Dragonsbane

Redfield

Chapter 10

Redfield

            Ralem woke to someone shaking him. He moaned and turned over, trying to go back to sleep. “Wake up!” someone said, their voice urgent. Ralem opened one sleepy eye to be blinded glowing green eyes staring at him in the pitch darkness. He jumped away before realizing it was Jaydon.

            “Hey,” Jaydon said, “Can you get Arianna to the town? I’ll meet you in the morning.”

            “Why aren’t you coming with us?” Ralem asked, shielding his eyes from the glare.

            Jaydon looked down, “I would, but like you said, my eyes will scare people. I would wait for morning but Arianna has gotten worse.”

            Ralem jumped up like he’d been zapped and looked around for her. Illuminated by Jaydon’s eyes she was lying beside him in the grass. She looked as good as dead. She was deathly pale, lying like a frail glass ornament, broken on the ground. Ralem reached over and touched her face and realized the glasslike look was caused by a sheen of cold sweat that plastered her dark hair to her forehead and gave her a ghostly look. Her breaths were short and shallow, her chest hardly moving. Ralem withdrew in shock.  “Please don’t die,” he whispered, picking her up carefully. Turning around, he surveyed the dark countryside, watched over by the vigilant stars. To his right, the twinkling lights in the distance were a sight for sore eyes. Town. He trudged in the direction as fast as he could, occasionally tripping over a stray branch in his haste. Arianna did not wake.

 Jaydon stayed behind, his glowing eyes following them. Then he turned and walked back into the forest.

Stumbling into town, he searched the dark buildings for the medicine woman’s house. Early risers had small candles in their windows, leading his way. He was glad that his eyesight had improved, for an ordinary man would not have been able to navigate the streets in the darkness. Arianna lay limply in his hands.

Finally he found her cottage. It was small, candles lining the windows. It was rumored that this woman never slept.  She was always ready to help, but could be a little cantankerous at times. This was the reason why Ralem tried to get his sleepy head together before he knocked on the door. Taking a deep breath, he softly lowered Arianna to the floor and rapped the door smartly.

“Who’s there?” A scratchy voice called.

“Someone that needs help,” he said.

“I’ll get it,” another voice said.

Ralem heard someone shuffle to the door and open it up. The light spilled out of the door, illuminating an old man, his face lined with wrinkles. His weary eyes groped through the darkness until he found Ralem, who once again was holding Arianna in his arms. His eyes widened in surprise, “Come in,” he said, gesturing for them to come past him.

The aromas of the house hit him first. It smelled like thousands of different herbs and fire and something else… Ralem would dub it old people. It was not an overly unpleasant smell, but it was a lot for his nose to take in, especially since the sense was amplified by being a Rider. He walked into a room that was spacious for a small house. A small kitchen littered with medicine and remedies was in the corner, a furnace going even though it was in the spring (so that’s where the fire smell came from). In other words, it was hot. A few cots lay on the ground beside the kitchen table, where the medicine woman was glaring them with beady eyes.

Seeing Arianna she jumped up like a spry bird. “Put her down on the cot right there,” she said pointing, her tone making it sound like she was telling a dog to sit. Ralem set her down carefully. Her head lolled to the side. The lady walked up to him and jabbed a gnarly finger into his chest, “What did you do to her?” she rasped.