Chapter 5 (6)

When Will woke again, she still felt really sick but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been before. She coughed a couple of times as she sat up, then groaned softly because the action made her raw throat make it feel like it was on fire. The Guardian leader threw the covers off her body, shivering a bit as cold air brushed over her sweat-damp skin. Will stood on trembling legs, the nightgown covering her bare feet as she took a few steps away from the bed. She managed to make her way over to a window and stared out through the stained glass. She found herself overlooking the palace courtyard. The sky was darkening, though since it was Meridian Will couldn't tell if that was because night was falling or because of some weird magical storm or something. Knowing her relative position in the castle, the redhead began searching for a window latch. There was something on the window that resembled a latch, except Will couldn't find… well, the latch. After a few searches ended up only frustrating the girl, the Guardian leader attempted to summon up her powers.

Big mistake. The second Will felt the crystal respond to her call, her stomach heaved and she nearly collapsed, gagging. Thankfully nothing came up, but after her stomach settled a bit the girl couldn't manage to stand. The redhead groaned as her head spun and her vision swam, grasping the window ledge and pulling herself up until she was supporting most of her weight on her arms. After a few moments she took a deep breath and pushed herself upright and took a step away from the window. She managed two more before her knees buckled and she collapsed to the floor, head swimming and feeling sick to her stomach again. She tried to move again, but the slightest twitch seemed to make her nauseous again.

What happened? Will thought hazily. What was I just doing? God, my head…

The door opened just as Will collapsed completely. She managed to process the sound of footsteps making their way toward her. She groaned softly as she was rolled onto her back. Someone was speaking to her. At least she thought they were speaking to her; she couldn't discern the words. Something rested on her chest, a little above her heart, and the redhead gasped as a tingling sensation spread through her. She coughed a couple times, wincing at the pain in her chest. She opened her eyes and found herself staring into a pale face framed by long blonde hair. Phobos.

Will tried to sit up and put some distance between her and the tyrannical prince, but a searing pain shot through her chest. Phobos gripped her arms to keep her still.

"Stay down, you fool!" Phobos hissed. "You'll put yourself back in a coma!"

Will, meanwhile, was feeling warm and cold by turns. She fell back and her head would have suffered a rather painful meeting with the floor if Phobos hadn't caught her. The girl moaned softly as another throbbing headache began. She blinked hard as her vision began to swim.

"My prince?" she heard someone, presumably a guard, call from the door.

"Fetch Erima! Now!" Phobos ordered. Will flinched at the volume of his voice, then groaned softly because of the spike of pain that action produced. She felt him shift his arms so they were beneath her knees and shoulders, and then was soundly shocked when he lifted her into his arms, holding her as one would hold a glass vase. Nonetheless, she remained tense, almost gasping for breath as her captor carried her back to the bed. She relaxed somewhat when she felt the softness of the mattress beneath her, but that quickly became negligible when a pain like hot knives shot through her chest. Will flinched and gasped again, not able to find the strength to lift her arms. She felt a cool hand on her forehead.

"Shades!" Phobos hissed, drawing his hand away.

What's that mean? Will wondered, mind becoming increasingly sluggish.

More noises. The door opened, someone hurried over to Will's bedside, and then Erima's ebony head popped into Will's line of sight.

"What happened?" the healer demanded, laying her hand on Will's forehead.

"I don't know. I walked in and found her lying on the floor over by the window," Phobos said, sounding a bit puzzled and… nervous? What? Will thought. Then again, Erima had been kinda sharp.

"Well, that doesn't tell us anything except she shouldn't be walking around just yet," the healer muttered. "First thing's first, we have to bring her fever down or at least keep it from rising."

Blackness began to creep at the edges of Will's vision. She blinked hard, but when she opened her eyes again her vision was so blurry everything looked like part of an extremely soaked watercolor painting. She swallowed, trying to fight off her drowsiness and clear her head. Something cool and moist was placed on her forehead. It was wonderfully soothing and Will's eyes drifted closed.

Then she was floating. Floating in a blackness that felt like water, but she could breathe in it. It was cool, calm. Will's eyes closed again. When she opened them again, she was sitting on the floor in a small room. The walls were a pale yellow, a bed with green covers sat next to the far wall. Right next to her was a small wooden chest of drawers. A lamp sat on it, emitting a weak yellow light.

Will felt a thrill of terror when the door opened, admitting both the smell of alcohol and the large, dark, hulking figure of a man. She curled into as tight a ball as she could, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Where have you been, you little harlot? You go out at night and don't tell nobody? What'd your mother say?" the man demands, voice harsh, grating on Will's nerves.

She'd say I was smart to get out of here, Will thought. The man is standing over her now. No. No. NO.

Please make it go away.

She tries to hold it back. No such luck. She screams, more out of terror than pain, when the first blow lands. Because she knows what is coming. And she knows she cannot stop it.

Will's eyes opened as she cried out. Her body jerked. She felt hands on her arms and shrieked again, jerking away. Where am I? What's going on?

"Don't move so fast! You'll scare the poor thing more than she already is!" a female voice snapped. The hands immediately released her and she curled in on herself slightly, shaking with the effort of holding back her sobs. So far she was having little luck.

"Will, child, it's all right. You're safe," the woman's voice said softly, gently. "No one's going to hurt you. We just want to make you feel better. All right?"

Will's only response was to bury her face in her arms. She flinched and let out a little sob when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Instead of lifting her up and throwing her, though, the hand rubbed her in gentle, soothing motions.

"You're safe, little one. No one's going to hurt you."

The voice continued to murmur in a comforting litany until Will felt her eyelids grow heavy. She suppressed a yawn, beginning to feel herself relax. Eventually her eyes slid closed and she slipped into a peaceful, restful sleep.

xxXXxx

Phobos watched with an impassive face as Erima used a spell to send the Guardian into sleep. He had seen her injured in battle; hell, he himself had inflicted several injuries on her, but never had he ever heard her scream like she just had. Even though he'd never admit it, the raw terror embodied in that single cry had unsettled him more than many of his memories of war. He was drawn out of his thoughts when the healer moved away from the bed and began to walk toward him.

"She should be able to rest now, and the herbs I gave her will bring the fever down," Erima reported. Then, almost to herself, she muttered, "I thought she was getting better."

"As did I," Phobos answered. "Do you have any idea what may have caused this?"

"A state of emotional turmoil is the most likely," Erima responded. "You said you found her by the window?"

Phobos nodded.

"Well then, my guess is she was either trying to escape or thinking deep thoughts," Erima said. She glanced back at the sleeping girl on the bed. "She doesn't remember."

That got the prince's attention. "Anything? She remembers nothing of her fits?"

"No. When I came to speak to her yesterday, she didn't know where she was or how long she'd been here."

Phobos barely resisted the urge to cover his face with his hands. How in the name of Kandrakar did the girl not remember any of the past three days? He knew he wouldn't be forgetting any time soon. He turned toward the door when someone knocked and saw Cedric standing there.

"Come in," he said. The snake shifter stepped forward.

"My lord, I have sent Miranda to keep Elyon occupied for the next several hours and have instructed her to keep the princess away from this wing of the castle," Cedric reported. He glanced over at the unconscious redhead. "Is she… well?"

Phobos studied the man while Erima snorted. "She is far from well, Cedric, but I hope she will not have another episode for quite some time."

Cedric nodded, eyes still on the sleeping Will. Phobos could not help noticing a certain lack of… coldness or distance in his gaze.

"Do you have any idea what is causing these fits? Perhaps figure out a way to stop them?" Phobos asked.

Erima gave him a look so intense the prince almost backed into the dresser behind him. "The only way to stop these bouts is to help her through the sickness and get rid of the residual dark magic the thorns left in her body." With this she directed an accusing look at the prince, but it was gone almost as quickly as it had come. When both Phobos and Cedric gave her puzzled looks, she sighed and tugged on a lock of her hair, biting her lip for a moment before continuing.

"I know most people do not react so strongly to the energy in the vines, Phobos, but Will is the Keeper of the Heart of Kandrakar. She is more sensitive to dark power than most other beings; the fact that the Heart has taken refuge in her body makes her even more affected by it. What we are seeing can be described as an infection. The magic in her body is trying to expel the dark magic of the thorns. The fight is so intense, however, that there are physical and psychological symptoms as well as magic fluctuations. The physical symptoms are like that of a normal human illness: elevated heart rate and body temperature, sore throat, dizziness, weakness. The psychological symptoms are very intense flashbacks coupled with horrific nightmares."

"Flashbacks?" Cedric asked. Erima nodded.

"Bad magic brings bad memories, as my teacher once said. An inflection of dark magic can bring back a person's worst memories. My guess is Will's bad memories are playing a very large role in her fits and nightmares."

Cedric and Phobos glanced at each other for a moment before Phobos looked at the girl again. Her memories played a part in her nightmares. What in the infinite realms could have happened to her that would scare her so? What could scare her more than lurdens, Whisperers, and a snake shifter (not to mention a fairly temperamental evil tyrant prince)?

Phobos found that he wanted to know. Perhaps more than he should.