The Dark Side of Power

All-nighter

Awen woke to someone banging on her door, shouting for her to get up. The sun hadn’t risen yet, which set off alarm bells in her head, and she opened the door to a very panicked Sion. “What is it, what’s wrong?”

“Rhodri’s been taken ill, Lanzijm says he needs you, you have to come quick.” He grabbed her wrist in a vice-like grip, pulling her down the stairs and through the eerie castle halls until they were at Rhodri’s door. It was slightly ajar, a faint glow coming from inside.

Pushing the door open, she followed the light through to the bedroom, where Elyn was pacing in her nightgown, hair loose around her shoulders. Emyr was sitting, staring at his son, who looked… Awen grimaced at the sight of the prince. His skin was pale and clammy, his hair sticking to his forehead, and it looked as though he’d been like that for a while. As she approached the bed, she could even see his skin had a slight purple hue to it, which made him look even worse. Emyr looked worried, which made Awen scared; Emyr never showed his emotions, and the fact that he couldn’t hide them said a lot.

“Awen, good.” Emyr nodded to himself.

Lanzijm didn’t look up as he dabbed a wet cloth on Rhodri’s forehead. “Awen, can you cool this water here for me? We need to lower his temperature.”

She nodded, holding her hand over the basin of water balanced precariously on the bed. She placed a steadying charm on it just in case. “I can lower the general temperature of the room if that would help?”

“Yes, please.”

No one spoke above a whisper, almost as though they were scared to bring whatever was wrong with Rhodri to light.

“Lanz…” Awen barely spoke, trying to keep their conversation private. “Have you ever seen anything like this?”

He shook his head slowly. “I hoped maybe you had.”

“Not with the- with the purple.”

“Is he going to be ok?” Elyn interrupted, though it was evident that she hadn’t really been paying all that much attention. “He’s not… it’s just a fever, right?

Lanzijm exchanged an uneasy glance with Awen. “We’re not sure. I hope so, your Highness, but I can’t say for certain.”

“But…” She shook her head and resumed her pacing at the foot of the bed, shivering a little. Awen quietly summoned her dressing gown, draping it over the Princess’ shoulders.

“Sion,” Awen called him quietly, “there’s a book, in the bottom of my wardrobe, right at the back underneath a cardboard box. Leather bound, about the size of your palm, could you bring it here?”

Throwing a questioning look her way, Lanzijm nodded to Sion, who disappeared back to the medical wing without a word.

Awen took a deep breath, moving around to the same side as Lanz, and feeling the temperature of Rhodri’s forehead. She pulled her hand away quickly as his skin was almost burning, and her eyes widened with horror. “There’s no way this is natural.”

Emyr looked up. “What? Do you know what this is?”

“Not yet, Sire. I’m hoping there’s something- Sion.” She shook her head, reaching her hand out and calling her tiny book from his grip. She scanned the almost-illegible handwriting, looking for anything that might indicate what was wrong with Rhodri. “Let me try-” She took a deep breath.

“Awen?” Lanzijm’s voice was low, almost warning her.

“It’ll either get rid of the fever or do nothing.” She reassured him before laying a hand over the sick Prince’s stomach, half-closing her eyes and whispering the Astarian incantation. A warm glow lingered for a second, before disappearing again. “Give it a couple of seconds.”

They watched with bated breath, but nothing happened. Awen sighed softly, flicking through a couple more pages.

“Maybe it just needs time to work?” Emyr asked, a hint of hopefulness in his voice.

“We will figure this out, King Emyr, we just need a little time.”

“Does he have it?” Elyn spoke up. Even in the low light from the oil lamps, her worry was clear on her face. It aged her, and she looked more like her father than Awen had thought possible.

“His fever isn’t as bad as it seems. As long as we try and keep him as cool as possible, it should break soon.” Sion’s voice rang louder than everyone else’s, with a tone of confidence that no one else could quite muster.

No one truly believed what he was saying, but it was something for Elyn and Emyr to hold onto, a tiny piece of hope in the midst of fear and uncertainty, so they chose to believe Sion over the alternative.

“One thing’s for certain, he won’t get better with everyone hovering. You should get some sleep, Sire, your Highness.”

Emyr looked at his daughter-in-law with worry. “As long as you’re sure.”

Lanzijm nodded. “Daryn can keep his temperature at bay for now.”

The king and his daughter-in-law nodded, leaving the trio to figure out what exactly they were dealing with.

“Sion, fetch Daryn, he’s through there.” Lanzijm inclined his head towards the door across from them.

Awen exchanged uneasy looks with him. “If this is what we think… if this is borne of magic, there’s no telling how long he has.”

“Which is why we have to work quickly.” He stood, handing the cloth and basin to Sion, and left the room. She followed quickly, having to jog a little to keep up. “There’s got to be something in one of our books that gives at least some indication as to what’s going on with him.”

Awen nodded, too out of breath to respond. She flung open their door so they wouldn’t have to mess about with locks and handles and could get straight to work.

Sion arrived not long after, finding that Awen and Lanzijm were already buried in the impossible task of reading through every illness they had on record that could match Rhodri’s symptoms in any way. “I’ll get the coffee ready. It’s going to be a long night.”

He was right, of course, as the next thing they knew, sunlight was streaming through the windows. They’d got through a fair few books, tossing them to the side when they weren’t of any use, but they’d barely made a dent in the mountain they had to read.

“Why do you own this many books?” Awen sighed, resting her forehead on the bench in front of her, thanking Sion as he sent over a fresh cup of coffee her way.

“Unfortunately, it’s my job and life’s work,” he sighed softly. “I’ll go relieve Daryn, he’ll be exhausted.”

“You’re exhausted.” Sion raised an eyebrow.

“Do you want to do it?”

Silence.

“That’s what I thought, and one of us has to do it. You two should get a few hours of sleep, but then I want to get back on this. We don’t know how long we have until he gets worse. I will not, under any circumstances, kill the King’s son, and neither will you two, do you hear me?”

“Yes, Lanzijm,” they chorused, smiling slightly at each other as they did.

“Good. Sion, come swap with me in a few hours, I’d rather not be caught falling asleep by Emyr.”

Sion nodded, yawning a little as Lanz left. “Couple hours kip?”

Awen frowned. “Kip?”

“Sleep. Sorry, it’s a thing we say, down in the village.”

Nodding, she smiled. “See you in a few hours.” They each disappeared into their rooms, and as soon as Awen closed the door, it was as though the past several hours all suddenly hit her in the face all at once. It was all she could do to keep her eyes open as she changed, brushing her hair out and falling into bed.