Emmy: Ok, I went back and did a little editing over my story. Once again I will remind you I wrote this last year, although I think I started to get better at writing towards the end.
Raven: Also, we appreciate your criticism queen-of-sapphires. I went back and checked how to spell spidren. Although changing the point of view is how we write. It's our style. We like to let people see it from different points of view. Also, we like to describe things. Its how we write and I'm telling you now, if you don't like that you should probably just not read the rest of the story.
Emmy: Right, now on with the novel.
Chapter 5: Illness
Razziel went to fetch the porridge for Lady Kel. She had neglected to mention that most of her dreams had been about living with Donion or learning all her family members had died. Razziel had only been sick two days but she was glad it was over. Neal had told them all it was a passing sickness that you could only catch once. It was also very dangerous. Two pages had died from it already. Razziel also neglected to mention the condition of Lady Kel's friends but she didn't want to be the one to tell Lady Kel the bad news.
Since Razziel's recovery her job had been cleaning laundry, bathrooms, or anything else that she was instructed to clean. She also helped serve those who were recovering. On her way to the kitchen she looked at the door leading to one of the sick rooms. It was where the worst cases were kept. She bit her lip thinking of the five people who awaited death there. She worried more of the friend behind that door.
"Why don't I visit him? Maybe he'll wake up," she thought. She would only visit a minute; she had to get Kel the porridge.
The room had a spell on it to keep the disease inside. She walked down the aisle, looking at the beds.
The first bed contained a page who was training to be a knight, the second held a teacher, the third a servant, and the forth a squire. It was the fifth that she stood by. It was the closest to the only window in the room. She looked down at the figure under the covers. He looked no better then the last time she had seen him. She stared for a moment, hoping to see him open his eyes and say something sarcastic to make her laugh but he didn't. She said a small prayer before running off to fetch Lady Kel and the food she had asked for.
Kel's P.O.V
"Feeling better?" Neal asked Kel as she quickly devoured her porridge.
"Yes, thank you. So, how about you? Did you get sick?" she asked.
"For a while but I got over it," he replied. Kel sensed something in his voice. He was troubled. "What's wrong?" Kel asked.
"Kel, well…you see you came close to dieing, so did many others, like Merric, Owen, and my cousin." Neal paused.
"That's not all, is it?" Kel asked. Neal sighed.
"It's Tobe," he said quietly.
"Oh yes, right before I went to sleep, the night I caught the virus, Tobe had been acting very strange. I was going to take him to a healer in the morning. Is he ok?" Kel's asked anxiously.
"No," Neal said sadly.
"No? Well, what's wrong with him? How sick is he? You can't just say 'no'!" Kel snapped.
"He's one out of five of the worst cases. I'm not sure-I hope that he'll make it through. Two have already died," Neal said quietly. "I'm sorry." Kel didn't say anything. Then finally she asked.
"Can I see him?"
"Yes," Neal said. "As soon as you're well enough."
Kel shuttered as she entered the room. Five beds were set up across from each other. At the end of the room she saw the one that her boy was in. His face was flushed, and his forehead was burning up. He had a dry cough and his breaths were short and harsh.
"It's the fever that gets them," Neal said. Kel looked at him.
"Can't you bring it down with magic?" she asked.
"I have already, but only a little. I have to save my magic for others. If I use a lot of it on one person I'll be too weak to help anyone else."
"Don't you have other healers?" Kel pleaded.
"They have to save their strength too Kel," Neal said sadly.
"What about other people with magic?" she asked.
"Almost everyone is sick but the ones with magic are helping me already. People without magic are doing the best they can do help too."
Since Kel was well again she took to helping the sick. Most of her friends were getting better. Dom was always sleeping fitfully. Kel had to change sheets, serve food and tea, and tend to some of the castle chores. With so many sick servants even nobles were found washing dishes. Although days passed it seemed that Tobe and the other four weren't getting better. Kel often checked in to see him but he never woke up. She sometimes found him mumbling things in his sleep like:
"Don't! Don't! Please! I'll be good!" Kel heard a lot of people calling out in their sleep, trying to escape from their fears.
It was on the day that the servant from Tobe's room died that Kel began to really worry. What could she do to help? Although many people were getting better all the trained healers still had to save their magic. If only she could find some source of magic, somebody who'd be willing to give a big amount away. Kel couldn't think of anybody like that. Anyone with magic was already helping. Kel racked her brain. I need magic! I need a magic outlet. "Gods give me an idea!" she cried in frustration. Then all of a sudden Kel knew what to do.
Razz's P.O.V
Razziel was scrubbing a basin, which she thought was a disgusting job, when Lad Kel came running up to her.
"I've been looking for you everywhere!" Kel gasped.
"Whatever for m' lady?" Razz asked, getting up.
"Come with me and hurry!" Kel said running quickly walking down the corridor.
"What's wrong?" Razz asked again.
"You know how you said you had healing powers?" Kel asked.
"I can't heal," Razz began, knowing what Kel was thinking. "I can only do small things like stopping cuts or getting rid of bruises."
"But you still have the gift, which is what we need now," Kel said. Razz nearly had to jog to ketch up.
Neal looked up as they walked in the door. "Where have you been?" he asked. "And why is she here?" he asked, pointing to Razziel.
"She has the gift," Lady Kel said bluntly.
"What?" he asked, looking Razziel over.
"I can't really heal," she said.
"But she still has the gift. She could help, couldn't she?" Lady Kel asked anxiously, looking over at Tobe.
"You want me to help save Tobe?" she asked, awed by Kel's faith in her. "I'll do whatever I can."
Neal looked at her a second longer and said "Ok, you said you didn't know how to perform healing but still, if you could lone me your gift I would probably have the strength to heal Tobe enough so that he could conquer the virus on his own."
"Give my gift to you?" Razziel asked. She didn't like the thought of giving away part of herself.
"Don't worry, it will come back, I just need to borrow some." Sir Neal reassured her.
Then he extended his palm. "Take my hand," he said. Razziel did. "Now reach inside and find your gift. Send it to my body," he instructed.
Razziel shut her eyes and dived down into her body. She found it, the glowing blue orb of magic that was hers, and no one else's. It looked so beautiful that she didn't want to give it away to Neal but she thought of Tobe and knew she had too. She poked at the ball until a blast of energy came out. It hurt! She felt like she was going to burn to death if she didn't get rid of the magic soon. She hadn't meant to take so much of it and she had to get rid of it somehow so she sent it up her arm and into Sir Neal's.
"Ouch!" he said, breaking free of Razziel. "I didn't need so much of it! Your magic is overflowing! When's the last time you used it? Ignoring the gift can lead to serious misfortunes!"
Razziel opened her eyes and saw Neal was glowing with a blue light. Razziel swayed a little. She hadn't expected to feel so tired; it was like he had just zapped all of her energy out. As Neal walked over to Tobe she leaned against the wall.
All of a sudden it was too bright to see. Her blue light was mixed with the little bit of green that was Sir Neal's. Lady Kel pulled her farther back. They waited for about a minute before it died down. Sir Neal looked towards them and he smiled a bit.
"That should help him recover, and I still have enough of your magic left over to help the others." He said.
"So Tobe will be ok?" Lady Kel asked.
"I think so. Girl, you come with me and help me with the others."
"It's Razz, my name is Razz."
"Alright then Razz, let's get going," Sir Neal replied.
Razziel looked over at Tobe before she left. The color was back in his face and he seemed to be breathing easier. For now she had to help Sir Neal, but she promised she would return to visit Tobe later.
Kel's P.O.V
Kel was relieved that Tobe wasn't going to die. He didn't feel as hot and his cough seemed to have died down. She decided to go see if her other friends were ok, she'd totally forgotten about them.
After searching and searching she found Merric changing the sheets of a bed in one sick room and Owen was in the stables, cleaning out the stalls. All of her other friends seemed to be fine too.
She found Dom sitting up in bed sipping tea and eating porridge. "Kel!" he said excitedly.
"Dom! How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Oh, bored really. All I do is eat, sleep, and sometimes read," he answered. Kel laughed then said seriously:
"I was getting worried about you."
"I heard you weren't so lucky either but we both made it right?" Kel smiled wearily.
"I was fine. I didn't like the nightmares much though," she said, shuttering.
"I'd have to agree with you there," Dom said. There was a moment of silence before he said, "What were yours about?"
"Well," Kel began. She was a bit embarrassed to tell. "About all my friends getting hurt. Everyone-including you-got killed by spidarians. You were trying to save me. Then it got weird. Nobody was in the palace and there seemed to be nothing anywhere." Kel didn't mention the taunting voice.
"Sound horrible," Dom said sympathetically. "In mine you and I were fighting one of those killing machines. When I finished it off I turned to find young knights flirting with you." Kel blushed and laughed a bit.
"You shouldn't worry about that," she said.
"I'm glad," Dom replied. Then after some more talking Kel saw that Dom was getting tired so she left to go see Tobe before she went to work helping clean up.
Kel found Tobe awake.
"Lady?" he asked worriedly. "What's going on?"
"You were sick remember? Turns out it's an epidemic."
"Oh," was all he said.
"I'll get you some tea; you need to get your strength back." Tobe made a face.
"You mean that nasty stuff that taste's like tree bark?" Tobe asked wearily. Kel pressed down a giggle.
"Lady?" he said quietly. "Was it all a dream, about the men who took your stuff?"
"Yes," Kel said, almost sure she was right.
"It seemed so real," Tobe mumbled.
"Well, we'll talk about it later. I'll get you some tea, then you'll have to rest some more. Understand?" Tobe nodded and muttered
"Yes mother," on her way out. That made Kel smile, although she hid it from Tobe. If he was joking, he was fine.
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Emmy: Alright then. R&R.