A Touch of Death

Chapter 20

The Enchanter was nowhere to be found.

At first, it wasn't much to be concerned with. Sometimes he stayed up late conducting whatever research he was working on in the tower or in the library, and Aoife wound find him late in the afternoon, asleep on one of the sofas. Most days when he didn't show up for training, she simply went through the routine herself and used the time to bask in the quiet.

Things only became truly concerning when he didn't show up for dinner.

Aoife left the food untouched and immediately walked out of the room, letting the door swing shut behind her as she briskly made her way to the library. The room housed only shadows, though, the light of the setting sun streaming through the windows and illuminating the shelves in shades of deep orange. The tower was empty, as well, her legs protesting as she started the long trek back down to the main floor. He wasn't in the inner courtyard or the kitchen, and he certainly was not at dinner, though she did check one more time just to be certain.

That was how she wound up at the door to his room, looking warily at the carved flowers on the heavy wooden door. She knocked quietly as she spoke, hoping he could hear her on the other side.

"Hello? Are you in there?" No response. However, there wasn't anywhere else he could be. She wasn't meant to go in there- in fact, it was only of his few rules. If there was something wrong, though, wasn't it a rule worth breaking? Taking a deep breath to steel herself, Aoife opened the door and stepped inside.

The room was... not exactly what she expected.

It was a mess, but that wasn't surprising judging by the state of the tower. There were papers everywhere and discarded clothes in so many piles that she couldn't tell what was clean or what was dirty. However, the room itself seemed to have only the bare essentials. The walls were plain stone, devoid of decoration. There was a large bed with thick curtains, draped in green, a plain green rug covering most of the floor, a large desk, and a standing wardrobe. Other than that, the place was empty. No knickknacks, no personal items other than the papers, nothing that seemed decorative or individual at all. Aoife didn't bring much with her, but she at least kept her cloak and her embroidery box nearby. In here there was nothing that seemed his.

And... it was cold. Aoife shivered, realizing that if there had been a fire in the fireplace, it had died out many hours ago. Her gaze swept across the room one more time, nearly missing that the messy pile of blankets on the bed wasn't a pile of blankets at all, but a man. A man who suddenly began violently coughing.

A tiny gasp slipped past her lips as she rushed over to the bed, picking her way past discarded clothes and torn papers. She pulled down the green duvet just enough to see the Enchanter, coughing in a fitful sleep, white hair splayed out over the pillows in ghostly tangles and a fine sheen of sweat on his skin. Instinctively, she reached out and placed a hand on his forehead. Even through the fabric of her gloves, it was easy to tell something was wrong.

"He's too warm..." she mumbled to no one in particular. His fever was high. A slight flutter of panic rose in her chest, but she squashed it down. She didn't think Fae could become sick, but apparently she was wrong... or maybe the Enchanter had just enough human in him to allow that. Either way, he would be in trouble without some help.

Her first instinct was to build back up the fire in the grate, but that would take more time than hiking up to the tower to find medicine. It wasn't deathly cold in the room, and he had plenty of blankets. Fifteen more minutes couldn't make him worse than he already was, and the sooner she could get something in him to help with the fever, the better.

Besides the fever and the cough, she couldn't see any other symptoms. His skin didn't appear to be discolored, barring the silver Mark, and he wasn't lucid enough at this point to ask for any other things he might be feeling. Instead of trying to get any extra information from him in this state, Aoife went straight to the workshop to look for herbs.