I didn’t notice that we had made it to town. Time had become muddled. I barely remembered jumping onto the back of the cart. I was lost in thought…thinking of how I was going to slaughter every last one of those monsters… especially that one…

I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of my name being said over and over again while something was tugging on my mother gently. I panicked and drew my blade, grasping tighter onto my mum with my free arm.

“Woah, Aida, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt her; I’m just taking her into the temple.” Bael raised his hands in a way of surrender and suddenly my brain clicked as to who he was.

“Sorry… I… I panicked…” I stammered and placed my dagger back in its sheath.

“You’re not the only one in a bad state…” he took my mother in his arms and motioned toward the men and women who lay battered and bruised, cut and scarred. Some clutched the sides of their heads, rocking back and forth, eyes wide. Others tried to help but ended up throwing up the contents of their stomach. I noticed a man trying to claw out his own eyes with his bare fingers and it was all the priestesses could do to stop him. Cries of agony, physical and mental rose to the heavens while others prayed for the mercy of the Mother. Bloodied men on the brink of death were carried towards the temple while some were treated right here on the dirt, too frail to be moved.

Stained red sheets covered the corpses of the fallen and I turned to see the life drain from a fellow soldier’s eyes. The priestess muttered something and closed the man’s eyes before covering him with a sheet. I looked around again to see a wife clutching her husband in the dirt rocking him as her screams were dissolved into the shrieks of others. I tried to stand up from sitting on the back of the cart, but the world suddenly started swimming and I fell to my knees and threw up. I continued retching even after there was nothing left inside my gut, dry heaving over and over until I was too weak to keep going. My whole body shook uncontrollably and I barely had the strength to keep myself from falling in my own puke. I crawled away from the mess and dropped into the cold mud and snow.

As my body relaxed my wrist touched the frigid snow and I moaned as the burning intensified from where my mother had gripped me. I rolled onto my back and cradled my hand, looking up at the smoke filled sky. I’ll just shut my eyes for a second… just a second… I tried to open my eyes back up, but I couldn’t and a sense of overwhelming weakness settled in my limbs. Numbness set in and I slipped away into the black abyss.

***

Bloodied faces, screaming people, raging fires and terror filled faces. I woke up in a pool of sweat, screaming and thrashing.

“Aida, calm down, you’re safe now. It’s going to be alright.” Astra’s soothing voice calmed me and I glanced up to see her sitting on the edge of the bed. “You abruptly started kicking and screaming. I came over to settle you so you didn’t wake everyone up.”

What? I bolted upright and stared out the window. Moonlight streamed gently through the eerie blackness of the night, but the moans, murmurs and occasional screams of survivors disrupted the peaceful setting.

Tears welled in my eyes at the sight of her and I pulled her in tight against me. “I thought you were dead…”

“You can’t get rid of me that easily. Bael saved me.” Her voice was so soft and soothing.

I pulled back, “Where’s mum?”

“Here…” Astra stood and picked up the candle next to my bed and used it to light another candle next to mum’s bed just across from mine. The warm glow spread across her sickly white face, highlighting the sheen of sweat. Her eyes were shut now, sound asleep. She twitched and her mouth pulled down in pain.

“What is wrong with her?” My gaze dropped to Astra as she applied a cold, wet towel to my mother’s forehead.

“She’s in a trance. An evil trance that can’t be broken with magic anymore. Because she has been in it for too long, it has since transformed into a fever. She is very ill. If I had been able to treat her within a few minutes of her going into it, she wouldn’t be in the state she is now.”

“Why can’t you heal her? You’re a Temple Cleric for the Mother’s sake. If you can’t, why don’t you get a Paladin in? Or a “divine healer” as you lot call them. If it’s just a fever, why can’t you heal her?”

“Shush, you must watch what you say in this place. I’m sorry, Aida. But this fever is caused by evil magic. She must get through this herself. Believe me, I tried to heal her. I did everything I could, but nothing worked. This is powerful magic. I dare not desecrate this holy place by speaking the name of what magic this truly is.” Astra wet the cloth again with fresh cold water and replaces it on my mother’s forehead before coming back over to me.

“What do you mean? How could you have tried everything in less than a day? Where are we? How long have I been asleep?” I asked as she took a seat on the edge of the bed and began to prepare a bandage.

“We’re in the local temple at Almdalir. You’ve been asleep for nearly eighteen hours. You suffered quite a blow to your head and you have a pretty severe concussion. Lie down and I’ll change the dressing, then you can go back to sleep. I will take care of you both.” She smiled and picked up a small bowl of ointment on the table beside me, dabbing a bit on her fingers.

I nodded and lay my head back down on the soft pillow, closing my eyes. Astra’s fairy-like fingers brushed over the wound and applied the frigid balm before placing the small bandage over it. I winced and clenched my teeth together as I felt the ointment seep into the open wound and begin healing it. But then Astra’s sweet humming distracted me and soon sent me to sleep again.