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His grim reply didn’t give me much hope. “We’ll see.”
We raced down the slope into the sunken campsite. A warm fire crackled in the ring of stones and a half dozen people were crowded about slurping out of crude bowls. Most of them started at our sudden entrance, but Dakin coolly set his bowl down and stood.
“What’s wanted?” he questioned us as his attention fell on the suffering form in Ben’s arms.
“Our friend here was attacked,” Ben told him.
Dakin pursed his lips before he jerked his head over his shoulder in the direction of his cave. “Get him in there and on the bed. I’ll see what I can do.”
Ben hurried to obey and Dakin followed on his heels. I tried to dog his steps, but the large man paused in the curtained doorway and half-turned to me.
He nodded at the campfire. “Stay out here. You can’t do any good in there.”
My shoulders sagged, but I couldn’t argue his point. I knew nothing of poison. He slipped into his cave and the curtain shut behind him.
I turned and shuffled over to the fire. The others, sensing the tension in the air, had departed to their own dwellings, leaving me alone at the ring of stones. I took up a seat on one of the overturned logs and stared into the flickering flames. Guilt gnawed at my mind as my traitorous memories kept replaying the ordeal over and over again.
Qisa had thrown himself into the path of danger to protect me.
The curtains were pulled back and my heart skipped a beat. Ben stepped out and closed the curtain behind him. My heart sank as he came up to me and took a seat at my side with a heavy sigh. He stared into the fire with eyes filled with worry.
I couldn’t speak above a whisper. “That bad?”
“It’s not good,” came the answer. He lifted his eyes to the curtain. “But we’ll know in a few minutes.”
Every minute felt like a lingering eternity, but finally the curtain rustled. My heart leapt and the rest of me followed as both Ben and I stood. Dakin walked out of his cave with heavy steps and his head bowed. My heart sank as I clasped my trembling hands against my chest.
Dakin paused at the fire and ran a hand through his hair as he shook his head. “That thing sure is stubborn. I think that’s what saved him more than my medicine.”
My heart filled with reluctant hope. “Then he’s alive?”
Dakin dropped his hand to his side and nodded. “Aye, but he’s weak. Very weak. That’s a bitter kiss someone tried to give you with that dart.”
“We’ll have to be sure to repay the favor somehow,” Ben promised, and there was a sharpness in his voice that I had rarely detected.
“Well, you can’t move him, so I suppose if you’re staying here tonight you had better get a note to that house telling them you’ll be late,” Dak advised us as he turned his attention to one of the nearby caves. “Sarie!”
I expected the curtain to be thrown aside, but instead, a tiny rag stuck in the rock beside the curtain fluttered. A moment later the tiny head of a fae peeked out. Their shoulder-length hair was already frazzled by a pillow and their bleary eyes glared at us. “What’s wanted?”
“We have a message for you to deliver, that’s what’s wanted,” Dakin told him.
Sarie wrinkled his nose. “At this hour?”
Dakin jerked his head toward Ben. “You fed like a king this night thanks to this man’s generosity. The least you can do is get a note to his friends.”
Sarie sighed but flitted out of his hole and over to Ben. “Written or verbal?”
“Are you sure you can deliver this without interference?” Ben asked him.
“Of course!” Sarie insisted as he reached into a pocket and drew out a tiny medallion. I leaned in close and beheld an inscription that read ‘Fae Union Member.’ “I’m part of the union and we guarantee service regardless of the trouble!”
“Then I’ll take paper.”
Sarie patted his pockets and produced a thin bit of paper hardly larger than a paper clip and a stub of a pen. The fae handed them to Ben and my eyes widened as I watched the tiny office supplies enlarge in Ben’s hands. He scribbled a few lines before he handed them back to the tiny folk. The items once again shrunk to fae-size and the creature tucked them into his pocket.
Sarie fluttered up a few feet and gave us a salute. “I’ll be back as soon as a return message is given to me.” He flitted off across the housetops and soon vanished.
I returned my attention to Dakin as I took up my makeshift chair while Ben did likewise. “ So he’ll be alright?”
