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Acyn

There were too many unscientific things in this castle and I didn’t like any of them.

Sahar was using one of her greatest strengths to maximum capacity. Not panicking. Sahar never panicked, and never despaired. When she was confident, she was light-hearted, and she was always light-hearted.

Unlike Liorah, who usually ran through the entire spectrum of human emotion every five minutes and could make everyone around her feel it too if she pleased.

The new boy and Lorcan ignored my reply that some people just naturally bled when they were healthy, didn’t Lorcan know that?

Why did everyone insist on stupid questions? Obviously, they were hurt.

The boy lowered the girl to the ground until she was teetering on her own two feet, albeit still uncertain and supported. Her arm had swollen badly. She blinked at Lorcan in stupefied admiration. Oh, bother. She was definitely delirious.

Sahar noticed too and giggled. The boy was obviously struggling to keep the girl upright, and Sahar gently put an arm around her waist, careful not to hurt her any further.

“Nice to see you, I’m Sahar. We’ll be just fine,” she said, cheerily. She let the girl lean on her more, taking as much strain off the boy as she could. Despite the fact that the other girl was much taller, Sahar was far stronger than she looked and determined to help.

The boy was making himself generally annoying, trying to order everyone around as though the world revolved around him. I couldn’t blame him. It happened when someone you loved was in danger, you became horribly selfish. It would wear off.

I listened to him anyway.

“Yes. I am versed in herbal remedies and do not worry for myself. However, I am in need of a specific type of medicine. My sister was bitten by a werewolf last night, and I don’t have Mirianweed. I also might mention that the jungle behind us is stalking us and does not seem at all friendly, so if you’re interested in helping me, I suggest you make it fast.”

I glanced at the jungle, uncertainly. Yes, it seemed somewhat threatening, but the wide expanse of a rocky cave in front of us didn’t seem all too welcoming either. It was as though the castle was driving us into the cave, and I didn’t feel like humoring it.

I had some basic knowledge about healing, most of it gathered during a particular phase a few months ago, when that seemed the most interesting thing on the planet. After that, it had been trying to teach myself Kezbe, which had backfired, and that had been followed by various other academic fascinations. Still, I remembered most of what I’d learned.

No wonder Magister Azriel complained my range of knowledge was unsystematic and random at best. Though, he always seemed more amused than worried about it.

“What’s the functioning of the poison? Does the Marianweed cancel it or simply counteract it?” I asked. It seemed an irrelevant question, but if it counteracted the effects, there was a possibility that another herb might work, though the dosage would need to be adjusted. It was essentially poisoning someone in reverse, which was a concerning phrase in and of itself.

I didn’t have any other herbs, but it might be easier to get.

The boy shot another annoyed glance toward the jungle and I rolled my eyes.

“Right, that’s the first of our problems.”

I occasionally struggled with prioritization.

We started moving, and I shot a glance toward Quin, ready to help if needed. Lorcan had made him a replacement crutch, which was the first spark of human decency I’d seen in him.

“Need any help?” I offered.

Quin shook his head, still looking away.

“Please ask if you need any, I’m happy to help,” I said, sincerely. I liked Quin, he seemed like a genuinely kind person.

I noticed another man behind him, who vaguely resembled Quin.

“You’re new. I’m Acyn, welcome to whatever illogical nightmare this is,” I said, hastily.

I turned back to the boy, who was just showing his sister a recently healed scar on his shoulder.

“I got that yesterday,” he said, gravely.

Accelerated healing? In this place? I frowned, staring off into the middle distance, trying to figure out how and why.

“We need to hurry,” Sahar said, glancing back at the jungle.

“No, you need to hurry. I need accurate and plentiful data that I can analyze,” I said, wistfully. Everything seemed to happen completely at random, and I didn’t like it. I wanted to analyze and predict it, to get some semblance of understanding. I only feared the unknown, and everything here was unknown.

Sahar rolled her eyes and shot me one of her looks. She was still trying to keep the girl conscious by talking to her.

“I like your knives, they’re so pretty–” she said, with the deep delight she always found in weaponry. And jewelry. And embroidery. And particularly nice pebbles. Anything, actually.

“You talk about knives the same way you talk about shoes,” I said,

“Correct, they’re both pretty and I want a big collection of both!” she said, cheerily.

She kept talking to the girl while I tried to get the boy to engage in some sort of conversation.

“I don’t actually know how you ended up here and I don’t particularly care, but could you explain more about how the poison, or actually, venom, works? I think I could help find a solution if I knew enough about it. Where does Marianweed grow?”