Page 11 of An Arrow to the Heart

To the end of it was a stable door, the top half flung open into the wilderness beyond, and he could hear the chorus of chickens, pigs and goats. He’d discovered that one of the doors led to the washroom and he was pleasantly surprised to find an indoor compost lavatory, a rare thing to come across, even after all of his travelling he’d only ever seen a few. The majority of the space was occupied by the copper tub. The washroom just like the rest of the cottage was filled to the brim with what one might expect to find in a washroom, an assortment of towels, soaps, oils and the like.

The other doors were closed though, and he didn’t want to pry. He’d never been in a space that had so much stuff, it was as though he’d stumbled into a dragon’s horde. He’d never found himself in a space like it, it was heartwarming.

Is this what he’d been missing out on living life on the road?

CHAPTER NINE

-Sylvie-

The smell of tea-stained worn pages and dust covered shelves hung heavily in the air as Sylvie stood awkwardly in the doorway to Kain’s personal library. The room was filled to the brim with books, scrolls and all sorts of other documents, a large cherrywood desk in the centre, it too awash with paper. The result of decades worth of learning and intellectual pursuits.

She was clutching the delicate fine porcelain cup of black tea with too-little-milk in her hands, doing her best to resist the urge to take a sip because it was too hot, as usual. Sylvie was the type of folk who always felt that strange tug to drink a beverage handed to her, perhaps out of politeness, but more than likely it was because of her tendency to do anything at all to avoid feeling so overly awkward. Even in the company of people she knew well.

She had quickly learnt on her first visit here that Kain liked to make tea as hot as possible and on that first visit, she had made the mistake of taking an absentminded sip without realising this fact and of course burnt her tongue.

She liked Kain, despite his too hot tea. He, like herself, had a thirst for knowledge which is why she’d confided in him. That, and he had a way of getting his hands on rare books, his home was the closest thing to a library for miles.

His little stone cottage lay tucked between two farms on the southern end of the village, surrounded by an untamed crab-apple hedge laden with unripe fruit. The garden possessed a hint of wildness about it, not unlike her own, largely overgrown this late in the growing season.

Today had been the first morning where Sylvie didn’t have patients that needed her or a long to-do list. Things had finally managed to calm down a bit after the attack on the village. Even Ardál had been recovering well and she’d come to trust him so felt fine about leaving him in her home unattended.

“I heard about your house guest,” Kain said, gesturing to the worn mustard-coloured armchair for her to sit. Kain, somewhat like the interior of his home, was somewhat worn looking in his appearance. It wasn’t that time hadn’t been kind to him, quite the opposite actually, it was that he seemed to have stopped caring for his appearance. Though, the warm smile etched on his ebony skin was one that would shine through the ages and she’d always felt the genuine kindness that radiated from him. It was why she had entrusted him with her secret. He was the only one that knew about Sylas.

The long-lived elf had been in Wyrmwind as long as she had, she supposed that similarly to her he’d come here to seek refuge after the wars. To be somewhere peaceful and quiet. Wyrmwind had always offered that and being so far north and hard to reach it had always remained largely untouched by the laws of King and Queens.

Startled for a moment, Sylvie opened her mouth to say something before closing it again as she realised, he was referring to Ardál not the owlbär. She really needed to figure out what to do in regard to that situation, for she truly did worry about the cub being discovered by the townsfolk, but at the same time, she couldn't just throw him out into the wilds.

“Um, yes,” she cleared her throat before continuing, “he had a nasty head wound and took an arrow to the knee,” she said, taking a hesitant sip from her tea to find it was at a just about bearable temperature now.

“Bet you’re just loving having him in your home, I was surprised to hear you agreed to it,” he said with raised eyebrows as his lips etched into a knowing smile.

“You and me both, there wasn’t really another option. I have to admit though, it hasn’t been too bad. He actually cleans up the cottage and his dog is nice,” she said while tapping the side of her cup with her nails.

“Well send him here if he gets bored,” Kain laughed as he set down his cup of tea on top of a stack of old books by his armchair.

She laughed to herself at the thought of Ardál in here, with all the clutter and dust, he’d be occupied for quite some time. But more than that what brought a smile to her lips was the thought of him revelling in all these books and stories. She had noticed how his eyes lit up as he stole glances toward her bookshelves.

“Have you ever looked into bone witches before?” Kain asked as he got up and headed towards his desk, snapping her from her thoughts back to the reason for her visit. Kain had worked as some type of scholar in the old Kingdom so he had many connections affording him access to rare, old and at times forbidden books.

Sylvie scrunched her eyes in thought, had she looked into bone witches?

She’d been through tome after tome about hags, and the more malevolent types of witches for she’d assumed they’d be the type to cast curses. Maybe she’d been mistaken on that part and she shouldn’t have presumed so much.

“As their name suggests, they can supposedly command bones. Now, I’ve never come across one and they appear to be quite the secretive bunch which is exactly why I think there could be something here. Due to their secretive nature you might have completely skipped over them and their potential involvement in the curse without even realising it,” he said as though sensing her internal ramblings.

“We’ve always assumed a spell of sorts but what if it’s more to do with earthen magic?” Kain mused, his fingers lightly brushing over his salt-and-pepper stubble.

“You might be onto something there, I’ve never really considered ancient earthen magic used in this,” she said. It was true, she hadn’t. There wasn’t much literature available about that type of magic, especially after it had been banned in the lower provinces by the Luminarian empire and despite their fall over a hundred years ago, folk still kept knowledge of that type of magic to themselves.

Sylvie sighed heavily before she added, tone defeated, “I wish I could just figure this out, I’m worried he won’t be the same.”

Kain looked at her then, his eyes soft as he said, “he won’t be the same, it’s already been too long for that but with time, he’ll be okay.”

She knew he was right, he wouldn’t be the same man he once was, they wouldn’t be the same. She felt as though she was running out of time so she did the only thing she could and packed the stack of books about bone witches into her satchel.

“Thanks for the tip, I’ll go through these as soon as I can,” she said, a forced smile on her lips.

Decades worth of research and digging though worn pages yet she’d never considered bone witches. Not that she really knew anything about them. Kain was right on that, they were incredibly secretive and she’d never even come across one. She highly doubted there’d be any here in Wyrmwind and she couldn't possibly fathom why Sylas would get mixed up with them.