"Look! There!" Lydia exclaimed when her eyes fastened on something down in the shallow swamp.
Some time ago Karnwyr had finally picked up a familiar scent and he started to lead them into another direction altogether. They ran after him until they reached the area somewhat close to Morthal. There they finally found him.
Karnwyr was the first to reach him, but the three women weren't far behind.
Bishop was lying on his back with his torso partially submerged in the swampy water. His head was lying on a small rock at least, so he wasn't in any danger of drowning, but he was only staring into the sky, hyperventilating. He had a nasty gash across his chest and he was dressed only in his trousers and boots, both of which were completely soaked with the thick waters.
"Oh Gods! Bishop!" Aeyrin instantly dropped to her knees into the viscous water and she peered at his wound intently. His eyes met hers and there was a palpable measure of panic in them, or maybe it was relief, she couldn't tell, but he made no movement besides that.
Lydia and Saadia stood a stone's throw away, staring at him in shock.
Aeyrin quickly pressed her hands on the wound on his chest and they lit up with magic instantly. The gash was still burning intensely, but the warmth of her magic made it a little better. He still felt sick to his stomach and if he stopped fighting through it, even for a second, he would definitely throw up yet again for what seemed like a millionth time. He had been running for so long, stopping only to empty the contents of his stomach, but his legs were giving out under him fast. At some point, he just couldn't run anymore. The last thing he managed to do was to position himself onto his back with his head on the rock so that he wouldn't just submerge into the swamp.
Aeyrin made rather short work of his wound. It wasn't even deep. The burning eased a lot, but he still felt so weak and the nausea wouldn't stop. He needed the antidote.
"Bishop?" Aeyrin gave him an uncertain expression. "That... wound wasn't that deep..." Everything was blurry, but he could still see that she raised an eyebrow at him. She was definitely confused about how a meager wound like that could put him in this state. There wasn't even any trace of the gash now.
"Poison," he managed to let the word out, but he had to put in a lot of effort in it so that he wouldn't throw up again.
"What?! 'Poison'?!" Aeyrin's eyes went wide. There were so many poisons out there, all with different effective antidotes, if any! How could they ever find the right one? And Bishop looked really bad. He could barely talk! It could be lethal!
"What... what are we gonna do? We need to find an antidote, but..." she started to blabber frantically, but he actually managed to speak again to interrupt her.
"Death..." he tried to get the word out, only eliciting a horrified gasp from Aeyrin. Fuck, he didn't mean to say that. "Deathbell." Aeyrin let out an exaggerated sigh of relief as he continued. "Troll... fa..." he swallowed the last sound. Aeyrin started to rummage in her pack frantically before she located a small piece of paper and a thin shard of charcoal. He tried to let the words out while she scribbled them down with the paper on her knee. "Blue... dart..." He noticed her nod her head quickly to indicate that she understood. He had that antidote memorized a long time ago. A lot of Thorn's men had. It was for those times when Thorn decided not to bother curing his men if they pissed him off too much. "Crab... chit'n"
"That's all?" she let out another little sigh of relief, although she was hardly calm now. She didn't understand anything – how he got there, where he'd been and who'd done this to him. She had no idea how he knew the ingredients to what she assumed was the antidote and she had no idea if the poison could eventually kill him. But there was nothing to do but to get the things he had listed and to try to do whatever they could.
YOU ARE READING
Northbound Pilgrimage II
Fiksi PenggemarAeyrin and Bishop continue their journeys through Skyrim, trying to deal with the looming threats in their path. The Province is still ravaged by the dragons, as well as the war, and both new and old enemies still hound their steps. Their adventures...