Princess of Fire (The Light-Bringer Trilogy, #2)

Six

"He's seizing!" cried Daktari. He rushed over and knelt beside Matias. He turned Matias on his side and barked, "Go get help!"

Cal forced herself to run to the hospital. She barrelled through the doors and shrieked, "Help! I need medics! Help!"

Several medics stopped what they were doing. One of them walked over to her.

"Neiti, is everything alright?" she asked.

"My best friend," sobbed Cal. "Help him, please. I love him!"

"Where is he?" asked the woman. Her greying blonde hair was coming loose of its braid, her kind grey eyes searching Cal's.

Cal took a shuddering breath. "He's outside. Please don't let him die!"

The woman looked over her shoulder at the medics. "Well don't just stand there," she barked. "Get out there and bloody help the boy!"

Upon the woman's yelling, medics grabbed supplies and ran outside to Matias and Daktari. Cal strode after them. Her feet touched the cobblestones when the woman grabbed her arm.

"Give them space, neiti," she said soothingly.

Cal ran her hands up and down her arms. Alexis, Dahlia, don't let my lover die, she prayed. Alexis, protect my beloved from death and harm. Dahlia, change my beloved's fate and steer it from death.

Almost as if the goddesses were answering her prayers, Matias's convulsions stopped. The medics unfurled a sheet and rolled him onto it. They picked up the sheet and carried him to the hospital. Cal and the woman followed the medics. They followed them down the rows upon rows of metal-framed beds. They stopped at a bed on the far side that was situated between two windows. The medics set him down and began to undress him. They left Matias in his undershorts and brought over a loose white tunic and matching pants. A medic pulled Cal, Daktari and the woman aside while the other two medics made Matias comfortable.

"In order to treat your friend, I have to know what you diagnosed him with, and his symptoms," she said, her blue eyes darting back and forth between them.

Cal looked away, running her hands up and down her arms again. Daktari spoke for both of them. He told the medic of how he met Cal and Matias, of Matias's initial symptoms. He spoke of the treatments and how Matias kept getting worse and worse.

"He didn't know who Daktari was when we got here," Cal interjected. "He was completely out of it."

Daktari and the medic paled.

"It's not sepsis," the medic breathed.

"Beezlebub root poisoning," murmured Daktari.

Her stomach dropped. Beezlebub root. A deadly poison native to Tenebrarum. It mimicked the symptoms of sepsis, but there was no cure for Beezlebub poisoning.

Her mind spun out of control. "He's going to die. He's going to die! Matias is going to die!"

She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Is everything okay, Cal?" asked Luna.

Cal looked over at Luna, tears in her eyes. "No," she sobbed.

Luna pulled Cal into an embrace. "I'm sure it's going to be okay."

—

Cal didn't leave Matias's side. She held his clammy hand in hers. She would let go and back away when he would have another fit of convulsions. She sat on a stool she dragged over. She laid her head down on the bed, her eyes drooping, but kept holding his hand.

She felt a hand brush against her cheek, fingers playing in her hair. She opened her eyes and saw Matias smiling sadly.

Her brows furrowed. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" she sat bolt upright.