Everything hurt. Kasyn’s mind felt like he was thinking through sludge and all he wanted to do was lie down to sleep. He’d never stayed up this long before. When was the last time he’d gotten any sleep? It was the night before they reached the valley with the elder tree. That was…three days ago? Four? How many sun rises has he seen since then?

Zeter got to sleep. It wasn’t fair. He only had to walk for a few hours a day but Kasyn and Damarys had to walk all the time. Emilie was the only one who had a real excuse. She was dying of wyvern poison. She needed the antidote the Sages had. That was why they were still hiking through the wilds, trying to get back to Yomichi before it was too late.

He was crying again. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been crying but as soon as he was aware of it he felt himself blush and he stifled the tears. Crying just wasted energy at this point and he was already so exhausted. Damarys had only stopped a couple of times to get her bearings at night. Each time Kasyn had fallen asleep almost instantly only to be shaken awake by Damarys.

“How does she do it?” he asked himself. “She’s got to be just as tired as I am.”

“Maybe she’s had to do this sort of thing before,” Zeter replied, much to Kasyn’s frustration.

“Wasn’t talking to you,” he snapped and it was tempting to jostle the shield he was helping to carry that bore Zeter. He didn’t do it but he wanted to. A part of him knew his anger was unwarranted. He was just so tired.

“We’re almost there,” Damarys spoke up. “We should be able to see Yomichi once we crest this final hill.”

That spurred them both on to walk a bit faster and, sure enough, as they reached the top of the hill, they found themselves looking down on the city. The Sages of the Mercurial Robe’s camp was visible as well, still set back a mile or so from the city. Their palisade wall was complete and a fair number of large tents, too large to be standing without magic, rose above the walls.

“Just a couple more hours,” Damarys sighed in relief, “and we should reach the camp.”

“They’ve spotted us,” Zeter announced as they began to make their way down this final slope. “Ketty’s riding out with the antidote and some healing potions.”

A small dot appeared out of the Sages camp and Kasyn felt himself starting to cry again. It was such a relief to see aid coming to them. To Emilie. He almost stopped there to wait for the rider but Damarys urged him to keep moving. Every minute still counted so he resumed his pace.

“You’re going to be alright,” he told Emilie.

She gave no sign of hearing him. The blueish purple lines of poison crisscrossed almost all of her body by now and she was growing cold to the touch but Damarys insisted she was still alive. She did at least draw breath, albeit shallowly.

“Is there any water left?” Kasyn asked as the dryness of his mouth finally registered in his foggy mind.

“No,” Damarys shook her head. “I gave the last of it to Emilie.”

Kasyn couldn’t complain about that. If it had been wasted on Zeter, well, that would have been different.

“Stop it,” he muttered to himself. “He didn’t do anything. It’s not his fault. You’re just tired and grumpy and looking for someone to blame.”

He caught Zeter glancing his way but ignored him.

“I need to stop talking out loud to myself,” he admitted and only afterwards did he catch the irony in that statement.

It felt like both an eternity and a second all at the same time but all at once they were down on the plains and the ride was there, dismounting.

“Let me see her,” Ketty demanded and Kasyn had his skeletons carry Emilie over to her.

He’d met Ketty before but his tired mind was having a hard time remembering much about her. She was a bit older than he was but not by much. She’d had a young boy with her before. What was his name? Did it matter?

She poured the antidote onto the wound, then dabbed it over Emilie’s face and even gave her some to drink.

“It needs a few minutes to work before we can give her a healing potion,” Ketty said before coming over to Zeter. “I understand you also took a fair beating.”

“Just a few broken ribs.”

“Hmm, yes, well, this should help with that.”

The woman handed him a small vial of glowing liquid which Zeter drank at once. He waited a moment before hopping off the shield and testing out his side.

“Still bruised,” he announced, wincing, “but not broken anymore.”

Kasyn stared at the shield he’d carried for the last few days and felt useless. A simple potion could have healed Zeter well enough he wouldn’t have needed to be carried. All of Emilie’s healing potions had been used on her but maybe if they’d given some to Zeter he would have been able to walk and they could have gone faster. Maybe it didn’t matter, or maybe Kasyn would have gotten even angrier with Zeter for being greedy if he’d taken any of the healing potions.

“Let’s try some healing potion on her now,” Ketty said as she studied Emilie’s condition.

She dribbled an entire potion over the wound and then administered yet another potion to Emilie to drink.

“Shouldn’t she be coming around?” Damarys asked after nothing seemed to be happening.

“Wyvern poison is a terrible substance,” Ketty said. “She may need a couple more days before she wakes. At least she’s stable now and the wound appears to be closing.”

It was such a relief to hear that, Kasyn felt his knees give out and he crumpled to the ground. He didn’t even try to catch himself. Just knowing that Emilie would be okay was enough for him for now and he could finally let go of the anxiety he’d been holding inside.

“I can see you’re all exhausted,” the woman said. “Come to our camp and I’ll see to it that you’re all taken care of.”

Kasyn was about to get up and follow her when Damarys stepped forward and helped him up.

“Thank you,” Damarys said to the woman, “but we have beds in the city.”

There was an edge to her voice and Ketty took a step back, placing a possessive hand on Emilie.

“At least allow me to take Emilie to the Sages. We can care for her there far better than you can inside the city.”

“I don’t think Jelvaic would look kindly on that,” Zeter said, placing himself between the two women. “Though he might agree to allowing a few of you into the city to tend to her.”

Ketty considered this a moment and then nodded.

“I’ll come with you then, if that’s alright. I can at least help speed you the rest of the way to the city.”

“That would be fine,” Damarys said.

Ketty mounted her horse once more and then cast a spell, lifting all of them comfortably into the air before galloping back towards Yomichi, towing them along behind. It wasn’t a very long ride to the city but Kasyn still fell asleep before it was over. He awoke on the road beside the main gate into Autay Wa with Kamillus poking him.

Ketty was speaking with Jelvaic and a small crowd of healers were already carrying Emilie into the city. Zeter and Damarys were standing to the side while Jelvaic and Ketty spoke.

“I’ll allow you and one other Sage of your choice to enter the city, but only to administer to Emilie,” he growled. “Once she’s recovered, you’ll each be granted residency within the city and you can come and go as you please.”

Kasyn waved Kamillus away and got back to his feet. He swayed a bit, still just as exhausted as he was before his brief nap, and began to stagger his way into the city, following the healers. His home wasn’t far from the barn they were using for the sick and injured so he figured it would spare him from getting lost by just following them the majority of the way. When the healers noticed him, they slowed down so he could catch up.

“How is she?” he asked.

“Hard to say. We’ll know in a day or two if the poison caused any permanent damage.”

“I thought that’s what the potions were for.”

“A potion can do a lot, but some things require more than a potion to heal fully.”

Somewhere in his memory he remembered hearing of a few illnesses that were like that. In those instances, the people would seek healing from the Tower of Light, or sometimes from Akumu depending on the malady.

As they drew near to his home, the healer turned to him and asked, “Did Jelvaic have a chance to speak to you about the disappearances?”

“What? No, he didn’t. Who’s disappeared?”

“Random people have gone missing. Jelvaic’s had to have the militia doing patrols at night and there’s talk about building a sort of town close together so we aren’t as spread out.”

“I’m sure Jelvaic’ll talk to us about it, but I can’t do anything until I’ve gotten some sleep.”

“Lock your door,” the healer warned and they parted ways.

“Gone for a few days and the trouble here doesn’t stop,” he muttered to himself.

He checked his home when he got there, making sure there weren’t any unexpected surprises waiting for him. That done, he barred his door before collapsing onto his bed and giving himself up, finally, to an uninterrupted sleep.