Chapter 22 Bonded Paths
Bonded Paths
Alissa’s far-from-luxurious stay in Nyfrel had been a huge struggle.
Between headaches, nausea, trouble breathing, and fever, she had been in agony.
And yet, her heart still hurt the most. Freyah and Eldric, although overprotective of her, had been of great help in feeding her, going around town to make sure they had all the supplies they needed to get back on the road the next morning, and most of all, keeping her distracted from the pain and boredom those several days inside the medical office tent had given her.
It’d been ten days since she was stabbed by that rusted blade, and for the first time since then, she felt well.
There were times Alissa thought the pain so bad that she would end up increasing the fifty percent rate of unsuccessful Ferrugia cases Desi had mentioned.
Finally being allowed to leave the full rest condition that Desi had imposed on her was a welcome blessing.
The feel of the cold cement under her feet seemed like a foreign sensation as she attempted to walk again for the first time since being injured.
Her body didn’t feel like hers when her weight was too heavy for her weak legs to bear.
Alissa wondered if her brain had somehow been affected by her disease when it fought to send signals to her legs to move forward.
The sweat in her palms from the effort of walking one single step dampened Eldric’s hands as he helped her walk again.
When she stumbled on her own feet, he held her waist to keep her steady.
The way his hands lay on the sides of her hips made her feel like a teenager again.
“It’s normal for you to feel weak in the first few hours. You have been in full rest for a while, and your leg was badly injured not many days ago. You gotta take it easy, Alissa,” Desi instructed as she wrote something down.
The sound of Alissa’s tongue clicking brought Desi’s eyes from over her glasses to stare at her patient.
“Don’t think you’ll be able to run anytime soon, Alissa. You are healed, but you’ll still need to be cautious and avoid any physical effort for the next couple of weeks.”
“Using crutches could help,” Eldric said.
Alissa nudged his shoulder as he held her by the waist.
“You’re absolutely right, Eldric. She should use them for the next couple of days. Thank you for the reminder.” Desi walked out of the medical office to grab the crutches.
“Really, Eldric?” Alissa murmured, her eyes narrowed. “Is this how far you’ll go to show off how well educated you are on healing matters?”
He leaned in closer. “No. This is how far I’ll go to make sure you are safe.” A subtle smirk appeared. Eldric wished he hadn’t noticed her swallow, or the way her cheeks blushed an adorable shade of red, but he was too attuned to her to miss such telling reactions.
Alissa didn’t know how to respond to this new version of him.
When their eyes locked, the atmosphere shifted, and his fingers tightened on her waist. She forced herself to look away, and her gaze landed on the pair of old wooden crutches, weathered and worn from years of use, waiting in Desi’s hands.
“Does she need to take any more medicinal herbs or potions on the road?” Freyah took the crutches from Desi’s hands. She positioned them under her own armpits, trying to get a sense of what it was like to walk with them.
Alissa couldn’t help but smile, seeing how clumsy her friend looked using them.
“You still need to tend to her leg injury to ensure it heals completely.” Desi picked up a small notebook and, with infinite patience, began detailing the steps to care for Alissa’s leg—how to prepare and apply the various herbal mixtures to her scar twice a day and the activities she should avoid.
She poured out so many words and unfamiliar terms that it felt like a lecture.
Alissa heard everything, but her mind was far away, mostly watching her friends listen with the concentration of a child hearing a bedtime story for the first time.
Their extreme focus and articulate questions would make anyone think their survival depended on their knowledge of whatever instruction Desi gave them.
How fortunate was she to have found such amazing people in her path, people she knew she could trust her life with.
Her eyes drifted to the woman dressed in white, her curly black hair brushing her shoulders. Appreciation tugged at Alissa’s core for this woman she barely knew—a stranger who had saved her life.
She interrupted Desi’s instructions as a sudden urge to speak overtook her.
“Desi, I know I haven’t been the easiest person to deal with.
” All eyes were on Alissa, surprised by the unexpected emotional speech.
“I just want to thank you for everything. And I know you’ll probably want to get rid of me as soon as possible, but I was thinking…
” Alissa stuttered. “We have an extra seat on our carriage if you’d like to come to Golheim with us. To see your kids.”
Eldric frowned, but Desi’s lips hung open in surprise. She shook her head slightly, trying to make sense of what she had heard. Before Desi could say anything, however, Eldric pulled Alissa to the side for a private conversation.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asked.
“Why wouldn’t it be? We are going to Golheim anyway.”
“I know, but we are fugitives now, Alissa. We can’t be inviting people to come with us along the way,” he said in a firm whisper.
“This is the least I can do, Eldric. She saved my life.” Alissa pursed her lips, placing her hand on his shoulder.
Eldric was not pleased with the idea, but he understood where she was coming from. Desi had been the only reason Alissa hadn’t died in his arms that day, and he would be forever grateful for that. Still, he shook his head.
“I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to trust anyone now. Besides, it could be dangerous for her too.”
She moved her hand to his cheek. “You mean the same way we decided to trust each other?”
He stared back at her with no comebacks. How could he demand that Alissa be cautious about trusting the woman who had healed her from a terrible disease, when only a few days back, he had been insisting that she open up to him?
Eldric didn’t know what else to say, so he sighed in defeat and cradled her face in his hands to kiss her forehead. The gentle touch made her heart skip a beat, leaving her breathless.
“At least if she comes, we’ll have someone to handle your injury. I have to admit… her instructions back there were very confusing to me.”
Alissa hung her head back in laughter. “And here you were pretending to know everything there is to know about this magical researcher thing, weren’t you?”
Eldric did know a lot about the subject, but instead of correcting her, he shrugged. “It was a failed attempt to impress you.”
Alissa glanced up at him, noting how the teasing tone in his voice contrasted with the seriousness in his eyes. “It might not have completely failed,” she whispered, giving him a playful wink before stepping out of his embrace and limping toward where Desi and Freyah were talking.
“So, what do you say, Desi?” Freyah asked, hopeful. They had become notably closer since the healing lessons.
“Thank you for the kind offer, but I shouldn’t.” Leaving her post imposed by the Crown wasn’t a decision Desi should take lightly. The consequences could be fatal.
“You can think about it. We’re leaving tomorrow.” Alissa lay down on the cot again, exhausted. “Besides, Eldric will be there to handle my treatment in your absence…”
The sound of his laughter, trapped in his throat, brought an instant smile to her lips.
Desi had been dwelling on Alissa’s invitation to join them on their way to Golheim for hours.
This was also the reason she couldn’t fall asleep.
Not even the chamomile tea she usually resorted to or the breathing exercises that helped her fall asleep at night when her mind couldn’t shut down were working.
Of course they wouldn’t work. She had been a fool to think that a stupid cup of tea would keep her insomnia away when this had been the first time she’d had even the slightest opportunity to see her children again.
After four whole years feeling like her heart had to fight for its every beat, years of living a miserable existence where only fragments of herself remained, she could take a little taste of what her life used to be—even if only for a little while.
“We have an extra seat on our carriage if you’d like to come to Golheim with us. To see your kids,” Alissa had said.
If only it were that easy. If only she could hop on that carriage and leave to see her children. It would be a dream come true.
Desi was well aware of the complications that could arise from her departure; the Crown had mandated that she remain in Nyfrel until she could pay off her father’s debt, a debt she was not even close to paying.
She used to believe that with time and hard work, she would eventually see herself free from this nightmare, but four years later, she only saw her debt grow as the Crown increased interest rates, keeping her a hostage to her own liability.
For her, the monstrous debt she held in her name was equivalent to climbing the highest mountain of the kingdom in heavy winter.
No matter how hard you try climbing it and how long it has taken to find yourself halfway through the top, in the most inconvenient of times, when you’re feeling hopeful of your success, the heavy winds and snow will make it impossible for you to move forward.
They will bring you back to where you first started more times than one can endure.
Desi had completely lost perspective. She saw her hopes of seeing her children again fade day by day.
Alissa’s invitation, however, lit up a spark of hope that had long been extinguished.
She got up from her bed, sick of staring blankly at the ceiling, giving up on any expectation she had of sleeping that night.