❝ The future was yet to be written, uncertain in every way except one: there will be fire.
When the dawn closed her eyes, she awoke in flames-a hellfire inferno burning as leaves on briar-thicket trees. A forest of thorns alight. A vision of the fut...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
the forest maiden
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
ALABASTER FLESH, KISSED BY pale moonlight and the flickering of sunset flames, grew feverishly pallid in the midst of poisonous violence wreaking havoc within the boy. Summer eyes were lost beneath forcible somnolence and his hummingbird pulse grew ever weaker against their trembling fingers. Sweltering beneath their touch, hellfire incarnate, they could almost feel that cruel poison percolating into his bloodstream, casting ruin upon his life-force with every strenuous breath. Death lingered in the gloaming, caressing the boy's very essence, but all was not yet lost.
"Lay him on the bed quickly," came the thinly veiled swivet of the court physician's voice, tearing through the chamber within seconds of crossing the threshold. "He's struggling to breathe."
Prince Arthur didn't waste a breath questioning the man's orders, not hesitating for even a beat before laying the limp form of his manservant to rest upon the bed meant for the ailing and afflicted. Many had taken their last breath in that bed, and much like all who surrounded him, Arthur hoped Merlin wouldn't be another among the collection of bones. Whatever his fate, it rested in Gaius's capable hands, and that was enough to bring anyone even a hint of solace.
"Is he going to be alright?" Arthur asked above the chaos, drowned out by the order of water and a towel to quell the boy's ever rising fever. "You can cure him, can't you, Gaius?"
"I won't know until I can identify the poison," he replied, concealing his own worry and burying it chasms deep, for he wished not to frighten the others more than they already were. After a beat of watching Guinevere press the coolness of the dampened cloth against the inferno of the sick boy's flesh, he took the ornate goblet from his assistant's trembling hand and with a sharp gaze, examined it thoroughly and made sure not to miss even the most trivial detail. Despain the strain it took, his eyes managed to pick up the shining translucence of something unknown. "Ah, there's something stuck on the inside."
"What is it?"
By nature, Aurora immediately handed him the tool he required, watching with a steady eye as he captured the possible source of the poison within the iron grasp, and emerald fires narrowed in inspection. "It... looks like a flower petal of some kind."
