An Oath Of Lords And Ladies (ARTK, Book 1)

Chapter 8

Ocono 15th, 3327 A.G

  "How is he?"  Nara asked the witch as she emerged from Thorne's chambers. There were so many things she wished she'd done differently. She wished she'd made the horse run faster- though if she did it would've collapsed under their weight and then they really would have been in trouble. She wished she'd immediately tried to stop the blood flow instead of hesitating for a full minute, though she knew deep down it would have done nothing to stop the infection he was currently dealing with.

  The witch sighed, looking over the lines under Nara's eyes. She hadn't slept more than two hours a night since they got home, and you could tell. Her head tilted forward every few seconds, she had to force her eyes open. Her hands frequently shook, and her hand-eye coordination was almost non existent. The witch had asked Nara's guards for permission to mix Valerian root into her dinner the night before, but they rejected the request.

  She knew there was no way she could tell Lady Nara the truth without sending her into an even deeper madness, so she just blurted it out.

  "The herbs have done nothing. My regular salves haven't been working." She said. "I put a substantial dent in the garlic one but that too has done nothing. I've washed it frequently and put some valerian root beside his bed for him to take if he wishes but he's refused to touch it- says there's always someone who needs it more."

  "So what does... what....." Nara was so sleep deprived that processing a single sentence took nearly thirty seconds. "Is he...."

"I suspect he won't make it through the night."

  Nara had to put every ounce of effort she could into each word, but by the time she finished- she was beyond desperate. She grabbed the witch by the shoulders, firmly but not harshly- and the look in her eyes was almost deranged.

  "Is there nothing else you can do? Blood magick?Life-for-a-life sacrifices?" She pleaded.

"You know I'd never touch such things-" The witch started.

  "Then teach me how, Damn the gods- he can't die!!" Nara yelled.

  The witch just stared at her for a few moments, stunned. She'd never heard Nara curse at anyone before.

  "I'm sorry. I cannot." She swallowed the saliva that'd built up in her mouth and avoided eye contact. "If you want to say goodbye.... You might as well do it now."

  Nara released her and collapsed against the wall, every fiber of her being begging for sleep. Then she thought: How many sleepless nights had Thorne put up with while her father was dealing with sensitive diplomatic issues, or during that horrible month a few years ago when they ran low on firewood? One more night. She could stay up for one more night for him. He had no living family anymore, and there was no way she'd let him die alone.

  When she stood, the witch helped her.

  "Would you like me to bring you-"

  "No." Nara rapidly shook her head. "No teas. No herbs."

  She slapped herself a few times, then let herself into Thorne's room. The smell of festering flesh alone was enough to bring tears to her eyes if the sight of him wasn't. Sweat soaked his chest hair, arms, and every other visible part of his body. A blanket was draped over his stomach and came down to his ankles, covering the worst of the attack, and there were fresh cloth bandages on his right shoulder and forehead- but still. Nara forced herself to breathe through her mouth as she approached and sat on the stool the witch had placed beside his bed.

  She placed a hand over his left one and his eyes fluttered open. When they seemed to focus on Nara, he smiled.

  "You look like you were the one that got injured-" he started, but interrupted himself with a bloody cough.

"You've looked better." Nara raised an eyebrow, attempting to lighten the situation- but it was true. While he'd been bathed since the attack, nobody'd bothered to shave him and the smell was far from attractive. "She says you're going to die."

  "Finally." Thorne mumbled under his breath and laughed. A sharp pain shot through his midsection, making him regret it. He gripped Nara's hand, waiting for it to pass- only this time it didn't. After several minutes, it eventually turned into a distant ache he could speak through. "You have to do something about the rise in ice giant sightings."

  "But what?" Nara's voice was just as strained as his. "I could order everyone to stay within the house walls but the crops still need to be tended to and there would still be trade to-"

  "You'll figure it out as you've done with each issue we've had so far." Thorne replied.

  "Each of those decisions was made with you-" She insisted, forcing her eyes wide open.

  "You are more capable than you give yourself credit for." Thorne coughed again and blood flew so far out of his mouth that it landed on the wall across the room. Nara wiped a single drop of the stuff off of her cheek. "The blood of a queen runs through your veins. It's time you become one."

  Nara frowned, way too tired to process his metaphors. She opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but when she looked into his eyes- they were emotionless. She screamed for the witch, who came barreling into the room not a second later and shoved her aside. The witch blew air into his mouth and pushed on his chest for a few minutes, but it became beyond clear after that: He was dead and there was nothing the witch could (would) do to bring him back.

  Nara didn't even have a chance to cry, as she heard the signature drumbeats seconds later. Houses and villages across Ebon had their own methods of informing their skilled fighters of a nearby ice giant, but this was theirs.

She quickly removed her dagger from it's sheath, strapped to her waist- and ran outside just as the off duty archers were doing, though she didn't grab any of the bows scattered throughout the large square.

She climbed the stairs alongside an archer at the west wall in seconds, and was temporarily grateful that she'd guessed the proper one. Her and the archer were the first who'd gotten up there, so they were the second and third person to lay eyes on the pair of ice giants just a few feet from the wall.

Still, the guard continued drumming.

As the archer drew his bowstring back, every emotion Nara had held back the past nine days surfaced in her expression. She let out a scream, and before the archer could stop her- dove over the wall.

She landed perfectly on a giant's shoulders and reached around it's head to bury her dagger in it's eye. As the creature dissolved into nothing but snow and she fell down with it, the archer buried an arrow in the other's eye.

When the gate guards let her back in, she walked through the square with nothing but pure rage on her face.

Lilian- who had been standing just outside the tailor's work cottage waiting on new underclothes when the drum beats started, sighed.

She knew Lady Nara would never again be the happy child she helped raise.