Cure I

"..."

"Do you know who that is?" Sirks asked the two girls, gripping his sword tightly. He didn't know whether it was a friend or a foe. The voice claimed to know them, but Sirks didn't know anyone by the name of Jackel.

Both of them shook their heads. "Alright, enemy it is then," Sirks said.

Sirks walked over to the door with his sword in his hand. He looked at Nyana and asked, "Is there any way you can let my voice go through without lowering the barrier?"

"Yes, I can do that."

"Please do."

The person knocked on the door again. "Princesses, it's me, Jackel! I serve the queen! You've seen me around her a couple of times, haven't you?"

Sirks turned around and looked at the two princesses again. Still, they shook their heads. "I don't remember that name. I don't remember his voice either," Iris said in a skeptical tone.

"You don't need to say more." Sirks nodded his head at the elf and she altered her barrier so that sound can go through.

Sirks took a deep breath and yelled to the people on the other side, "The sands speak to me!"

It sounded like nonsense but Sirks wasn't out of his mind or anything. It was a code. If the people on the other side truly served the queen, they would know that. Only a select few trusted people knew how to respond.

Silence. There was shuffling on the other side but Sirks didn't get a response. He muttered a curse under his breath. He took a shot in the dark and it looks like he got it wrong. These weren't allies.

Nyana saw Sirks' tense expression and knew that something wasn't right. The vines picked up the bow and quiver and brought it to her hand.

Sirks was just about ready to barge out and cut down the first person he saw when he heard a voice about, "They ask for water!"

Sirks slowly lowered his sword and Nyana did the same with her bow. He was still cautious but that was the right response. Why did it take them so long to reply?

"They also ask for seeds!" Sirks shouted back. It was the next line in the verse.

"So that we may turn this dry land into a haven to fulfill our people's needs!"

Sirks out his weapon down against the wall and opened the door. "Greetings," the man outside bowed. There were several other soldiers with him, each wearing armor that Sirks had never seen before.

"What took you so long to answer?" Sirks asked the man the answered him. He was wearing a robe and had wrinkles all over his face. He wore a red belt, showing that he is a fire mage. It was the standard uniform for a mage in Otane.

"Sorry, it's been so long since I last used that and I forgot what the line was. I need a moment to remember."

"Good thing you remembered it quickly or else I would've sliced you all in half."

"That would've been truly unfortunate."

Sirks stares at the old man for a minute before nodding his head and moving to the side. "Come on in."

The soldiers stayed outside while the man called Jackel walked into the room. He spotted the two princesses and the unconscious queen.

"Ah, it's you!" Iris recalled who he was after seeing his face, pointing her finger at him.

"Yes. Long time no see, princesses," he greet them back in a polite manner.

"You're that weird twitchy man that's always with Jen!"

"Er- While I am honored that you remember me, princess, that's not a nice description..."

"Oh. Sorry," Iris covered her mouth, apologizing for her rudest.

"Is the queen okay?" Jackel took a few steps towards the bed but stopped and looked at the elf, towering above everyone else in the room. "Uh-"

"You may," Nyana turned back to the table and resumed her work, seeing that he wasn't an enemy.

Jackel stood in front of the queen and peered down, frowning at her condition. "This isn't good... Has she been cured yet?"

"No," Sirks answered him, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "We only got her out of the castle a few hours ago." Well, not them. It was a single person's effort.

"I see..."

"Why were you gone for all this time?" Iris suddenly asked Jackel out of the blue? She always saw the man with the queen but not recently. He had gone missing.

"I was searching for a cure..." Jackel explained. He untied a bag from his robe and placed it down. "Sadly, I did not find anything that could help. However, I did find the herb used for the poison."

"You did!?" Nyana spun around so fast that she almost knocked some things off her workstation. "I need that."

"Are you a herbalist?"

"I work with plants, yes."

Jackel handed the bag over to the elf who plucked the black plant right out of it without regarding her own safety.

"Ah! It's poisonous on contact!" Jackel screamed, forgetting to tell her that important piece of information.

"I'm immune to poison unless I ingest it, or it's injected into me," Nyana told him, shrugging it off like it was nothing.

"...Really? I never knew that elves had that ability."

"It's just me."

"...Oh. Also, it's a little chilly in here..." Jackel noticed, shivering. Coming from the outside where it was much hotter, the drastic drop in temperature surprised him.

"That's also my doing," Nyana said, getting straight to work with the poisonous herb. She took apart the plant, skillfully separating the roots, stem, and fruit perfectly and placing them on the table. She then cleared everything else off the table, sweeping them onto the floor. Now she was ready to get started, but before that, she had a question.

"Is this the only one you have?" she asked, turning around and looking at the old mage.

"Yes. It's a rare species. This is the only one we found," he answered regretfully.

"And how are you sure that this is the plant used for the poison?" Nyana also asked.

"Well, one of the soldiers touched it and fainted and went into a coma, just like the queen. He's displaying the same symptoms."

"...You're a hundred percent certain that this is it?"

"I would hope so." Truthfully, Jackel was not absolutely sure if this plant was the one that they were looking for, but the queen's condition was growing worse by the day. She had a limited amount of time and Jackel did all that he could. Furthermore, he and the soldiers came back to find the city turned upside down, mutated corpses and normal corpses staining the sands red and black.

"So I only have one chance..." Nyana crosses her arms, taking a few seconds to decide on what she should do. There were no spare herbs so she couldn't afford to mess this up and to make things even more complicated, this was also her first time seeing and handling this plant. Just wonderful.

The room went quiet. Everyone's eyes were on the elf who was deep in thought. Jackel wanted to stay in the room and watch over the queen and the two princesses but was afraid that he would be a hindrance to the elf and so he walked out of the room. "I'll stand guard outside with my men," he said, closing the door behind him.

Sirks shook his head and also walked out of the room. "I'll also do the same." He exited the room too and it was just the girls and women left.

"Should we-"

"No," Nyana cut Iris off, knowing what she was going to ask. "If I mess up and something happens to your sister, I need you to witness it," she said in an unconfident tone.

Iris pursed her lips. Uneasiness began to fill up her chest and she looked at Wompa. The two of them were both scared. Iris looked back at the elf and said, "You're talking like you're certain you will mess up..."

"Sorry, but I can't exactly honey-coat this. This is my first time doing anything with this plant..." Nyana informed them. She took a deep breath and rubbed her hands together. "But I'll do my best."

Picking the roots, to begin with, Nyana cut them into sections, grinding half of them into powder and setting the other half aside to use for layer. She then moved onto the bud of the plant. It looked like this was an immature plant as it has yet to bloom. She forced the bud open, pulling it apart with her fingernails.

A strong toxic smell exited from within. It was a good thing that Nyana expected this beforehand and put up a thin barrier around the bud, preventing any of the poison from getting out and filling up the room.

"So the poison comes from the pollen..." she noted. This was very common for poisonous flowers. Good. This was one important piece of information that she needed to know.

Now it was time for the testing to begin. It was not uncommon for the root or stem of the plant to be the remedy or have the counteracting effect for the poison. Let's see if this was the case for this flower.

Nyana used her magic to carefully take a few grains of pollen from the flower and put them inside the tube. From the stinging of her fingers, she knew that the poison was so potent that a few grains were more than enough to put several hundred people in a coma. Even her poison-resistant skin had trouble numbing the pain from it.

Nyana then sliced open the stem of the flower and poured some of the juices inside one of the tubes while putting in the grounded root in the other.

Now, the moment of truth. Nyana sealed both of the tubes and shook them. She opened the first tube containing juices from the stem and poured it onto the back of her hand. It felt like her skin got pieced by thousands of tiny needles. Nyana clenched her teeth, doing her best to endure it.

"This isn't it!" she said through her gritted teeth. The stem only amplified the effects of the poison.

"Are you okay?" Iris and Wompa watched with concerned looks on the bed, not sure of what to do. They knew that the elf was in pain but they could only watch.

Keeping her stinging hand on the table, Nyana reached for the other tubes and popped them open. "Please let this work!"

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