A Nightingale's Tale

Chapter Fifteen

All the candles and fairy lights had been dimmed in the tent where the patients were sleeping. Lydia fumbled with the bottles and books in her arms as she tried to find a candle. The tent was the darkest of all in the camp, to help the patients rest, so without lights on inside it was consistently dark even at noon. The only bit of light she had was from florescent algae inside one of the jars she carried. She heard the scratch of a bedpost moving at the far end of the room. No one in the room should have been awake. She shot up immediately, no longer searching for a candle.

“Hello?” she asked the darkness. The green glow of the algae was only bright enough to light a few inches in front of her. She could feel the presence of the sleeping people in the room, but she could also feel something else. She took a few steps forward and sat the books and jars on the floor. Something low to the ground moved swiftly from behind one cot to the other. She placed her finger against her crystal and stepped forward into the darkness. She adjusted her eyesight. She could now see the outlines out the cots clearer but not what was hiding behind them. She felt her palms dampen with worry. She was scared. She was increasingly more aware of the cut on her neck as the salt from her sweat seeped into it. She imagined a half-dissolved Larid crouching behind the cot ready to take her with him. Her hands shook, and her breathing increased. She had never been shaken up in combat even when she knew her life was in danger. It had only been her life at risk in the past but now if something happened to her Arabella may never be saved. Her finger slid from the soft leather of her glove to the smooth rock habitually. She noticed what looked like a white snake glowing against the dirt floor. At that moment, a woman, who had been crouching low to the floor, jumped at her. Lydia released her finger from the stone, not wanting to hurt the woman. The woman was small and tried to push and jump over Lydia, but Lydia was stronger and countered her weight. They fell onto the floor with Lydia on her back. Lydia grabbed rough and loose skin. She held onto what she assumed was the woman’s arms and flipped her over. The knuckles of her left hand broke glass against the ground and the shards went deep into her skin. The woman bellowed and kicked a table with a dimmed lantern atop. The lantern broke onto a pile of dirty bandages in a basket and immediately set a flame. The woman grabbed onto Lydia’s hair and scratched her face as her bony knee dug into her leg. All fear she had was immediately overcome with anger as she felt warm liquid spill down her cheek. Lydia raised her waist and the woman went into the air slightly. With the woman’s weight no longer helping her hold Lydia down, Lydia brought her leg forward and kicked the woman in the side. She let out a loud gasp as her lungs grasped at the air that suddenly left her body. She rolled to the floor, holding her chest. The tent was then bright with light. Killian was standing in the doorway letting light from the outside in. Lydia saw her assailant and took a step back. An elderly woman with long black hair, that was peppered with grey at the crown, held her side as she was curled on the dirt floor.

“What’s going on?” Killian yelled. The room began to fill with candlelight and fairy lights. Killian picked up a water bucket and threw it onto the fire. He then ran to the side of the elderly woman and looked at Lydia astonished. The crowd gathered at the tent, looking equally parts horrified and shocked. Lydia had just attacked an elderly woman. Blood from her hand dripped into a red pool on the floor. She could feel multiple pieces of glass sticking out of her knuckles. The woman sobbed into Killian’s arms as he leaned into him for support.

Lydia tried to save herself, “I…I didn’t see…she attacked me…”

Killian shot her a face of pure fury then returned his attention to the woman that certainly had a broken rib or two, “Are you alright?”

She whimpered softly as she tried to regain her steady breathing. Lydia took a step forward to comfort her but the look of repulsion on everyone’s face kept her from going further. Glass crunched as she stepped. She moved her foot and saw what she had cut her hand on. It was a glass vile with a damp white label that read “el largo Sueno.”

“What’s your name?” Killian asked her softly.

“Wait, you don’t know her?” Lydia asked.

“No,” he said. No one else in the crowd says anything.

“What’s going on?” Simon said as he pushed his way into the tent with Camille close behind.

The woman scrambled on her knees as fast as she could out of Killian’s arms and toward Simon. Killian looked up at Lydia quickly and back to the woman. Then he lunged forward and grabbed her by the waist. She screeched and screamed as she clawed the air in front of Simon. Simon stepped back of shock. Camille put her tiny frame in between them. Killian held the woman back equally confused.

“What is going on?” Killian asked struggling to hold onto her withered body.

“I have no idea,” Simon said.

“I’ll kill you and your whole family!” she screamed over and over at Simon.

Lydia picked up the glass vile and looked back to the cot she had been hiding beneath, Oliver’s.

“Oliver!” Lydia yelled. She, Sofia, and Simon ran toward his cot. He seemed to be peacefully sleeping. Lydia checked his breathing and heart rate, as normal as they had been the day before. Simon looked down at the woman with anger and confusion.

“What did she do?” Simon asked.

“I think she tried to poison him,” Lydia said.

“What?!” Simon screamed.

“How could you know that?” Killian questioned her.

She threw the broken vile at his feet. He was still holding onto the elderly woman with both arms.

“She dropped that when she attacked me.” She held up her bloody hand as further proof.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

The woman was still thrashing in his arms as he turned her to face him, “Is that yours?”

She spat in his face and continued to fight against him. She was tired from the fight with Lydia and could barely keep up her thrashing.

“Why do you think she did something Oliver?” Simon asked coming closer.

“Simon, get out until we figure out what is going on!” Killian screamed.

Simon looked apprehensive but unmoved. Camille pulled on his arm and they went outside.

“And someone get her,” Killian said motioning to the woman. Everyone was still surprised at the events that had just unfolded and paused. “Get her from me!” he yelled again. Braun and Edgar scurried to her and grabbed her by each arm. Her frail arms kept fighting while the rest of her was obviously exhausted.

“What should we do with her?” Braun asked. They didn’t exactly have somewhere they could put her without her escaping or trying to harm someone. Killian didn’t say anything. There wasn’t anywhere to keep her.

“Sofia,” Lydia started and waited to see if Killian would interrupt her. When he didn’t she continued, “There are four stones in a wooden box above the miraculin. Get them. And take her outside, Braun”

Sofia didn’t hesitate and ran out of the tent. Everyone followed Braun and Edgar out of the tent. Lydia hit her hand on a cot as she tried to reach for a cloth to clean the blood. Pain ran up from her knuckles and up her arm. She grabbed her hand instinctively and shielded it with the other. Killian came to her and took her hand. He picked a large piece of glass from the back of her middle finger. Blood ran down her wrist and snaked around her arm until it dropped to the floor.

“We need to make sure Oliver is ok. I don’t see anything wrong at first but…” she said.

“We need to make sure your hand is ok first then you can take care of Oliver.”

“That’s alright with you?” she asked.

“I assume that’s what you came in here to do,” he said gesturing to the books and jars strewn on the floor.

“I just wanted to…help.”

“I know.”

He pulled another piece of glass from her hand and threw all the pieces into the bucket. The little bit of water left in the bucket turned a dull red from her blood. When he had pulled all the glass out he wrapped it with gauze and a bandage. He held onto her palm for a moment more before letting her go. She went over to Oliver and began checking for signs of poisoning.

“I don’t know if she managed to give it to him,” she said.

“How do you know that’s what she was doing?”

“We don’t have viles like this in the camp and she was underneath his cot when I came in. But, I don’t know, I’m just assuming.”

“We’ll find out, we have ways.”

Lydia wondered what he had meant by that.

“I have it,” Sofia said holding the box up as she entered the tent. Lydia went outside, and Sofia followed behind her. No one had gone back to their chores, they were all circled around the woman who was sitting on the ground with her hands tied with ropes. Lydia took the box from Sofia, “Go make sure Oliver is ok.” Sofia nodded and headed back into the tent. Killian stepped out and watched her.

“Let’s take her farther away from the library,” Lydia said. Braun and Edgar carried the now immobile old woman toward the back of the camp. They laid her against the grass near a tree with hanging moss that reached the ground. Braun let go of one arm, seeing what the woman would do. Instead of trying to run she just collapsed into a fetal position. Lydia took the four stones from the box and placed them around her. She said an incantation and reached a hand forward. Her hand was met with an invisible wall. The woman wouldn’t be able to get out from her invisible four walls.

“Killian, can I speak with you?” Simon asked. Simon looked down at Lydia and the woman before turning his back to them.

“Sure. I’ll be back,” he said to Lydia.

After Killian and Simon left, one by one everyone began going back to their daily duties which left Lydia sitting in front of the sobbing elderly woman alone. She unrolled the damp paper she had pulled from the broken vile.

“What does this say?” she asked placing it in front of her on the grass.

The woman stared forward at her without answering.

“Were you trying to kill Oliver?”

Nothing.

“What did Simon do to you?” Lydia asked.

Again, nothing.

“I need you to tell me something,” Lydia insisted,

The woman kept staring. Lydia recognized her thoughtless stares, she had done it many times since Arabella was taken. Despair.

“Would you like food or water?” Lydia asked.

“Are you going to kill me or not?” the woman replied finally.

Her voice was shaky and croaked, and it took Lydia by surprise how ill she sounded.

“No, no I’m not going to kill you.”

“You should.”

“Why?”

The woman rolled onto her back, still holding onto her side, with a groan of pain.

“Do you want me to look at that? Something might be broken,” Lydia said.

“It is broken.”

Lydia looked down at the stones, she could remove one and help the woman. The woman was in obvious distress. For the first time in her life, Lydia was glad she hadn’t been able to use her praecant. She would have killed her. The woman had deliberately covered the stone and kept her from using it. Lydia turned her palm over to look at her stone.

“I haven’t seen one of those in a long time,” the woman said. She began coughing uncontrollably while she held onto her side. Lydia hurried to her feet and ran to get a bucket of clean water from her tent, as well as cloth and a jar of ground turmeric. The woman was doubled over in a coughing fit when she returned. Lydia kicked a stone away and ran to her side without checking to see if the spell had broken. The woman drank the water furiously.

“Here, this will help with the pain,” Lydia said as she mixed the turmeric into a cup and shook it with one hand over the top to keep the liquid inside. The woman didn’t even question what she had put into the cup. She drank it down swiftly, spilling some down her chin and trying to collect it in her palm. Then she fell back and seemed to take a full breath for the first time in a while. Lydia saw blood on her hand from her coughing fit. She sat down a few feet from the woman and slid the stone back into place, resurrecting the woman’s prison.

“Do you really think that’s necessary?’ the old woman said while laying on her back.

“At this point, yes.”

“Why did you run away from your coven?”

Lydia was startled, “How did…”

“You have a praecant and know basic alchemy and botany when obviously no one else around here does. And, old law covens don’t let anyone just go, I know.”

Lydia wondered how much more she knew. Could she possibly get information about where Arabella could be from her?

“I had to,” Lydia said.

“Did you really though?” The woman sat up and took another sip of water. “My name’s Samantha but my grandchildren call me Sissy. I always hated being called a grandmother.”

Sissy, poured more water from the bucket into her cup. Lydia saw her hands and face were dirty as if she hadn’t bathed in a while. Her arms were covered in dull pink scars. A blue bracelet made her rough features softer. She had been beautiful a long time ago.

“I left to save someone,” Lydia said.

“Me, too but I was too late.” Sissy’s eyes glossed over with a sad longing.

“I am right, aren’t I? You tried to kill Oliver?”

Sissy dropped an empty vile from her pocket. It matched the one Lydia had crushed. “He won’t die he just won’t wake up.”

Lydia looked down at the vile in the grass and back to Sissy. Lydia couldn’t see a callous killer, instead she looked like an elderly woman who had lived a hard life on streets.

“How do I wake him?” Lydia asked.

Silence.

“You know I’ll figure it out eventually, you may as well tell me now and save everyone time,” Lydia insisted.

Silence.

“He’s an innocent child. He couldn’t have done anything to you.”

Sissy turned her head sharply toward Lydia, it looked almost unnatural.

“No, but his family did,” Sissy snapped.

“Who?”

“His bastard of a brother.”

“What did Simon do?”

“He killed my son.”

Lydia felt the breath leave her chest. Considering Sissy’s age, by her appearance, her son wouldn’t have been very old.

“What happened?” Lydia asked.

“War, war is what happened.”

“So, this is revenge?”

“Yes, in every way he wronged me, I will wrong him.”

“Torturing a child doesn’t bring vengeance to your son’s death.”

“The child isn’t being tortured. He has no idea what’s happening. The brother is the one being tortured.”

“You can’t let him stay like that.”

Sissy looked at her as if to ask “Why? Why can’t I?” Then she shifted her body and settled again. “What do you want more than anything?” Sissy asked.

Lydia didn’t answer. But she felt like the woman could hear her thoughts crying out for Arabella.

“That thing you just thought of, that’s the same way I feel. I want Simon to know the pain I have been in every day since he took my only son from me.”

Lydia couldn’t argue with the woman when she herself was entertaining the idea of vengeance.

“But, Oliver’s a child,” was all she could say.

“I know what injustice is because of old law covens. I understand your anger. My husband had to abandon his, so we could marry. It wasn’t an easy life for us and neither will yours be. My husband and I stood up for what we believed in and it cost him his life. Now, my son has been killed for similar reasons and I want vengeance. As you do.”

“How does Simon have anything to do with that?”

The woman laughed so hard she ended up in another coughing fit and more blood came from her mouth and onto the grass. “You may be intelligent, but you aren’t very smart. Simon killed a lot more people than just my son.”

“Simon wouldn’t…”

“We are on opposing sides. I’ll forever be loyal to my beliefs. I will risk my life to protect what I have fought so hard for. And they are just as strong in their beliefs. How well do you really know the people who have taken you in?”

“Where is she!” Simon yelled running through the camp.

“Simon, calm down!” Killian said running behind him.

“I’m not waiting any longer! Where is she? Where is the evil…”

“Simon!” Lydia yelled throwing herself between Simon and Sissy. Killian caught up with him and managed to push Simon back further. Lydia deduced Killian had told Simon what Lydia had seen and it sent him into a rage.

“My brother! What have you done to my brother?!” Simon yelled.

Lydia turned to Sissy, “Tell me how to wake him!”

Simon broke free of Killian’s grasp and ran at Sissy who was still lying on the ground, unmoved. Simon took off at full speed and ran into her invisible prison with such force, Lydia thought he may break it.

“You can’t get to her,” Lydia said.

Simon kicked and beat against nothing but was unable to get past it. The cage wasn’t just to keep Sissy from running, it was also to keep someone from harming her before Lydia could figure out how to wake Oliver.

“Lydia open this now!” Simon screamed at her.

“Simon, you need to calm down,” Killian said.

“I am calm, I am. You don’t want to see me upset,” he said as he was thriving with anger and moving closer and closer to Lydia.

Killian pushed him back hard and he stumbled into Sissy prison, “Simon, I’m not going to tell you again.”

“Killian, I am going to get to that woman and find out how to wake my brother.”

Killian brought his shoulders forward ready to stand in-between Simon and Lydia. She looked at Killian and Simon, neither would back down. She wasn’t going to let what happened with Larid happen again. She stepped forward and pressed against her crystal. Her praecant popped out and down her arm. Sissy screamed with terror and tried to claw her way out of the prison. Everyone took a step away from her.

“Lydia, stop,” Killian looked at her uneasily.

“You’re going to protect her with your life? You almost killed her a few moments ago!” Simon yelled.

“Lydia…” Killian said with a low frequency of fear.

“Simon, I am not going to let you harm her until I know what she has done and how I can fix it.”

“She won’t tell us!” Simon screamed.

“Yes, she will.”

“Are you insane?! Who knows how longs she’s been creeping around here poisoning him!”

“Simon, we don’t know what she’s done. She could have locked her spell. If I try and fix him without exactly knowing how it could kill him.”

“Simon, listen to her. She knows more than even Lyon. If anyone can help him it’s her,” Killian said.

“Simon…” Killian said stepping towards him. He grabbed onto Lydia’s wrist as if to make sure she was still safely behind him. Simon shook a few more moments and dropped to his knees.

“You had better save him,” Simon said slowly standing back up. He brushed past her and Killian.

“Are you happy?” Lydia snapped at Sissy.

“No, I’m not. That’s not what this is about,” Sissy said.

“Then what is it about?”

“He’ll be happy again one day, I never will be.”

Killian was still holding onto Lydia as she sat down in front of Sissy.

“Killian, give us a minute alone, please,” Lydia said.

Killian’s hand lingered on her, “Are you sure?”

“I need to speak with her, alone.”

Killian bit his lip in apprehension but released his grip on her. When he was out of hearing range Lydia kneeled forward to Sissy. “So, what is it?” Lydia asked.

Sissy cackled and foamy blood came out of the corner of her mouth. She wiped her mouth on her dress. “You’re not going to try any harder than that?”

“I’m not talking about Oliver. You’re holding the opposite side of your stomach that I hit you. You were wounded before I hurt you.”

Sissy touched her side subconsciously.

“Do you want me to take a look at it?” Lydia asked.

“There’s nothing you can do.” She pulled her dress up and Lydia saw a festering, black wound on the side of her ribs. Purple veins stretched all the way up to her collar bones. It was obviously poison and was far too deep to heal.

“I got stabbed,” she laughed, “there are a lot of people without homes in Arcaan. It’s hard to find a good place to sleep where no one bothers you. I don’t think the kids that tried to run me out of my sleeping place knew the blade they had was poisoned, or maybe they did, I don’t know.”

“You didn’t even try and heal yourself.”

“I’ve been alive long enough and have had enough pain for lifetimes. I’m ready.”

“So, you decided to get revenge on Simon before you died.”

“Seemed like a noble cause at the time.”

“Does it still?”

“I won’t lie, no point anymore, I did enjoy seeing the grief on that bastard’s face. But I am going to miss Oliver.”

“Oliver?”

“He’s the only person I’ve had to talk to for months, even if he can’t respond sometimes it’s just nice to talk to someone alive. He reminds me a little of my son when he was that age, the soft baby fat still stuck to his cheeks. It’s when the baby fat goes away they lose everything you once loved them for and it’s replaced with a forced love that you sometimes wish didn’t exist. Loving someone so troubled and dedicated isn’t easy. But it was nice to be with a sweet little boy again. Little boys just need some sugar to sweeten them up.”

She winked at Lydia and lay back down. She closed her eyes and began to hum a slow melody.

“That’s it? You’re really going to let him stay like that for the rest of his life…”

“I already told you how to wake him,” she said without opening her eyes.

Lydia sat back on her heels. Nothing Sissy had said to her seemed like a solution. The way she talked about things reminded her of her mother. That was how she would answer Lydia’s questions, with more complex questions until Lydia figured it out on her own. When the answer came to her she inhaled so quickly she almost knocked herself over.

“Thank you,” Lydia said.

Sissy didn’t seem happy or sad, or anything, she was just existing.

Lydia stood up and ran to the library. She went right to the corner of the room where what she was looking for had been. The plant she was looking for was almost dead. It hadn’t been sufficiently watered because it wasn’t used in recipes as much as other plants. She went to a box she kept more dangerous things in and opened it. She pulled out a liquid dropper that had maybe three drops of black liquid at the tip.

Sissy was still laying on her back humming to herself when she returned. She kicked a stone away and threw then dropper on her chest.

“You only need a drop. It won’t hurt,” Lydia said.

Sissy held the dropper to the sun and examined it.

“Bury me, please?” she asked.

Lydia nodded and headed off to the trail to the field. She knew she had seen one of the bushes before. She hoped it wasn’t too late in the season for the flowers.

Lydia split open the honeysuckle with her nails and pulled out the stem with the droplet of nectar on the end. She stood beside Oliver’s cot with Simon, Killian, and Sofia.

“I can’t believe something this easy will just fix him,” Simon said skeptically.

“Sometimes the most difficult questions have the simplest answers,” Lydia said as she dropped the nectar into his mouth.

Within ten minutes Oliver began to move. At first, his fingers twitched then his muscles began to contract on his legs. Simon was huddled over him holding onto him when Oliver said his first word in months, “Simon.” He reacted as if he had only been asleep for an hour. She was glad he couldn’t remember. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have been aware and yet paralyzed for so long.

“How did you know?” Killian asked.

“She told me,” Lydia said.

“What poison is it?” Sofia asked.

“It’s not a poison. It’s used to keep people asleep if they’re in pain so they can heal.”

“Why would she do that?” Sofia asked.

Oliver squirmed around on his cot as if he was trying to get comfortable,

“Oliver, how are you feeling?” Simon said as he clutched the malnourished boy in his arms.

Oliver’s voice was cracked and uneven and he couldn’t force his words out. Sofia had been giving him an elixir to keep him alive, but it didn’t do much else for him.

“Oliver,” Sofia said as she hugged the other side of him and poured water into his dry mouth. He spat and sat forward. His little body shuttered and shook as he tried to keep himself from choking on the water.

“He should eat something,” Simon said but didn’t let him go.

“Lydia, can you check him out and make sure he’s ok?” Killian asked. “We’ll leave you alone, so you can work, and he can get some rest.”

Lydia hadn’t expected him to want to her to stay with Oliver and obviously, Simon hadn’t either, “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Simon, he needs to be checked out before we try and give him anything. Just in case.”

“I’m sure Sofia can do it,” Lydia said.

“No, he’s right you need to,” Simon said and kissed the boy’s forehead, “I’m going to get you some food. This is Lydia, she’s the one who woke you up.”

Oliver didn’t protest but just nodded his head slowly. Simon pats his head and walked out of the tent behind Killian. Sofia lingered a moment longer. Lydia could tell she was upset they didn’t think she was good enough to take care of Oliver, but she pleased he was awake.

“If you need me…” Sofia said.

“Of course,” Lydia said with a smile.

Lydia started checking the boy for any signs of after-effects or if it hadn’t gone away completely. He was pale and too skinny. Lydia started to make an elixir to help heal him from the inside.

“Thank you,” Oliver said softly.

She was startled and dropped a barberry root.

“For everything you did. I never thought anyone would find out what she was doing.”

“You…you’ve been awake?”

“Don’t tell Simon. I know it would upset him more. It’s better he doesn’t know.”

Lydia saw the intense wisdom brought on by trauma in Oliver’s eyes. She hadn’t seen it before. He was good at pretending he was ok. Lydia was familiar with having to grow up fast.

“I’m sorry,” Lydia said, not knowing what else to say to him.

“I know.”

She crushed the root and drained the fluid. She mixed the rest together and handed it to him. He leaned on one shaky elbow and drank it down.

“You seem to be ok, considering…”

He nodded.

“You can eat but not much. I’ll get Simon.”

“Is she dead?”

His eyes were unfeeling, he didn’t care if she was alive or not, he just wanted to know.

“Yes.”

“I figured. I can’t feel her anymore.”

Oliver made her feel uneasy, he had an eerie other-worldly aura about him. But he had endured something most people only have terrors about.

“Have you buried her?” he asked.

“Not yet.”

“Can I help you? I would like to say goodbye.”

Lydia looked down at the boy in wonder. She knew Simon would never allow that.

“Yes,” she said.