The Tail of the Sword and Shield #Wattys2020

Chapter 9: The Fae Realms

When Volsair came to, it took him a while to open his eyes. He first noticed the gentle breeze that graced his skin, reminding him of a pleasantly warm spring day. Then his sense of smell came back to him, a floral smell, mixed with the earthy scents, of fresh ground herbs and the lingering salty smell of the sea.

Volsair opened his eyes, a low sigh escaped his lips as the light from the open windows nearly seared his retinas, forcing him to close his eyes again. He felt pain behind his eyes, he could hear the sound of footsteps on a flag stone floor.

Attempting to open his eyes again, he groaned, forcing his eyes to take in the light. It didn't take long for the room to come into focus. He was in a medical ward, beds lined the walls, all were unoccupied except for the one beside him. There was a window between each bed with pristine white curtains waving in the breeze. Underneath the window was an ornately carved end table with an earthen ware glazed pitcher and basin.

Volsair licked his dry cracked lips, and tried to sit up. As a reward, a shooting pain went through his chest, shoulders and down his arms, causing him to fall back onto his pillows with a moan of pain. The room spun around, causing Volsair's hands to clench his blanket until the room stopped spinning.

When the room stopped spinning, Volsair ran a hand over his chest, trying to see where the pain had came from. Under his calloused fingers, he felt bandages wrapping around his torso, collarbones and the forearm of his shield arm.

"Are you done trying to kill yourself?" came a familiar voice that sounded cross.

Volsair knew that voice anywhere, that musical voice, Cordelia the bard. "Hello sweetheart," he said, a smile pulling at his mouth. "How long was I out?"

"Too long for my taste." Cordelia said.

Volsair turned to see Cordelia, and it sure turned his head. Cordelia was now standing in the aisle between their beds. She was barefoot and wearing a white shift, with no sleeves, the hem came down just below her knees. The square at the neckline was left unlaced. Volsair could feel himself blush. "I take it you're one of my pure of heart healers?" he asked with a smirk "Here to heal the battle weary knight?"

"No!" Cordelia snapped, folding her arms under her chest.

Being serious...humm...I can have fun with this. I can't refuse this opportunity. It doesn't come that often. Volsair thought.

"I'm in the same predicament you are in." She said in a near growl.

"So you mean you're not a-" Volsair on purpose cut the sentence off, he was still smirking.

"Not that!" she said, looking like she could have smacked his arm for that, and him injured.

"You're always running into one form of danger or another. You never stop and think, how could this possibly end badly?" she took a step towards him.

"Ah-ah, no hitting. I'm injured, remember?" Volsair said.

"That's exactly the point!" Cordelia said "You could have died from internal bleeding all because you didn't-" Cordelia was cut off by the door to the medical ward opening, and in strode a healer, followed by who Volsair guessed was the Faerie Queen.

The lady had a way of making you feel small and insignificant, nothing more than a Honey Bee in a windstorm. They could feel the power and radiant flawless beauty emanate from her. The Faerie Queen's dress was a floor length bell shaped dress, with long sleeves and an open neckline. The dress looked like it was made of fresh autumn leaves, bright and full of color, blown off the tree branches two days before an autumn rainstorm, turned them a mucky brown. Her hair, color of spun starlight,  was pulled back into a bun with ringlets on the sides. The parts of the hair pins that was visible, were clear multifaceted crystals, that was about the size of one of Cordelia's smallest finger nails. The Queen carried herself with refined grace, you could tell she was a Queen, even without an introduction.