Talon the Black (Dragonwall Series # 1)

Chapter 23 - Contending With Poison

Kengr Plains

Claire woke to peculiar shapes moving around her. The world faded in and out of focus for several long minutes—minutes that seemed to last an eternity. From light to dark, her sights moved as she pulled her drowsy mind from its dreams, and strange dreams they were. Foggy images of Vodar wraiths, sword fighting, bright flashes of light, and worse. It all swam in and out of her consciousness.

She forced her eyes to focus on the sky above, swallowing against her dry throat. The moment her mind came to awareness, a sharp pain traveled up her leg. She groaned, clenching her teeth. In the same instant, a switch flipped in her brain. She hadn't been dreaming. All of the images plaguing her were very real, sending a wave of panic through her.

The burning in her leg pulsed, gripping her deep in the gut. She tensed. There was nothing in the world more real than what she felt. She was careful not to move for fear of making the pain worse. She lay motionless, utterly traumatized by what had happened. Was she going to die?

Another groan boiled up deep in her chest.

She closed her eyes and swallowed a few more times as fear washed over her. There was nothing worse than dreading death. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as the fright that came with it, but that told her something. Surely her wound wasn't as bad as it felt, because if it was, she would have been begging for death.

She opened her eyes and pushed herself up. Everything began to spin before settling into a steady state. She felt a hand on her shoulder. Reyr crouched beside her. "Not too fast," he said. His voice was warm, soothing. She looked from his worried face to her wound, her eyes widening. The lower part of her pant leg had been rolled all the way up to her knee. There she saw an angry slash, but no blood, which was a good sign. In the middle of the gash was a black line sending out little black veins like a collection of small tributaries leading into a river. The poison was there—she was very familiar with its appearance.

Reyr followed her gaze. "You can thank Koldis for his quick actions. It was he who saved you. He is the only one of us here skilled at reversing the effects of poison in its early stages. He was able to keep it from spreading at his own expense." Reyr motioned with his head to where Koldis was sleeping, an arm thrown over his face. He looked more handsome when he wasn't scowling. "He is sleeping now. He must regain his strength before we can continue on."

It was dawn and the sky above them was flat gray. The air was humid and sticky, making her more uncomfortable than she already was—if that was possible. "How...how long have I been out?" Her tongue felt thick, her throat like sandpaper, and her voice was almost like a croaking frog's. Which meant she'd probably done a lot of screaming while Koldis was healing her.

"Only a few hours. None of us except Koldis has slept since the attack."

"And...and my wound?" she squeaked. She did her best to hold still. When she wasn't moving, she could almost block out the pain. Almost.

"It will not kill you. The poison will not spread, Koldis has seen to that. But it will pain you until it is properly healed. None of us here possesses the ability to fix it. Not even Koldis."

A new panic set in. "You mean, I've...I've got to carry on like this until...until I get to the capital?" By the end of the sentence, her voice was hardly a whisper.

"No, fortunately not—if you are lucky. We will be upon the forest in less than two days. There you will find the healing you need."

"The—the forest?" He didn't mean it, did he?

"Aye. The Gable Forest. We will be there by tomorrow's nightfall."

She stared at him with wide eyes. "But..." They couldn't go to the Gable Forest, nor Esterpine. That was where the Sprite queen lived. Cyrus told her about the queen and how angry she was with the Drengr monarchy. Moreover, he didn't trust her.