“Snow? Wake up!” Terrin exclaimed, shaking her.
Elurra snapped out of her dream and shot up, whacking Terrin’s forehead with her own. They both let out pained exclamations and recoiled from each other. Elurra collapsed against the bed, rubbing her forehead.
“Why were you using me as a pillow when there is a perfectly good bed right there?” he asked irritability. Elurra flushed.
“I was worried about you,” she muttered. A grin broke out over his face, and he tussled her hair, causing her to squeak and hide under the covers.
“What were you dreaming about? I heard you mutter something about Demons. Were you having another nightmare?”
She peeked out from under the covers, her lucid sapphire eyes standing out against her pale complexion. “I did have a rather strange…wait, you killed a Demon last night! What did you do? I did not even know if you were going to wake up again!”
He tried to answer her torrent of questions but instead started coughing roughly. He covered his mouth as the intense bout shook his thin frame. Elurra quickly jumped up and grabbed the medical satchel. He finally stopped coughing but was still struggling to breathe deeply. Elurra was much more concerned about the black liquid on his hands.
“Did you cough that up?” she asked in alarm as she grabbed a few dried herbs to combat the hacking. Terrin nodded weakly. Elurra brought him a glass of water and handed it to him with the herbs. He gratefully swallowed them.
“The Demon said something about poison. It’s probably best I’m coughing it up,” he moaned hoarsely.
At that moment, there was an excited knock on the door. Rowan burst in without waiting for an answer.
“Kai is awake! By tha beard of King Parcus, yer up too!” he said when saw Terrin sitting in bed.
“Will you be okay if I go to check on him?” Elurra asked Terrin.
He nodded and shakily reached out his hand. She hesitantly took it and helped him up, and he leaned on her as they followed Rowan into Kai’s room. Kai was sitting up in bed rubbing his eyes when they walked in. He winced as he touched the bruises on his face. Elurra, Rowan, and Terrin rushed to his side, peppering him with questions about his health and the events of the night before. Aleah woke in all the commotion and grumbled about the noise. Dawn’s first light trickled through the frosty windowpane, illuminating the wooden floor. She shivered and quickly went to rekindle the fire.
“How did’ya defeat the Demon?” Rowan asked earnestly.
The other two boys exchanged glances and silently agreed Kai would go first.
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“It enveloped me in what felt like a dark, icy prison and invaded my mind,” he started quietly, shivering as if he recalled the feeling. “It tortured me. I burned and froze and bled. It was awful.”
After a short silence, Terrin added, “I simply told it to go away. It was very accommodating.” He shrugged, and Elurra looked up at him and glared, but he averted his eyes. She opened her mouth to probe for a real explanation, but there was a sharp knock on the door before it flew open.
“How’s our two lumps a’—” Plague walked in and cried out joyously before he leapt over to the bed and crushed Kai in a bear hug.
Kai’s protests were lost as all the air was squeezed out of his lungs. He croaked, trying to free himself. When Plague finally let go, he sucked in a huge gulp of air and coughed dryly, giving the former pirate a disapproving glare. The rest of their traveling companions entered after him, grinning from ear to ear. Tristen, Rowan, Plague, and Snore crowded around them, and Terrin had to insist they back up while he examined Kai for any lasting damage. Elurra convinced the anxious dwarfs to go prepare to leave within the hour. As soon as they kicked everyone out, Aleah and Elurra packed up their supplies while Terrin applied salve to Kai’s healing bruises and encouraged him to cough up more of the black phlegm before they headed downstairs. The tavern was mostly deserted. Only two men sat at the small wooden tables, staring blankly into their steaming cups of coffee. After a small breakfast, the group thanked the innkeeper and trooped outside to saddle their horses. Elurra’s mind drifted as she tightened the straps around her steed.
How long have we been traveling? she wondered. As best as she could figure, they’d been traveling for over two weeks, but some of that was on foot and they lost some time in the caves, so she wasn’t sure how many days were left. She knew they had to be only a few days away, but it was impossible to tell.
We should get there in four days or less, she reassured herself, trying not to nurse any doubts. An army took a few days at best to gather, but Elurra wasn’t sure how far Unérith was from the border, so she couldn’t predict how long it would take for the Amorians to reach Lur Alava.
“Snow?” Terrin said, materializing by her shoulder.
She jumped unintentionally, startled out of her predictions. She turned to scold him for scaring her, but the words died on her lips when she saw his expression. “What is it?”
He looked around uneasily to make sure no one was listening before leaning closer. “I killed it. Remember how the Demons retreated in the caves when they saw the bracelets? I threw my bracelet at it. The snowflake opened, and there was a small green stone inside. When the bracelet touched the Demon, some sort of rift opened, and it got sucked in.”
She contemplated the implications of his words thoughtfully.
“The bracelets must be made of terrant,” she finally said. Terrin wrinkled his brow in confusion.
“Terrant is incredibly rare and is only used to cancel out Kutsal Stones or to create anti-Demon charms,” he said. “Even if you’re implying that was a Kutsal Stone, it was so small. Aren’t the stones bigger than that and in the royal crowns?”
Elurra shook her head. “My mother did come from the northern islands, so she might have brought terrant with her when she relocated to Lur Alava, but that does seem too small to hold a Kutsal Stone,” she said as she studied the charm. “Unless…” She raised her own wrist and compared the two bracelets.
“Do you think your parents split the Lur Alavian stone?”
“It is not impossible. The Kutsal Stone was one larger stone before the kingdoms split it amongst themselves.”
Before Terrin could reply, Rowan called out, “Will you two quit yappin’ and get on tha horse already?”
Elurra pulled herself up, but Terrin jumped in front to annoy her. She didn’t comment. She was too busy studying the charm on her bracelet.