The Quest

Chapter 12

~Di~

Matis was snoring peacefully in his little cot next to Di's. She traced a line up and down the forearm next to hers, trying to be as gentle as possible so as not to stir him. She'd left the prince to drink alone after chiding him for drinking so much. She'd dragged the cot Quo was on earlier right next to Matis and laid down, not wanting to sleep alone for the remainder of the night.

The cot itself was a tad dank and smelled of leftover sweat from Quo, but she didn't mind. For once, she could truly ignore her heightened sense of smell and just lie down peacefully on the boat.

Matis's eyes fluttered open and he smiled.

"Hello," He said in a whisper. She returned the smile. "Where are we?"

"The ship infirmary," she replied with a hint of disdain. Not much of a healing room. Lack of supplies and only two cots! HA.

"Infirmary?" His brow furrowed. He gasped and looked at her more in shock. "My throat's sore but you must be so hurt! She burned you!"

He quickly rose to rest on his elbow and gently put a hand on her waist. She grimaced.

"I killed someone." Di's voice was close to whispering. She stared into his eyes, watching the worry from them be displaced with a light sadness. She was a Healer, not a fighter. She cared not for her wounds, but it hurt her heart to have gone against her own code. The one thing she was proud of from her elvish side, healing.

"The queen is probably alive-" he started to say but Di shook her head.

"Not that one. I killed a guard before you were released from your cells. I tried to stop them! I froze most of them but there were two left and one came for me. I couldn't even think." Di shut her eyes in anguish. Matis wrapped an arm around her and held her close.

"I'm sure the moon will forgive you," he replied. She chuckled. "I forgive you. I'm glad you did it! They tried to torture us!"

"They did. Don't you remember?" She peeked up at him, seeing his stubbly chin. "They put a spell on you—you couldn't breathe right!"

He pulled his hand back to rub his throat as if remembering the pain she knew he'd felt then.

"I suppose they did." Matis seemed to be thinking. "That is such an elvish way of torture. So sneaky! Humans would cut you up, but there the fae goes with the complicated spells."

Matis was about to put his hand back down when Di saw a smudge on the inside. She grabbed it and suddenly hitched her breath.

"What?" Matis asked, his face contorted in confusion.

She tried to rub the mark away but it seemed tattooed. Matis yanked his hand back and looked for himself.

"That is a leftover from the torture. I'm sure of it." Di's voice was hollow. On his palm was a black sun. Just a small circle and triangles around it all colored in black. "That is a mark of their god, the Sun God."

"I can't be the only one." Matis kicked his hand and tried to rub it off himself. He looked down at Di, his brown eyes settling on her grayish blues. "I'm sure it's fine. I don't feel any different besides better than before."

"They marked you for something, Husband." Di rolled onto her back to make space and think. I've never seen such a mark after a spell. Perhaps it's the mark of a curse? "Moon Elves don't curse. I've never seen anything like that before."

"It's not a curse, Di. It's just a mark." She flinched at the use of her name but didn't correct him. "How about a prayer to your moon?"

Di scoffed at him.