[ 16 ] At the Bottom of Everything: Part 2

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At the Bottom of Everything: Part 2

Millstone's words echoed in Whik's head. The answer lies at the bottom of everything, Frankford had told him. His head throbbed too much to reflect on what it meant.

"Ah, the boy wakes! It's a miracle." The strange voice would have had the same painful effect on Whik had it been screeches from wailing dogs. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Charlotte. Whik's first thoughts of her unknown fate gave way to the physical pain that plagued his body. He reached a swollen hand upwards and felt his forehead. He ran his fingers against a lump. The pain intensified.

"I was dreaming," he said, rubbing his eyes and looking up at the unfamiliar face of a heavyset man. "It felt so real."

"They say our dreams are windows into our other lives," the man said. "But fear not, dear boy, you are very much alive in this one!"

Whik's head throbbed. "Where am I?"

It took three blinks for his blurry vision to completely clear. His surroundings were no longer the damp creek bed where he had landed after his fall. He could see little beyond the giant head that filled his view. The man had curly brown hair that stopped at the tip of his ears and faded into a bushy beard. His nose was massive and his eyes were just as large.

"Name's John. Or Jonathon. Or Johan," the stranger said. "I'm starting to take a liking to Johan. Sounds like a wise prophet or something." Whik grimaced, processing only half his words. "And you, my good sir, are in my cabin. You took a nasty fall. And from the looks of it, you killed yourself a Lark. It's a wonder only one of your eyes is swollen."

"What of the skirmish near the campfire?"

"Ah, yes. Ugly sight that was. Bodies everywhere."

Whik closed his eyelids and tried to remember the events, but the aching pain in his head eluded his efforts. "Did you see a woman there, with red hair?"

John pressed his lips together. "Now that you mention it, we didn't see one woman amongst the bodies."

Whik sighed in relief. "We?"

"Pelk and I. He's my son, sort of." He cocked his head to the side as if he was in thought before looking back to Whik. "Yeah, my son. You know what, now that I think of it, we did find the corpse of a girl. Her throat had been slit. Poor thing."

A girl. Not Charlotte. Whik felt overwhelmed. He peered down at the bandage wrapped around his waist. "Thank you. I'm Whik."

"The boy has a name! A fine name at that. And, yes, my last bandage. My wife sewed many of them a while back. Luckily that satchel you carried with you had some herbal remedies. And some very interesting maps."

The satchel. He had completely forgotten about it. "Where is the bag?"

"Just there in that corner. No harm done." John picked up the bag and dropped it in Whik's lap. "Now that you're up, do you know exactly what this ointment does? The instructions asked for a few more ingredients. Luckily my wife's herbs were ripe for the picking." Whik drearily shook his head.The note was hidden at the bottom of the bag among parchments and dried herbs. He couldn't open it here."Whatever it does, it sure worked. That wound should look ten times worse."

Whik lifted the satchel strap from over his head and opened the bag. He dug around through its contents, setting aside dried herbs and rolled up parchments and small containers of oils.

Whik unwrapped the note. He squinted to read the text.


Pupil,

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