Page 44 of Quest for her Knights (The Lost Souls of Dyconia #5)

An arm wraps around my back to support me and someone else strokes me gently between my shoulder blades as I heave up more bile. I groan. My throat and stomach hurt from vomiting and I just want to lie back down .

“Elora, don’t answer until you’re ready, but are you sure you didn’t eat anything unusual? Did you pick something and eat it?” Blaze asks in concern as I stay bent over, wanting to make sure I’m done puking before I sit back up.

I take a moment to think about the last few days but don’t remember anything strange. “I only eat what you guys feed me. Ranger told me if it doesn’t come from you, he has to test it first.”

“Yes, you’ve been doing a perfect job of that, too,” he says, giving me a small squeeze.

I sit up and someone wipes my mouth, then a cup of water is pressed to my lips. “Drink.” I take a few sips then lean back.

“Do you want to lie down again?” I nod and start to lean the other way, wanting a change in position. Someone helps ease me down onto a pillow, then a blanket is tucked over me.

I close my eyes and ask, “Will someone stay with me?”

“Of course, we wouldn’t leave you alone, sweetheart. I’m right here.” Arrow lifts my feet and sits under them as I let myself drift back to sleep.

I’m not sure how much time passes, but it feels like several days have gone by. I vaguely recall being carried to the washroom and not caring who watched me in there. I think I’m wearing different clothes and I seem to recall getting a bath.

Everything feels fuzzy and it takes me way longer than I’d like to get my eyes open. I turn my head and see Draven looking down at me. His eyes widen when he sees me watching him.

“Elora! You’re awake! How do you feel?”

“She’s awake?” Arrow yells and the scurrying of feet surrounds me until the other three are all looking down at me in worry.

“What’s going on?”

“Darling,” Blaze says, kneeling in front of me and stroking my cheek. “You haven’t opened your eyes in over a day. It’s like you were drugged.”

“Drugs are bad,” I tell him, but he just frowns at me. “What’s wrong with me?”

“We don’t know. We’ve sent for a healer, he should be here soon.”

They all look scared and I start to worry that maybe this isn’t a bug. “Am I dying?” I croak, scanning their faces with worry.

“No!” they all yell at the same time.

There’s a knock at the door and Ranger runs over to it as Draven holds up some water for me to drink.

“That should be him now,” Blaze says as we listen to Ranger greet someone.

He leads an older man over to me as Blaze and Arrow move aside and let him kneel down in front of me .

“Hello, Princess Elora. My name is Omar, I’m a healer and I’m going to take a look at you. I understand you’ve not been feeling well for a few days now.”

I nod and he pulls out a stethoscope then glances up at Draven. “I need to place this on the skin over her heart.” I glance down and realize I’m wearing one of their tunics. It’s like an oversized shirt, hanging down to my knees.

Draven shifts the shirt so a small amount of skin is showing, just large enough for the stethoscope. The doctor places it there and closes his eyes.

He frowns and pulls it off, hanging it around his neck as he looks back at me.

“Are you overly warm? Hot flashes?” I shake my head. “Disorientation and confusion?”

“She’s a bit more alert right now, but we couldn’t get her to wake up for the past day,” Blaze tells him.

“Do you know what day it is?” he asks me.

“No. But I never know.” He smiles and pulls out a thermometer.

“Open up.” He places it under my tongue and then holds my wrist and checks my pulse.

After a minute, he pulls it out and checks it. “Normal.”

He frowns as he stares at me in silence, clearly contemplating what’s wrong with me. “Vomiting, upset stomach, headaches, chest pain, erratic heartbeat, disorientation and confusion at times. Anything else?” He glances around at each of us, and I try to determine if anything else is wrong.

I realize my mouth has been tasting weird since I woke up so I tell him, “My mouth kinda tastes metallic.”

“You never told us that,” Ranger says in worry.

“I just realized.”

“Let me take a look, stick out your tongue and open wide,” Omar tells me as he tilts my mouth towards the light. He quickly pulls back with a worried look on his face.

He pulls a napkin from his pocket and tilts my head to the side. “Spit on this for me.” I frown but do as he says, and when he pulls it back fear fills me as my eyes bounce up to meet Arrow’s.

“It’s blood,” I say, stating the obvious.

“Where is it coming from?” Blaze asks worriedly as he leans over Omar and scans my body.

“It’s internal.”

Everyone is silent, and I turn my head to Draven who’s still seated with my head in his lap. “Draven?” I whisper. “I’m scared.” He brushes a tear away from my cheek, but I see his own eyes grow glossy, and that scares me more than anything.

“We’ll figure this out, Elora, I promise.”

“Okay,” I whisper before rolling towards his chest and pressing my face into him, silently letting the tears roll free as he holds me tight .

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Arrow asks angrily from behind us.

“She must have fallen and hurt herself internally.”

“She hasn’t been out of our sight, there’s no way she’s hurt herself,” Ranger says adamantly. “What else could it be?”

“Some forms of poison could look like this, but you said you’re sure she hasn’t ingested any.”

“She hasn’t,” he says in frustration.

“Well, unless she’s been cursed, I don’t know what else it could be.”