Cure II

No foul smell came out of the second tube, meaning that the root powder had somehow blocked out or nullified the poison of the pollen. Excited, Nyana dumped the powder onto her hand and rubbed it. The intense stinging turned into tingling and then disappeared. Could this be it...!?

No, she needed to test it a second time to be sure. Nyana our the grounded root into a cup and looked around for water. Not finding any in the room, the elf dashed out of the room, bursting through the door and scaring everyone outside.

Sirks, Jackel, and the soldiers nearly had heart attacks. "An enemy?" Sirks called out to her, asking what the problem was.

"Water!" she shouted back, already running down the stairs. Iris and Wompa poked their heads out the door, astounded by how fast the elf was.

In less than a minute, the elf came running up the stairs with a pail of water. Wompa was dumbfounded at how she was able to find the water so fast. It took her a lot of searching to find it and it only took her a minute?

She walked past the soldiers, Sirks, and Jackel and went back into the room, not closing the door behind her. The two princesses followed her back to her workspace. Sirks and Jackel also reentered the room, wondering what the elf was up to.

She poured some of the water into the cup, carefully and slowly to avoid making it overflow. She mixed the powder and the water thoroughly.

"Is that the cure?" Jackel excitedly asked, peeking over her shoulder.

"Maybe."

Nyana removed the magic surrounding the bud of the flower and threw it into her mouth, swallowing it down whole.

"What are you doing!?" Jackel and Sirks both shouted together at the same time.

"That's poisonous, isn't it!?" Sirks exclaimed, his eyes the size of tomatoes.

Nyana didn't say anything. Her throat exploded in pain. It was like someone lit a fire inside of it and everything was burning. And it wasn't just her throat. The burning pain spread to the rest of her body. She blacked out several times in just seconds but she endured it, forcing herself to not fall unconscious. This was a very potent poison.

When it felt like the poison had spread to every part of her body, she grabbed the cup containing the grounded roots and gulped the entire thing down.

It was slower than the poison, but the roots took effect rather quickly. Starting from her throat, the pain disappeared. She didn't wait for the medicine to finish its job and began grounding the rest of the roots once the pain in her arm and hands were gone.

"Are you okay!?" Sirks asked, staring at the elf the whole time as it was happening.

"I'm fine," Nyana said as she took the grounded powder and poured it into the same cup that she drank out of. She then poured some more water into it and mixed it.

She spun around and held out the cup for one of them to take since her legs and feet were still in pain from the poison. The medicine was slowly working its way down.

"Don't spill a drop," she told them. One sip was probably more than enough to save the queen. From what she experienced with the poison just now, she knew that the queen only took a small dose of it. Nyana swallowed the entire bud and that amount almost killed her instantly. The fact that the queen was still alive after this long meant that she didn't have much of it in her.

Sirks and Jackel looked at each other, unsure of which one of them should take the cup. It wasn't that they didn't trust the elf, but they couldn't believe that the cure they had been looking for was in front of them after all this time.

"I guess I'll do it," Sirks said, reaching out for the cup. But before he had a chance to take it, Iris took it from Nyana's hand.

"You both are too slow!" she complained. she went over to the queen's side and carefully poured the medicine into her mouth before Sirks and Jackel had a chance to say anything.

"Hey! The queen can't swallow like that!" Sirks exclaimed, hurrying over to Iris and taking the cup out of her hand. Half of it still remained, but the other half was on the queen's mouth. Luckily, the liquid has yet to go down her throat and Sirks turned the queen to her side, forcing her to spill out the medicine onto the floor.

"You're wasting it!" Iris screamed.

"You idiot! Are you trying to choke her!?"

"Both of you, calm down!" Nyana yelled at them to stop. "Ugh..." What was she thinking, handing the cup over to them? She should've just waited for her legs and feet to come back alive... She should've made it an injection instead, but she didn't have a needle or syringe anywhere.

"Don't worry, that amount is still more than enough to cure her," Nyana said first, to prevent them from panicking any more than they currently were. "Do any of you know to treat an unconscious person?" she asked them.

Sirks and Iris stopped their bickering and looked at the elf. From the expressions on their faces, Nyana knew that neither of them knew what to do.

"Just give it to me." Nyana slowly got up from the chair, holding onto the back of it for support. Her legs were still aching and she was unsteady on her feet. She took the cup back from Sirks while still holding onto the chair with one hand for support.

Nyana looked at the queen and then down at her hands. She didn't have a third hand to lift the queen's head up. She couldn't let go of the chair unless she wanted to spill the rest of the concoct onto the floor. She turned to the others who all had their hands free and asked them, "Can one of you get the queen to sit up straight?" It didn't matter who did it. She just needed her up to give her the medicine.

"I got it..." Jackel offered to help before anyone else had the chance to say anything to avoid any conflict. He squeezed through the tiny gap between the bed and wall where all of Nyana's weapons were and seated the queen up.

"Tilt her head up."

Jackel did as the elf said and tilted the queen's head up and opened her mouth. Nyana poured the liquid into the queen's mouth carefully, using her magic to guide it down to the right place and not her lungs. "Done," she said, putting the cup down after the last drop went in.

"She's cured?" Iris asked as Jackel set the queen back down. She couldn't believe that it was that simple. Was it really gone? Just like that?

"Give it some time," Nyana replied, sitting back down on the chair. Her legs were okay now and the poison was completely gone from her body, but she felt tired from having it in her body for that short amount of time. The poison wiped out a lot of her blood from the looks of it. What a dangerous plant. She didn't have anything even half as deadly as it in the forest.

The desert, where surviving as anything was painstakingly difficult. Only the plants here would mutate an adaptation this potent to protect themselves. It was incredible. She wanted to bring one home and study it, but based on how long it took Jackel and his soldiers to find a single one, it was extremely rare. She probably won't get her hands on a second one.

Everyone in the room waited silently for the queen to wake up. According to Nyana, it should only take an hour or so for her to regain consciousness and so everyone waited for that to happen.

Each minute felt like two. The soldiers stood guard outside, none of them taking a break despite having come back from a long journey. They were exhausted but carried out their duty nevertheless. Jackel and Sirks paced around t room restlessly, glancing out the window and doors and occasionally glancing at the queen to see if she woke up.

The two princesses kept their eyes glued on the queen and waited for her to open her eyes like Nyana said she would. The elf was the only one who didn't look concerned or impatient about it. She had her eyes closed and was taking a nap while using her magic to watch the inn for any intruders.

After what felt like an eternity, there was a rustle as the blankets shifted a little. Everyone froze and looked at the queen. Did they all see and hear that right, or were their eyes and ears playing tricks on them?

"Jen?" Iris' voice came out a little crackled and frightful.

The queen's eyes opened, making everyone's hearts jump. "Jen!" Iris hugged her sister before she could say anything.

Sirks stomped over and tried to pull her off. "You're going to suffocate the queen! She needs water! Hey, you soldiers out there-"

"We have water in the room," Nyana pointed at the pail of water lying beside the bed bag she used for her work. It was still clean and she only used a cup or two to make the medicine thanks to Jackel's timely arrival with the herb.

The queen opened her mouth and tried to say something but her voice was so dry and cracked that it was impossible to make sense of them. "Here's some water," Nyana offered her the cup that was previously used for holding the medicine. There was still some residue on it but it wasn't like it was going to kill her.

The queen gratefully accepted it but had trouble holding it with her frail hands, almost dropping it when she took it from the elf. Luckily, Wompa caught it in time and helped move it to her lips.

A few sips later and the queen cleared her throat. "I must have been out for some time..." Her voice was still hoarse but everyone understood her words. There was a pause as the queen tried to regain her senses. "...How's the kingdom?"

No one wanted to answer her. No one wanted to tell her that the city was currently in turmoil. "...Not well then," she guessed from the reaction she got from everyone.

"Don't worry. We will have the situation handled soon," Nyana told her.

"We will?" Sirks asked, surprised by the elf's statement.

"Yes, she that?" Nyana pointed out the window.

"See what- Oh..." Sirks' jaws nearly dropped to the floor when he saw what was outside the window.

"By the sands of the desert... How is that possible?" Jackel muttered, also just as baffled as Sirks by the sight.

Iris and Wompa also looked and were speechless by what they saw.

There were several tornadoes tearing the city apart. They were all near the castle. What in the world was happening there?

"What do you mean the situation will be handled soon!?" Sirks asked. "At this rate, the entire kingdom will be nothing but dust!" he pointed out. Even the fiercest sandstorm they had in the kingdom's history pales in comparison to this.

However, Nyana wasn't worried. "The city will be fine," she said.

"And how so?"

"The person who conjured that, you should know him."

"...Are you serious? He's doing that? He's the one controlling it!?"

"Yes. The fight should be over soon. We just need to wait here," Nyana told them, getting up from the hair and walking to the window. It was quite a sight to behold. The pinnacle of wind magic... No, it was the pinnacle of magic in general.

Whoever was up against Kies, Nyana felt pity for them. The last thing they would see will be the wrath of the winds, returning anything and everything that gets their way back into the sands from which they came.

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