85. Cold
"Why is it always me who has to catch colds before the battle with the Scarlet Hand?" Sabrina cried. It was late November, a year after the Sisters Grimm first came to Ferryport Landing. It had been raining for three days, the grayish endless autumn rain was very cold, and the Grimms had no umbrellas. Sabrina had walked out of the fort to deliver a message to the spies, and she had walked for three hours. She returned to the fort with a rather sore throat. Then the sickness continued with sneezing, a bad weakness, and a fever.
"The battle's tomorrow, I'll be left alone in an empty fort!" Sabrina complained for the hundredth time.
"There's no need to worry. We'll leave you with dozens of protective spells," Veronica smiled reassuringly.
"Your ugliness will scare everyone away!" Puck added, admiring his wooden sword.
"Oh please just shut up," Sabrina coughed. Henry handed her a cup of hot coffee. She cringed:
"Ohhhh, can I have tea instead of this?"
"We have no tea left," Henry said. "Tomorrow we'll attack the Hand warehouses and bring some more food, along with tea."
Sabrina managed to drink the coffee, and breathed fresh air into her mouth to get over the taste as soon as possible. Daphne rushed into the hospital cabin, waving a gold wand in front of her.
"Uh, Daphne, be careful," Henry said. "One day you might turn someone into a bird. Like you did with Sabrina in summer."
"Such a pity I hadn't a chance to watch that," Puck grinned.
"This thing isn't for birds," Daphne laughed. "It just helps one to gain strength and courage. Not a powerful wand, but works like a charm."
"Well, let's then go and wave it in front of the soldiers," Uncle Jake suggested. "We don't have a lot of time left before the battle starts."
Everyone agreed. Veronica kissed her eldest daughter on the cheek:
"Take this healing dust daily, and that mixture once an hour, and these tablets before going to sleep, and those tablets after waking up. Remember?"
"Yeah," Sabrina yawned.
"Try to get better. Morgan le Fay will construct a good protective barrier around the fort, you'll be perfectly safe."
"Goo-ood..." Sabrina mumbled sleepily and closed her eyes. Veronica quietly turned and left the cabin.
On the next day
Sabrina woke up and saw breakfast, lunch and supper served on a table nearby. She remembered that she had been all alone, and she felt a little creepy. Everyone was battling the Scarlet Hand...
Sabrina ate her breakfast, took all of her medicines and looked out of the window. The fort was empty, with no light or a living soul. It was still cloudy and raining there, and the grayish shower brought more of the creepy feeling to the whole sight.
Sabrina wrote the description of that day's battle in her journal and then mustered just enough courage to drink a cup of espresso. Two hours slowly passed. The girl lay on the bed, half-asleep: she was afraid to fall asleep, being perfectly alone in the fort and in the whole forest, but it was too boring to stay awake.
"Why, why couldn't they leave at least one more person here?" Sabrina thought. "I can take care of myself, but it's so... oh!.. creepy here..."
The day continued, and the evening came. Now the fort looked really scary. There was purple darkness outside the window, and the rare greenish stars resembled some evil eyes. The rain was clattering on the metal roof as if some beasts were scratching in with their claws. Sabrina lit three candles in her cabin, but it brought little comfort.
"That freaky cold," Sabrina shuddered.
She hoped the army would come soon.
Everything, though, was quiet and silent, except for the never-ending rain, until, suddenly, Sabrina heard a loud BUZZ coming from under the roof. She chilled from the fever and the fear and slowly raised her head.
There was a swarm of Puck's green pixies buzzing anxiously beneath the ceiling. Sabrina tried to figure out what in the world they had been buzzing to her, and she succeeded at last:
"It's Puck's... BUZZBUZZBUZZ... order. He thinks... BUZZBUZZBUZZ... that you'll certainly die... BUZZBUZZBUZZBUZZ... when left alone without proper protection... BUZZBUZZBUZZ... So he left us... BUZZBUZZBUZZ... here. BUZZ."
Sabrina laughed with greatest relief.
With the pixies, it wasn't frightening at all to be the only one in the fort. The pixies gave Sabrina a real firework show, using their ability to brighten and darken their light. Then, the whole swarm morphed into different shapes and figures. The bore disappeared.
The cheerful, triumphant army returned in the next afternoon. By that time, Sabrina felt much more joyful, and her cold had almost disappeared.
Puck came to her cabins, glanced at his minions and chuckled:
"Well, I think their presence helped you a lot, ugly."