This is odd, Sergei thought. He sensed the fading lifeforce in the room occupied by Eldrick and Sycamorea. Panic setting in, he tried rising from the bed. He was struck by a vicious bout of coughing.
"Petal!" he barely called out between coughs. "There," more coughs, "is something wrong in Sycamorea's," doubling over he tried to get a breath, "room." He reached for the handkerchief on the nightstand. He barely got it to his mouth before he coughed once more. Blood pooled in his mouth. Spitting it into the handkerchief he thought, these coughing fits are getting worse. I am expelling more blood every day. He balled up the handkerchief and placed it back on the nightstand. Breathing through his nose, slowly but shallowly, he tried to get his breath back. Every day was more of a struggle to breathe. The tea had been helping, but Eldrick had it with him. Three days without it. He wasn't sure how much longer he could last.
"Sergei need Petal?" the cheerful voice was almost too much.
"Yes Petal, I need you to get the tea from Eldrick."
Petal rose from the chair where he had been sleeping. Flying over to the door he landed on the handle. His weight was enough to open the door. With Petal gone, all Sergei could do was sit in the bed and wait. He didn't have the strength to even cross the floor to a chair.
He was just beginning to doze again when he heard Petal's shrill shriek of "Ellie!!", causing him to bolt upright.
"Petal! What is wrong?"
"Petal no have time." The sprite shot past the open doorway. "Petal needs moss. Petal needs moss NOW!!" his voice fading as he flew down the hall.
Cough or no cough, he had to check on Eldrick. He couldn't lose another apprentice. Not if he could help it. He wasn't sure what he could do, but he had to do something. Stumbling down the hall he slowly made his way to the room in which Eldrick and Sycamorea had entered three days before. The scene he came upon caused his heart to stop momentarily. Clutching his chest, he slumped against the doorjamb.
Sycamorea, kneeling at Eldrick's side, held his arm in her lap. Her sweat-soaked skin was covered in the sanguine red of blood. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she pressed with both hands on his wrist. Blood escaped from between her fingers. Laying on the floor beside him loosely clenched in his right hand was his knife. The dark blood marring the glint of the fine steel.
Sergei dropped to his knees, "NOOOOOOOOO!" His cry of anguish filled the inn. Summoning what strength he could, he crawled across the floor to Eldrick's side. The warmth of his tears on his cheeks felt like fire. Reaching Eldrick, he grabbed the knife and sent it skittering across the floor. Shifting his limp apprentice, he placed his head in his lap.
* * *
Petal was entering the room, his arms full of moss, when he saw Sergei's head come up, his blues cold as ice.
"Servalin's Balls Woman what did you do? I left him in your charge to train him. How did it end in this? Can you not do anything right?" His voice was full of venomous wrath.
"Ellie needs help. Ellie needs..."
"Not now Sprite!"
Flying over to Sycamorea, Petal moved her hands away from the wound. Carefully he packed moss into the wound. He noticed the off-white connective tissues in the wrist were partially sliced through. "Petal thinks this is not good." Looking first to Sergei then to Sycamorea, he began searching for someplace to hide. He couldn't leave Eldrick. Eldrick needed him. His instincts were screaming at him to flee. He thought of Amaryliss, what would she do in this situation? Take command. How could he take command when they could swat him like a fly, both figuratively and literally. They had magics he did not.
"What in the name of Meridedd, is going on in here?" Bogdán's voice was a welcome interruption.
Sergei's head snapped up. His ice-cold blue eyes locked on the stocky dwarf in the door.
Watching Bogdán lift off the floor and fly out the door caused Petal's blood to boil. This was Bogdán's inn, everything that happens here is his responsibility. No one should be treating others the way Sergei just had. It was just wrong!
Remembering seeing Amaryliss deal with a situation like this gave him an idea. Standing up to his full six inches in height, he snapped his wings open. Flying up to the ceiling, he angled his body and flew as fast as he could, balling his little hand into a fist, he pulled back and threw everything he had into the punch to the side of Sergei's jaw.
The force of the blow caused him to scream out in pain as every bone in his hand shattered. Looking back over his shoulder he saw Sergei laid out on the floor. Eldrick's head bounced off the floor. 'What have I done? Poor Ellie'. A small pool of blood began to form around his head. Feeling a surge of panic at the thought he could have just caused Eldrick more harm, he scanned the room frantically. There was no more moss at hand. There was no time to go looking for more if he wanted to save Eldrick's life.
Remembering the innkeeper in the hall. He called out, "Bogdan, I need more moss please if you would?"
"You want me to toss you peas? Okay, but I don't understand" Turning, Bogdan headed down the hall. "These people have the oddest requests."
Sitting at Eldrick's head he tried to staunch the flow of blood. His tiny hand not doing a very good job. His other hand throbbing and he could see it swelling.
"What happened here?" Glimhook entered the room, his eyes wide.
"Petal needs moss Glimhook. Gather some for Petal, please," his wide eyes glistening. "Bogdán no hear Petal correctly. No time to waste." Looking from Eldrick to Glimhook to his swelling hand.
He only hoped they could stop the bleeding before it caused Eldrick any more damage. Remembering Sycamorea, he glanced in her direction. Her face was pale as a freshly laundered sheet, her hands still wrapped around Eldrick's wrist. He could tell she was applying pressure by the whiteness of her knuckles.
"Petal doesn't think you need to squeeze that hard. The moss will stop the bleeding." Concern for the dryad plain in his voice. "What happened to Ellie?"
"I tried a number of techniques to elicit an emotional response so I could explain how emotion was the enemy of magic." She raised a hand to brush her hair out of her face. He noticed she was very pretty. "He went crazy. I tried to put him to sleep, to calm him down. That was when everything just went weird." She seemed nervous, ducking her head, letting her hair fall across her face. "I woke a day later. I drained several of my tools to protect myself," she swallowed, her voice hitching, "From..from his magic." He noticed her eyes glancing at Eldrick's still form, a tear running down her cheek.
"How could I have misjudged so horribly? I should have been able to prevent any of this," her breath caught in her throat.
He could feel tears starting to form in his own eyes. "Petal curious, what do you know of Ellie?"
Her eyes met his, "Why do you keep calling him Ellie? The only thing I knew was that he is powerful and untrained. Oh, and a druid apprentice."
Sitting still, he thought about what he could tell her. He really wanted to spill the beans about everything he knew, but for some reason, it didn't quite feel right. There was so much he knew. How much was safe to divulge. What would Amaryliss think if he told her? There must be a reason if Amaryliss didn't tell her. Didn't she say Amaryliss sent word through the sprite network? If that were the case then anything said to them would be spread all over the world by now. Gossip was just so fun and it never gets old.
He was old enough and had spent enough time with Amaryliss to understand the need for privacy. If she was going to be able to get over this and help Eldrick she needed to know more than what Amaryliss had told her.
'Why was the hand throbbing so badly? It's not like I haven't hit things before. True Sergei does seem to have a head full of rocks. Right Sycamorea and the information'.
"Okaaaaay," he dragged out the word trying to find the correct way to say this. "Ellie, er Eldrick, isn't what he seems." He raised his good hand to his lips in thought. The sticky reminder of what he was doing causing him to look down. The blood had stopped flowing. "Well, he, she, oh I don't even know how to describe this." Dropping his eyes to his lap.
Glancing around for someplace to hide, but Amaryliss was back in Herigberg and he was here. He saw Eldrick's bag off to the side and considered hiding there. Until he remembered he was covered in blood and there were fine gowns in the bag.
"Well, he spent time at the house of healing as she, Petal guess? Everyone was told to call him Ellie and she. He seemed so happy as Ellie, happier than he was as Eldrick I guess. Oh, Petal is doing this all wrong."
"Petal," her voice both soft and gentle caused him to look up at her. "Please, take your time. Until Eldrick can get some handle on his abilities, the magic won't let you leave the Faewild."
Taking a deep breath he considered how to continue.
"Ellie has a lover from what Petal knows. But it may just be that there is a deep emotional connection between Ellie and Sebastian." Reaching up he tried to brush the tears from his face, only to flinch when his hand made contact.
"Let Petal try this a different way. There are flowers that only grow from certain seeds. It seems like Ellie is a chrysanthemum, growing in a dandelion patch." He hoped the meaning would come across. Though he doubted it, dryads were a matriarchy. He watched her face hoping to see understanding. Not seeing any, he pouted. He needed to find a better way to try to explain.
"Wait, Petal has an idea. Ellie was born a drus but would prefer to be a dryad. Duty stops Ellie from being who she should be. Does Petal make sense?"
Sycamorea's eyes widened. "Oh dear eldritch, the poor thing. What can we do?" Her face flushing. "No wonder he reacted the way he did when I mentioned the dress. Oh, what have I done? This is all my fault." Dropping Eldrick's wrist, she buried her face in her hands.
Petal wished he were larger and could comfort her properly. He couldn't even get something to cover her bloodstained body. Tears began flowing freely down her cheeks and between her fingers. 'The problem is thus; she is a dryad and I am just a lowly sprite, no one ever pays attention to sprites. Well, that is not true, Ellie paid attention to me, just not in that way. How can I get others to see me as more than just a messenger or a fool? Wait did she say we are stuck here until Ellie learns control? That could be years here and only days or weeks out in the mundane world. Sergei dying would just bring us back to this situation'. Petal shook his head. He couldn't fail Amaryliss and Eldrick like that. There had to be something he could do. He just couldn't figure out what.
Hearing Sycamorea's sobbing stop caught his attention. Her face lit up with excitement. Extending her arms she placed her hands on either side of Eldrick's face. A look of fierce determination and concentration crossing her face.
"Sycamorea, NO!! Don't."
