Spirit of the Forest
Chapter 16

Cyri dipped a white wool rag in the bucket of cold water. Once he ringed it out to where the rag was damp, he placed it on Romelia’s forehead. The young teen was on her bed, still asleep. Her forehead was glistening with sweat that was caused by her fever. Romelia’s eyes were closed tightly shut while her hands gripped the bed sheets tightly. Her silver hair was plastered against her face as she panted.

Frowning with concern, Cyri moved the hair away from her face.

It had been a couple weeks since the fire had devastated the forest and Romelia still hadn’t woken up. The forest was slowly recovering, but Ordello said that it might not fully recover before winter came. The golden haired boy was growing more and more worried about his friend as the days went by. He didn’t want her to get worse because of him or freeze when winter came.

Cyri knew that there was a small village nearby. He thought that they could have something that might help Romelia. But he didn’t want Ordello to grow angry towards him. He had already been kind enough to let him stay and he didn’t want to throw his kindness in his face by running to the nearest village.

Romelia’s voice interrupted Cyri’s thoughts. “N… No…” Cyri blinked at her quiet frightened voice. “T… They’re everywhere…” Her head moved to the right quickly and back again. “Destroying… Everything…”

He then realized that her fever was causing her to have a nightmare. Cyri gently grabbed ahold of her hand while stroking the side of her face comfortingly. “It’s okay Romelia,” he said soothingly, “You’re safe. You’re at you home.”

Slowly, Romelia’s hands uncurled, her eyelids relaxed, and she grew still again. Her panting died down, but not entirely and her sweating was still as bad as before. She stopped muttering, growing deathly silent. Cyri check for breathing, slightly worried by the sudden change. Her breathing was faint and shallow when he found it, and sounded weak.

The teen held her hand as he made up his mind. He had to go to the village for the medicine. Even if Ordello cast him out or there wasn’t any medicine, it was worth the chance to help Romelia how she had helped him.

Cyri pulled the hood of his cloak closer around his head so it would cast a shadow over his face. He currently was looking out from under the stone bridge that lead to a small town. It hadn’t taken long to get there and he had left Romelia in Tanisha’s care before he had left the forest. He knew Tanisha would make sure that Romelia stay safe and sound due to their close friendship.

Hearing the familiar sounds of a wagon that was coming over the bridge, Cyri stepped out from under the bridge. Making sure to keep his hood on, he swiftly stepped up onto the road and jumped on the back of the wagon. He made sure to land lightly so nothing would be disturbed too much. Cyri sat down as the wagon drove into town. He watched the commoners went about their daily business. He waited as a group of people walked by before jumping down from the wagon.

Cyri mingled in with the crowd as they started towards the town’s marketplace. Once there, Cyri gently pushed out of the crowd and started towards what looked like the medical stand.

Along the way, a couple children ran past. Both were around the age of five and looked identical in every way. Cyri gave a small smile, realizing they were twins.

Just like me and-

One of them, a girl with brown hair, accidently ran into him. She stumbled back as her brother gasped. Her own eyes widened as she realized what she had done. She bowed, putting her hands to her chest. “I-I’m s-so sorry sir!”

Cyri wasn’t sure why she looked so scared- she was actually trembling with fright- but didn’t think much of it. He crouched down to look her in the eyes. “It’s alright.” He reached into the small leather sack in which he kept his gold and pulled out five pieces. “Here,” he said as he placed them into her hands. “Why don’t you and your brother go get something?”

She gasped as her brother looked over her shoulder in shock. “R-really?” She smiled brightly at him. “Thank you so much sir!” And with that, both of them were running off, both squealing with delight.

Cyri smiled to himself as they ran. When they were gone, he turned his attention to the medical stall. The stall was being headed by a bald man with a red beard and no eyebrows. The man wore a simple tanish robe and nothing else. As Cyri walked up, he heard the man began to mumble to himself.

“Why won’t anyone buy my supplies? They’re just as good as Elaina’s! … And just because Tim died after using one of my medicines does not mean that my medicines kill people!”

Hearing this, Cyri decided to replace this Elaina person. He didn’t want to take the chance of Romelia dying from this man’s medicine. Just as he started to turn, the man saw him.

“Hey! You there!” he called out to Cyri. “Do you need some medicine? ’Cause I’ve got good-” Cyri walked away before he could finish his sentence. The man yelled after him, but Cyri kept walking, ignoring the man. After a while, Cyri paused to take a look at his surroundings.

There was a shop, that looked more like a house than anything, right in front of him. While there was no sign, he could tell from the smell that came from it, that this was a medical shop. Cyri opened the door, only to smile wide at the scents of Rosemary and honey.

Along there were shelves of medical herbs and spices. There was a counter in front of the door that lead to a back room. From that same back room came the scents of honey and Rosemary.

Sitting on a stool behind the counter sat a woman. She had flaming curly red hair and warm, brown eyes. Her hair gave a slight bounce as she lifted her head from her book. When she saw that someone had walked in, she smiled almost motherly. Her skin was olive colored that looked darker due to the shop’s dim lighting.

“Hello there,” she said. “What can I get you today, young man?”

Cyri stopped in front of the counter. “My friend is sick and needs some medicine.”

“I see,” she said nodding her head. “I can help. What are her symptoms?”

As he listed all of Romelia’s symptoms, the woman started to gather various jars of herbs. By the time he was done listing, the space in front of him was completely covered with jars.

“Okay then. I think I know just what your girlfriend needs.”

Cyri felt his face heat up when she said, ‘girlfriend.’ “Uh… Romelia’s n-not my girlfriend. She’s just a good friend.”

The woman raised an eyebrow as she started mixing the various agreements together in a large pot while stirring it continuously. “So Romelia is the name of the girl you are shopping for.” He nodded, even though it wasn’t a question. “Ah. Then with a name like that, she must be a real beauty.”

“I-I’m not so sure about that…”

“Are you saying your friend is ugly?” she asked, placing her free hand on her hip.

“What? No! Romelia’s actually quite…” He coughed into his hand, his blush increasing. “Uh, how much longer is that going to take?” Cyri asked, quickly changing the subject.

The woman chuckled. “Oh, this’ll take just a few more minutes, child. My name is Elaina.” Oh. The woman that man from earlier had talked about. Cyri came up with a fake name before answering.

“Alright Elaina, my name’s-”

“I already know who you are, Cyri.”

Cyri’s blood ran cold when she said his name. How did she even know who he was? Did she work for Dominque?? “H-how-”

“Oh, I know a lot of things,” Elaina said. “Including who you are and what happened to Romelia as a child.”

“Wait, how do you know? And what do you mean by that?”

“I have my ways child.” She took out a small glass bottle and used a ladle to fill it with the medicine she had mixed up. “Now, Romelia will need to take this with food. I’d mix it with stew to do so. I tried to get it to taste better with some honey, but it still tastes like wolf piss.”

Cyri gratefully took the bottle from her. “How much does this cost?”

“All I want is something in return later on, a favor.” Cyri gave her a weird look. What was she wanting later on?? “Nothing like that!” She said, seeing his expression. “I can promise you that!”

“Good.” Saying goodbye and thank you to the woman, he left the little shop. He pulled his hood up back over his head, holding Romelia’s medicine close to him. He was not going to drop it or spill any of it. Romelia needed this medicine.

He turned the corner of a house that lead to an alley way. As he did, Cyri ran into someone. The teen fell backwards as the other person gave a small, ‘oof!’ He held the bottle to his chest, making sure that it didn’t hit the ground and break. When he hit the ground, he immediately checked the bottle to see if there was any damage to it. Letting out a sigh of relief, Cyri lifted his head. Golden eyes met brown eyes, wide with shock and recognition.

“Cyri?” The man asked in disbelief. He had short brown hair with the same colored eyes. Cyri’s heart pounded against his chest as the man spoke. He jumped up and bolted back the way he came. He heard the man call out to him. “Wait! Stop Cryi!”

Cyri ignored the man and continued to run.

“Cyri! Where have you been?!” Tanisha yelled at him when he got back.

Not wanting to lie to her, he replied, “Getting medicine.”

A few feet away, Tanisha stood up from Romelia’s bed. The anger was clear on her face as she looked at him. “What?! Why?!”

Cyri hung his cloak up as he said, “Romelia’s getting worse, so I went to the nearest village to get some medicine for her.”

“That still doesn’t mean-”

“Look, what’s done, is done and I have the medicine-” He held the bottle up to her face so she could see it. “-so now Romelia can get better. Okay?”

“But-”

“Not now, Tanisha!” Cyri finally snapped at her. “Romelia wasn’t getting better- she was getting worse everyday!- so I went to go get the medicine! Now she can get better! End of story!”

Tanisha had taken a step back, her blue eyes wide with surprise. After a few moments, her hands curled into fists. “Fine,” she said angrily. “I won’t tell Ordello what you did, as long as Romelia gets better. Am I clear?”

Although Cyri felt back about snapping at her, he nodded. “Okay. I’ll need some soup so I can give the medicine.”