Chapter 20: Traces of Darkness

Wrapping the gauge took some time, but for some reason Sarah felt that she did not mind. She had been used to Phileas staring at her for a while now and spending time with him no longer felt annoying or awkward.

To her, Phileas was a little arrogant and stubborn, but all his actions seemed to have a good meaning behind them. In fact, all of his actions were centred around her and her wellbeing. He felt safe and there was no doubts regarding him in her head. It was all transparent.

What was unusual though was the constant ringing in her head whenever she found herself in such a situation. Like the time Phileas carried her away from the forest, when they went to visit the elder on the sacred mountain, when they spent a night next to the window, and right now. The ringing used to be quieter, but lately it had become louder. So much that at times it made her feel dizzy.

When Phileas had left the training grounds, Sarah noticed the blood trail left by him on the ground. She wanted to ask Jake about it, but somehow found it difficult to speak about it.

"I am good at other stuff, you know," Jake spoke first, "I am good at spells and I am very smart too," he kept talking.

Sarah only listened to him as she finished disinfecting the wound on his cheek. It was common to be wounded in a duel, she told herself. She decided she would go see him later.

Jake kept talking, "but you know, it makes me happy to be wounded like this," he brought his face close to her and stared into her eyes, "this way, I get to be treated by you," he smiled.

Sarah usually felt embarrassed when he got this close to her, but it brought back the ringing in her head slightly. She ignored it and flicked his forehead.

"I am not going to keep treating you for small cuts if you get hurt intentionally," she packed up the instruments, "who told you to fight with Phil. He's a knight. You should know whom not to take on," the ringing got louder, "You did wound him too, and more severely at that -" she got cut short when her head began to ache.

She turned to see Jake looking at her intensely.

"You noticed?"

Sarah felt uneasy for some reason. She pointed to the blood trail. Jake looked at it for a while.

"I had to make a move too. He won though. Didn't know he bled that much. I hope he is okay".

Later she asked him to leave for the day saying that she had a bad headache and did not feel too well. After she saw Jake off, she spent some time in her room drinking medicine tea made by Ella. When the pain subsided, she remembered she should meet Phileas.

When Phileas looked at her, the ringing started to return. Phileas noticed that she was in some sort of discomfort. Instinctively, he reached out and lifted her face by her chin.

"Are you not feeling well?"

The ringing got louder.

He slid his fingers from her chin to her forehead, "You do not seem to have a fever. But you do not seem okay either. Is it a stomach ache?"

The headache returned, and this time she winced in pain slightly.

This alarmed Phileas. He held her head with both hands, "Sarah? Tell me, what is wrong? Where does it hurt?"

"My head...ringing...hurts a lot..."

With quick hands, he lifted her up and carried her to her room. On the way, he shouted to a maid to call a doctor. He half ran to her room and quickly lay her in bed.

Upon asking, he found out that she already had some medicine tea earlier. The medicine tea had healing magic infused in it, making it very effective for headaches. Seeing that even tea could not fix it, it began to worry Phileas.

"Sarah, I don't know what is wrong but I can't see you in pain," then he used a sleeping spell to put her to sleep.

*

The doctor finished examining Sarah and left her room. She walked over to Phileas' study where he awaited her presence.

"Sir Phileas, I have just finished examining Lady Sarah".

"Yes, thank you very much. Please come take a seat and tell me what you found".

She took a seat on the couch opposite to him, "I must say it was very odd that I found such a thing".

Phileas frowned, "what is odd? Is it bad? Is she sick?"

"Well," the doctor fidgeted a little, "it seems that the lady is under dark magic".

What?

"I could sense traces of darkness in her. I am not sure why it is there or how it may have entered her for I am not well versed in the dark arts, but it is not a good thing for it to linger in her".

Phileas clenched his fists. How did dark magic enter her? Was it that day in the forest?

"How long has it been in her?"

"I am not very sure, sir. It depends on how long she has been suffering the symptoms. Her lady did mention it becoming worse over time. I believe she mentioned going to a forest".

That's it! It was the forest! But why did the darkness target her? Her core is asleep. There is no trace of her royalty or her true identity. Did he find out somehow?

"Okay. I understand. Thank you for your inspection. You will be rewarded and additionally so for keeping quiet about this," he added the last part coldly.

The doctor shivered a little at his icy words and bowed quickly before leaving.

Phileas sat holding his temple. How was he going to deal with this now?