A Nightingale's Tale

Chapter Ten

At dusk, Lydia mindlessly walked away from the camp toward a small hill at the back. She climbed to the top, using the last bit of energy she saved before collapsing. She sat forward and looked out onto the camp. The hill had a perfect view of the port-door. Years ago, her mother and everyone else in Covet had come through that exact same port-door years ago. She thought back to the fairytale-like story she had learned in chapel about the covens that obeyed the old laws and how they were hunted mercilessly. Their coven escaped to this realm but not without casualties. Fear crept through her as she thought about the horrors on the other side of that door. Why would anyone willingly choose to go back there? Lydia was never subjected to such horrors, she grew up in the human world, where her worst fear was of being reformed. She ached for the sanctuary and solitude of her tower. She wondered if what she was doing was the right thing.

“Lydia,” Sofia said coming up the hill, “This is the only history book containing anything about Covens with the old laws in the main library, I’ve been able to find so far. Lyon has some of the rarer books locked in his tent. I hope this helps some.”

Killian was right behind her. Sofia handed Lydia the huge brown book with burnt edges that smelled like smoked meats.

“Thank you,” she could tell Sofia was really trying to help, “If you would like I could show you a few potions to help basic wounds. I can read this tonight,” she said hoisting the book to sit on her hip. Lydia knew it was all in her head, but the book felt warm as if it had just come from sitting by a fire.

“Would you?” Sofia said with child-like excitement.

Lydia turned to Killian, she still wasn't sure how much freedom she had in this place. Killian nodded to Lydia and kissed Sofia on the forehead, delicately, before heading back the way they had come. Lydia sat a few more moments on the hill by herself. She lay back against the grass and watched the last remaining glow of the sun decorate the underneath of the leaves on the trees. In that moment, she felt peace, but it was quickly thwarted by guilt. She sat underneath a purple and pink evening sky, lying on a cool bed of grass, while Arabella was being tortured. She could be in a dungeon underground while long whips permanently scarred her back. She could be hung by her ankles from a stone ceiling and repeatedly dunked into a vat of water. She could have each bone in her body broken then magically repaired over and over. Any of those things could be happening at that moment while Lydia lay gracefully against a lush hillside. If justice existed, it didn’t show itself often.

Twilight gave the camp a pink hue with the majority of the tents being red, and their shadows cast beneath the dark trees. Lydia walked through the tents quietly, like she was an unwelcome guest that didn’t want to disturb the residents. Twinkling lights began floating from the base of the potted plants and into the air. Lydia got close enough to see that the lights were, in fact, tiny people with wings. They were tending to the plants.

“Fairies?” Lydia said astounded.

“Yea,” Sofia said, startling Lydia, “They maintain the plants and keep the bottles full. We found them on our second recovery trip. The grove of trees the lived in, near the port-door, was almost burned completely. Luckily, it didn’t get close to the port-door. We saved what plants of theirs we could.”

“Ara would love this,” Lydia said hoping her friend would someday see things like this with her. Lydia felt the gravity of despair ball into her stomach again.

“Is she who you’re looking for?” Sofia asked aware of Lydia’s self-deprivation.

“Yea, besides my mother, she taught me all the best things I know about healing.”

“Are they healers?”

“Arabella is. My mother wasn’t.”

The entered the large tent again. Sofia started pulling down bottles from shelves, “My mother and father went missing a long time ago. They’re probably dead. No families have been left intact, really, since the war started, or I guess re-started.”

“My father died trying to get our Coven to this side.”

“It seems like everyone has lost a loved one in this war. My father and mother were taken. They protested the King’s men from taking what they wanted from our village and were taken away for it. The only reason me and my brother escaped was because Lyon pulled us into the woods.”

“Your brother?”

“Killian.”

“I didn’t realize…”

“Sofia, have you seen Meredith?” the snake-shifting woman said entering the tent with a little girl, around five or six years old, with huge, bright blue eyes and soft blonde hair Lydia thought she was the most gorgeous little girl she had ever seen.

“No, I haven’t. Eden, Ophelia this is Lydia,” Sofia introduced them.

Lydia held out a hand to greet Eden, but she ignored her and said, “We’ve met. Now, have you seen Meredith? I haven’t seen her since yesterday!”

“I’m sure she’s here somewhere.”

Sofia seemed completely unconcerned and continued reading through a recipe she was interested in. Ophelia giggled, hiding behind Eden. Lydia noticed her leg underneath her pink dress. One of her legs was wooden. Lydia didn’t realize she had been staring at the girl’s leg until Sofia said something.

“Impressive isn’t it?” Sofia said, “Come here Ophelia, show Lydia your leg.”

Ophelia was spinning back and forth with her finger in her mouth, she shook her head to Sofia.

“Come here,” Sofia said pulling at the laughing child. She sat her on a desk and pulled her dress up to her knee. Ophelia kept giggling and played with Sofia’s long hair.

Lydia was looking at a prosthetic leg that fight the girl perfectly. She couldn’t see where it connected to the rest of her light pink skin, but it seemed so natural on her. Whoever carved it did it with better perfection than had ever seen with woodcarving. Sofia started to take of her small black shoe. The wood foot was also perfectly carved, even drawing the small wrinkles in her toes. When her toes moved Lydia jumped back in surprise.

Sofia laughed at her, “Feel.”

Lydia looked at her with skepticism but stuck a finger out and touched the calf of the wooden leg.

“It’s soft, like skin,” she said amazed.

“Pretty impressive right?”

“It’s amazing.”

“Hello?! Did you forget what I said already? Meredith isn’t anywhere around camp!” Eden said impatiently.

“She could have gone off with someone to do chores,” Sofia said.

“Could she have left yea know to the other realm, like Lyon?” Lydia asked Eden.

She wouldn’t go back to that hell unless she was dragged,” Eden said.

“Well, what about what Sofia said could she have left the camp?”

“Kids aren’t allowed to leave the camp unless they have permission,” Sofia added still gathering ingredients around the tent.

“Just because they aren’t supposed to leave doesn’t mean they won’t.”

Sofia shot Lydia a speak-no-more look. She put down the book and leaves she had been holding and put an arm around Eden.

“Go talk to Killian. He can help you more than I can,” Sofia said.

She all but pushed Eden out the tent and little Ophelia jumped from the table and followed her. Eden tied the ropes of the makeshift door together behind her.

“Aren’t you worried someone has gone missing?”

“Meredith is…well she’s had it worse than most. She wanders around the camp almost every night until she passes out from exhaustion. This isn’t the first time she’s wandered off. I’ve found her in the strangest places. She’s been in some trouble for going through everyone’s things in their tents. She’ll pop up later after she’s done snooping around.”

That didn’t give Lydia any comfort. She had lived a life where everyone was accounted for, always. She shrugged it off as something she didn’t understand.

“Come on, I’ll give you the tour,” Sofia said.

Sofia and Lydia walked through the camp. Everyone was watching them as Sofia pointed to different tents and explained their purpose. The majority of the tents were temporary homes. There were also, the library and the tent that housed the ill, which were right next to each other, storage tents for food and supplies, and a kitchen tent. The smell in the kitchen tent made her stomach growl with envy. Potatoes and carrots were laid across a chopping board. She resisted the urge to take the carrot and consume it then. A small, red creature stumbled out of a back room of the tent holding a pot as large as him. He kicked over a bucket of food scraps as he came forward. Lydia let out a yell. She had never seen a nain rouge before, other than pictures in books. He was short, only up to her waist, and waddled as he moved.

“Are you ok?” Sofia asked.

“That’s a…that’s.”

“That’s Henry.”

“He’s a nain rouge.”

“I prefer the term hobgoblin,” Henry said.

“He’s a…he’s a…”she stuttered.

“Yes, and?” Killian said, now standing behind him.

“They’re mischievous. They steal things and cause chaos,” Lydia said with a bitter feeling. She had read about them in class, they were worst than the rats that ran around the sewage.

Henry let out an audible noise of disgust. Killian yanked Lydia by the arm and out of the tent.

“I know you’re from an old law coven, so I’ll let that one go, but keep in mind you’re a guest among us, not one of us. Henry is one of us. If it wasn’t for him none of these people would have great, hot meals every day. He gets up early and stays up late, in order to provide for everyone. Your prejudice isn’t welcome here. And, if you want to stay here you need to keep those prejudgment thoughts to yourself.”

Lydia was stunned with embarrassment. She hadn’t meant anything against the goblin however she was disgusted with herself, none the less.

“Think before you speak,” he said and walked off.

Sofia came outside a moment later. The look of discomfort on her face made Lydia feel worse. But, Sofia continued her tour anyway. They ended the tour back in the library where they began going over the ailments that plagued each of the unconscious patients. Sofia walked past each patient and explaining what they knew thus far. That tent housed dozens of cots with people in varying severities of diseases and wounds. She crossed by a little boy, he couldn’t have been older than ten.

“His names Oliver,” Sofia said touching his hand, “He’s Simon’s brother, the man you saved…”

Lydia couldn’t see anything on the surface to indicate an injury or illness.

“What’s wrong with him?” she asked.

“Poison. It was meant for Simon, at least that’s what Simon thinks.”

“Someone really doesn’t want Simon living.”

“Lots of people. He’s a vanguard.”

“What’s that?”

“He helps people escape Arcaan.”

Lydia knew of the infamous city Arcaan. It was once the largest grouping of Covens in the other realm before it had been over-run by outsiders and the self-proclaimed King. Covet didn’t teach much beyond their own superiority so she knew nothing of the state of Arcaan now.

“Oliver was still living in the city when they found out Simon was a vanguard. They poisoned his water supply, but he wasn’t there, Oliver was. He got Oliver out and he’s been like this ever since. But Simon doesn’t actually know what happened, but he assumed it was poison after something similar happened to a friend of his. That was why Simon and Camille went back. Lyon couldn’t figure out how to wake him up, so they tried to find information about the poison. But they were found and barely escaped. Camille said they didn’t find anything about the poison or anything else.”

Lydia looked at the smooth face of the sleeping child. She hoped it wasn’t a derivative of Devil’s Breath, a terrifying potion, that kept people comatose or in a sleep-like state, but their mind was in constant turmoil. Literally, a never-ending nightmare.

Sofia pulled a curtain back to reveal another patient. A man with a poisoned arrow still in his chest was green with death.

“He is my most pressing person. If we don’t figure something out soon he’ll die within a few days.”

“Why haven’t you removed the arrow?” Lydia asked.

“Watch.”

As soon as Sofia reached a hand out the man struggled with protest. When her finger touched the arrow, it transformed into a giant mosquito with its dagger mouth stuck in his chest. Its huge eyes stared at Sofia.

“Every time we try, it digs itself deeper. Were afraid it will kill him.”

“I’ve never seen anything like this.” But, she couldn’t help feel like it was familiar somehow.

“Neither have we. It's one of the things Lyon is looking out for.”

Lydia dug through the archives of her brain, thinking back to the many spell books she read while her mother was busy working. A small red book came to her mind. It was small enough to fit in a pocket. Lydia had liked looking at it because it was full of strange animals. She remembered a story of a baby that was born with a leech stuck to its back. It had been an effect of a curse. If it was removed the baby would die or so they thought. They pleaded with the owner of the curse and once it came out on its own the baby was fine. That was just a story, she told herself. But, it was better than nothing and it gave her an idea.

Lydia left the tent and took a stick out of one of the campfires. She brought the smoldering stick near the arrow mosquito’s face and fanned it with paper. It struggled at first but dozed off quickly. She wasted no time, she pushed on her crystal and her praecant shot out of her palm. She motioned for Sofia to step back. She aimed right in the middle of the mosquito’s neck and split it with one smooth motion. The mosquito’s body shook and turned back into a broken arrow with it’s head and sucker still inside him. She grabbed the head and pulled. It came out without any fight.

“Are you crazy?” Killian yelled. She didn't know he had entered the tent. “You could have killed him. You could have slipped! You were inches from his…”

“How did you do that?” Sofia said with the opposite tone her brother had, “We’ve tried everything to get that thing off and nothing has worked, it just fights up every time we touch it.”

“Smoke puts mosquitos to sleep,” Lydia said choosing to ignore Killian.

“And? How did you know it would kill the curse?” Sofia asked.

“I didn’t. This is how we killed mosquitos on the island, the smoke puts them to seep then you kill it.”

Sofia looked at her with a dumbfounded look.

“The solution doesn’t always have to be complicated,” Lydia said. She looked back at Killian. He was staring down at her praecant. He reached out to touch it and she closed her fingers on her palm, forcing her sword back into the crystal.

“You can't touch it.”

“You did.”

“Yes, because it's mine. It won't burn me.”

“I had to heal one of our centaurs because of those things. Keep it away from me,” Sofia said.

“I haven’t seen one in such a long time…well other than when your friend stuck his in my face,” Killian said.

“He isn’t my friend.”

“So, you say.”

“How do you have that?” Sofia interrupted their argument.

“We get them the day were born. They take our blood and crystalize it. Some are even passed down through families and made into ornate stones.”

She turned her palm over to show her crystal snug into her glove.

“They’re extremely rare. They require a lot of magic to be made,” Killian said hoping to stop any ideas Sofia could be having.

The man on the table groaned. The color was returning to his face even though he still had an open wound in his chest.

“This part I can handle,” Sofia said heading to clean her hands.

Lydia and Killian left Sofia to her patient. Lydia felt confident that she could teach Sofia some things on how to magically heal the sick and injured before her time there was up.

“I’ll take you to an empty tent,” Killian said.

He began to escort her out of the tent. Lydia looked around the room at all of the other patients. Some looked fine, almost as if they were sleeping,

The sun had finally starting to set. Lydia decided that this had been the longest day possible, and thankfully it was coming to an end. The camp was calm and quiet. Groups of creatures sat around campfires cooking in cauldrons. Killian showed her a small single person tent. Potatoes were piled in bags in a corner, which took up half the space.

“It’s a storage tent,” Killian said noticing her stares.

Cauldrons, pots, blankets, and everything else not being used, filled the rest of the small tent. Stuffed to the side was a cot with blankets and a pillow. That was all she really cared about.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Don’t get too comfortable,” he said leaving her alone.

Lydia couldn’t rest comfortably. After a few hours of staring up at the celling of her tent, she got up and paced around her tent with guilt clouding her brain. She wasn’t getting sleep anytime soon. She peaked her head of the tent and saw no sign of anyone else. She was worried she would be seen and accused of something other than her purpose. She went into the kitchen tent as quietly as she could. The place was even more of a mess than it had been earlier. She picked up a bucket and a broom and began to work late into the night. By the time she was finished, she was thoroughly exhausted with red blisters beginning to form on her hands.