City of Snakes - Book 2 The Council of the Light

-Nineteen-

In a chair, with two tubes in his arm, Jamie sat next to him with one hand on his chest, he didn't remember collapsing. Jamie's face was sheet white, he was sweating with the effort of applying his magic.

Fraggle looked up from a report, "I've put your doppelganger in your bedroom." It took a while for Clarence to understand what he meant. The Queen wouldn't know he was getting treatment.

"This is the first of three transfusions. There was no sense in delaying."

"I feel numb," Clarence's mouth was thick, his speech was slurred.

"That will be down to your physician," Fraggle nodded to Jamie, "Currently he's extracting the blood from your body, filtering it through his and putting it back. The poison is like tree sap- it sticks to your magic and binds it, apparently. I don't know how it works."

Jamie was shaking, he looked awful.

"He's been at it for three bells," Fraggle looked at Jamie too, his eyes were full of concern but his voice didn't echo it. He shuffled some paperwork and piled it to one side. "I do hope he doesn't exert himself too much, it's his night to cook."

Even the act of closing his eyes took twice it's usual length of time. "Where's B-"

"Asleep next door," Fraggle cut over his laboured speech. "I've sent Sausage through the wall tunnels to check on the doppleganger, she said something about exploring. You don't need to worry, just relax."

It wasn't hard to do what he was told.

The next time he woke up there was blood all over the floor and Jamie was curled up in a ball on the flagstones. Fraggle looked up with wide eyes, in his hands a blood soaked towel.

"I got the tube out," he said.

"Wh-"

Fraggle went back to mopping up the blood. Clarence tried to sit up and struggled to. From the door to the kitchen Beatrix watched.

"Is he ok?" Clarence's voice squeaked.

"No," Fraggle snapped. Remembered who he was talking to and tried again. "He will be fine, your majesty, he fainted."

There was a bang as Beatrix closed the door and retreated back into the kitchen. Clarence made to get up but he was too weak to move. Fraggle continued to wipe the blood from the floor, the towel was sodden.

Jamie groaned.

"I told you to stop," Fraggle chided him as soon as he was able to sit up.

Jamie looked to the towel, then up to Clarence, silently working out what had happened. "I fainted."

"You did."

"The tubes ripped out?"

They did."

"You're ok?" that was directed at Clarence, who nodded and tried to sit up a little in his chair. "Any pain?" Jamie asked. Fraggle tutted and took the towel into the kitchen.

"I don't feel anything."

"Good, the enchantments are holding- I wasn't sure they would." He forced himself to stand and he felt Clarence's forehead and pulled the lids of his eyes down. "You've lost a lot of blood, but not too much." A pause. "Sorry."

"It doesn't matter."

Jamie's eye twitched, "It does." He didn't let Clarence say anything more, and started to speak again. "There will be three more of these transfusions- in between them you must keep your magic grounded so each morning you will exhaust it, again at lunchtime and again before bed. You know how to?"