Finding the Dungeon [publishing]

Chapter 11

Morning. The carriage had stopped. The amber sun was rising out of the horizon and above into the clouds. The faint hum of bird tweets filled the air as Nyxie jolted upright in her bed.

Eria, Leo, Ryuu and Boa was all fast asleep, tucked into their beds. It felt quite warm, she realised, and much too early to be waking up. Had it slipped from spring to summer without her noticing? She shook the thought away. She couldn't have; she had promised herself that she would be more observant in the future. Not being alert could cost another life.

Nyxie lay back onto her mattress, folding her bed sheets under her.

***

Leo couldn't quite describe how he felt about the new recruit. Sure, she seemed nice enough, and Boa got along very well with her, but there was something off about her that he just couldn't place.

He sighed, his eyes open, staring at the ceiling. Upon noticing the beautiful chinoiserie ingrained in gold upon the midnight blue, he smiled. Eria really knew how to decorate a room. His mind was waterlogged with troubles, but he put it to one side as he rested his head on his pillow, and pushed his duvet off his chest.

"Leo?" a murmur came from beside him. His eyelids fluttered open to the blinding light that shone onto his face. Was it morning already?

He covered his eyes with the back of his hand, before calling back: "Yeah?"

"C'mon, get up!" there was a sharp tug off his leg, and he sat up to see Eria's worried face at the foot of his bed.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Nyxie."

Ryuu had rolled off his bed and come to see what the small commotion was about.

"What about her?"

"She passed out last night, so I took her to her bed, and now she's breathing weirdly!" Eria squeezed her fingers, and shuffled over to Nyxie.

She put a hand over her forehead. "She has a temperature," she noted. "Can one of you get a wet towel to put on it?"

Leo nodded, turning to the bathroom. He returned quickly with it, and Eria pushed back Nyxie's fringe to press the towel on.

Yawning, a bleary-eyed Boa wandered over to Leo. "Onii-san? What happened?"

He ran a hand through the child's hair. "No need for you to know. Let's get you some breakfast."

"'Kay."

Leo took a hold of Boa's hand, gently dragging him over to the kitchen.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Ryuu asked tentatively, edging closer to Eria and Nyxie.

"How am I supposed to know?" she snapped. "I'm no doctor!"

"Fine, I'll go away then," Ryuu snapped back, heading after Leo and Boa to the kitchen. Eria gave a small, sad sigh. She turned back to Nyxie.

The woman's breathing was hoarse, and sweat poured from her brow. "You're gonna be okay now," Eria soothed, stroking her arm. "I'm right here."

Suddenly, Nyxie jolted upright in her head, the towel falling onto her duvet. She was coughing uncontrollably, her hands clapped to her mouth.

"Nyxie?!" Eria shouted, "Leo, Ryuu, get here!"

The men came running towards them, and their eyes widened at the sight.

"We need to get her to a doctor, like right now," Eria announced. "I know one near here, but I'm not sure if it is her best option..."

"How so?"

"You might know her as Miss Nightshade?" said Eria. "Her full name is Niamh Nathiara Nerys Nightshade."

"Well that's a handful," remarked Ryuu.

Eria sniffed. "Well, it doesn't matter. She's the world's best doctor--"

Leo cut her off: "Then why is it so bad to take her there?"

"If you would just let me finish my sentence, I could tell you!" Eria yelled. Nyxie started up another fit of coughing, and Eria patted her on the back. She breathed out, and continued: "However, she is also renown for being an apothecary and poison master. There have been many cases where she has poisoned her clients."

"And she's not in prison?" Leo asked.

"There is no evidence in the victim's body to prove that she is a murderer, but everyone knows that she killed them."

"Mm, great," Ryuu replied sarcastically.

"So what do we do?" Leo looked genuinely concerned. "Is she our best option?"

Eria turned to Nyxie. "Should we take you to Niamh-sama?"

Nyxie nodded timidly. She coughed, and Eria set the carriage going in the direction of the Nightshade Clan's territory.

***

They arrived at the gates to the Dark Realm by that afternoon. With Eria's help, they squeezed past the security and made their way to the Main Line Nightshade castle.

(Author's Note: Clan's are just your family line, and extended family. The Main Line of a Clan is the immediate (or nuclear) family of the leader, and any Branch Line is just the leader's extended family. The family lines will shift due to changes of the leader, and although they live in separate castles on the Clan's territory, they are all treated the same. More recent clans will only have a Main Line, and older, more established clans will have a Main Line and multiple Branch Lines.)

The Nightshade Clan's security in itself was much more relaxed than Eria had remembered. Since their former leader, Julian Nightshade, had died from the same plague that killed his brother, Elias and Elias' wife, Elisabeth Nightshade neé Umbra, the Leading Clan had fallen to the rank of Second Class Clan. Julian's nephew, Oliver, had stepped up to the position of leader almost thirty ago, when he was only twenty years of age.

Following this, Nathiara Nightshade, a former member of the ancient Taipan Clan, and the new First Lady of the clan, had given birth to a daughter, Niamh Nathiara Nerys. This was the very woman that Nyxie needed to see.

But the only question on each of their minds was: Is Nyxie even guaranteed her life after the appointment?