Disclaimer: If you've seen it in one of Misty's books, it's not mine.
Kamaria walked into her father's chambers the next day and removed the blindfold, sitting down to wait for his return. It was the Obligatory Familial Dinner for Sivan's birthday, especially since Kamaria's brother was just about to head south again.
Kamaria stuck the blindfold in her pocket just as a page edged through the door, carrying a tray of what most of the Chantrea siblings called 'nibbles.'
"These are for General Chantrea," the boy said, nervously, setting them down on the side-table. Kamaria acknowledged the page with a smile, and he tremulously smiled back before darting out the door again.
Must be new-he's rather shy, thought Kamaria, as she stood and wandered over to the table to investigate. Ooh, these look tasty! He won't mind if I just have one or two, surely. After all, there is a whole tray.
Thus justified to herself and completely oblivious of how much she sounded like Sitara at the moment, Kamaria picked up one of the small pastry-shells with some sort of filling and bit into it.
By the time she'd eaten four, her father and brothers still hadn't shown up, and Kamaria reluctantly stopped eyeing the tray and turned to go sit in her chair again.
"You know, I wonder what's in those," she said, addressing her question to the small bear that had just entered the room.
As the bear looked up and vanished, the full gravity of what had just happened hit Kamaria like a blow to the head. The Heraldic Trainee sank to her knees, suddenly dizzy and trying not to look at the sickening purple-green halo that had just appeared around everything in the room.
:I've been drugged! she screamed with her mind, as loud as she could manage, but somehow Kamaria thought it wouldn't be enough.
She clutched her stomach and doubled over for a second, just before a strange feeling as if she had been catapulted towards the ceiling and her body was now made of custard.
Kamaria tried to scream, but couldn't even manage a mental one as the door opened.
Upon seeing his sister collapsed on the floor, Mandel dropped Sivan's birthday present and flung himself down. "Kamaria! Can you hear me?" he said, clearly, turning her carefully onto her back.
His sister's silver eyes were strangely clouded, but Mandel watched her lips intently and saw the faintest suggestion of the word 'drugged'…
Mandel swore an oath strong enough to melt the candles and opened his Gift carefully, hoping with all his heart that what he'd learned about foreign substances in the body would be enough.
Kamaria could just see her brother through a blizzard of yellow butterflies that were swooping through the room. She watched from somewhere near the ceiling as flowers suddenly grew from her body and Mandel's hand turned into a small fish.
…help… she thought, but wasn't sure if she'd even finished articulating it, let alone sent it down the Companion-bond with Sitara.
Lord Garethe had been walking down the hall, chatting with Kavin, when he heard a loud swearword and saw a package on the ground near the half-open door. Reaching for his sword, he shoved the door open as hard as he could manage, hearing it rebound off the wall to slam against his palm again.
His apprehension escalated instantly into sheer panic when he saw Kamaria sprawled on the floor with Mandel kneeling over her, eyes half-closed in a Healing trance, but his brow creased with uncertainty.
"Get a Healer!" he roared, and Kavin immediately bolted down the hall. Garethe too went to his knees beside Kamaria, picking up one of her hands and feeling for a pulse.
Which wouldn't actually accomplish anything, since Mandel had far more capability to keep Kamaria alive than Garethe did, but it made him feel as if he were doing something.
There was sweat beading on Mandel's brow, and Garethe watched his son helplessly, chafing Kamaria's hand between his own as his heart tried to pound itself to pieces.
Kamaria was now in a full drug-trance, watching the purple-green aura dissipate and turn into bread crumbs that joined miniscule bread-crumb hands and danced around the room as she wondered why her father was fussing.
…whee, she thought, giddily, still completely unable to move her body.
The bread-crumbs turned into one massive knife and plunged into the ground, taking Kamaria with it.
There were…lines in the ground, glowing lines, but Kamaria took this in stride as the knife became a little man with nine heads and pointed enthusiastically where the lines met. Kamaria drifted forwards, without any notion of how she was moving this mental self, and somehow reached-
-was slammed backwards at high speed by something, only to be caught by a blue mindvoice that cradled her and talked at her in a panicked voice close to a scream in words that made no sense whatsoever.
A huge, blond-haired Herald, followed closely by a slight, dark-haired woman with bright blue eyes pounded into the room, followed closely by a panting Kavin.
"Don't know-who he is-was with the first Healer I saw-" gasped the former Guard, putting his hands on his knees and panting as he caught his breath.
"Herald Kiril," said Kiril shortly, "Your daughter's the protégé of my best friend."
The Healer, meanwhile, completely ignored the Herald and Garethe, instead dropping to her knees to clasp her hands on either side of Kamaria's head. :Keep her breathing, Trainee.: she said brusquely to Mandel, and did…something. Mandel couldn't even follow the full Healer's power as she somehow built the most complex network she'd ever seen.
"Drugged," said the Healer, shortly, cutting off the rapid-fire conversation between Garethe and Kiril, "False morel…poisonous, but can be prepared as a hallucinatory, paralyzing drug."
Kiril swore an oath even more pungent than Mandel's. "That's not all," he growled as both Garethe and Kavin looked at him in confusion, "That's a mushroom that scrambles up Gifts. It hits Mage-Gift worst, but we don't have that anymore-next on the list is Farsight."
Garethe went white as a sheet. Nothing in years of battle-experience, nothing had ever prepared him for this. He dropped from his upright kneeling position into an awkward seat on the floor with a thump as he pressed a hand hard to his heart, trying to make it beat slower.
Kavin saw the look on the face of his lord and went straight to the side-table, where there was a small selection of drinks beside the tray. Ignoring the food, the manservant grabbed a decanter of brandy and yanked out the stopper. Garethe took a long pull and choked in the middle of it, gasping until Kavin pounded his back.
"Easy, General," muttered Kavin, wishing Jare were around to help him with this, "Don't want you having a heart attack on us now."
Kamaria was lightly tumbling, something like one of those feathers more a puff of softness more than anything to help flight, when something green jabbed her.
Pain.
Kamaria was suddenly seeing out of her own eyes again, in a body afire with pain from head to toe. There was a sensation inside her-tiny green birds whirring around her insides, and something more golden warming her lungs and heart, but there weren't enough birds to peck out the thousands of hornets stinging every part of her insides.
:…bad: said the blue mindvoice, which Kamaria finally vaguely recognized as Sitara, :…hallucin…mya, get Ala…ast.:
The door, which had swung mostly closed again thanks to a slight unevenness in the hinges, suddenly slammed open again, and a wild-eyed Alain stormed through. Upon seeing the small gathering, he flung himself towards Kamaria-only to be caught by Kiril.
"Easy, Trainee!" said Kiril urgently, as Alain clawed at his arm in an attempt to get away, "She's had false morel-no telling what you'd do-"
"Let me go!" shrieked Alain, in a voice quite uncharacteristic for his ordinary easygoingness, "She's-gods, Sitara said she thinks there are birds, I need to-I have to-"
The rest of his words were incoherent as he beat at Kiril in frenzy.
"Let him down," said the Healer, eyes still shut in concentration, but her words were unheard beneath Alain's frantic howls. Luckily, Sitara was linked in with Kamaria as closely as she could get, and passed it on to Miro, who passed it to Kiril.
Kiril set Alain down as soon as his Companion relayed the order, and Alain flung himself down, grabbed Kamaria's hand, and threw himself into her mind.
Kamaria saw a face-hardly recognizable, thanks to the scarlet feathers fanning the waves of pain in front of her-but the touch of Alain's mind on hers brought incredible relief.
:Kamaria! Can you hear me? Oh, gods, Kamaria-: echoed clearly in her mind, muting the wingbeats of the green birds and the angry buzzing of the hornets inside her body. Kamaria at last found her rationality again as she registered what she'd just thought about birds.
:…ng: she said, but it was hardly what she'd intended to say. Kamaria tried again. :Alain, tell them not to touch anything on that tray. I ate some and now…oh, gods-: Kamaria's train of thought cut off as another wave of pain crashed over her body.
"She says not to touch the tray on the table," said Alain, his voice now strangely husky, though it was probably due to all his screaming earlier.
Kiril whirled and headed for the tray, picking up a pastry and peering closely at it. He sniffed it cautiously, and upon recognizing a slightly exotic spicy scent, crushed it in his hand. "It's these," he said, shaking it off his hand and wiping off the rest on a napkin, "I'll tell the Circle."
"No, you won't," said the Healer, opening her eyes at last and wiping sweat off her brow, "You're a strong type. Lift her-carefully-get your Companion to tell them."
Garethe scrambled out of the way as the Healer and Mandel stood up, making way for Kiril. Alain had eyes only for Kamaria, keeping her hand clasped tightly between his own as the Herald went around the other side and lifted her gently.
Garethe followed the small group towards Healer's Collegium, and almost ran into Sivan as they rounded a corner. Sivan was gaping after his sister, and seized his father's arm.
"What is going on?"
"She's been…poisoned, drugged," said Garethe, through numb lips, not breaking his stride after his daughter. He felt strangely…remote, as sometimes happened during particularly intense battles.
Sivan was the next one to swear. It was hardly a secret that he was intensely protective of Kamaria. "How?" he spat, after he was done with a creative invective in more than one language.
"Someone brought in a tray of nibbles for your birthday party," replied Garethe, still numb, "She ate them-they were drugged with false morel, which scrambles her Gift, too…"
He trailed off, every fiber of his being concentrated on his eldest daughter.
As they crossed between buildings, the small cluster gained a Companion, undoubtedly Sitara. The mare looked bad; clearly, whatever was happening was reverberating down their bond.
Kiril soon had Kamaria in one of the Healer's Wing's beds, and by default Alain was sitting on it, still clutching Kamaria's hand. The other Trainee had his eyes closed, now, as he kept his mind wide open to his lifebonded.
"Keep her talking to you, if you can," said the Healer, "Trainee, go find-" she rattled off several names, then a list of medicines she wanted. Mandel darted out of the room.
"And you, out," she said, sharply, turning and flapping her hands at Garethe, Sivan, Kavin, and Kiril, "Herald, go find the poisoner or whatever you were planning to do. You're her relatives, I presume?" Without waiting for an answer, the Healer-whose name they still did not know-pointed to a bench. "Sit there for now. I've got several people coming, and we'll need room."
Alain was dimly aware that Sitara had stuck her head in the window as far as she could manage, straining towards her Chosen, but he was mainly concentrating on keeping Kamaria awake. :I'm supposed to keep you talking: he told her, :Say something.:
:This bloody hurts, observed Kamaria, with a mental wince. Alain nodded.
:I know, I can feel it.:
:It's sad this happened on Sivan's birthday, said Kamaria, after a moment's loss of words.
She fell silent again. Alain was completely unaware of the tears falling slowly from his eyes as he continued to clutch her hand. :Uh-uh-talk about the weather, he said, desperately, :They said to keep you talking:
:You've…said that: replied Kamaria, fading slightly and returning just as quickly, :But…it's kind of breezy, I think. A little cloudy, not enough for rain…Weapons was interesting with my blindfold, you know.:
:Tell me about it: said Alain, somewhat frantically.
:Father had us doing…sword-drills: said Kamaria, :I had my sword-was dueling a few people at once, I tried blocking people behind me a few times and once started fighting an opponent on the other side of the salle. But afterwards, I got used to it…it's odd, I could follow every movement of the swords far more easily than with my eyes, something about human eyes or something, probably. I knew what paths the sword was going to take, I think I was picking up on movements too small for normal eyes.:
Other Healers rushed in, followed by Mandel and a basket of hastily thrown-together supplies. "Keep her talking," ordered the Healer again, reaching out to touch Kamaria's forehead, "If you can't, just keep her anchored."
:I'm feeding you strength.: said Sitara, perfunctorily, :So's Ramya. Let them know.:
Alain relayed this tidbit to the Healers, who nodded and got on with their business.
:Kamaria, keep talking-recite Sun and Shadow, anything, reminded Alain.
:She dances in the shadows, like a shadow is her hair-: replied Kamaria, :Her eyes-oh, gods, that hurts-:
Alain closed his eyes and prayed as Kamaria recited 'Meetings,' haltingly, with occasional halts for whimpers of pain. He heard one of the Healers muttering about working around Gifts, but for the most part, every iota of attention was tuned towards Kamaria.
Outside the room, Sivan paced up and down, Kavin methodically ripped a handkerchief to shreds, and Garethe sharpened his dagger. Although it drew frowns from the occasional passing Healer, it was either this or chew his fingernails down to the quick, often drawing blood from the finger around it, as it had been the days after Amaya had been poisoned.
The footsteps, shredding, and whisk of the sharpening-stone blended, creating a rhythm that all three men concentrated on, in order to keep their thoughts from the worst.
False Morels are indeed real mushrooms, and are poisonous. I invented that it could be turned into a drug the effects on Gifts, though.
Muaha! We have not had a cliffhanger in too long! What is going on? Who were the drugs aimed at? Will Kamaria pull through all right?
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Sorry this was so short, but it ended where it ended! Hope you liked!