The Blades

Chapter Six

November 9th

"What are you, a witch?! How are you not hungover?! I watched you down nine pints of ale!" It was a little past the crack of dawn and Bayah, perky as ever, was waking us up in the dining room after the night of heavy drinking. She answered me with a giggle and skipped over to the Twins to wake them up and see if she could get them to walk down to the Infirmary.

Thorn began swearing at the she-devil, calling her very rude names. She just snickered again, "Go to the Infirmary!" she shouted and all the hungover people in the room groaned with pain from the shrill noise.

"You little demon! Shut up!" I cried, hands over my eyes, shielding them from the brightness of the torches she was lighting on the walls. Thorn and Briar both didn't move and instead rolled over and began to snore again.

"Come on, let's get you some potion." She helped me off the floor and half-dragged, half-carried me to the Infirmary. My shoes had long been abandoned and my dress had, sometime in the night, had been tied in a knot at my thigh as to keep it from dragging along the ground. The torchlight caused my head to ache and pound as we passed below each one. I put a hand over my eyes, keeping the other firmly around Bayah.

"All right, you she-devil. How come you're not hungover?" I asked, slightly irritated, my hand still covering my eyes.

"I don't get hungover." I could practically hear her smile as she said it.

I would find out a few years later that she had lied and got up earlier to make a hangover remedy before any of us had woken up.

I gently lay onto one of the Infirmary beds, on my stomach, face buried in the pillow. I heard the sound of bottles clinking around as Bayah went to work, doing whatever she usually does. I'd never had this "potion" she'd mentioned before.

My splitting head and I didn't care what was happening until she told me to drink whatever she had been making. I rolled over and sat up, looking at the bottle she was offering me. The liquid was a deep, putrid green.

"What the hell is that?" I asked her, taking the small bottle and glaring at the contents.

"It's going to cure you. Drink it," she said.

"It looks like you pulled it out of Thorn's nose."

"Well, I made it special. Don't make me force-feed you," she threatened, taking a genuine step towards me.

I was genuinely scared of her, so I swallowed it quickly and tried not to think about the Goddess-awful taste of whatever was dribbling down my throat. As soon as I had swallowed, I shuddered, "That was horrid," I groaned, smacking my lips and swallowing to try and force it even farther down.

Bayah placed a bucket on my lap.

I frowned. "What's this f—" then I emptied the contents of my stomach into the well-placed bucket. After a few minutes of excessive vomiting and Bayah patting me on the back gently, I emerged from the depths of the night before, putrid and sweaty.

"What on—" I gagged, "—Eravith?" I groaned, coughing slightly.

"Yeah, no one has figured out how to stop that side effect. Stay here, you'll feel better in a few minutes. I'll go get Brinley so he can brew more." She turned and skipped out of the room, leaving me with my vomit bucket.

She returned in a few moments with him and deposited his large body on a bed. He was begging her not to make the potion. "Tell you what. If you can stop me, I won't make you take it," she said, crossing her arms and standing her ground, staring at him.