The Mit and The Billows - Chapter 8

Instead of heading to the shop the next day, I went to the healer’s halls. I bought several healing potions and a few vials of false briar antidotes. While I was there, I asked about advice for getting rid of the pests. I also swung by the market to pick up some hand pies for lunch with Love. The bell announced my arrival and Love came out of the back forge looking grim.

“Are you sure about this?” He asked as I handed him a pie.

“Absolutely. I’d be sick with guilt if someone else got hurt.” I bit into the pie and smiled. They were good. “At least if we don’t win, this is a pretty good last meal.”

I didn’t know colour could drain from a tiefling’s face, but Love paled. “Don’t even joke, Ardy!”

I laughed a little and glanced around the shop. “So, what are you bringing with you? The recommendation seems to be to cut the tails off and then take them out.”

“You’re bringing this.” Love handed me a small light dagger with an edge that looked wickedly sharp. He then pulled out a short sword that looked older, but no less sharp. “I’ll take this. I’ve practised with it the most.”

“Great!” I finished my pie and licked the crumbs off my fingers before striding to the door. Knowing Love was going to help me gave me confidence. “Let’s get this done!”

Love sighed heavily as he pulled the door open and stepped into the garden, sword drawn. I followed closely, but he held a hand up and whispered. “I’ll go a little further in. Stay in the doorway if you can. Your magic is long range, right?”

“It is. I just want to be helpful.” I whispered back furiously.

“The most helpful thing right now is not having to worry about you.” Love flourished his blade in a circular motion and crouched a little as he moved towards a thorny looking bush.

The bush chittered and growled as Love approached, and the tiefling struck quickly and the noise stopped. There was a heavy silence that followed, broken in seconds by the screeching of the rest of the false briars in the garden. They shuffled forward on their small, stumpy legs, teeth and thorns flashing in the sun.

“Gods! They’re everywhere!” Love shouted, his blade flashing as he struck out wildly. “Ardy! Be careful!”

“I’ve got this!” Two false briars were shuffling toward me. They were trying to flank Love from behind. Stretching out my hand and digging into the well of magic inside me, I released two bolts of lightning and the creatures fell still and silent. I remembered the advice I had gotten earlier and shouted back. “Cut their tails off first!”

I heard Love curse loudly, which snapped my attention to where he was. Blood was running down his left arm, and the green ichor from the false briars coated his blade in the other hand. “Why the hell are these things so nasty?!”

“I don’t know, but watch out!” I released another bolt of lightning that shot past Love and into a creature that was trying to sneak up from behind some bushes. The well of magic in me was running dry, and I raised the dagger Love gave me. Looking around, I couldn’t tell how many were left, but Love was hacking them down steadily and moving deeper into the garden.

“I think that’s all of them. Gods above those thorns hurt.” Blood was still dripping down his arm, and I pulled out a healing potion as he approached.

“You’re pretty handy with a blade, huh?” I held the potion out. Love shouted something and grabbed my wrist. Suddenly, I was where Love had been standing and he grunted in pain, dropping to one knee. There was a false briar tail looped around his right arm, and his blade was on the ground. The creature surged forward, aiding itself with its tail anchored in Love’s flesh. Its mouth was open as it flew at him.

“Love!” I felt time slow around me as I sunk the dagger into the flesh of the creature while it bit Love.

“You know, hearing you shout my name is kind of nice.” Love’s strained voice rattled around in my head as he slumped down and laid on his back. I unwrapped the limp tail, pulling the thorns out as gently as I could.

“I thought you said that was all of them.” I made idle chatter as I worked, as much for my benefit as his.

“I thought it was. Thank goodness you didn’t get hurt like last time.” Love’s hand reached up to my face and the way he smiled felt like he was squeezing my chest.

“Come on. I can’t carry you to the healers, so you’ll have to take the potion and the antidote.” I pulled the vial out first and supported Love’s head. Pulling the cork stopper out with my teeth, I put the glass to his lips and tipped it up. His face squirrelled up, and he coughed a bit.

“That shit’s nasty.” He stuck his tongue out and curled his lip back. He eyed the potion bottle with disgust. “Is that one nasty too?”

“No, the last bit of medicine should be the best tasting. It’s a strategy I used with my siblings. You seem just as particular as them.” I tipped the bottle into his mouth. He didn’t seem to like the flavour of it either, but he was less animated with his distaste.

“Are you calling me a petulant child?” Love’s body relaxed in my grip as the potion and antidote started working.

“I would never call my siblings petulant.” I dodged and teased him with some banter. Sitting him up, I wrapped his arm over my shoulders. “I need you to help me, Love. I’m not as strong as you.”

“You’re plenty strong.” He groaned as I helped him up and back through the door. Love leaned heavily on me as we made our way to his room. As he flopped down onto the mattress a book fell out from under it. I picked it up and looked over the cover.

“Love, what's-” he turned and looked at me with wide eyes before snatching the book from me.

“Don’t snoop. It isn’t nice.” He pouted and shoved the book under his pillow.

“I’m sorry, it fell.” His pouting face was cute and I couldn’t help smiling at him. “I’ll let you rest until the potion finishes working. Call me if you need anything.”

I turned to leave, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me down to his bed. “Ardy, stay with me?”

To the next chapter!

The Mit and The Billows - Chapter 9

Author's musings:

I went to a Sage seminar, and I've been thinking about monetization. I feel like there's more of a community benefit to leaving this free and accessable.

This is a first draft, and even though I do some mechanical editing proof reading, it isn't perfect. It isn't polished or finished and there's so much room for improvement. I might do a section on here that goes through my process, as a point of reference or to maybe help people with their writing. It will likely include the developmental editing that I'll do for this story.

I have the benefit of being a very confident writer, and I may put an example of my unedited work up to compare to the edited version. It might be helpful. Let me know if that's something you'd be interested in.

This has been your local Trash Panda, hoping to help.

P.S.: We have officially passed the 10k word mark. This is an exciting milestone for me!