Then I slept too.
Chapter Six
Iwoke to an empty, cold tent. For a moment, I couldn’t place where I was or why. But slowly, awareness drifted back to me and with it came wariness.
“Hello?” I called out softly, my cheek pressed to the furs of the bed, my back exposed to the open, cool air. It was then I realized I was naked.
I felt sick but starving, my throat parched and dry. When I tried to push myself from the bed, my arms trembled and my heart thundered from the small exertion, making me feel dizzy and out of breath.
But at least I was sitting up. Shivering, I winced when the wounds on my back pulled ever so slightly, though I noticed the pain was significantly less than what it’d been before.
Blue light filtered into the tent and I gasped when I saw someone enter through the flaps. Scrambling, I took one of the furs from the bed and held it to my chest to cover my nakedness.
I relaxed slightly when I realized it was the Dakkari female I’d seen before. Though the memory of her was hazy, I still remembered her with her needle.
“You are awake,” she murmured. Was thatreliefI heard in her voice?
“You…you speak my language too?” I asked.
“Lysi,” she said, inclining her head. “I was raised inDothik.”
She said it as though it would clear up any confusion, but I still frowned.
“How do you feel?” she asked, coming towards me. I tightened my grip on the furs and shuffled back a little, eyeing the small case she carried at her side. She stopped when she saw the movement and said, “I have been working day and night to see you well,vekkiri. I will not waste all my hard work by harming you now.”
Hearing the tired truth in her tone, I felt my shoulders relax and when she motioned for me to scoot forward, I did. She turned me so that she could inspect my bared back.
“Good,” she said finally, quietly, almost to herself. “TheVorakkarwill be pleased.”
I frowned at the mention of him, remembering him in flashes, in pieces.
“What happened?” I asked, tugging the furs tighter to my chest when another cold draft floated around my body. “How long have I been asleep?”
“Your wounds became infected. Your body was burning with it, but we managed to bring the fever down,” she said, appearing in my line of vision again. She went to a small table at the edge of my vision and picked up a metal goblet before bringing it to me. “Drink. I tried to keep you hydrated but you were not always cooperative.”
I didn’t remember that, but I took the heavy goblet from her hand eagerly and drained it quickly.
She went back to the table to retrieve a pitcher and poured me more water, which I drank.
“You have been here almost five days now,” she said, going to rummage through her case.
I looked into the empty goblet and whispered, “Five days?”
How was that possible?
“I gave you a sedative,” she explained. “It kept you sleeping most of the time so your body could heal.”
I’d never heard of such a medicine, one that could make someone sleep for days.
When she looked back at me, she had a small green vial in her hand, a black liquid inside. When she refilled my goblet, she tipped a little of the black liquid into it and swirled it around.
“I don’t think I want to sleep anymore,” I told her, looking into the goblet, wondering how to refuse it politely without offending her.
A small smile touched her lips, her yellow eyes studying me. Somehow, she looked both old and young.
“This is not for sleeping,” she told me. “This will help with pain.”
“Oh,” I said before eagerly raising the goblet to my lips.
