Chapter 18
Higher Stakes, Lower Moods
Alissa almost threw up, the yellow liquid leaving a lingering bitter taste on her tongue. “Couldn’t you have created a potion that tasted like strawberry?” she complained, though successfully ignored by the healer.
“Under no circumstances should you be doing anything besides resting for the rest of this week. Especially while you receive treatment,” Desi said, her tone indicating she was up for no jokes.
Alissa nodded in agreement.
It was already dark outside, and she could see the stars shining through the small breach in the entrance, while the illumination inside the tent came from a few lit candles.
She sighed. Three full days had been and gone since the attack, and she was nowhere near getting to the capital.
Desi was very kind and helpful. She had given them clean clothes and hot meals, even agreeing to teach Freyah how to make basic potions. Freyah was so excited about it that she made a list of every ailment and common symptom she could remember in hopes of helping people someday.
Alissa would never have been able to afford treatment such as this. She almost cried with relief when the healer explained that, in Heldraine, all healing services were provided by the Crown and, therefore, at no cost to the population—including the people of Nyfrel.
She hadn’t yet caught a glimpse of the city; she had been unconscious upon their arrival.
But she had learned that the closer they were to the capital, the larger the cities would be.
Alissa thought Eldric and Freyah would have preferred to find an inn to spend the nights, but they seemed pretty content with keeping her company—even when that meant they had to sleep on piles of hay.
Although neither of her friends expressed their worries with words, Alissa could tell by their unease that something had been bothering them since she regained consciousness.
When Desi left the tent for the night with a list of instructions on what Alissa could and could not do while she was gone, Alissa decided it was time to find out what was making her friend bite her nails for hours on end.
“What is going on with you two?”
Eldric and Freyah exchanged glances, neither of them wanting to say anything. Their eyes were innocent, as if they had no idea what she was referring to.
“Don’t look at me like that. I know something’s up, you traitors,” she pressed, waiting for them to spill it out.
Alissa caught a small piece of paper lying on the tray Desi was using to bandage her injuries, and she threw it at Eldric’s face. He blinked when it hit his nose.
“We weren’t going to say anything until you were well…”
Alissa waited in silence for the rest of his words to come out, her brows raised, her arms crossed over her chest.
“We’re now considered fugitives of the Kingdom of Heldraine.”
“What?” Alissa exclaimed in shock. She was definitely not expecting that. “How?”
“We found wanted signs spread over town with our faces on them. They are offering a bounty for whoever delivers us to the Crown.”
Alissa shook her head. “You said we hadn’t committed any crimes by leaving Bryniard.”
“I believe this is more related to the incident in Porjea than anything.”
“Oh, for the men you killed that day?” Alissa asked, not in provocation but in understanding.
“You mean the day you gave me no choice but to kill those men?” Eldric said, moving his hands in exasperation.
Alissa ignored him as the latest attack started to make more sense.
The attackers had wanted to capture them alive and deliver them to the capital to retrieve the reward on their heads.
She remembered the black-haired man’s last words: “Before we hand you over, I’m going to enjoy using you two.
” She shivered as she thought about what would have happened to them if Eldric hadn’t shown up when he did.
“So, what changes for us now?” Alissa asked.
Eldric paced back and forth in the small room, his thoughts racing. “First of all, Freyah and I will need to be careful walking on the streets of Nyfrel while you’re recovering. I don’t think anyone has recognized us so far, but it would be just a matter of time.”
He stopped pacing and stared at them, both watching him. “I will also purchase some material to change your looks. It will be too easy to recognize you two like this. Especially you,” he said, looking at Freyah, referencing her long, unusual red hair and pink eyepatch.
“What do you mean?” Freyah asked.
“He means for us to change our hair,” Alissa intervened, explaining.
“I’m not dying my hair!”
“You either dye your hair, or you die. Let me know when you decide.” His expression was one of detachment as Freyah whined and slid her fingers through her gorgeous, wavy hair in anticipated nostalgia, her lips curving down a little in sadness.
Alissa didn’t care about that; she would shave her head if it was necessary for her mission to be successful. “What else?”
“We will need to travel more slowly and cautiously when we are back on the road. We’ll need extra attention in the capital as well. You won’t be able to just enter the library anymore. You’ll need to make up a plan and lay low while you’re there.”
“What happens to fugitives of the kingdom if they are caught?” Freyah asked, still holding a lock of her hair for dear life, already mourning it.
“They usually go on trial and are either imprisoned or sentenced to death by hanging. That reinforces how careful we must be, do you understand?” Eldric spoke in a warning tone. He didn’t seem scared but alarmed.
They fell silent, all of them contemplating the risks and consequences that would be added to their already challenging journey. The stakes were higher than ever… until Alissa spoke again.
“What is a magical researcher?”
Eldric explained the details of the job, what it took to become a magical researcher, and the benefits and struggles of the role.
Alissa noticed he spoke with more excitement than she would have expected; he had known more aspects of it than they would have thought.
The same way he was the only one to properly react to the Ferrugia announcement, it meant he knew, at least to some degree, about medicinal treatment.
“How do you know so much about it?” Alissa’s eyes narrowed. She flinched a little, feeling the pain in her thigh as she tried to move on the cot, blood escaping from the stitches to stain the bandage around her leg.
“It was an ancient dream of mine to become a magical researcher,” he admitted, his eyes dropping to the floor.
Eldric blushed, and she found it adorable. “Well, if not a magical researcher, you could have been a bard, too,” she said with a smile, recalling all the singing they heard of him on that first day inside the barrels. She didn’t want to admit it, but he could actually sing well.
He smiled back at her, his gaze averting to the floor shyly.
“Maybe now you can finally make your dream come true,” she replied, leaving Eldric with a confused expression.
“I guess now you’re a fugitive, you won’t be able to serve the kingdom as a Royal Guard anymore, will you?”
Eldric felt embarrassed that the thought hadn’t crossed his mind before Alissa brought it up.
Of course he wouldn’t be able to keep his job as a Royal Guard when the entire kingdom was after him for killing civilians.
He felt something weird in his chest. He just wasn’t sure whether he was happy to finally be free of this duty that had broken his soul day after day, sad that he was suddenly left without a purpose, or concerned about the implications for his future.
“This means you have some knowledge of illnesses and medical treatment, right, Eldric?” Freyah’s question brought him back to reality.
He confirmed with a nod.
“Is there any treatment for the Senectus out here?” Freyah inquired, hoping he would give them the answer they needed to save Dhalia.
“What?”
“Senectus Subita,” Freyah said, shrugging, as if it was obviously what she had meant.
That didn’t help in any way with Eldric’s confusion. He stared at her as if it sounded like gibberish to him.
“I don’t think it exists outside of Bryniard, Freyah.” Alissa’s eyes were wide as she stared at her friend. The mention of Senectus Subita made her body stiff on the cot, but Freyah didn’t take the hint.
“There isn’t?” Freyah had never considered the possibility of Senectus being a condition exclusive to her people. She used to think it was something that haunted all of Heldraine. Now that she realized it wasn’t, all she could think was, Why us?
“What are you talking about?” Eldric demanded to know.
Freyah told him everything they knew about the “disease”—which wasn’t much to begin with.
Eldric glanced back at them in shock, his eyes wide.
How was it that he hadn’t learned about this in school?
It felt like something he should have heard of or come across in a book somewhere.
It occurred to him then that this terrible thing was another secret kept from the entire kingdom, except for the miserable people inside those walls.
“Is this why you left? To learn more about this disease?” Eldric was finally putting the pieces together.
Freyah opened her mouth to say more but was interrupted by Alissa’s words. Words she said between clenched teeth. “Stop, Freyah.”
Freyah hadn’t noticed before, but the more she told Eldric about Senectus Subita, the more Alissa tensed. Her fists closed around the cot linen with such intensity her knuckles turned white. Realizing her mistake way too late, Freyah pursed her lips and looked at her friend with guilt.
Eldric stood across from them in the tent. He seemed just as bothered about this as Alissa was but for completely different reasons. The tension in the air had turned the place several degrees colder.