A taste of poison

An unceasing thumping pulls Mircea from her deep slumber-it feels like someone is hitting her head from the inside and, it is going to blast any moment now.

Mircea tries to ignore it and welcome sleep but fails miserably. She met by the blinding sun rays and a weird smell.

She knows this smell from somewhere, but she cannot point it out. It takes a minute for her to adjust to the brightness of the room. Mircea then realizes that she is lying weak in someone else's bed.

She looks across the cosily decorated room, searching for any potential danger.

Mircea can tell the house is purely made of wood. Ipe wood- it is only found in the West of Gyyza. The furniture is also made of the same wood. The room is moderately decorated with silk curtains, books, and fur rugs.

The warmth of this room is comforting; she looks for the hearth but does not find one. Maybe, it is magic that keeps the house warm. That smell from earlier is the smell of magic as well!

Athos and Lilith are nowhere to be seen. The room is ear-shatteringly quiet; there is no noise at all. Her father! He must be in pain, for love of the saints; she doesn't even know if he is alive.

She tries to get up, but a sharp pain tugs her brain "Ahh," She clutches her brain tight.

"Saints! Have I been infected by a disease?" She asks herself. Her clothes have been changed into a lavender silk gown. Even though the silk is fleecy and covers her body decently, it feels uncomfortable.

Mircea looks for her sag and her old garments, but nothing is there except for water and more gowns in the wardrobe. She chugs down two glasses of water which does nothing to palliate her headache.

Mircea glances out of the window; a thick mist of frost has painted the glass in lush white colour, confirming that she is still in the East of Gyyza. She must find Lilith and Athos- they still haven't accomplished their mission.

The council must be expecting them to return with the Witcher by the third night of this week.

Gradually she stands up and dons the silk robe kept on the chair next to the mahogany brown dressing table. She first looks for any booby traps or hidden holes, afraid someone might be watching her.

When she finds nothing suspicious, she tries to open the door. It clicks open in the first attempt, overriding her conjecture of being trapped. Weird, she thinks.

How am I not confined?

Mircea slowly pulls the door, peeking outside- she finds an empty corridor. The house is big. There are three more rooms on this level alone. She couldn't tell from the window how many levels the house had.

She will find out later.

If they aren't kept as prisoners, Lilith and Athos are likely to be in one of these rooms. She lightly pads to the next closest room– Mircea slightly pushes the door open.

Every room surprisingly is unlocked in this house. This room is decorated exactly like hers; brown wood not painted with anything but shiny polish.

All curtains are closed, with one gigantic bed is sitting in the middle of the room. Its presence is heavy like it is carrying someone. Mircea pushes the door further and rounds to the right side of the bed.

Lilith is asleep peacefully; the lilac covers are up to her neck. But something is not right. Her face is blanched just like her lips- sores have broken out.

She is sick, but how?

All she had was a gnash from the fight, and it wasn't as unbearable or incurable. Lilith has faced worse while training and fighting alongside Mircea.

Mircea touches Lilith's forehead, her hand searching for a fever. Her body is warm under the covers- shit! She then slowly uncovers Lilith's body to take a look at her wound.

"I don't think you should see that." A deep voice comes from behind, making Mircea jump nervously. She peeks over her shoulder, getting a look at her intruder.

A strange man is casually leaning on the wall beside the door staring at her with nothing more than simple curiosity. He is approximately five summers older than her, wearing a black and violet tunic and pants.

His curly black hair is dripping wet telling Mircea he is fresh out of a bath which she direly needs. She hasn't bathed since the day they rode for Gyyza.

She shakes off the thought and arches an eyebrow in the dark-haired intruder's direction.

"And who might you be?"

"Well, people usually call me Urban. I guess you can call me the same."

He eyes her up and down, making her self-conscious.

Mircea is certain, she must be looking like she has been dragged through the mud and some crows feasted on top of her head. It takes her a minute to understand what he just told her.

"Urban? The Witcher? The witch healer?" She asks incredulously.

"Ahh, yes."

"Did Lilith and Athos find you?"

"Not exactly. You and your mates were standing… well, you fainted right in front of my house. It would have been cruel to ignore that. And so I brought you all in, and it has been two days since you both…" He shrugs.

Two days! She has been out for days!

The council must have declared her death by now. Mircea stares at the man standing in front of her, the answer to her questions. All she has to do is take him back to Slyve and hand him over to the council.

Maybe then they will respect her.

"Is she sick?" Mircea points at the resting form of Lilith.

"Sick? I think you can say that." He advances towards her. She doesn't move an inch. Urban turns around and checks Lilith.

Mircea exhales, not knowing she was holding her breath.

"The knife that was used to gnash her- do you have it?" He queries, covering Lilith with the blanket after he was done checking her. Mircea realizes how tall he is, standing so close to her. She has a good height but only reaches his ears.

"Do you?" He asks again when she doesn't answer him.

"No," She blinks; it probably must be in the vampire's heart or throat.

"That knife was laced with Green Ive poison. The first night when you people came, I thought she would die, but she survived. It will take some time for her to heal, probably three weeks. The cut was left unattended for long, and it had reached her organs. Took all of Anstice's energy to pull her from the death trap." Urban explains he is still standing in front of her studying her expressions.

The knife belonged to Lilith?

How was that possible?

The use of poison in Slyve is frowned upon and banned decades ago.

An old king and his whole family had been executed by the officials with poison. And Green Ive was one of its kind, specially made for quick deaths of mystical creatures. It had quite a peculiar way of reacting to the human body. It worked slow and helped fail the organs one by one, destroying the human body.

Mircea can only pray that it doesn't leave any after-effects and damage Lilith's body further. If this had happened in Slyve, nothing and no one could have helped her. Mircea silently thanks the Saint. And then Urban.

"Thank you. I will repay your kindness once you save my father's life." She tells him.

"And how exactly do you intend to do that?" He looks down at her intently, wondering what bargain she would make.

Athos had made acquaintance with everyone and had told him how they travelled, survived after killing some petty vampires. He had mentally noted down to send King Diomedes a letter informing how easily some raiders had unfiltered their land.

"It will be better if you find that out yourself. Can Lilith travel?" She questions, worried about her best mate.

Athos could never make a good spy, Urban thought when he spits every fact about Mircea. Including how close she was to Lilith.

"Lilith travelling is a long and impossible shot that I wouldn't bet on."

They both are standing face to face for a long time now. Urban clenches his hand before lifting it a little.

"May I?" he asks for her permission. Mircea looks perplexed at first, then nods. Urban palms her forehead checking her temperature, and then holds her hand for a brief second to do the same.

"You have a small fever." He states, stepping aside.

"Do you have a headache? I can send some meat soup to your room in about a half-hour," he doesn't look at her standing at his initial place near the door.

"Anstice is making some for Lilith. I can ask her to make some more. It will help calm your headache and muscle pain." He adds.

"Yeah, I guess." She murmurs.

He is about to close the door behind him when Mircea shouts, "But when we are returning to Slyve?"

"Day after tomorrow. Leave Lilith behind, in Anstice's care." His words carry certitude. He shuts the door with a loud thud.

Who in the hell he thinks he is to order Mircea like that!?