AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Once more, we went through the rigamarole of her spells washing over me, and I had to wonder about the direction my life had gone. One of the most powerful and well-known enchantress within our borders casting magic on me was just a normal state of affairs now.
But that nonchalance faded when she stepped away after about ten minutes and let out a string of curses.
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Ayla asked, her voice so small. Ihatedit when she sounded like that, as I recognized now that when she made that sound, she blamed herself.
Yvonne nodded. “All of the wards I put on him, every single one of them, is either irreparably damaged or warped by that curse of yours. I’m going to need to cleanse your prince, scrub his magical signature, then cast them all over again.”
I may not have been a witch, wizard, or anything else along those lines, but I knew bad news when I heard it.
“Does this mean the curse is getting stronger?”
Yvonne nodded. “Think of this curse as less of an abstract spell and more of anentitymade up of dark magic. It is a living thing, and all living things must feed.” I swallowed, not liking this explanation at all. It was one thing to feel like a mindless curse was hanging over our heads, and it was another entirely to think some sentience was… was…
Huntingus.
“We’ve been denying it any way to feed from the target it’s marked, especially with you, Officer Khan. I’d risk a guess you were its favorite meal whenever it couldn’t get to Prince Nikolai.”
“Lucky me,” Darla remarked drily.
“So, with both you and His Highness gone, the curse is spreading out. That’s why it targeted your man stuffing his face over there—”
“Hrmloo!” Mad Dog said, giving a wave without putting his fork down.
“Soon, it’ll spread to others. It won’t just be those you interact with. It’ll be people in physical proximity. After all, then they’ll be able to spread it to people important to them, as if they were their own mini versions of your curse.”
Thatreallywasn’t good.
“What do we do to stop it?” Ayla asked.
“I’m not sure. I’m still unwinding some of the basic parts of your situation. Keep researching on your end. The tiniest thing can help us figure this out.” Yvonne took a breath, then placed her hands on her hips. “All right, time to ward. Prince Nikolai, you’re up first. Buckle up, everyone. We’re going to be here all damn day.”
Chapter 21
Ayla
I didn’t sleep well, but I also wasn’t particularly surprised given the day we’d had. The warding had indeed gone on for hours and hours, well into the night, with Yvonne stopping to rest and recharge.
I’d have thought that would’ve let me rest better, knowing my companions were safe from me, if only for another week, but I was still aware the poison was from my presence and was spreading out to affecteveryonearound me.
Darla had said it when I’d first told her of the malignant shadow plaguing me. I’d always thought imagining it as a force was just my way of dealing with an abstract evil when I was young. Apparently, I was more on target than I thought.
I was carrying around a ravenous force which thrived off pain and death, and that was a pretty harsh punch in the mouth. I felt restless, like even lying in bed was going to get someone killed.
Surely the curse had to feel sated from all the pain it’d caused Mad Dog, right? I defeated it eventually, but it had a nice little meal.
Eventually, however, I could only lay in bed tossing and turning for so long. After I was thoroughly frustrated, I went up to the infirmary to see how I could help. There was a chancebeing there would make it worse, but I thought maybe I could balance it out by curing some of the sick. Whatever they had wasn’t nearly as vicious as Mad Dog’s affliction, either.
At least the healers on shift were happy to see me and had good news. About half the patients the previous day had improved with the herbal blend I’d recommended and some simple cleansing spells. The bad news was they were replaced by a dozen or so new patients with the exact same symptoms.
Then the half who hadn’t recovered were getting worse. They’d developed low grade fevers and cold sweats. Again, not apocalyptic, but it didn’t bode well, either.
I helped as best I could, putting together a more refined herbal blend, considering the first prototype had worked for half of those afflicted, then tweaking the cleansing spells. The key was not to eliminate the useful bacteria in the bodies, which was a much more difficult thing to accomplish among different types of cryptids. As it happened often, healing was not a one size fits all gig.
The busy work could only last so long, though, and eventually I left, not wanting to risk exposing them to my presence for too long, then headed toward the library. It was my first time going alone in what felt like years, even though we hadn’t been in the capital for more than a month.
I was on my way when I came across someone I didn’t expect at all. I tried to avoid her, only to have none other than Princess Amelia calling me out.
“You! Yes, you! You’re one of my brother’s underlings, aren’t you?”
