not either. Except, I refused to let that be his story.
As the trees thinned and my path forward became clearer, I pushed myself harder. My heart beat so erratically that I thought it would burst from my chest. My lungs screamed so violently that I thought even the birds and squirrels had fled the sound. Still, I ran.
A ray of sunlight peeked through the canopy above, illuminating the forest floor in dappled light.
There! As the metallic taste of copper coated my tongue, I nearly gasped with relief at the clearing ahead.
I leaped over a fallen log, my boots skidding in the dirt as I landed heavily.
As I broke through the final trees and into the clearing, I stopped, my hand clutching at my chest while I pulled in long, painful gasps of air.
When I steadied myself, I surveyed my surroundings.
It mirrored the image from the tome almost perfectly.
Sunlight bathed the clearing, transforming into an ethereal shimmer on the ground.
Bluish-silver mushrooms dotted the hardened dirt, pulsing with an otherworldly glow.
The grass stopped abruptly at the tree line, leaving the clearing devoid of even weeds.
Panic whirred within my mind as I cast anxious looks across the clearing, searching but finding nothing.
No sign of the flower I so desperately needed.
My weakened legs barely carried me further into the clearing, and each step wavered, threatening to dump me onto the ground.
When my legs gave out from beneath me, I crawled.
My fingers dug into the dirt as I dragged myself forward, searching, looking, hoping for any sign that this entire journey hadn't been for nothing.
As I lay on the dirt curling in on myself, I let the tears fall while my mind raced.
This couldn't be another failure. It couldn't. I wiped away the dampness with the cuff of my sleeve then peered up into the glowing sky.
"Anya, goddess of healing, hear my pleas," I begged, my fingers curling into the soil.
"Gaia, goddess of earth and nature. I beg thee for your help. Help me find the plant I need."
The wind, so still before, drifted into the clearing, bringing with it a sweet scent and softly spoken words. "What will you give us?" The words came from nowhere; they came from everywhere.
"What do you want?" I asked.
Another shifting breeze, as if a breath from the gods themselves.
This one less sweet. As it drifted across my cheek, it felt sharper, like the tip of a blade.
"There is great power in you, child. Dormant and unawake.
One that remains hidden but is ready to burst forth.
With it, you could rule kingdoms, or you could bring them to their knees. "
"I do not wish to bring kingdoms to their knees." My brow furrowed. "Who are you?"
"We are the triad, the sisters who determine all.
We are the weavers who twist destiny into place.
" The voice that was many and none spoke, their sound mingling in the shifting breeze.
I knew who they were, though I had only ever read tales of their existence.
The goddesses of birth, of life, and of death.
The mother, the maiden, and the crone. Baela, Alena, and Croela.