hands. Bringing my knee up to support it, I carefully let all the sap trickle into it. The fairy held up a side to prevent it from seeping over the edge.
“Now stop!” the fairy commanded. The light inside the tree had diminished significantly. After daintily dipping her hands into the sap, the fairy pressed her glowing palms against the wound in the trunk, rubbing sap over the edges, and the deep cut sealed itself shut.
“You stupid, selfless, overly generous, chancer tree,” the fairy lamented. “Wasn’t dying once enough for you? You had ta fight so hard ta get your heart back, and now you give it away ta the first person who asks for help.”
The fairy turned to me with a glare that spoke volumes. “I hope you’re happy. Now get out of here and save Amon’s brother. If you manage to accomplish half of the things you’ve promised ta do, then I’ll be impressed. More likely, though, this precious gift will be squandered. I’d suggest using yer giant hands ta make sure not a drop is spilled. And here.” The fairy snapped her fingers and a bag materialized, its weight centered on my hip.
“What’s this?” I asked.
The fairy shrugged. “It’s not my idea. The tree thinks you’ll need it. If it were up ta me, I would have given you nothin’. And I’ll warn ya right now. If I find out you’re a forger o’ lies, I’ll hunt ya down and make ya suffer until all the shamrocks in Ireland couldn’t save ya.”
I nodded soberly. As diminutive as she was, I took her at her word. “Thank you,” I said to the tree, then turned to the fairy. “Now, how do I make the salve?” I asked, irritated with her, yet somehow respectful and grateful at the same time.
The fairy shook her head as if my question had been ridiculous. “The sap is the salve. It’s the heart blood of the tree. Now go. Crack on. And I hope ta never lay eyes upon you again.”
I nodded and rose carefully, making sure the sap was stable in the leaf. When I’d walked a few steps away, I turned. “Thank you. Both of you. I promise this gift will be remembered and will be used well. If there’s any way to return the favor, I will.”
It took me two hours to return to our camp, and when I entered the clearing, I smelled two things. The first was fire, and I was grateful to Ahmose for getting one made. If he hadn’t hunted yet, I figured we could eat what I’d brought, and then we could hunt again in the morning. Honestly, sleep was now more important to me than food. The second thing I smelled was decay. Rot. And I stopped in my tracks, a feeling of horror spreading through me.
“Ahmose, is he…?”
“Dead?” He shook his head. “Not yet.”
“Then we’ll have to hurry. I hope we can save the limb,” I said. “This salve should heal him. I just hope it’s enough.” I brought the sap-filled leaf next to his leg and overturned it onto the wound. Gleaming liquid pooled slowly beneath the leaf and trickled sluggishly down his thigh. I rubbed the leaf in tiny circles, making sure to get the bulk of the sap into the wound. Asten moaned and thrashed. “Hold him down!” I shouted.
I didn’t know what I would do if I lost him.
“I’m going to wash my hands. Can you make new bandages?” Ahmose nodded and I headed to the pool and thrust my hands under the water, scrubbing hard.
The gleaming liquid fizzed and bubbled, creating a cloud of light beneath that slowly dissipated. Where the sparkling water lapped the shore, tiny green things began to glow, and as they did, they grew. Little plants stretched out their vibrant leaves and the moss thickened and spread. I watched in fascination and then raced back to Asten.
Ahmose was wrapping his leg. “His fever has broken already,” he said. “Your salve appears to be working.”
“Let’s just hope it’s not too late.”
Finishing up, Ahmose stood and stretched. “What’s that?” he asked.
“What?”
“What’s in the bag? You didn’t have it when you left.”
“Oh. It’s something the fairy gave me. That and some kind of forest creature I caught.”
“Fairy?”
“Yeah. It’s a long story.” I pulled the tie, freeing the bag, and opened it. “Food!” I said. Inside was an assortment of nuts and dried fruit. “The tree made sure I took it, along with the sap.”