turn and pick up the forgotten nos weed. “You need to eat this, it will help you.”
His frown deepens as he looks at the clumpy green plant in my hand, recognition flashing in his eyes. “Where did you get this?”
Sighing, I push it towards his mouth, determined he will eat it, even if I have to force him.
“Stop talking and eat,” I order, and he reaches up to take the weed from me, eyeing it suspiciously before sliding it into his mouth. An expression of disgust immediately crosses his face while he chews the weed, his jaw working overtime as he attempts to chew his way through it.
Deciding to reward him for not throwing the weed back in my face, I take a seat, remove the pack from my back, and leaning against the cave wall. “Stix told me to speak with the kelpies, they got the weed for me.”
He stops chewing for a second, his confusion evident. “Sticks?”
“Yeah, he’s an imp,” I start, but stop speaking when I realise he’s not chewing the weed anymore. With a glare from me, he starts to chew again and I continue my story. “He and his friends helped me bring you here, and he told me about the nos weed.” Searching through the pack, I remove all our various items, placing everything I would need to dress his wound to one side. “They do not think very highly of high elves by the way, I had to convince him that by helping you, he would be helping me.”
I snort at that and lift the flask with the liquor, wincing when I feel how light it is now. We’re going to be out soon, possibly with the next dressing change, so I just hope the nos weed helps. I have no idea how it works, but I have to trust that Stix was right.
“He sent you to the kelpies?” Vaeril queries, and I lift my gaze from the flask, noting his incredulous look.
“Yeah, they weren’t so bad.” I shrug and return to sorting our belongings. We’re nearly out of food now, and although I’m very grateful for Stix’s gifts of berries and nuts, I find I’m missing meat.
“How did you survive?” His shocked tone catches my attention again and I turn fully to face him. Why is he so surprised by all of this?
“Stix told me to tell them something, I did, and then they listened,” I explain simply. I know they have a bad reputation from the images they showed me, and people fear them, but I was able to reason with them, so I don’t really understand his disbelief. “They have a lot of anger though.” I shudder as I remember that feeling of rage and their hunger as they dragged someone to the bottom of the lake.
Vaeril must be starting to feel better, because he pushes up with his elbows to look at me better. “Kelpies are impossible beasts to deal with, they only care about where their next meal is coming from.”
Frowning, I shake my head. “I got more than that from him when he communicated with me.”
“Those things can talk?” Astonishment colours his expression again.
“No...” Pausing, I search for the right words. “It pressed its forehead against mine and kind of sent images to me?” I explain, not sure how to describe what had happened when I’ve never experienced anything like it before.
“You should be dead.”
Shrugging again, I turn back to sorting our belongings. “I should have died many times during my life.”
He falls silent, and I go through the process of cleaning and redressing his wound, which looks worse than ever. The injury is a deep, angry red colour and is leaking a greenish pus, and the skin around it is tight and shiny. The black lines track from the wound and up his body, and a couple are dangerously close to where his heart is. Thankfully, he passes out while I’m cleaning it, and I use the last of the liquor in the process. That worry plagues me again, but I’m just finishing wrapping up his wound when a shadow falls over the waterfall and the sound of the water changes, like something has disturbed the flow.
Heart pounding, I spin around, reaching for one of the weapons Vaeril packed in the bag, not that I have any idea how to use it. Although, when I see what it is, I start to lower the weapon.
“Don’t,” Vaeril commands, his hand shooting out and grabbing my arm. “Don’t