Minstrel

Chapter #22 ~ Creak

It took two weeks for Creak's fever to break. The blood she had coughed up had been harmless, just the result of her sore throat. Vern had spent everyday with her and refused to leave even when his advisors came to get him, which happened fairly often. Creak couldn't remember much of what happened while her body fought to heal itself. Vern's bites had been worse than hers, but an elf's immune system proved to be superior causing him to completely heal within three days. By the time Creak finally came to it, Vern, like a newborn baby, didn't have a mark on him.

"You look great." She mumbled happily. Her eyes had slowly began to heal and she could see with great difficulty.

Vern sat beside her on the fur bed that she started to think of as her own. "Yeah, now it's your turn."

Creak smiled. For the first time in weeks she was starting to feeling like herself again. The pain had subsided and the burning heat all over her body had finally gone away. "I sure hope so."

Vern pressed his hand against her forehead and smiled back at her. "You sure seem to be getting better. How do you feel?"

Creak felt tired, but she didn't want him to leave her. "I feel great." She said with a yawn.

Vern looked at her with concern. "I guess you'd better be getting some sleep. I'll leave if you want me to."

Creak reached for his hand. "No. Please don't go. I'm not tired."

Vern looked over a Floral who sat at a small table mixing medicines together. "Would it be okay for Creak to go for a walk?"

Floral looked over at them. Creak had a feeling she had grown on the woman in the days she had been bedridden. Seeing Creak's excitement at the idea of leaving the infirmary, Floral nodded. "As long as you take it easy."

Creak nodded, letting Vern pull her to her feet. "Don't worry. We'll be fine."

She was shaky at first, but eventually Creak got used to walking again.
Hand in hand, Creak followed Vern through a maze of small huts. Floral had called this the capital of the Ground Kingdom, but it wasn't much. Maybe twice the size of Riverfall, but with smaller shelters. Nothing was made of wood; the huts were just compacted dirt and jungle leaves.
Once Creak's eyes had opened and she had seen the world in which the elves lived she found herself slightly disappointed. In her dreams with Bane there had been hollowed out holes in the giant jungle trees. The ground hadn't even been in sight they were so high up. But Creak couldn't help but feel like Vern's kingdom was in poverty.

"Why do you live on the ground?" Creak asked looking up into the trees, just as large as they had been in her dreams.

Vern looked at her curiously. "How do you even know it's possible to live in the trees?"

Creak didn't want him to think she was crazy, but after everything they had gone through she knew Vern deserved the truth. Looking away, Creak mumbled awkwardly. "I've had some dreams. There's this elf... he lives in the trees."

Vern smiled. "Remember when we first met and I asked you if it was your first time meeting an elf?"

Creak smiled. It was hard to believe they had come so far together; it was even harder to believe that had only happened a month ago. "Yeah, and I said it had been my second time and you didn't look like the first elf I had met."

Vern looked up at the trees. "The elf you met in your dreams is clearly not a grounder."

Creak understood what he meant by that. Every elf that she had seen so far looked just like Vern. They all had the same brown eyes and reddish-brown hair. The one difference was that none of them had been as friendly as Vern. Everywhere they walked, the other elves would walk in a different direction. Creak knew they didn't like her. She was just too different with her less pointy ears and rounder eyes, but that wasn't all. Her eyes were a lighter brown and her hair was more of a blonde-slash-brown color, not the reddish-brown of theirs'.