21. Lea
21
LEA
“ L ea?” A soft voice and a gentle hand on her shoulder stirred me from sleep.
I raised my head from numb arms to find that it was still light outside. I had hoped to wallow in self-pity for the rest of the day and well into tomorrow, but it seemed my friend had other ideas for me. “Dineta. What is it?”
“Your wound… It’s still bleeding out. Have they not bandaged it properly?” The look on Dineta’s face made me worry.
Pressing my hand under my ribs, I pulled it back to find it sticky and red. I thought my dizziness was due to my exhaustion, but perhaps I was losing too much blood.
That would be one way to escape from here. Although, it’s not a preferable one.
My other cellmates watched me as if waiting for me to expire. When my eyes reached Miller, who seemed to be fumbling around with something, they stopped to take him in.
“What do you have there?” I discovered after speaking that I was out of breath. I pressed my hand under my rib tighter as if that would save me. At this point, I needed a healing potion, and the guards would rather dispose of my body than give me one.
Miller’s eyes snapped up to mine, his face twisted with worry. He swallowed a lump before nervously wiping the sweat from his forehead. “When the guards brought me here, they failed to check me entirely. I was able to sneak in with a small bag of ingredients. It’s not very much, and I’m not sure it’s going to help?—”
He looked around the cell as if trying to pick out who was willing to rat on him for a shorter sentence. He didn’t know anyone in the cell, but he trusted them. Or, perhaps more accurately, he made a leap of faith. He moved closer to me, revealing the small amounts of dried herbs.
There were ingredients that were next to useless for me in this situation, such as lavender, but there appeared to be a few that I could make use of.
“I know it might be a long shot—” Miller’s shoulders dropped as he frowned at me.
I was touched that an absolute stranger would put himself at risk just to save me. It reminded me that there were good people in the world.
“Nonsense. Lea is probably the most skilled potionist I’ve ever met. From just the things she’s told me alone, I’m sure she can make use of these.” Dineta nodded profusely at Miller, but I was unable to see her face. When she turned to me, she fought off tears in her eyes with a big smile. “Right? You will be able to heal yourself with this. You must. I couldn’t fathom being here without you.”
“I will do my best.” I sat myself up enough to crouch over the ingredients to get a better look. I wasn’t going to be making any health potions with this, but I could possibly make something to stop the bleeding.
Cats fur, ground beating Buzzard’s eye, pollen from the Varuvia plant, and dried tresun hill grass. How the guards managed to miss these ingredients, I don’t know, but I’m grateful they did. There was only one issue…
“I don’t have my mortar and pestle. I’m not able to properly grind and mix the ingredients. Without that, the salve won’t work.” I watched the hope dispel from Dineta’s eyes.
“I can’t help you there. A few dried herbs weren’t too difficult to sneak in, but a stone bowl is a bit of a stretch.” Miller sucked his teeth and tilted his head toward the stone wall. “Unless…”
He stood to his feet and started lining his hands against the Stonewall on the far side of the cell. “Maybe we don’t need to sneak one in.”
“What are you talking about?” Dineta tried to follow his line of thinking.
“I’m saying we could make one!” Miller tried to keep his voice down, but his excitement got the best of him. “Dineta, let me know when there isn’t a guard nearby.”
He pointed at the front of the cell where the bars are.
Despite being confused about the plan, Dineta didn’t argue with him. She got up from the floor and stood guard.
I watched on bated breath as she peered out through the bars, looking either way.
We all looked away simultaneously as the guards slowly walked past our cell, looking in disdainfully.
Dineta waited a few moments more before signaling to Miller that the coast was clear.
I turned around just in time to see Miller roll up his sleeve and punch the stone wall in the corner where it was weakest.
A few pieces broke off and slapped against the ground.
Miller picked up the smoothness of the stones and handed it to me before sitting down out of breath.
“What are you?” I couldn’t help but question him. It was obvious to me that he wasn’t human, since he said he made potions, and his brute strength was far beyond that of a human.
He had to be some kind of magical entity, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what he was.
Miller pinched his mouth before looking down and pushing back the hair that covered his ears. It was the first time since he had come here that I had seen the top of his ears.
They were bloodied and poorly stitched together.
The area around the stitching also appeared to be inflamed.
A gasp pulled cold air into my lungs, “Who did that to you?”
“The guards. One of them thought the ears of an elf were offensive to look at. He then proceeded to take great pleasure in cutting off the tops of my ears. I thought there were laws in place to protect prisoners from cruel and unusual punishment.” Miller gave a breathy and weak laugh, but a tear escaped his eye before he could stop it.
“My God, Miller, I’m so sorry…” My heart wrenched with the injustice that was done to him.
It made me realize that my problems weren’t the only things happening.
There was a much more significant issue at play.
“Don’t be sorry. Just be strong. We can’t allow this place to break us down. They can imprison us and beat us, but they cannot destroy us. A great change is happening in the world, and we must do everything we can to stop it, or our world will never be safe for people like us.” Miller raised his head again, pushing down whatever feelings surfaced. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right.
I wanted to wallow in self-pity for the injustice done to me. I wanted to just lay here and rot away. But that would be too easy. That would mean that Jax won, and I cannot allow that reality.
“Well, go on then, Miss Master Potionist. Show us what you’re made of.” Miller waved his hand with a warm but knowing smile.
“I will.”