Part 29 (1/2)
”You don't understand! I need my medicines, but I can't make them here! I lost it all at the Watchtowers! I told you I needed my pack! Why didn't you listen?” She was screaming at him now, but the words were so slurred from her weeping that it was hard for him to understand them.
He could hear the footsteps of others approaching, and quickly created a spell of sleep. The magic washed over Elaysen, and she slumped as the tension left her body, falling into a deep slumber.
Two servants appeared in the doorway. ”What happened? We heard screaming,” said one.
”She's ill,” said Gerin. ”I made her sleep, but I need to get her to her rooms and have someone watch over her.” He picked her up, careful to cradle her head against his chest. She felt painfully thin and light.
”You,” he said to the female servant. ”Come with me.”
Gerin carried Elaysen to her rooms in one of the women's halls. He placed her on her bed and told the servant to fetch food and water for her. ”When she wakes, make sure she eats and drinks.”
”Yes, my lord. What if she's still sick?”
”Fetch me if you can, or the closest available wizard if I'm occupied. I need to return to the Hammdras.” He squeezed Elaysen's hand and kissed her forehead. She did not stir.
What's happened to her? he wondered as he made his way to the wall. She was scarcely the same woman he had met in her father's house on that long ago day in Almaris.
What medicine was it she needed? And why? She'd never spoken of it before, never hinted there was something she required. Kirin knows what's happening with her, and this time he's going to tell me, by the G.o.ds. This isn't right! I want to help her!
The Warden of Healing was not in the gate tower when he arrived. Nor were any of the other wizards. ”Where's everyone gone?” Gerin asked Balandrick.
”They're all off on the wall somewhere, Your Majesty, relaying instructions,” the captain said. ”Apparently, Khazuzili figured out something else that might work against the demons and they're telling everyone what to do.”
”Do you remember what it was?”
Balan shrugged. ”I have no idea, Your Majesty. Some magical thing with an unp.r.o.nounceable name. I swear, I have no idea how you remember what all your spells are called, let alone how to use them.” His eyes widened and he snapped his fingers. ”Bouncing Rings of Barley, or something like that. I think that's close.”
”Binding Rings of Barados,” said Gerin. ”But that requires andraleirazi to bind the spirits,” he murmurred to himself. ”How is he going to use that on demons that can fly?”
”See, that's what I mean. How in Shayphim's name can you say that? It sounds like you're talking with your mouth full of rocks.”
”Andraleirazi is a kind of dust infused with power that can create prisons of magic, for want of a better term. It's used to hold beings of spirit, but that's usually when the spirits have been summoned by a wizard-the Binding Rings keep the spirit from escaping.”
”You wizards should just name everything in Kelarin and be done with it, instead of 'gobbledegook spell' this and 'blah blah spell' that. It gives a man a headache.”
”Not my decision to make, Balan. You'll have to take it up with the Archmage.”
Hollin and a female wizard named Nenyal Fey appeared on the roof from the tower stair.
”What's this I hear about using the Binding Rings of Barados against the demons?” Gerin asked them.
”Our ill.u.s.trious captain has misunderstood what he heard,” said Nenyal, with a smile at Balandrick.
Balan held up his hands. ”I was only trying to repeat what I heard and absolutely did not comprehend. I can't be held responsible if you wizards speak in gibberish half the time.”
”The spell that Warden Khazuzili is teaching us works like the Binding Rings but does not use andraleirazi,” said Nenyal. ”He adapted another spell whose name now escapes me-”
”See!” said Balandrick. ”I'm not the only one!”
”The Warden believes it will have the same effect on the demons as the Word of Reflection. It will sever the link that holds them here, but uses far less power than a Word.”
”Will one of you teach me the spell?” asked Gerin.
”I will,” said Nenyal. ”Come, let's go inside. All of this sun is hurting my eyes.”
The Warden's spell was relatively complex, but Gerin was able to learn it in less than an hour. When Nenyal was certain that he had a grasp of its nuances, they returned to the roof of the tower.
Nearly a dozen people had arrived in their absence. The Lord Commander and the Archmage were there, as well as Khazuzili and several other Wardens and high ministers.
Gerin spied Kirin looking through an embrasure at the enemy camp. He moved to the Warden's side and placed his hand on Kirin's shoulder.
”We need to talk about Elaysen,” he said. ”About what's happening to her.”
”Gerin, please. She asked me specifically not to speak of this with you.”
”I found her weeping uncontrollably in the Varsae Sandrova,” he said angrily. ”She was going on and on about her lost medicines and how she can't find what she needs here. I had to make her sleep so I could get her off the floor and take her to her rooms. Something is very wrong with her, Warden, and I need to know what it is.”
Kirin's expression darkened. He stared off at nothing while he considered Gerin's demand.
”All right, I'll tell you. Her condition is worsening, and while there's nothing you can do for her, I do feel you should know what's happening.”
”Is it something that can kill her?” he asked.
”Not directly, no. She has a disease of the mind, Gerin. Without her medicines, she becomes easily agitated and withdrawn. Her perceptions of the world become skewed, growing dark and menacing. I've seen some of them firsthand, as have you. In Almaris she said it's called Woman's Sadness.”
Gerin had never heard of it. ”Can you treat it? Isn't there anything we can do with our magic?”
”I've tried everything I can think of, but this particular affliction needs a more physical remedy. Unfortunately for all of us, the plants she needs to make her medicines are not native to these lands, and I don't have anything that can be subst.i.tuted. Believe me, she and I have tried with the medicinal plants and herbs we have here, and nothing has helped. A few have even made things worse.”
”You said it wasn't directly fatal. What did you mean by that?”
”The disease itself won't kill her, but it can drive someone to suicide. From what you've told me, she's taken a sudden and alarming downturn, which is why I decided to break my promise and share this with you. We all need to take care that she does not harm herself. Is someone watching her now?”
Gerin felt a great weight of helplessness settle on his chest. ”Yes. I left a servant with orders to see that she eats when she awakens.”
”Good. But we'll need to send additional instructions. She probably should not be left alone until her condition improves.”
”Can it improve without her medicines?”
He shrugged. ”Perhaps for a time. Even now her moods wax and wane, though the swings are sudden and extreme.”
”What else can we do for her?”
”Get her back to Almaris so she can get the medicines we need. Other than that, there is little to be done other than ensuring she doesn't harm herself.”
Gerin looked through the embrasure at the Havalqa. Several of their siege engines were almost complete. ”Easier said than done with an army between us and the only way out of here.”
The cloud-cloaked sun was near to setting behind the western rim of the valley. ”I've never been in a war before,” said Kirin. ”Oh, in my travels I've come across the aftermath of many battles-camps of wounded soldiers, or the common folk displaced by the clas.h.i.+ng of armies, banished from their homes to wander in a daze, wondering how they will rebuild their lives. I've found the victims of outlaws and brigands, sometimes alive, sometimes not, but in my long life this is the first I've experienced this kind of conflict directly. I confess, I thought I would find something exciting about it, something exhilarating, but after seeing what those demons did to the men of the Sunrise Guard, I realize there is nothing to enjoy in war and battle. It's abhorrent, a contest of atrocities.”
”But there is something worthy in war,” said Balandrick. ”Yes, war is about death, but even more so, it's about victory. About vanquis.h.i.+ng your enemy and proving your valor in the face of the very horrors you've witnessed for the first time. War is of course filled with blood and pain and death, but there is a purpose to it as well. It's a means for a man to take measure of himself and discover whether or not he is wanting.”