The Book of Glass

The Poultice (13)

    "Of course not." Shay shook her head. "Eden is my home, civil war or not. Once Evander is off the throne," Shay spoke as she tried to convince herself of her own words, "everything will be better."

    "And who will take Evander off the throne?" The woman rose an eyebrow now, and Shay ignored her question. She had asked a similar question.

    "This cave here. I can hold the torch while you work with her. We didn't want to risk lighting a fire." Shay grabbed the torch that the woman had been carrying and she nodded, hurrying into the cave.

    When they came upon Emory, she was shaking as she held the cloth to her wound, now soaked with blood and trickling down her hand. "Emory? I found someone to help." Shay kneeled down beside Emory, brushing the hair from her face.

    Emory tried to open her eyes, but only saw a bright light. The heat washed over her, and she felt someone's cool hands brush against her skin. "Drink this," she advised. "It will help with the pain." A liquid was poured into Emory's lips, and she barely accepted it. "You might get a little drowsy."

    Shay watched with anticipation as the woman removed the cloth, revealing that the wound was red and inflamed. She acted quick, using the ingredients from her own groups healing pack to make a poultice. She handled Emory with care, and stopped at a few points to touch her head. We don't want the fever to get too high, she said. Just high enough.

    When the poultice was finished, she brushed back Emory's hair and smiled. "She should be fine by morning. If it's alright, I might stay for a few hours just to make sure, but I should go back and tell my friends. Is that alright?"

    "Yes." Shay sighed and reached out to grab the woman's hand. "Thank you. What's your name, again? I'm Rhys."

    "Aila." She shook Shay's hand.

    "Thank you, Aila." Shay was beaming. Emory would be alright. Emory wouldn't be leaving her tonight, and she would have her friend for another day.

When Aila returned, she brought a canteen of water and some food. "I noticed you guys didn't have much of anything. We could only spare so much, but it should be enough for the few of you," she said sweetly.

    Shay smiled, but couldn't focus on the food. Emory was already doing better, and had awoken through the fever and noticed Shay. She seemed to be waking again, but maybe not. Her eyes stayed shut, but they twitched with movement every now and then. "So, what brings you to Eden?"

    "This sounds threatening, but we're part of the Land's army. To scout Eden, see the issues with our own eyes," she sighed and glanced at Shay. "We want to intervene, actually."

    "How?" Shay turned her full attention to Aila. The Unholy were like a scary bedtime story for the children of Eden. They toyed with unnatural things, and they had no faith. They were infamous for taking people at the borders. Their intervention here would do nothing but harm.

    "We are hoping to convince Evander to take down the wall between our countries, and let the trade continue to flow the way it had when King Alaric was on the throne. The more your land suffers, ours follows. Our land isn't as fertile or rich with life, and we depended on a lot of the trading, so ever since the coup our people haven't been able to recover from the scarcity of food and water. We get by, but, it takes a lot more effort." Alia tried to explain it plainly, but Shay could see the grief in her eyes. "Our people need your people, and we understand that you don't see us in the best light, but it's the truth."

    "How do you expect to convince him?"

    "We were hoping to settle the disagreement between the Prophet of Rosalind and he," she sighed. "I don't know if we'll ever find her, though."

    Shay wanted to tell her then and there, but Emory shot up suddenly, her eyes wide with fear. "Emory!" Shay grabbed her and brought her back down to the makeshift bed she was in, but Emory fought at her.

    "We can't stay here. Those people..." Emory brought her hand up to her face, wiping away the sweat.

    "We're fine. Ingrid hasn't come back but, you and I are hidden here." Shay pinned Emory down, careful to avoid her shoulder and left arm. "You need to rest, okay?"

    Emory looked down, noticing the poultice. "Did you do this?"

    "I did," Aila announced. Emory looked past Shay to see the woman sitting beside her. Her eyes went wide and she immediately sat back up, wincing from the pain. She didn't say anything but gave Shay a deathly glare.

    Shay rolled her eyes and gestured. "This is Aila. She saved your life."

    "I don't-" Emory huffed and closed her eyes in frustration. "Where is Ingrid?"

    "I don't know. She left and you got worse. What else did you want me to do? Pray you made it out okay?" Shay laughed and Emory looked at Shay with disappointed eyes.

    "Thank you, Alia, but I'll be fine." Emory looked her straight in the eyes but Alia only smiled and reached out to touch Emory's arm.

    "I'll leave, but you still need to rest. I haven't had someone die on my yet." Aila's touch was soft, but Emory pulled herself away. She didn't say anything, but stared back at her with unwavering stubbornness. "I hope your friend comes back."

    Shay walked Aila to the mouth of the cave, and spoke lowly. "How long will you be in the area?"

    "We wanted to leave at sunrise, why?"

    "Come back then. I'd like to go to the castle with you."