Mind Forged: Book One of the Enchanters of Xarparion (16 page)

“
Then I have failed in my mission again.”

“
Calm down, both of you. In case you have forgotten, she is not human. Red nightshade will kill a human that is true. But it only has a small chance to kill a dark elf and it won’t kill Maya. I know something that will help her, so don’t worry, she will survive.”

“
Thank you, Alex; I am forever in your debt.”

“
Ok, I can tell you two are having an important conversation here, but this one-sided talking is making me crazy!” Nia complained.

“
We’re sorry, Nia, but we need to pick up the pace.”

I jogged
shakily the rest of the way home, being careful to not pass too close to any of the scores of people who were attracted to the sight and noise of the fire since Maya was fully a dark elf at the moment. On the way, I did my best to send my thoughts to Rosa in an attempt to wake her up. After a few tries, I finally got her out of the deep slumber she was in and into the now really panicked reality. By the time we got there, she was dressed and waiting at the door. When she could see us, she ran out into the night for us.

“
Alex! What happened, is she ok? Who did this to her? By the gods, you’re both bleeding!” She was in full motherly panic mode. If I wasn’t so concerned and lightheaded as well, I might have found it rather funny.

“
Red nightshade poison. Don’t worry, it won’t kill her, but she may wish it had when she wakes up.”

Relief
hit her for a brief moment but was quickly replaced with anger. “Who did this to her and you?” she said, probing the wounds on my chest and shoulder as she was walking along side.

“
I got a good look at their magic, so I know one was a fire wizard and apparently an assassin, but I’ve never seen him before. The other, who seemed to be in charge, was a vampire.”

She
shuddered. “A vampire? But how did it get past the walls? How did you escape it?” She paused for a second, “Never mind, I don’t need to know.” Even though I’m sure she just read my mind and found out. “Why would a fire wizard do this, why use poison?”

“
It was probably an attempt to shift the blame to someone in the Earth Tower or someone who isn’t a wizard,” I guessed. “Good idea, but the execution was sloppy, he didn’t count on Winya...neither of them did.”

Rosa
’s face took on a hard, determined look, one that I was not used to seeing from my usually jovial Master.

“
Alex, if you are positive you can save Maya, I recommend we keep her with us. I’m not sure who we can trust anymore, even the Healers Tower.” She grimaced, but then her resolve set in stone. “And where are the assassins now?”

“
They’re both a pill of ash in her now-burning home.”

“
You killed them then?”

“
Winya killed the wizard assassin, and the two of us defeated the vampire.”

“
Thank you, Winya! If her home is on fire, then there are some things that she will need in there. I’ll go try and save them, you tend to Maya. We will chat more about this later. For now, I’ll use the link to read your mind to learn the rest so I don’t distract you.” She reached out and gently stroked Maya’s silvery hair. “Save her, Alex, I don’t know what I would do without you two anymore, and I’m not the only one!” With that she ran off into the night.

With help from Nia to open the doors
, I gently carried Maya into the reading room in front of the fireplace. Nia and I then carefully removed her bloody leather training armor and got her into a warm nightgown of Rosa’s. I tried to keep my eyes closed throughout the process, with Nia guiding my hands. We got several blankets ready and the fire going strong. Nia even brought her bed to use as the pillow. Once that was all done, it was time for the hard part.

“
Ok, Nia, I’m going to need your help.” She nodded determinedly. “A sick dark elf is a funny thing compared to a human; they’re almost like two separate beings when sick. Right now we need to keep her head cool, but the rest of her body warm. So I’m going to work on that. What I need from you is to make the medicine.”

She looked
panicked. “But I don’t know any dark elf medicines! I don’t even know pixie medicine!”

“
But I do, and mixing medicine is just like following a cooking recipe. I need you to go into the kitchen and mix milk, black ginger root, orange juice, and apple juice together, and some of Rosa’s special herbs that she keeps in that black glass jar. I’ll call out the amounts when you are ready.”

“
Eww, I thought milk was bad when you’re sick.”

“
Not for a dark elf, it calms their stomachs. Then I need you to grind up some rosemary, lavender honey, and oil shale powder; mix it together in a different bowl and bring it all to me. Rosa uses it in her enchanting so there should be plenty in the lab.”

“
I’ll be fast, Alex!”

With that
, she darted off into the kitchen. In the mean time, I found a small bowl and filled it with cool water. Grabbing a few small hand cloths and a bandage, I returned to Maya. I moved some of the chairs around so I could lean back on one and could still prop her up on my lap, similar to the position we were in after the dance. I placed a moistened cloth on her forehead and slipped Winya on to her wrist as a bracelet. Now ready, I channeled the same enchantment that I did for Nia and Rosa to help her fight the affects of the poison. I could feel that Winya was doing what she could as well to mimic the affects of the enchantment and give her strength. I was very proud of her.

Nia came flying back with the bowl of honey
mixture and set it down next to me. “The other stuff is ready as well, should I bring it?”

“
Yes, please, and a spoon, as well, if you can still carry one.”

“
That will be no problem.” She zipped off again and soon returned with the other bowl and a spoon. I took one of the clean cloths and carefully cleaned the wound where the dart had hit her. The barbs had done more damage than I thought. Once clean, I scooped some of the honey mixture out and smeared it on the wound to draw out the remaining poison, then wrapped it loosely in the bandage, then did the same for myself. Nia helped me wrap her tightly in the blankets I brought; I could see she was barely holding back the pixie tears.

“
So what do we do now?”

“
Now, we try to get some of that milk and juice in her and wait for the fever to start.”

“
Will this stuff really cure her?”

“
Actually, all the real work is being done by my enchantments and her body, and Winya is being a big help. This will help her recover faster and make it less painful, but sadly, this will still hurt like hell for her.”

After only getting a little of the medicine in her, she started to get a high fever
. I stayed where I was with her head in my lap, keeping her forehead cool. Nia wrapped herself in her blanket and sat on the end table next to us to watch. We sat there for over an hour before Rosa finally came home. She had a large bag of smoky smelling stuff and wasn’t happy. But when she saw us, that anger was replaced with concern and caring.

“
How is she doing?”

“
She will be fine in a day or so; she should be waking up soon, though.”

She relaxed a bit, and walked over to us and sat down on the floor
. “That would be nice.”

“
So, did you find everything you needed?”

She nodded.

“The fire had burned most of the old stable and had jumped the alley to the guard barracks by the time I got there. Apparently, the other headmasters decided to let it burn without even trying to put it out. She shook her head. “Thankfully, she stored most of her special things in a trunk that I made for her so not much was destroyed.”

“
That’s good. When are they going to rebuild the buildings then?”

She sighed
. “That’s one of the things I’m mad about. They aren’t going to rebuild it because the Tower’s opinion is that the buildings in that area are ugly and should be razed and turned into a garden anyway.”

“
But if they do that, where will the staff and guards live?”

“
Underground barracks.”

“
You’re joking, right?”

“
Sadly, I’m not. They were planning on doing it in two years, but now with a large portion already burnt down, they’re going to start the process now.”

“
So this fire and the loss of people’s homes is just an advantageous turn of events?” I was starting to get angry.

“
That’s not even the best part! I went before the elders, and none of them will support an investigation on her assassin to see who he was working for. The only one who supported us was the Headmaster, but even he was out-voted.”

“
So they’re going to do nothing?”

“
Correct and we are forbidden from doing anything either.”

That pissed me off
. “Why the hell not?”

“
Maya is listed as staff for the Enchanters Hall and not a student. And since she is not a student, Xarparion is not responsible for her safety. They actually wanted to put Maya in jail pending their investigation into the death of this probable fire wizard/assassin because the life of a wizard is apparently more valuable than that of a mere weapons instructor. I had to explain that Maya was unconscious when he died, and so was not responsible. Then they wanted me to turn over Winya for study.”

“
I’d like to see them try and take me away from her!”
Winya said in my mind, but Rosa must have heard it through me, too.

Rosa chuckled a little
. “Relax, Winya, it was a stupid statement on their part. If they did take you, they would have had to give you over to me for study. None of them can even figure out how the training orbs function…let alone you.”

“
So what are we going to do?”

“
Well, as much as it pains me to say, we will just have to wait and see. But don’t worry; I have a few ideas that may expose the rat. I have always suspected one of the elders to be a traitor, and now I have the tools to sniff him out.”

“
What tools?”

She smiled and motioned at myself and Maya
. “You two are going to shake the foundations of those towers soon and see what falls out. But that’s not important right now.” She motioned softly to my patient. “What is important is Maya. I know dark elves don’t mind it underground, but I still don’t feel right making her stay down there, especially now with assassins lurking the grounds.”

Then Nia had a
wonderful idea. “Why doesn’t she stay in the other bedroom upstairs?” We both stared at her. “What? If they already count her as Enchanters Hall staff, then she should be able to stay at the Enchanters Hall, right?

“
Use their own asinine rules against them - I like it!” Rosa chortled, and then she gave me a playful look. “But I don’t know about having you two lovers so close together, I don’t want to be kept up all night.”

I smiled
, “Well, as long as we refrain from saying the word ‘food’, I’m sure we could have a tavern bard performing in here and you wouldn’t notice.”

She punched me in the
shoulder, but oddly, it didn’t hurt this time. “Smart ass. But I would like to keep her here from now on. This is one of the safest buildings in Xarparion; I enchanted every inch of this place personally.”

And with that
, Maya started to stir in my lap. I gently put my hands on her shoulders to keep her from rolling over on her bad arm. After a few seconds, she stopped trying to move and slowly opened her eyes as she struggled to focus.

“
Alex? Rosa? What are you doing in my room and why do I feel so strange?” Then her eyes grew wide as she lurched forward in an attempt to vomit. I held her down on my lap. The last thing I needed was for her to ruin all the hard work Nia and I did to get that medicine in her in the first place. She calmed down, too weak to escape my firm grip. I could see how much pain she was in, and I hated that there was nothing I could do to take it away.

“
Alex, what’s happening to me…where am I? The Enchanters Hall?”

“
Maya, you have been poisoned, so please try not to throw up. You need to keep that medicine down.”

She nodded, but then lurched again as her body did its best to
expel its contents. I started to softly rub her neck, arms and shoulders with the goal of relaxing her and as a distraction to her pain. It worked for a short while and she was a bit more relaxed now, but I could still feel her tense up in spasms regularly. The best thing I could do for her would be to put her to back to sleep.

“
I’m sorry, sweetheart, but I’m going to put you to sleep now.” Then I placed the enchantment to have her sleep. Soon I would need to wake her again to drink more of the juice, but the kindest thing at the moment was to let her slip into dreams. After a second, she was out. The clenching in her muscles continued, but at least she wasn’t consciously feeling the pain any longer.