The Fate's Chosen

CH 8 - Wither on the Vine

Over six months ago a man and woman came to Alastair, in the middle of the night, begging for help. The woman had explained that her sister had a really hard time falling asleep. They explained that they knew that noctine was a powerful drug and was only to be used in extreme cases, but it was the only thing that ever worked. They'd been depending on other physicians, but those physicians had decided that they couldn't help the pair anymore, since that medicine was not an easy thing to come by.

Alastair had seemed hesitant at first but gave in after seeing the utter desperation in the shimmering eyes of the woman. He almost backed out when he heard how much they wanted, but agreed to give it in installments.

I hadn't said anything. It hadn't mattered to me.

The woman who always came by to pick up the noctine for her sister, lay crumpled by the sew-house. Bruises circulated around her throat, similar to Grey's from his scarf strangulation. More purple swirls wrapped around her arms and climbed up her legs where her skirt came up.

She hadn't come to pick up any of the drug this month. That meant she'd probably come by when we were gone.

Slowly, I pushed up from my sore limbs and stood beside Grey. "That lady," I nodded toward the heap. "She's been drugging her sister." I looked back to the quavering Chaos woman, who had zeroed her attention on a man that was slowly approaching her, open palmed. "Him too with a sleeping powder."

"That explains why they haven't caught her," Grey whispered. "They've been keeping her inside, claiming she's sick, I take it."

"Basically." I nodded. "It's amazing. I thought you were the first Chaos child to slip into Emrin."

Grey took in a sharp breath through his nose. "This wasn't her choice."

The other man continued his gradual advance to her. "Mia, I know you're angry, but you have to understand why we—"

Mia grit her teeth, a scream hissing out. "You! Of all people, how could you do this to me?" The ground quaked under our feet.

I stiffened, holding my balance and heard a terrible squelching sound before a thick, dark green vine, shot up from the well, spraying water in all directions. The bricks behind us trembled. The fissures in the street crumbled more, swallowing up stone. Another monstrous stalk burst from the fallen building. The people that had been trapped in her ring, flung up their arms. I did the same, ducking and bracing for the avalanche of debris to bombard me. Grey spun and ran to a little girl, all on her own. He snatched her up and bolted before the remaining base of the ruined wall smashed over the street.

The waggling, corded stem danced in the air, sweeping riotously around, and the terrified people scattered. Some of the ones still recovering from the tumble before, didn't make it in time. They were whipped across the circle and rolled roughly over the cobblestones.

I watched dumbly, only sucked out of my stupor when Grey appeared out of nowhere. The toddler remained close to his chest. He disentangled her tiny arms from around his scarf, carefully ensuring that she didn't take it off him. She squealed, her eyes wide and red as she reached for him. He handed her to me.

"What are you doing?" I stumbled back as if he'd given me a slimy durrant frog. To make it worse, she quickly recovered from wanting him and wrapped her small pudgy hands around my neck and hid her wet face in my collar.

"Can you do me a favor?" Grey whispered.

"No." I should've ripped the tiny creature's hands off me. Instead, my hand kept hovering over her back, then up to her head. I didn't know what to do with it.