The Ivory Knight

Chapter 21

When Adeleina woke, it felt like something was hammering her skull, and had been doing so for the past few hours.

"Oh my gods," she groaned. Even the sound of her own voice sent rattling revertebrations through her head, so she resolved to stay quiet. Her head hurt beyond belief, and her stomach was rolling like thunder. 

Adeleina barely made it to the window and flung it open before a dark, blue thick liquid came streaming out of her mouth and onto the cobbled sidewalk below. A small, small part of her felt bad for soiling the street. Then, she laughed silently when she saw that there were similar blue stains all along the entire sidewalk below the inn. 

She stayed there, bent over the windowsill, gasping for breath and retching a watery blue substance until she was heaving nothing. She didn't feel any better; her head was still aching and there was a horrible pressure in her bladder that Adeleina hadn't dealt with yet. She wiped her mouth, spit a few times to get the foul the taste out for good, wiped her mouth again, and rushed to the privy as fast as she could. 

When she finally finished (after using all of the sink water to scrub her face and hands), Adeleina finally felt a bit better. She didn't feel well at all; her head still pounded and her stomach still gave off the occasional wet gurgle. However, at least her stomach was empty, and she was no longer in danger of throwing up.

Adeleina sighed and sprawled on the tiny bed.

Someone groaned from under it.

Adeleina screamed.

"Shut up," a muffled voice said from under her mattress. A very disgruntled Rowan rolled out and sat up, rubbing his face.

"What the seven hells--" Adeleina scrambled back and away from him, disgusted and more than a little bit shocked. 

"Oh my gods," Rowan caught sight of her at the same time and jumped back, a horrified expression on his face. "What are you doing in my room?" he demanded, inching his way towards the open windowsill.

"What are you doing in my room?" Adeleina shrieked. Rowan didn't reply. He was busy hanging his head out the window sill, making wet retching sounds.

The door swung open and Damien entered, looking extremely grouchy. 

"Is that Rowan?" he asked incredulously as he stopped in his tracks.Adeleina's head spun with pain. "Why's he in your room?"

Adeleina covered her ears and glowered at Damien. 

"I don't know," she whispered hoarsely, trying to avoid another blow to her already-shattered skull. "Ask him."

Damien was flabbergasted.

"You didn't--" He choked on his own words, looking frantically from Rowan's trembling figure at the window to Adeleina sitting on the bed. "Oh my gods. Did you?"

"Did I what?" asked Adeleina.

"Shut up," said Rowan.

"Oh my gods," said Damien.

"I didn't do anything," Adeleina said defensively. She didn't know why Damien was hyperventilating or what exactly he was referring to.

"Why are you in my room?" Rowan asked Adeleina again, wiping the corner of his mouth with a stony scowl.

"This is her room," Damien told him. Adeleina covered her ears again and squeezed her eyes shut. Why did everything have to be so loud? "Speaking of which, why were you in her room?"

"Mind your own business," Rowan sneered.

Adeleina caught the horrified expression on Damien's face and quickly jumped in before Rowan could do any more damage to Damien's well-being.