The Shield Bearer

Chapter 9

The dream ended and Rene felt herself drifting back to the waking world. She was relieved that her dream wasn't so intensely dark this time, as she slowly opened her eyes. Sound returned with her sight and then was feeling. It was rather disconcerting to wake up from a magical slumber, even if it was self induced.

She sat up and realized that she was unusually cold. The barracks in the fort were always well heated, against the arctic cold that came with winter, this close to the northlands. As her senses fully returned, she knew that something was very wrong.

There was a thin layer of frost glistening over her front of her shield, which was just to her right, easy to grab, if she should need it. She did just that, swinging to her feet, with her shield ready, in a single graceful motion. Her breath was visible in the dim, predawn light.

The sound of Gregory's snoring was steady, but slower than normal. The cold was biting, in here, but she waited to grab her winter garb, instead she covered the distance to Gregory's cot in two strides. This level of cold, should have awakened the whole barracks. But she could hear no sounds of even normal activity outside their assigned room.

"Gregory!" She whispered loudly as she reached out and grabbed his shoulder to wake him. He did not respond. His breathing continued, steady and slow, his breath starting to turn to snowflakes in the air. She shook him violently, but he still didn't rouse. Clearly, there was some magic in effect here.

Rene raised her hand, perpendicular to her body and drew it down the length of his sleeping form, about an inch above it. An uncomfortable tingling sensation, made the hairs on her arm stand on end. It was definitely magic.

Rene realized that her little ritual to get a good night's sleep, may have saved her. The spell, was designed to specifically prevent outside magic from affecting the patient. She had added that part, after having to tend to a poor young soldier that was the victim of a powerful curse, that kept returning to him, when he slept.

She closed her eyes and first, willed herself to warm up, as Adam had taught her. He said that it could save her life, out here in the unholy cold of the north. That warm light, filled her, pushing the cold away, making her feel comfortable, even in these painful arctic temperatures. Next, she focused on Gregory, whose breathing was beginning to slow, further. The cold was beginning it's work, on his defenseless body. She willed a similar heat as her own, into him.

His breathing returned to normal. Now, she had to determine the source of his unnatural sleep. While there was clearly magic, about him, it seemed to permeate him from head to toe. It would take an unimaginable level of concentration for somebody to hold such an affect, from top to bottom, especially with the extreme cold, pushing the body to wake. And considering the silence, that she felt from the hallway and as far as she could sense, there were nearly one hundred people in a similar state.

Then it had to be something ingested, something that nearly everybody in this part of the barracks would have unknowingly consumed. She would worry about what it was, later. She knew how to address poisoning. Rene pulled his blanket back, away from his face and tried to shift his weight in such a way, that his face was at the edge of the bed. It was about to get messy.

With both of her hands just below his chest, she focused her energy sending it into him and willed it to remove any toxins that dwelled within. His body shuddered as that energy rushed through his body, pulling all toxins towards the best exit, his now open mouth.

With a rather frightening sound and spasm, his body proceeded to purge, a vile greenish fluid, onto the floor. Three more spasms and then the sound of him coughing, eased Rene's mind as he came to and struggled to sit up, spitting what remained of that green stuff, from his mouth.