Hall of Games [ REWRITE ] | The Varya Chronicles #1

Chapter Twenty-Three

Media: Silver-lined Falcon (They are beautiful in their on gruesome way)

Music: End of My Journey, John Dreamer

Cadence woke up to see Kashimi sitting next to her. She tried to speak, but no words came out. Her head hurt like a mother, and she was having difficulty focusing. Kashimi's mask looked like a baboon from her distorted vision.

What the hell happened? She reached for her head and was shocked to feel a thick bandage in its spot.

"Remember what I said about you returning here?" Kashimi said. "You'll have to heal the good, old-fashioned way."

"What happened?" Cadence struggled to recall the recent events, but all that came back was a dizzying blur.

"Concussion," Kashimi said. "My confrere saw you burst into the infirmary, bleeding profusely from your head. It took ten stitches to close up the wound."

"It hurts," Cadence said. The wound was burning as though someone had run a heated stake through her head, and she feared the possibility of an infection.

"I'll administer you with some Devil's Claw potion." Kashimi stood up and went behind the curtain. He returned a minute later with a tall, slim vial in his hands. Kashimi brought the bottle up to eye level, swirled the brown contents inside, unstoppered it and handed the vial to Cadence. "Bottoms up."

Cadence accepted the vial and swallowed it. She gagged. It was the vilest thing she had ever tasted. It left an bitter, evil aftertaste which refused to wash out even after she chugged her third glass of water.

"Tell me," Kashimi sat down on the straight-backed chair next to her bed. "What happened? Did someone attack you?"

"I..." Cadence was still trying to get rid of the bitterness in her mouth, but the pain was starting to fade into a dull throb. "I don't know how to say this."

Ales and Kashimi were the ones who postulated her being a Walker, and they were right. Perhaps Kashimi would be able to explain the shadows, or the strange dreams she was experiencing.

"Can we go some place more private?" Cadence looked around the infirmary. Across the curtain separating Kashimi's workplace, there were a few coughing people on the beds. There must be other Healers lurking around too, but they don't make an appearance often.

"If I weren't a Healer sworn to abstain from humanly pleasures, such words coming from a young lady like you would have implied a whole other meaning."

Fire burned Cadence's cheeks. "You know I don't mean that."

"Humor is something you definitely lack. Sadly, we've never learned the art of restoring humor into humans. As for your head, alas, I highly recommend that you stay where you are, lest you bleed internally and never wake up again."