BLOODLUST - DARK SOULS (THE CURSE OF THE BLOOD SERIES #1)

part nine

"Well, she's burning up."

Laith could feel her face met with something cold, wet, making her shiver. She pushed the hand away, but the hand pinned her arms to her side, instead.

"I need to lower your temperature. Your fever's high." A woman growled, she pressed a rug onto her forehead. Thin vapor appeared from the piece of clothing she used. "Too high." She sighed.

Laith blinked several times, scanning. Small wooden space, with a long place to seat facing each other, window in front, two doors on each side. She was in a carriage, and it was moving. The lady in front of her, not much older than her, knelt in the sitting place. "Here," She placed her hand on her spine as she pushed her back to sit, supporting her. She took out a black shirt, leggings, and a robe from the pouch beside her. "Let me help you."

Laith put on the legging that the lady handed her over, then pulled the greenish-grey tunic off her body and took the shirt. She glimpsed at the dark vein that webbed from her wrist to her shoulder before covering it up with the black clothes.

"Is she awake, yet?" A man suddenly appeared at the door, hanging through the pole outside the carriage.

"Fuck! Nimiel, you shocked me!" The lady taunted, slamming her sling bag on his face. He dodged it and sneered.

Laith immediately pulled the shirt.

"Oh. Sorry. I didn't know you were changing." He bowed down and stepped in. "We've almost reached Tavern. Not long to Ley."

"Just be aware then. How's the horse?" The lady asked, as her hand wrapped the robe around Laith.

"Vigorous." He replied. Then, he turned his sight to Laith. "You're okay?"

Laith nodded.

"She's burning like a fire." The lady hissed. "Not that surprised then. If I'm about to use my frost all day long, my body stiffened like an icicle."

"That's cus you're weak, Nyer." The man named Nimiel snarled.

"Get out of here! Ride the horse, you better help Aiden than smudging on my face!" The lady called Nyer swung the long black boots to Nimiel but he dodged and laughed as he swung his body to the outside.

"Sorry about that." She smiled. She brought the boots to her. "What should I call you?"

She took the pair from her hand, "L-Laith Zurlyn." Then, she paused. Somehow it felt strange register to her tongue.

"Laith," Nyer repeated, her lips curled into a grin. "In Vernaic, Laith means the only hope. Well, I guess that suits you."

Laith pulled her lips a little as she wore the long, dark boots. Hope; it was the only thing that kept pushing her away all this time. Just when she thought there was none to find any solution-but at what cost? "Where's him?"

"You mean Aiden?" Vynn asked back. "He's riding the horse. We're on the way to the base, we just need to cross Ley's border." She then reached her cheeks and sighed. "You must be hungry, wait."

she came back and handed her a pouch. meat and bread. Laith took a glimpse with a blank stare to the food on her laps. How long since she had meals before?

"Anything wrong?"

Laith shook her head. She bit the edge of the meat, register the taste to her tongue. A bit rusty, like the prison itself or maybe her mouth already lost the sense even before she even realize.

"Why are you taking me?" She knew the shadow already spoke a bit about the favour, but she needed more than just a word.

"Yjedrah will explain everything later. Be patient."

Good. More questions hung up in the air.
Laith pinched the spot between her eyebrows. "My head hurts."

"Yeah, umm, Erio makes your head swing like hell. Passed out, in the worst case. Like you." She shrugged. "But it flushed all the toxin out of your system. Whatever Zaph gave to you, you might don't want to keep it in your body."

Laith frowned. "I passed out?"

"For a whole day." Nyer chuckled. "Don't worry you've missed nothing much. Just some trackers almost shot us down, but we led them west. Zaph won't find our shitty footsteps for now, so hold you horses."

Nimiel appeared at the door, hinting at Nyer outside. She beamed a quick smile at Laith before hopped off the carriage and blended with the hardened wind. The horse had slowed, the pace lowered. Laith knelt on the bench, pulled the black cover from the back window. The forest stopped in a perfect single line, smaller, as the carriage moved on the white, marble brick road. She frowned. She quickly slid to the door, stretching her neck and felt the wind slapping her face, shadowing her eye. But she could see the glimpse of the broad, whitish, river to the horizon. The marble road she saw turned out to be a bridge. A big one. The morning sun just a half-dipped inside the river. Its shine melted, flowed through the water, ebbing, glistening but never faded. What amazed her more was the forest at the other side of the bridge-taller, bulkier. They were ten times bigger than the trees behind her carriage.

They didn't stop as they reached the mysterious forest, but instead Nyer told her to keep her voice calm. When she asked why, she replied to it in a teasing tone, saying that the fairy used to sleep in the morning. But she knew she just didn't want to attract any unwelcome 'guest'. Even if her heart yearned to know more, she swallowed her tongue to ask. Maybe Nyer didn't want to make her worry. Or perhaps she didn't even care to explain at all.

She didn't realize she fell asleep again, with the furry coated robe covering her entirely, providing her enough warmth to snuggle so peacefully. She laid on the bench, until the sun already stood in the straight line with her head, with greyish cloud that shadowed its presence. As she woke up, Nimiel got inside the carriage, warned her that they might not reached the tavern since the cloud seemed to get heavier, and there might a stone storm that night.

*updates incoming