‘I’ll take the tourniquet. Get the other pot ready. Merrat will be back soon.’ Auum smiled down at Elyss. ‘Looking forward to your soup? Uncaria is magnificently awful to drink.’
‘I thought you were making a poultice.’
‘As well.’
Merrat reappeared from the forest, Nyann with him. He squatted by Auum and failed to disguise his concern at what he saw.
‘I’ll prepare the roots and vine,’ he said. ‘Ysset is hunting down the vismia we need.’
‘Good. Thank you.’
It took an age, or it felt like it. Merrat and Ulysan were quick, cleaning and cutting the uncaria and adding it to boiling river water, but the wait for the vital liquor to form was interminable. All the while, Auum watched Elyss fall into her fever. The tourniquet could not stop the infected blood making its way through her body. The tea tree oil was not strong enough to combat the disease at source.
‘Keep your eyes open,’ said Auum. ‘Talk to me about something.’
Elyss’ eyes fluttered. ‘Like what?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Auum, and he released the tourniquet to give her some relief from the pain. ‘Not much point in that now, is there? Tell me, what is it you pray for today?’
A smile played across Elyss’ lips and she licked them with a dry tongue. Auum squeezed water into the side of her mouth which she sucked in greedily.
‘I pray that whatever poison runs through my body does not stop the joy of what I could feel happening yesterday.’
Auum frowned. ‘And what is that?’
‘It is my time, Auum.’ Elyss’ eyes spilled tears and she gripped his hand in hers. He could feel the heat of her fever through her palms. ‘I so want to live to know the glory.’
Auum found a cool cloth and mopped her brow. She was going down so fast.
‘Stay with me,’ whispered Auum. ‘What is the glory? See it, believe it and you will know it.’
Elyss spoke but Auum couldn’t hear her. He glanced over at Merrat, who spread his arms.
‘Soon, Auum. I can’t rush this. Not enough is as bad as none at all.’
‘I know,’ said Auum. ‘Come on, Elyss. Tell me again, don’t be shy. Shout it out. What is the glory?’
‘Wh… what every Ynissul iad… desires.’
Auum gasped. ‘Yniss preserve you, Elyss. Merrat, tell me you’re ready.’
‘Almost.’
Elyss’ head had fallen to one side. She was unconscious. Auum tapped her cheek lightly but there was no response.
‘It has to be now, Merrat, she’s slipping. Shorth is waiting.’
Merrat came over with a water skin. ‘Raise her head. We’ll have to do this for her.’
Elyss was limp, her fever so intense that just touching her skin was uncomfortable. The infection had gathered strength incredibly quickly and Auum prayed that she had not kept her silence for an hour too long. He had an arm under the back of her neck and with his other hand tried to open her mouth, pulling on her lower jaw.
‘Ulysan, I need you,’ said Auum. ‘Work her throat; don’t let her spit this up. Gently, Merrat.’
With as much care as he had time for, Merrat poured the decoction of uncaria into the side of her mouth, a few drops at a time. Her swallow reflex was still there and Auum relaxed his hold on her jaw to let her work the liquid down her throat with Ulysan’s tender help.
‘Come on, Elyss. You can do this,’ said Auum. ‘You’re doing just fine. Soon have you up and running again. Slowly, Merrat.’
‘I know what I’m doing,’ said Merrat.
‘Yniss bless you,’ said Auum.
‘You too, my friend.’
Ysset ran back into the camp. ‘How is sh-’
‘Start extracting the resin,’ said Ulysan. ‘Know how to do that?’
‘Yes.’
‘Good, we’ll need it for the wound. The tea tree isn’t enough.’
‘All right,’ said Merrat. ‘That’s all of it. I’ll make another decoction for when she wakes up. Right now you’d better make her comfortable. I’ll string a hammock for you.’
Auum regarded Merrat through a mist. ‘She has to live. She has so much to give us.’
Merrat pushed himself to his feet. ‘We cannot afford to lose one TaiGethen to a blow such as this. She’s strong.’
Auum laid Elyss’ head back on the soft ground and stroked the sides of her face. She was so dreadfully hot but her face was so terribly pale. Her eyes were completely still beneath their lids but her body quivered and was sheathed in sweat. Ulysan touched his shoulder and handed him a cloth, damp and cool with rainwater. Auum nodded and wiped Elyss’ face and neck with it.
‘Ulysan, scout the enemy. I need to know when they move and what strength they still have. Let Merrat go to Haliath Vale to join Grafyrre when they’ve made the poultices and decoctions. When Elyss wakes, we’ll travel there too.’
‘What about you?’
‘I’m not leaving her. She’s TaiGethen. My cell. My place is here.’
Chapter 19
Where would I be without faith? I would be breaking bread with humans.
Auum, Arch of the TaiGethen
When Hynd awoke he saw Jeral standing over him. He looked a bit green about the gills but otherwise undamaged. Hynd frowned.
‘Didn’t some elf give your intestines an airing?’
Jeral laughed. ‘At the time it would have been a relief. No, like the hero I am, I fell down with a cramp of quite extraordinary agony. I’m told that we were both saved because Fifth Company, who hadn’t eaten from the same pots, joined the fight. We were both pretty incapacitated while it all went on around us. Don’t you remember the noise and the screaming?’
‘Only my own.’ Hynd sobered quickly. ‘So what happened?’
‘Here, let me help you up and you can see for yourself.’
Hynd knew he shouldn’t have been so selfish but the first thing he noticed was how well he felt. There was a small ache in his lower back across his kidneys but apart from that he felt ludicrously refreshed. Until he looked beyond his own fire and saw the debris of a vicious conflict.
Their section of the river bank had become churned mud streaked with the gore that no one had yet had the time or the stomach to clear up. The wounded were being treated just inside the forest canopy in lines three deep and twenty long at least. The dead were piled up downstream and downwind, ready to be burned. And soldiers and mages lay everywhere, exhausted and filthy.
‘How many attacked us?’
‘Just six,’ said Jeral.
‘But we killed them, right?’ Jeral didn’t answer. Hynd sighed. ‘But there are elves among the dead.’
‘Just Sharps. Some blamed them.’
‘They’ll have to carry their own kit now.’ Hynd spat. ‘Fucking idiots. We know exactly who is to blame for this.’
‘But we couldn’t lay a finger on them. We lost fifteen soldiers and about thirty mages yesterday, because the elves targeted any casters trying to neutralise the poison. We got lucky, you and I. We were the last men our saviour managed to heal.’
‘And what about the poisoned men who didn’t get help?’
‘Some lived, some died.’ Jeral shrugged. ‘Fancy some breakfast?’
