Sitting at the high table, Callum was comfortably sketching away, letting his mind wander. He looked down and realised that he'd been drawing Rayla as she'd looked when dancing with one of her admirers. He made a note to warn her about people looking for political advantage.
His eyes strayed to where she was sitting on a balcony, hair shining in the moonlight. She was sipping at a glass of wine, and he began to sketch her, trying to capture her serenity. As his pencil moved over the paper, he noticed that her shoulders were sagging, as if she was slowly falling asleep. Standing up, he was most of the way to her when her glass suddenly slipped out of nerveless fingers and shattered on the stone floor.
He dove forwards and managed to get his hands behind her shoulders as she slumped, as if falling asleep. His hand flew to her wrist. He'd watched the Palace physician take pulses dozens of times, and he was, after a few attempts, able to find hers, cradling her as the Crownguard cleared the room behind them. It was slow, almost languid, unlike his own racing pulse.
A hand landed on his shoulder, and he looked around to see Amaya holding a piece of the shattered glass, with her left hand practically blurring.
'Poison, query? I can't smell anything except the wine. Did she drink the entire glass?'
Callum paused, before replying.
"I think so."
Amaya held the glass in front of her, before cautiously extending her tongue, and licking the inside of it.
"Honey wine. Pretty strong taste. Spicy aftertone. Get me a cup of it."
"Sergeant, fetch a bottle of honey wine, now!" Callum ordered, an unaccustomed snap of command in his voice.
The bottle was fetched, opened, and poured. Amaya swirled it around, before signing at Callum 'No spicy aftertaste. Poison.'
Callum blanched as he held Rayla in his arms, able to feel the way her pulse was slowing. "We need to make her sick."
Amaya nodded, as they dragged Rayla over to a table, laying her down on her side. Amaya began arranging the unconscious elf, extending her left arm away from her body, palm up. Next, she tucked Rayla's other arm under her right cheek, palm facing upwards. With her head supported, she pulled her left leg up to a right angle, supporting the young elf's body.
Then, she looked grimly at Callum, and signed: 'I can make her sick. But it isn't going to be pretty.'
"Do it." Callum responded, instantly.
Amaya signed again. 'Brace her back. Don't let her roll towards you.'
"What are you going to..." Callum began to ask, leaning against Rayla's back, not getting any further before his aunt's fist slammed into Rayla's stomach. She hammered it with several more punches, before Rayla groaned, and a stream of barely digested food poured from her mouth into a bucket.
Amaya punched her a couple of times for good measure, producing another pint of fluid, and began to clean around her mouth.
With the Moonshadow elf's heartrate no longer slowing, Amaya turned to Callum, and flipped open his sketchbook.
"Did you see who bought her that drink?" She signed
Callum took the book back, before starting to sketch, almost without thinking.
Before long, a human form began to emerge from the sketchpad, viewed from behind as it placed a glass by Rayla's hand. With long dark hair, slim shoulders, perhaps an inch or two taller than Rayla, Callum instantly recognised her. He probably would have from any angle. "Clauds, what have you done?" He whispered to himself, feeling as if his chest was full of daggers and razor blades.
He held up a sketch of Claudia's back to Amaya, with a visible heave of his shoulders.
She began to sign orders at the nearest Crownguard, before every bell in the castle clattered into life, and Commander Gren burst into the room. "Someone tried to steal the egg." He told his commanding officer. "Someone in a Crownguard officer's uniform, with a full helmet, tried to order the guards away. The sergeant on watch pointed out that their orders came from the king, and he attacked, but was fought off."
Callum had turned back to Rayla, before his aunt grabbed his arm, firmly. With her other hand, Amaya grabbed a barely stirring Rayla by the back of her dress and slung the elf over her shoulder. 'Guards, on me.' She signed, which Gren translated.
Once the guards had fallen in around the general and the two teens, Amaya set a punishing pace back to the Emerald Tower, more or less dragging Callum along, as he struggled to keep pace or stay upright. Various guards just about wrestled doors open as they arrived, and he noticed that one of Amaya's troops was carrying Ezran, Bait, and what looked like an entire basket of pastries.
'Guard the door.' Amaya signed at him, draping Rayla over Callum as she turned, drawing her shield. 'Everyone else, with me. Callum, keep an eye on her overnight.'
Amaya headed off, ignoring the fact that Callum's cheeks were approximately the colour of his tunic, as he staggered under the weight of the elf, laying her down on the bed. He wrestled with a large chest, which he pressed against the entrance to the secret passage, just in case. Behind him, the soldier who'd been carrying Ezran and Bait laid them both down on a couch, and covered them with a blanket, before taking station just outside the door.
And then he, with difficulty, hauled Rayla into the same position that Amaya had propped her up in, and lit a candle, before producing his sketchbook, and a pencil.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Rayla woke up with a pounding headache, as if someone had used her drum in place of a drum. She vaguely remembered fighting to stay awake, surrounded by music. She was lying in a strange position, muscles stiff, as if she'd been in it for hours, without so much as a blanket.
"My head…" she groaned. Almost instantly, a cup of water was pressed into her hands, which she sipped gratefully, before looking around the room. Ezran was sleeping under a blanket. Callum, with large bags under his eyes, was sitting next to her bed, with his sketchbook on a small table next to his chair.
"Did you sleep at all last night?" She asked, between sips of gloriously cold water.
"General Amaya tol' me to kee' an eye on you." He slurred.
"Wait.. what? You… watched me sleep?"
"For hours." Callum confirmed, his sleep-addled mind not detecting any warning signs.
"Give me the book."
"Wha? No. It's my sketchbook."
"Callum, I swear to the moon that if you do not give me that sketchbook, I will take it from you."
Callum held it away from her, standing up. "Rayla, it's personal. There are a lot of sketches in there that are really precious to me."
"Oh, precious, he says." Rayla retorted, suddenly lunging for the book, as Callum twisted away. "What about my precious privacy?"
"Rayla…"
"Callum… if you don't let me see the sketches you did of me…" she threatened, grabbing his arms, and pulling them towards her.
"Fine!" Callum retorted, as the door cracked open, and pushed the book into her hand. "I'll show you which pages they're on."
He quickly showed her several studies of her, from the ball. One of her dancing with a human noble, face guarded. Another, of her attempting to retrieve her blades from General Amaya's belt. And then one of her with her back turned, sitting on the balcony, as a human placed a glass next to her hand.
And then he turned the page, revealing a sketch of her lying on the bed, still in her dress, with a bang draped across her face, and a soft smile on her lips.
"It's…" she hesitated. "I haven't seen…"
She felt embarrassed, somehow, as she looked at her sleeping self. She was happy, vulnerable… cute, even. She pushed it aside. "Why did you draw me?"
"Oh, uh, because I needed to stay awake." Callum said. "Aunt Amaya told me to keep an eye on you."
Rayla gently guided him back into a chair.
"I'm goin' to be fine." She told him. "You need to rest now."
Once he dropped off to sleep, Rayla couldn't resist picking up the sketchbook, and running off a quick, simple sketch of her own. "Dumb human." She titled it, as she propped the book up where he could see it.
Her stomach felt like she'd been repeatedly kicked by a Moonstrider, as she stood and stretched, crossing over to where her day clothes had been laid out. Mindful of the human's presence, she changed behind the privacy screen. When she looked down at her arms, she groaned. The bindings were surrounded by a faint purple border, standing out against her pale skin.
"Well, that's just absolutely brilliant." She muttered. There was a jug of water next to her bed, which she wasted little time in pouring down her throat, hoping that it would take the edge off her throbbing headache.
A handful of pastries occupied the bottom of a basket, which she wolfed down, feeling like she hadn't eaten for a day. Glancing back at Callum, she couldn't resist sneaking back over to him, and tucking a pencil behind his ear.
And then she went looking for answers.
It didn't take her long to find General Amaya, who was standing at the bottom of the steps, face drawn. The look she gave the elf instantly made her think of a disappointed Ethari. I… Ethari, I'm so sorry. We were a family. And then… Her face collapsed.
Gently, almost surprisingly so, Amaya led her back upstairs, and straight back into the room she'd just left, Commander Gren walking right behind her.
"What happened at the feast?" Rayla asked, finally. "Callum said you told him to watch me all night."
"You were poisoned." Gren said, after a moment. "We think we know who by. The former High Mage's daughter, Claudia."
"Claudia? The girl Callum knocked down in the cellar where we found…" Rayla asked. She couldn't remember anyone approaching her with the drink.
"Yes. Callum's sketch is the first time anyone's seen her since. And no-one has seen her brother, Soren, either. Follow me."
Rayla did as she was instructed, as Amaya led her up several more flights of stairs, onto the roof of the tower.
"Jog around the tower until I stop." Amaya instructed her via Gren, beginning to jog. "Gren will hand you a glass of water each lap. Stop if anything starts to hurt. If you don't, I will notice. And I'll end the training for the day."
Rayla looked at her, somewhat startled.
"I'm allowing Harrow to send my nephews to Xadia to return that egg. I can't go with them. You can. And I'm not letting you go there without ensuring that you're up to my standards."
Rayla gulped, remembering the way that the human had effortlessly overpowered her.
And then she started to jog, slowly, keeping pace with the human as she gradually accelerated into a steady trot. It wasn't long before her stomach started to hurt, and she pulled up.
"About what I expected." Amaya commented. "We probably should have done a few stretching exercises."
Amaya then took them both through a series of stretches that most humans would have struggled with under almost any circumstances, never mind while fully armoured. Rayla pulled up several times, almost surprised at being handed what felt like small bags of warm sand for the sore spot.
She kept going, though.
She didn't know any other way.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Callum woke up with a start and a sore neck, as he looked around the room. There was no sign of Rayla. However, his sketchbook had been propped up on the table, with a vaguely recognisable sketch of him sleeping in the chair visible. It was captioned 'Dumb Human'.
He shook his head, before heading for his own room, for a change of clothes, and hopefully a snack.
Once he'd refreshed himself, he made sure someone was keeping an eye on Ezran, and headed for the castle's library. It was, after all, full of magical reference works. There was bound to be something in there about how to get the bindings off Rayla's wrists, before it was too late.
AN: I'd like to thank TheFranninator and BlackDragon829 for their reviews of the last chapter, and encourage anyone with thoughts to reach out to me.