Different worlds

19. Plots in the dwarf nation

As soon as I reach consciousness, I jump up, screaming, pearls of cold sweat covering my face, a wet towel that had been placed on my forehead had now fallen on my lap.
I look around me: I was lying on three small beds with white sheets that had been lined up with no gaps in between the sides, the walls had a pastel blue background that represented the sky, birds of all colors gliding across.
On my side there was a small copper bathtub filled with cold looking water, beside it was a small pitcher, they had been both placed on top of a small wooden stool.
A pool of dread spills in the pit of my stomach, remembering the past events.
I try getting up but not even half a second passes that I get the impression that my legs lost all functioning and I crash down, knocking over the small basin. I try my best to lift myself back up but my muscles seem to have a mind of their own and won't let me budge.

Suddenly the door at my right slams into the wall and I recognize the sound of hurried footsteps before being picked up from the floor. I look up:

-Kalatril, is that you?, as soon as my words escape my lips I frown deeply, my voice was rasp and only then do I realize just how thirsty I am.

-Shhh... don't worry. I'm here, he answers after placing me down on the beds, my back straightened up against the plaster wall.

I try speaking again but the effort is too straining and no words come out, all I manage to do is bring my hands to my throat. Even before I could point a finger to the pitcher, Kalatril already had it in front of me in his hands.
I grab hold of it and quench my thirst by drinking all of the refreshing water without taking a pause to breathe. Never had I thought that I would miss water so much, the regenerating sensation that it procured me felt amazing, as if someone had put end to the drieness of my desert.
I use my hands to wipe away the long streaks of water that had overflowed all the way down to my collarbone and then rest them on my legs.

-What happened? And where are we? Are you hurt?, I rush my words, to impatient to formulate my questions correctly.

Kalatril gives me a warm smile and pulls out a dart that looked suspiciously like the one that had knocked the living daylight out of me.

-Turns out your friend Ofsgard was out on a security search around in the periphery of his people's territory. He was accompanied by another dwarf that was following him from afar. He could only see you so he had no idea that you might know each other. When you took a step forward, he shot you, thinking that you were a menace. Immediately after Ofsgard signaled him that everything was fine and that he had mistaken your intentions. They then both brought us back to the the dwarf king's residence to make sure you were given the best treatment available. When I learned that that dart could kill a full grown mountain ogre, I went into full panic, but you made it, that's what matters.

For the whole length of his explanation I clench the sheets and forrow my eyebrows. That poison must have been menalit, a deadly liquid that is extracted by certain minerals in deep mountains, that was the only explanation for its purplish color and effect on me.
But why was he on search duty?

-And you didn't get hurt?, I ask again, if anything happened to Kalatril when I was asleep I doubt I could find it in me to forgive myself.

-I didn't, everything is fine.

I sigh in relief but then pause myself when hearing my stomach rumble, my cheeks become a shade redder.

-Um, how long was I out?, I ask, nervously.

-Oh, Kalatril's face lit up with concern, about a day and a half or something, you were really sick. You must be hungry, the king has arranged a small banquet in our honor, would you like to come?