Tainted Saints and Velvet Vices

Chapter 6: Severe Sentences

Louis jerked awake, wheezing and gasping desperately for air. He shot up, heart pounding in his chest, and whipped around. He was in the cave; a fire burned beside him, and Harry sat facing him, his hand absently stroking the outer curve of Diane's wings.

"What—how—what happened?" Louis demanded. His voice was scratchy and raspy, his throat unbearably dry. "Why did you bring me here?"

Harry narrowed his eyes before turning his attention back to the Scarlet-Tongue, seemingly placated now that he knew Louis was conscious.

"I needed to bring Diane the dittany," he said eventually. "A gash in her leg had opened to infection since we were here last."

Louis nodded and shifted himself into a sitting position. He winced as a sharp pain shot through his leg. "What time is it?"

Harry considered Louis' question for a moment. "Probably about ten at night. Your eyes opened for a second almost straight after I removed the water you swallowed from your trachea but you didn't wake up fully. Had to haul you down here with me."

"You brought me through the tunnel?" Louis said incredulously.

Harry guffawed. "As if I would bother," he muttered.

Louis raised an eyebrow, confusion dawning on him. "Then how?"

"The water," Harry said eventually. "The lake... it was too warm for it to be natural, especially at this time of the year. I figured that it had been heated up from the underground Salamander fires so I started moving some of the rocks and found this... kind of vertical tunnel." He pointed at the far end of the cavern. "It led straight there."

Louis nodded, leaning his weight on his left leg and pulling himself to his feet. He dragged his right leg closer to where Harry sat. He collapsed beside Harry to inspect his application of the dittany.

"What's with the fire?" Louis asked. "I don't think Diane needs heat right now. If anything, the inflammation of her leg needs to settle down."

Harry remained silent for a moment. "The heat's supposed to open up your chest cavity," he said quietly. "To help you breathe better."

Louis' movements stilled. He didn't dare meet Harry's eye, focusing instead on the healing scales of the Scarlet-Tongue's leg. "Thank you," he said quietly, ignoring the strange feeling in his chest.

He heard Harry shift his position behind him. "She's sound asleep but it doesn't look like she's eaten today," Harry said, decidedly ignoring Louis' words. "She can't go too long without anything substantial and she's not ready to find something by herself. Her leg is not strong enough yet. If we leave it too long, she won't hesitate to have one of us."

Louis nodded. He set about using a basic healing spell to cure the worst of the stinging on his calf while Harry listed the kind of foods Scarlet-Tongues tended to eat.

"Styles," Louis sighed frustratedly, "unless we can actually find some of those foods, we're still at square one."

Harry glowered at him. "There's bound to be more creatures somewhere in this fucking cave," he snapped. "The task is supposed to involve caring for her and we can't be expected to do that if there aren't any sources of food for her here."

Louis pushed himself up to standing position. "Fine," he said shortly. He racked his memory for everything he knew about a Scarlet-Tongue's basic diet. "What about Giant Glumbumbles? They live in dark places like caves, right?"

Harry's head shot up and he nodded quickly. "Yeah, yeah... that could work. If we can find some, she'd eat them."

Louis thought back to his Care of Magical Creatures textbook, trying to remember anything that would indicate where they might find the giant insect. "All I know is that they eat nettles so they can't be too far from open sunlight, but they prefer to create their nests in dark, cool areas."