Chapter 5 – Neve
NEVE
The healing sanctuary of Valrun smelled like all others.
A pleasant blend of herbs and potions mixed with the odors of blood and sweat.
My nose wrinkled as I passed a bed occupied by a sleeping male with a festering wound.
He hadn’t been with us when we’d found the Shadow King.
What had he tangled with to be in such a state?
I heard Rynni speaking with patients down a hallway connected to the large, rectangle-shaped sanctuary. I tried to make enough noise that she’d hear me coming, but not so much that I woke the sleeping patients.
When I was halfway across the main room, Rynni poked her head out of a private room.
“Princess? What brings you here?” She entered the hallway and came to meet me.
I hadn’t set foot in this sanctuary since we’d first arrived, preferring instead to have Rynni heal my injuries brought on by combat practice inside the annex.
“I was hoping to speak with you about a couple of things and get a tonic. The one that lasts a full moon cycle.” My hand passed over my belly, telling her what I meant. There were many healing tonics with a long active cycle, and more than one way to prevent a pregnancy, should one wish to do so.
She nodded.
“I’d also like to check on Thantrel first, if possible.”
“He’s asleep and should remain so if he’s to heal enough to fly tonight.” She gestured to a room across from the one she was in. “But if you absolutely must see him, he’s there.”
“If he’s asleep, I’ll leave him be.” I was not about to wake someone who had just gone through so much. “I’d still like to talk with you though.”
“Right.” The dragon-fae shifted, allowing me a glimpse beyond, into one of the six private rooms this sanctuary boasted.
A female faerie stood there, heavily pregnant, one limp hand resting on her belly and the other pressed to her back.
Her eyes were closed, and her breaths looked labored.
“I’m finishing up a massage to ease her into labor. Can you give me ten minutes?”
“Of course.”
Rynni shut the door, and I perched on the end of an empty bed.
Only three fae in the sanctuary were unrecognizable to me, one being the male with the festering wound.
How strange and wonderful that I hadn’t been at Valrun for very long, but I knew most of the rebels.
By face, if not name and personality. In a short amount of time, I’d gone from an outsider to someone who felt like she belonged.
“Here’s that potion.” Rynni appeared, a vial in her hand.
I accepted the tube, popped the cork top and drank it down. It tasted similar to one I’d had in the Vampire Kingdom.
“So, have you already found the information you’re looking for?” Rynni asked.
She’d saved our arses beneath the mountain, and knew Thyra and I would devote what time we had left at Valrun to researching shadow magic.
“No, I woke up and came straight here.” I refrained from asking how she was so active after flying for many hours and not sleeping as long as the rest of us. “I’m on my way there after this. What I need you to answer is research of another kind.”
Rynni gave a soft laugh. “I’m a healer, not a scholar.”
I looked around. “Are there wards around the beds? To deaden sounds?”
Rynni gave a wave of her hand and magic shifted all around us, activating the wards. “I keep them off during the day because when they’re awake, the patients like to chat. Or eavesdrop on other’s conversations.” She gave me a pointed look, clearly telling me to get on with it.
“I was wondering if you’ve made any headway on the lindwyrm venom?”
Luccan had taken a fang from a lindwyrm guardian during our heist of the coinary of Avaldenn. He’d thought that one of our more academically inclined friends might be able to replicate the venom for use as a weapon.
“I did not. Last I heard, nor have Duran, Clemencia, or Anna, but I haven’t spoken to them much since we returned to Valrun.”
I shrugged. Her answer didn’t surprise me. In fact, I’d expected it. “You’ll get there, I’m sure.”
“Yes, well, what did you really want to ask?” Rynni arched her brows.
I’d been caught stalling. “It’s about the Shadow King.”
The dragon-fae let out a breath. “I cannot tell you how sorry I am that I breathed fire on him. I—”
“You’ve already apologized.” She’d done so profusely when we first landed at Valrun. “There’s no way you could have known that your fire would destroy the tree. Or that he’d live through such a blaze. No one would have guessed such a thing. Had I been in your place, I’d have done the same as you.”
She said nothing.
“Anyway, I believe that the king being trapped in that tree might have eventually caused the blight,” I continued. “That he could have slowly poisoned the Drassils, and as a result, the magic weaving through their network and the kingdom.”
“The blight has been an issue for a long time, longer still in the Spring Court than here. But it hasn’t affected those in Winter’s Realm badly until two decades ago.”
Sassa Falk trapped King érebo over a thousand turns ago. The blight had cropped up over the centuries but not often until my family lost power.
“He might have taken some time to learn how to expand his magic within the trees’ network.
I’m not sure, but when we spoke to the rebels upon arrival, the Drassil in the courtyard no longer looked like it was dying.
” I cleared my throat. “It was getting a little better before. I think that was due to King Magnus finally having the Scepter and using it. Now, I’d say it’s healed all the way. ”
“I recall.” Rynni played with the hem of her shirt. “I don’t see what this has to do with me though.”
“I realize that you can’t speak to the Drassils, but I want you to observe your patients. See if fewer get ill from the blight. And you have two pregnant fae, right?”
“Both days from giving birth.”
“I want to know if their children are born healthy or if they show effects of being injured by the blight.” The illness often targeted fae wings, horns, and sometimes ears. It also left scars that differed from those that occurred naturally.
“Of course, but two fae births don’t mean much. You’ll need a larger pool to study to draw any real conclusion.”
Even then, I may never know. This idea might not be something one could prove.
Perhaps even King érebo could not say that he’d been causing the blight.
It might have been his mere presence within that tree that threw off the magic of the realm over time, and when the Ice Scepter was lost that imbalance had been amplified.
“I’ll be contacting the healers in Myrr, too. The ones in the castle should be able to speak with others within the city.”
Rynni nodded. “I’ll keep you informed.”
“Then I’ll leave you to it and get to the library.”
“Good luck, Princess Neve.”
“Thank you.” I would need all the luck I could get.