Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON ONE (Completed!)

Part 5.8

"The snake sickness?"

I usher Addy out the door before Ruby hears any more. The snake sickness was the name Addy's people gave the disease that took her sister's life. Princess Lima, who was only three years old at the time, was found collapsed by a burnt-out tree stump in the Forest of Sorrows. Her skin became grey and rubbery, patched with scales like that of a snake. She never regained consciousness.

"Addy," I say sternly, "this is not the snake sickness. Do you understand me?"

Addy shakes her head sadly. Queen Irirne leads her to a row of chairs lining the tiny waiting room.

"Did you see the scales around her eyes?" Addy whispers. "It's just like Lima."

I sit down beside her. "Addy, we don't know what it was that Lima had. A lot of illnesses share symptoms. A few patches of rubbery skin on Ruby's face don't mean it's the snake sickness."

I don't mention that after her sister Lima died, the High Council in Zilitron investigated the Mamauri's claims of a new sickness and found them to be unfounded. The snake sickness is nothing but imagination and rumour.

"She went near the tree, Lily."

"A lot of people went near the tree. Your mother went near the tree."

I almost went near it myself, on my way to see Rikamu. I remember it calling me softly, with a yearning melody like the ghost of bells. The Dark Witch burned it down, like she burned down hundreds of other trees in the Forest of Sorrows, but this one never grew back. It's been a charred stump for five centuries, and the earth around it remains barren. The Mamauri give it a wide berth, but the few people who have shared its space returned unscathed. Except, of course, for Lima, and Queen Irine, who was mourning her daughter when Rikamu found her an offered to take her heart away.

Queen Irine doesn't look at me. I don't know if it's pride or dislike, or both. She keeps her gaze steady on the wall opposite us.

I take my best friend's hand. "Addy," I say. "I can't tell you that I know what Ruby's suffering from. I don't. But what I can tell you is this: we won't stop searching until we find the cure. If the medical doctors don't solve this case, Witch Doctors Inc will take it. And no matter who's on the case, we'll do our own search. We'll stay up all in the potions room if we have to. But we'll find the answer, Addy. We will find that answer."