Blood & Fire

Chapter Twenty-Six | The Sickness

Every day was the same. Meryna would awake when the sunlight seeped into her cave. Her belly would growl with hunger urging her to leave the safety of the cave in search of breakfast. She would find the bushes that Aslaug specifically showed her and pluck the berries one by one. Once she had eaten her fill she would follow the sound of a nearby stream and wash the juice stains from her hands. The crisp water would wash the remaining sleepiness from her eyes.

Then she would return to the safety of her cave and feed the fire with whatever stray branches she stumbled upon on the way back.

Days turned into weeks, each day passing as the day before. Until, one day instead of waking to the sun shimmering in her eyes and her belly growing with hunger she awoke to her stomach constricting inside of her. She sat up quickly as the bile in her stomach rose.

With a sprint she exited her cave. She bent over, hands clasping her knees, and gagged as the bile emptied from her stomach. Once the wave of nausea had passed she went back into the cave and curled down by the fire. Her appetite never returned that day, and instead of food she craved sleep. Meryna wondered if she had eaten the wrong berries. Perhaps she had mistakenly plucked the poisonous berries Aslaug had warned her about.

But several days came and went and the intense waves of nausea visited her frequently, leaving her curled up on the floor until they subsided. She could eat nothing, and anything she drank would crawl it's way back up her throat. Meryna had no fever and yet her body ached.

She was utterly miserable and decided that if she were sick nothing she was doing would make her better. She needed the magic healing hands of a Vulva. So she mustered what little energy she had and she left her desolate cave. Aslaug had pointed out markers on the way to the cave, and she used those to guide her back to the hut.

She prayed Aslaug would be home, knowing the Vulva traveled frequently throughout the petty kingdoms. She sighed with relief when she spotted smoke rising above the tree line. Within a few minutes she stumbled  into the clearing. A burst of energy rushed through her veins, quickening her steps. She burst through Aslaug's door.

"Aslaug?! You must help me!"

She scanned the tiny hut, but Aslaug was nowhere to be found. Instead she saw in her peripheral a burly figure looming at her side. She turned slowly to face him and instantly caught a glimpse of his wild eyes. Her stomach dropped at the sight of him. She clamped her hand over her mouth, fearing that another wave of nausea was coming over her. Instead, her eyes began to blur, and darkness slowly crept its way along the corners of her vision. Then in a flash everything faded.