Chapter 11
1489 Words
11
My eyes widened. “What do you mean ‘not likely?’ Are you saying some of it’s still inside me?”
His eyes darted to me. “What’s happened to you recently? Anything to do with blood?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and detected a faint hint of rust. “Y-yeah, why?”
“What-” A groan came from the patient.
I nodded at Shade. “Is he okay?”
Elymas wrinkled his nose, but stood and shuffled over to his cauldron. “He’ll be fine in a few minutes. That fool just needs some herbs stuffed down his stupid throat and another heavy blow on the head to knock some sense into him. But you-” He turned to me and leaned one hand on the arm of the chair. “There’s something different with you. You smell different.”
I looked down at myself and sniffed the air. “Are you sure it isn’t the sweat? I haven’t taken a bath since-” I stopped myself.
“Since when?” Elymas insisted.
“Since I last took a bath,” I finished.
He eyed me with those gray orbs a moment longer before he scoffed. “Fine. Keep yer secrets. I’ll get yer man here up and about so ya can get into more trouble.”
I shook my head. “He’s not my man.”
Elymas turned his back to me and stirred the stew. “Then what is he to you?”
“He’s my-um, my guide,” I answered.
Elymas chuckled. I didn’t like the hollow sound in his voice. “Then yer in for a treat. Shade doesn’t go anywhere that trouble doesn’t follow him.”
I looked down at the unconscious man with his bandaged face. “Does he always hide his face?”
“Always.”
I raised my eyes to the old man. “So you don’t know what he looks like, either?”
“Nobody does except maybe his master,” Elymas mused.
That piqued my interest. “Who is this master person? Is Shade a slave or something?”
“Nothing so dramatic,” Elymas told me as he drew a cup off the mantel and poured a ladle-full of the soup. He turned to me and I saw that chunks of the herbs floated on the steaming surface. “It’s ready. Get that i***t leaning up against the chair.”
I pulled Shade up so his back leaned against the front of the chair. The steaming cup floated past my face and a faint odor of rust and pine cone invaded my nostrils. “So this will heal his wound?”
“Heal his wound?” Elymas repeated as he sat back on his rear and took a sip of the cup. “This is my nightly tea.”
I blinked at him. “You are going to heal his wound, aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
He rummaged around in his rags and pulled out an even filthier cloth. A horrible stench oozed out of the rag. Images of rotting fruit and burnt meat danced around in my mind. I clapped my hand over my mouth to stop the bile that was coming up my throat from presenting itself to the world.
Elymas chuckled. “Yer looking as pasty as an uncooked bun, missy. Something the matter?”
I pointed at the rag. “What’s that?”
A wide grin slipped onto his lips. “The cure.”
He slapped the rag onto Shade’s shoulder. Shade’s eyes shot open and a soundless scream parted his lips. He reached for the rag.
“Stop him!” Elymas shouted as he leapt onto the other man’s chest.
I joined him in the impromptu doggy pile and we pinned him to the floor. Shade slid onto the floor and thrashed about for a few more moments before he slumped back and his eyes closed. Elymas fell back and wrinkled his crooked nose.
“What a mess he is,” he mused as he pulled the rag off the wound. My eyes widened as he revealed a freshly healed scar. The flesh was a soft pink, and colored his otherwise pale skin.
“What was on that rag?” I asked him.
He winked at me before he climbed to his feet. “A good shock of dark magic with chaos and that’ll cure most anything from the common cold to a serious infection.”
“Chaos?” I repeated.
“Yes,” Elymas confirmed as he tossed the remnants of his drink back into the cauldron. “That messy stuff that rules the universe. Shade is quite in tune with that sloppy part of life. Just a punch in the face and he’s fixed up like new.” His eyes flickered down to the scar. “New flesh, even. Same personality.”
I set my hand on his head and felt the bump from earlier. “Why didn’t you do that earlier instead of knocking him out?” I questioned him.
“Because I wanted to talk to ya without that i***t overhearing us,” Elymas explained as he dropped onto the chair.
“So what do we do now?” I wondered.
He nudged Shade with his foot. “We wait for this sleeping beauty to wake up. But in the meantime-” A groan accompanied his getting up off the chair. “What say ya and I take a wee walk? The fresh air might do us both some good.” My eyes flickered down to the unconscious man before me. “He’ll be fine for a while, don’t ya worry about him. Now-” Elymas shuffled over to the door and opened it with one hand. “Let’s just see what this new day might bring, eh?”
I reluctantly stood and followed Elymas outside. The sun had risen and a heavy dew covered everything. The light glistened off the clear water and lit up the world with its simple wonder.
“Ya needn’t be so stiff with me, missy,” Elymas assured me with a twinkle in his eyes. “I won’t be asking ya any more about where ya’ve come from and where yer going. Maybes it’s me that can help ya with some of yer own questions.”
“Like Shade’s employer?” I pleaded.
Elymas wrinkled his nose. “A sneak if I ever saw one.”
“So you’ve seen him?” I guessed.
“Not a sight. Nobody sees the old man but his pet,” Elymas told me.
“Then what about Shade?” I suggested.
The old man shrugged. “Appeared about five years ago. Popped out of nowhere with his strange getup and weird eye. Was a bit of a stumbler then. Could hardly get his two feet to agree with each other, almost like he’d just got his body and was still learning it. That eye caught the attention of most people and all the trouble they dragged along with them.”
“Is his yellow eye unusual in this world?” I wondered.
“I haven’t seen the like of it, and I’ve been around,” he mused with a wink.
“So what does he do?” I asked him.
“Ya’ve seen it yerself, miss. Gets himself into trouble on the orders of that employer of his, sneaking around and peeking into other peoples’ business. Stole something from me once.” He chuckled. “Got a good smack about for it, too.”
My eyes widened a little. “What did you steal from you?”
The old man frowned. “My best turnip.”
I jerked to a stop and blinked at the man. “Your best. . .turnip?”
Elymas paused before a smooth rock and took a seat. “It’s not a funny thing to me, missy. My herbs are specially grown by the forest and picked during the first full moon after the first frost of a new year. That ain’t easy staying up that late waiting for the frost, especially at my age.”
I arched an eyebrow. “What does this magic turnip do?”
“Takes the warts off anything, even a witch,” he told me.
I snorted. “That isn’t much-”
“And manages to heal most any wound ya can think of besides the fatal stuff. It’s the water inside the veg that does it, or so I’m thinking.”
My heart fell. Any images of Shade being a knight in shining armor were suddenly tarnished. “So that’s why he didn’t think you’d help him. . .”
“But I did, didn’t I?” Elymas mused as a grin slipped onto his wizened old lips. “That’ll teach that bugger to think he knows ol’ Elymas.”
“I always took you for a fool,” a hoarse voice spoke up. My eyes widened and I spun around to face the shack. Shade leaned up against the open doorway. What I could see of his face was ashen pale, but his legs didn’t quiver and he grasped the doorway with a steady hand. “You appear to be proving my theory.”
Elymas stood and frowned. “Ya shouldn’t be up yet.”
“That’ll teach you to know me,” Shade returned as he pushed off from the doorway. His steps were slow and careful, but sturdy as he moved over to us. “We should be going.”
“Going where? To an early grave?” Elymas quipped as he waved his hand at the forest canopy. “These trees aren’t going to hide yer scent forever.”
“That’s exactly why we need to keep moving,” Shade insisted as he caught my eyes. “Follow me, and stay close.”
Shade left us and walked into the woods behind the shack. I turned to follow, but paused and looked over my shoulder. “Thanks for everything.”
Elymas winked at me. “Ya just keep reminding him that he owes me something and that’ll be thanks enough.”
“I will,” I promised as I hurried into the trees.
The old man’s voice echoed after me. “And don’t go past the black brier!”
- Writer
