There was an excruciating burst of pain in her shoulder, like someone was ripping a chunk out of her body. She wanted to cry out, but she couldn’t make a sound. After a long while, it stopped, though her shoulder still throbbed and burned. Now she could also feel the sharp pain in her head.
She was only dimly aware of the cold, hard floor beneath her and the warm arms holding her in a half-sitting position. She tried to open her eyes and see who it was, but her lids only fluttered. Another set of hands touched her, one on her forehead and another on her stomach.
Suddenly, a warm sensation transferred from the hands into her. It poured through her body, spreading until it reached the tips of her fingers and toes. It seemed to go on forever. Then, finally, the pain began melting away. When it was over, she opened her eyes and saw Cael’s face. It had been his hands that had done the healing.
“Okay?” he asked.
“Okay,” she replied softly. “Thanks.”
He smiled and nodded before moving away.
She turned her head to see Falcon’s worried face. He held her close and stroked her cheek tenderly. She leaned into his hand, liking the warmth of it.
“Thank god you’re okay,” he breathed.
“Eh, it’s just a scratch,” she joked weakly. “Did we win? Do we have the last orb piece?”
“Yes,” Cael answered.
“Can you stand up?” Falcon asked. She nodded, and he helped her to her feet.
By the time they made it to the exit, Julia felt exhausted. “I think I need to lie down for a while,” she told Falcon as they reentered the redwood forest. “I’m just… really tired.”
He nodded. “It’s been a long day already.” He looked up at the sky for a moment. “And it’s not even noon yet.” He took off their pack, unhooked the bedroll, and rolled it out for her.
“I will hunt for some lunch,” Cael decided and left.
“Will you hold me?” Julia asked as she lay down.
Falcon smiled as he lay beside her and pulled her into his arms. “What?” he asked when she frowned at him.
“You’re hurt,” she complained. She gently touched a finger to a cut along his jaw. For some reason she didn’t have enough mana to heal it, even though she didn’t remember using it up. Getting so badly wounded must have taken a lot of her energy, she thought―all kinds of energy. Then she realized that it was probably that she had used up the remainder unconsciously. It was always an automatic thing to heal herself; she might have done so after she fell, though she couldn’t have had much left in the first place, considering the condition she had been in when she woke up.
“I’m okay,” he said.
She closed her eyes. “Falcon?” she said groggily.
“Hmm?”
“Thank you,” she mumbled.
“For what?”
“Always taking care of me.”
“Cael healed you.”
“Not talking about healing…”
She didn’t know if he responded or not as she fell asleep.
__________
When Julia woke up, Falcon wasn’t next to her anymore. She frowned at that. It was still light, though the sun had moved a little across the clear blue sky. She sat up, but only made it halfway before her head spun and her stomach lurched. She quickly laid back down, but the damage was done―now she felt nauseous.
After a couple of deep breaths, she managed to make herself sit up so she could look around for the others. They were behind her, so she turned toward them. They were talking about something, but they were just far enough away that she couldn’t hear them. She tugged the pack over to her, and dug inside for a roll. Bread would help settle her stomach.
When she looked back at Falcon and Cael, she realized that they both looked worried. Great, she thought, what now? She watched them as she nibbled at her bread. After a minute, she came to the conclusion that she could not lip-read whatsoever.
“There’s something wrong with you.”
She hadn’t noticed Jade sitting nearby. “Gee, I’ve never heard that before,” she joked, but his face looked as strained as theirs were.
She didn’t feel like anything was wrong. Aside from the slight spinning in her head and the nausea, she felt fine. She gave up on the bread and grabbed the waterskin. “So tell me already,” she grumbled telepathically as she drank.
He looked toward the guys. “Cael said it’s poison.”
She gasped. The waterskin slipped out of her hands and fell into her lap. “But how? I don’t feel poisoned. Is he sure?”
Her voice was loud enough this time to get their attention. In an instant Falcon was next to her, putting a hand to her forehead as if he was feeling her temperature.
She swatted it away. “Stop it, I’m fine,” she told him, but panic churned in her stomach, making her nausea worse.
Cael gave Falcon a look that she didn’t understand and then left.
“What’s going on?” she demanded.
He held his hand out to her. “We need to get moving.”
She let him help her to her feet. She had to lean against him for a minute until the spinning in her head slowed. As soon as she was able to let go, he got their things together and slung their pack over his shoulder. Then, taking her hand again, he led her east.
“So?”
He glanced back at the cat, who followed. “Jade didn’t tell you?”
“He said poison,” she answered quietly.
“Yes,” Falcon said, his voice sounding choked. “Jade knew something was wrong and kept nodding his head toward you.”
“Healing spell won’t work, I guess. Can’t Cael do anything with his magic?”
“No. That’s why he’s on his way to town right now, to get a healing cleric. It’s been in you for too long,” he explained. “But even if we had known right after we defeated the guardian, it would have already been too late.”
“How will he find a cleric when all the temples are closed?” she wondered.
“His father is a healing cleric and serves in Chendal.”
“Oh… so, how long do I have?” she asked, her voice sounded as cold and detached as she felt. It was surreal; this couldn’t be happening.
He shook his head. “One to two days. Cael wasn’t completely sure, since he doesn’t know what kind of poison it is.”
She saw his pained expression out of the corner of her eye, telling her enough. She nodded. “How long until he gets back?”
“Chendal is normally a two-day hike from here, but he said he can run a good amount of the way. He’s faster than a normal human―it's lucky that he’s half elf.” There was a touch of hope in his voice when he said it. “He said he might be able to make it in half that time. We’ll get as far as we can, try to meet them in the middle.”
“It’ll still take at least two days to get there and back,” she noted.
He just nodded solemnly.
It was quiet for a few minutes as they walked, stepping over ferns and sticks, and weaving around the huge redwoods and small, spindly trees. “Guess the elves wouldn’t be able to help if Cael can’t,” she said quietly.
He huffed angrily. “They could. There are rangers there who are much older, much more powerful. They could at least slow the poison considerably, but no, they won’t help at all. What do they care if some human dies,” he said bitterly.
She squeezed his hand. “Don’t hate them,” she said. “There are apparently a lot of humans who feel the same about them. It’s not one-sided.” She sighed. “It’s sad, but if they didn’t think it was the right thing to do for their people, they wouldn’t be like that. They’re only trying to protect themselves from people they think they can’t trust. We all do that to some degree.”
“I don’t know how the hell you can stand up for them at a time like this,” he said incredulously.
“I’m not, really. I’m just saying that it’s not personal. Besides, if you hate them, then you’ll only help widen the rift between the races.”
He sighed heavily and raked a hand through his hair. “You’re so much like my mother sometimes.” The way he said it, it sounded like an insult.
She furrowed her brow. “Sorry?”
“Don’t be,” he said, sighing again and calming down. “She was a good person. She just irritated me sometimes in the same way you do. But I wouldn’t have changed her, and I’d never want to change you.”
She smiled. “Falcon?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
He stopped and turned to face her. It looked like he was going to say something, but then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her instead. It caused a flutter in her belly that really didn’t help the nausea, but she ignored it and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back.
When he released her lips, he rested his forehead against hers. “I love you, too. So much.” He took a deep breath before grabbing her hand again, and they continued walking through the forest.
The day was bittersweet. She had woken up filled with bliss, and now every step brought with it more feelings of dread. She didn’t want to go away, not when they had just found each other. She figured that if she died, she probably wouldn’t feel the pain of losing him, but she felt it now. All she wanted was to stay with him.
After a while, she couldn’t seem to focus enough to really think about anything. Her mind grew fuzzy, her head and stomach hurt, and she got more and more exhausted and weak. She wanted to lie down, but they had to keep going.
If she slept, she was scared that she wouldn’t wake up again.
