Chapter 19
"Is he well?" I knew that voice, recognized the smell.
"Murphy?" I struggled to get up, but several hands pushed me back onto a padded mat.
"Jade. Stay still. You're sick. Feverish. You need to rest and let Zyperia take care of you."
"Murphy, how, where–" I struggled to make myself understood and to understand.
"I jumped through the gate after you, Jade. Followed. Hid. Found the others here. Go to sleep, we' re safe enough underneath here."
"Not safe. They've tasted my blood. They can track me." Waves of fever roiled through me and I was so thirsty, everything ached. I lifted my hand and in it, the coin blazed; I rubbed my fingers across it and tried to call forth its magic, yet none came. Her face hovered over mine; her hands closed my fingers over the coin.
"Your friend has brought some of your medicines, Lord Jadewyn."
Murphy raised my head up and eased the collar back on; he brought water to my lips and helped me swallow.
"I'm going to give you a shot of Vancomycin and steroids, some morphine, Jade. It'll make you feel better."
I felt a coolness on my side and then a sharp bite of a needle. Then nothing. "He‘s getting thinner, won't eat. I don't know what else to do," the girl's voice whispered. "Are your medicines working?"
"I don't know. His temp is still up there, his pulse is racing. I've run out of antibiotics.
Only thing left I know of is to remove the affected part, but I'm sure as hell not amputating his leg. Jade, you've got the coin, use it to heal yourself. If you die, it won't matter what the hell happens."
I mumbled something and the coin glowed in my hand, lit up the cavern, so that sparks bounced around as if a pinball machine had lit up.
"What's it doing? Jade, can you feel it doing anything?" Murphy slapped my cheek gently, but it wasn't until she whacked me a good one and lifted my head off the pillow that I opened my eyes. Everything was blurry and had a yellowish tinge to it. Their faces look filthier than ever if that was possible. Murphy had a beard and his hair was nearly long enough to put in a ponytail.
"Jesus. You look awful, Murph," I whispered, and he laughed, the dimple in his cheek evident. I had a sense he hadn't laughed in a while. She looked disgruntled and laid her palm on my brow.
"How do you feel?"
I ignored her. "How long have I been laying here, Murph?"
He shrugged. "My watch doesn't work here and there is no light and day. I don't know how long. A long time if you go by hair growth." He flicked my own. It was long enough to braid.
"I'm hungry."
She handed me a bowl of soup. It smelled halfway decent. I took a cautious sip, it went down easily, hit the bottom of my belly and I curled around the core of warmth. I finished the rest of the bowl and handed it back to her. Waited. It stayed down. I tried a drink of water, it felt like ambrosia to my tissues. They made me stop after four glasses. Of course, then I had to go piss and it was Murphy's duty to haul me over to a corner of the cave where there was a hole, but did double duty, no pun intended, as the latrine.
"You okay?" He asked for the tenth time as I shuffled back to my bed on the cavern floor.
"I feel okay," I told him and sat down next to the girl. She was somewhat cleaner or I was now as dirty and smelly as they were, and used to it. "Who are you...people?" I questioned, and she answered me, her hand on my wrist.
"My name is Zyperia, called Zip. I was captured by the Druz some time ago but escaped to the caverns. My parents sent warriors to find me. These two, Selwyn and Eilwynn are all that are left of the team. They managed to track me here, but are unable to raise the gate to return us."
"To Celene?" I asked.
"Anywhere. The Druz have been furiously patrolling all the planes and gates this last year. Now we know why. The Seillach has been activated. You were found," she told me.
"Me? Your great war leader?" I snorted. "I'm lousy at chess and checkers. The only remote talent I have is to find something lost."
"You can trace the path to Druz? To Celene?"
"Once I locate the string, I can reel it to wherever it goes," I admitted. "I've found people, places and things. I've never been lost."
"But you've never opened a gate through your string?"
"No. I've never known there were…worlds beyond my own," I admitted.
"The minute you touch the Druz world string, it will jangle and resonate all the way to the Lord Overseer's notice. They will track you back down it to where you stand. You will have mere minutes to open the door."
"Why would I want to go to Druz? I want to go home."
She shook her head. "Home, wherever that is, is no longer safe for you, Jadewyn. Even now, the Druz will have invaded your world and usurped it. No, it is safer to reach for Celene as soon as you can."
"Will I need blood to open a Gate?" I looked at my leg and saw that it was pale, wasted from the bite up as if the muscle had melted away.
"No. That is not a requirement for a Seillach Warrior. You can force the gate open with the coin, your will and the way."
"How?"
"How do you find lost things?" She queried. I reached into that part of me, and looked.
Hidden within the coils were twisting and churning lines. I saw a quick twist of a pale string that looked no different than many others save that it sang a soft song like the notes of a silver bell, and I reached for it. I was distracted by a dozen other strings–one of a blood red hue I knew were lives important to me and somehow familiar. I did not want to touch them but gently pushed them aside and firmly grasped the crystal-toned string. It quivered in my hand and wiggled like the end of a broken steel cable, wanting to be hidden and break free. Twisted around the Celene line was a darker string with the flavor of Druz and once my hand rang the crystal note, it sent vibrations along the darker line. We could feel the alarm around us; all four of us knew that they were now alerted.
I tugged, saw the destination and opened my eyes. The y saw me standing with my hand on a beam of light that passed through the wall of crystalline rock, which glowed as if lit from within. I laughed. Here before us was an ancient Doorway and I had the key.
In my other hand, the coin glowed iridescent green. I turned to look at the four of them.
"Take hold of me. We're going through the Gate."
I felt them take hold of my clothing, stepped forward and my hands where the first thing to disappear into the shimmering flames. Behind me, I heard the screams of frustrated warriors who found our hiding hole seconds too late.