Page 49 of Cursed Dreams (Shadow and Dreams #1)

T halia paced the length of her dormitory, arms crossed, bottom lip firmly trapped between her teeth.

Outside the window, the late evening sky had turned an inky violet, the stars just beginning to blink into view.

Nyla sat on her bed, brushing out her hair, though she’d stopped halfway through one side, more focused on watching Thalia wear a path into the floorboards.

The knock on the door stopped Thalia in her tracks, head swinging round to stare at Nyla.

Nyla slowly set the brush aside and crossed the room, pulling the door open to reveal Cellen, dressed in a black tunic and pants more suited to a night out than staging a break in, and grinning far too wide for someone about to discuss a criminal act.

“Ladies,” he said, slipping inside. “I come bearing wine. And a penchant for crime.”

“Get in you idiot!” Nyla said from between her clenched teeth, dragging him inside by his top, before quickly scanning the hallway and closing the door.

“ You were supposed to dress in robes to be more discreet you idiot, what if someone saw you entering our dormitory! You know Miryanne patrols the girls hallways at night if she had seen..”

Nyla's lecture was cut short by another soft knock on the door. Quickly she shoved Cellen unceremoniously into the bathroom. Thalia opened the door this time to find a dark robed Mirand waiting.

“Everything okay?” she asked, clearly reading the tension etched on the other girls faces.

“ Yes. Did you bring the floorplan?” Nyla asked, letting Cellen out the bathroom.

Marand nodded, pulling a tightly rolled parchment from her satchel and spreading it across Thalia’s desk. “Borrowed it from the temple records,” she said. “Don’t worry, I'll return it tomorrow.” “ Cellen, where are your robes?”

“ What’s with the interest in my clothing tonight, Gods”

“ Look robes are great for the dormitory and temples but we ned to blend in once we are on the streets, this works better and I just so happen to look hansom while wearing it. Win all round”

Despite her initial irritation, Thalia couldn’t dispute Cellen had a point .

Four apprentice healers wandering around the streets at night would draw unwanted attention.

Quickly she headed to her wardrobe, rummaging out plain clothes for herself and Marand.

Finally once everyone was changed she gathered around with the others, staring down at the inked lines of a building she’d never seen in its entirety.

"This,” Marand said, tapping a small rectangular section on the left of the floorplan, “is the boarding lodge Vaelith keeps in the city. My self and Cellen took a look earlier and as we suspected It’s warded.”

Of course it was Vaelith wasn't stupid.

“ But not all of it. Marand managed to get us inside pretending to be newly weds from the south looking for some lodgings for the night, and I was able to slip away to try and figure out where the wards where and how strong they were.” Cellen chimed in.

Thalia didn’t miss the blush creeping along Marand’s cheeks.

“ Vaelith has the whole left side of the building, both lower floor and upper. The wards are concentrated around his sleeping chambers and what I think was a locked study.”

Thalia’s mind drifted back to the night she thought Aric was dying. She had been in that study.

“Which means,” Cellen continued interrupting her thoughts, “he’s hiding something in the study.”

“The map,” Thalia murmured.

“Or a collection of disturbingly erotic poetry,” Cellen said, earning a sharp elbow from Nyla.

Marand pointed to a small courtyard off the back. “There’s a servant’s entrance here, used by the staff who clean and deliver meals. There’s a chance it’s unguarded at night.”

“He has staff?” Thalia asked, eyebrows raising.

“Probably not often, we didn't see any while we were there” Marand replied. “But his rooms are well maintained. Someone keeps it that way and I don’t think its Vaelith himself.”

Cellen leaned closer. “Here everyone take one of these “ he handed everyone a small round stone with runes carved into its smooth surface. Thalia jolted from the unexpected hear radiating from it hen it touched her hand. “ These will help us check for traps, patrols, magic wards, I’ve got added in a charm that masks magical signatures for about twenty minutes.”

“Where did you even get that?” Thalia asked.

Cellen grinned. “Let’s just say the female who sells talismans behind the market thinks I’m charming.”

“You probably fucked your way into a discount.” Nyla scoffed

“And I’d do it again,” he said proudly.

“We’ll need a lookout,” Marand added sounding more serious than she had previously. “Someone near the front to give warning if Vaelith returns early. We know he’s in a tavern at the moment, but we don’t know his schedule.”

“I’ll do it,” Nyla said.

“I’ll go with Cellen,” Marand offered. “I’m good at sneaking around, and he’s better at detecting magical wards.”

Thalia bit her lip. “What about me?”

“You stay here,” Nyla said in a tone that brokered no argument.

“No,” Thalia snapped. “This is my mess. My fate. I’m going.”

“You’re too close to this,” Marand said gently. “If you panic—”

“I won’t. I swear.” Her voice broke slightly. “Please. I have to do this.”

They all stood silent looking at each other, Thalia could feel the anxiety slowly drowning her, she had to be there with them. Had to be there searching with them, if she stayed here and they got caught, if Vaelith returned and found them. The thoughts were too much for her to bare.

Finally with a long sigh Cellen said “She comes, BUT If anything goes wrong, you run, agreed?”

Thalia nodded grateful. She had no intention of running and leaving her friends if it all went wrong. She had managed to blast Vaelith with her strange white light once before, the thought had her inwardly cringing, but maybe if she really tried, she could do it again.

Just then the eery echoing of chanting drifted up through the gardens. Thalia looked outside to fine rows after rows of Priestesses all holding candles in some form of procession.

“The night of light, damn I forgot about that.” Nyla said rubbing her temples in frustration.

“The what ?” Thalia asked still watching the processing making its way towards the temple gates and out onto the streets.

“The nigh of light, have you never heard of it?” Marand looked at Thalia in shock, “Where all the priestesses from all the temples converge in a night procession through the streets giving thanks to the Gods?” “It’s really beautiful my mother use to let me stay awake late to watch it as a child”

Thalia looked around at her, she had never heard of it, never seen it in her own village.

“The streets will be full, how are we going to do this unseen?” she asked, she couldn’t hide the panic and fear creeping into her voice.

“We can’t “ Cellen answered slumping down on Nyla’s bed.

Thalia stood staring out the window, despair slowly creeping through every part of her. She was so close, there had to be a way.

Marand pulled out a second scrap of parchment, and began scribbling “ Okay, new plan.”

“We go tomorrow night. After dinner. Thalia, you’ll have time to slip out and meet us near the alley behind the lodge. Bring nothing that glows. No white robes. Nothing that defines you as a healer”

“I’ll have this message delivered to Vaelith’s lodgings tomorrow, and another sent to Kinela, arranging for them to meet in the tavern tomorrow night”

“Kinela ?” Thalia asked,

“ That’s the name of the fae scholar he umm.. He's been having drinks with “ she replied blushing.

“Oh, “ “ How do you know that”

Her three friends looked rather sheepish at the question.

“We did some digging, back when we thought, you know “ Marand didn’t finish what she was saying, and Thalia didn’t need her to.

A wave of gratitude and pride rose within her.

Her friends, had done this for her back when they thought he was the reason for her distancing herself from them.

Her friends, she blinked to hold back the sudden wave of emotion.

These three people were willing to do so much for her.

Finally she wasn’t alone, on the outside looking in, she had real friends who cared.

Guilt washed over her at how she had treated them these last few months.

Wordlessly she walked over and hugged them one by one.

They met just after breakfast, as the sun poured soft gold through the tall arched windows of the hospital wing.

Thalia, Nyla, Marand, and Cellen clustered together near the observation corridor, still nursing mugs of tea and all sporting dark circles under their eyes.

It was clear none of them had been able to get much sleep last night, the weight of what they were about to attempt tonight glaringly obvious.

Master Elric appeared a few minutes later, striding with purpose, his long dark robes swaying behind him. “You’re all here. Excellent.”

Cellen lifted his cup in a half-salute. “Wouldn’t miss it. What’s exploding today?”

Elric gave him a small smile “Hopefully nothing. But with this one? No promises.”

They followed him deeper into the hospital wing, the air growing cooler and laced with a faint metallic tang of powerful magic. Thalia felt her skin prickle, something about the magic seemed familiar, like it was calling to her.

“The patient arrived at our sister temple in the fae lands four days ago,” Elric explained as he led them down a long corridor lined with magically reinforced doors. “Fae male, mid-thirties, stable physically but magically volatile. Very volatile.”

“He’s the one who accidentally collapsed a section of the wall on Level Three?” Nyla asked.

“That’s him,” Elric confirmed. “When he first arrived at the sister temple he presented with a fever. They attempted standard light healing, no infusions, and the resulting surge of uncontrolled elemental energy cracked the ground clean in half. Once here he had a similar reaction to some herbals infused by magic. Thankfully, Lord Vaelith was kind enough to ward his room prior to his arrival, yet despite this he still managed to destroy the warded stonework and set off two fire alarms. If the ward anchor hadn’t held, we might’ve lost half the entire wing”

Thalia’s heart stuttered, Vaelith had warded the room, it was his magic she could feel.

Cellen blinked. “Impressive. In a terrifying, ‘please don’t let that happen while I’m near him’ sort of way.”

“We’ve since stopped all magical treatment,” Elric said. “He’s conscious, stable, but something is building inside him. We don’t know what or why he is having this reaction. Which is why I want your eyes on this. Fresh perspective. We’re trying to find a pattern.”

They stopped in front of a heavy door etched with old fae runes glowing a dull blue.

Marand stepped closer. “The wards are humming,” she murmured. “I can feel them?”

“Yes, Lord Vaelith is a master of wards, he set them in such a way that even us humans can feel them, very cleaver” “He’s not actively flaring now,” Elric confirmed. “But we’ve noticed his surges happen after contact with healing magic of any kind, so it is vital you do not use it ”

Thalia’s heart pounded a little harder. “So the magic’s interacting with something inside him?”

“Exactly, our thoughts” Elric said. “But we don’t know if it’s an inherited trait, a curse, or a dormant affliction triggered by age or exposure.”

“Or if he’s just really allergic to healers,” Cellen whispered, earning an elbow from Marand.

Thalia tried to listen, to take notes, but her thoughts kept slipping.

Her quill hovered over the parchment in her lap, the edges of her focus fraying.

The hum of Vaelith’s wards the sheer power emanating from them were disconcerting.

She could feel his magic as though it was dancing all over her skin.

Her nerves grew as her confidence waned about their ability to break them tonight.

“Thalia?”

She blinked, looking up. Master Elric was watching her expectantly.

“Sorry—what was that?”

“I asked if you’d be willing to conduct a brief, non-magical examination,” he said brows furrowed. “You’re one of the few in your class I trust to approach without instinctively drawing on your magic.”

Thalia nodded quickly, standing. “Of course. Sorry, I was just… thinking.”

“Don’t worry.” Elric gave her a small smile. “Just don’t think too hard. This is a wonderful time to practice your non magical diagnosis skills, it can be easy to become to reliant on magic, you must remember to be proficient without the ability too. ”

The patient lay on the bed, pale but awake, his eyes bright and curious. “More new faces?” he asked with a faint smile. “They’re going to start charging admission at this rate.”

Thalia smiled politely, moving to his side and taking his pulse, checking his temperature, examining the pulse points and asking quiet, practiced questions.

She could feel it, the hum of energy beneath his skin.

Dormant for now but clearly building. She let herself be distracted by her work, enjoying the change in thoughts as she carried out her assessment, then watched on as one by one her friends carried out their own.

When they left the room, Elric clapped a hand to her shoulder. “Nice work.”

“Thank you” she murmured.

She caught Nyla’s concerned glance as they walked.

“You good?” she asked.

“Fine,” she lied.