“Is this a new way to punish me?” I asked, my voice slicing through the tendrils of night to get to him. This darkness was so heavy that I couldn’t spot him, even though he must have been three or four feet away from me. Silence and the echo of my own voice were the only replies I got. As per usual, I was not dissuaded.
“I know you are awake so it’s fruitless to fake it now,” I said again, desperately trying to get this man to speak. I swear to god, if there was a competition of ‘most futile attempt repeated on a loop’, I would be the international champion. Again, no sound came out from the man’s mouth, the only sign that he was awake was the rhythmic shaking of the mattress.
“Look Dahr, I guessed by now that you are not much of a conversationalist, but still, it would be polite to acknowledgeme and at least try to be a good host, since you ordered my kidnapping and all…”
I waited about half a minute before I started again. “Okay well, I am tempted to attempt an escape right about now, because this is getting tedious to say the least…”
This time, the silence of the tent came accompanied by harsher shivering. What in the hell was this man doing?
“Hey, are you alright?” I dared ask, because even though he was my enemy, he’d never missed an opportunity to respond to my challenge. It seemed odd that just the moment I had threatened to make my escape was when he decided not to care for my actions.
So, something was amiss.
“Dahr?”
Nothing.
No answer, no grunting, not even a grumble or a curse to make me shut up.
Something was wrong.
“Are you alright, Dahr?” I moved closer to the mattress and, even though I had sworn to myself that I wouldn’t go nearer to him than necessary, I took a seat at the edge of the bed, the only part that I could reach and fumbled around in the darkness, trying to find him.
My hands touched the fur lining of his bed covers, same as the one he had spared for me, and moved upwards towards where the pillows should be in search of him.
I started by touching his locks and inching closer, not wanting to make an abrupt movement, should he wake up startled and take his anger out on me. That was, if he truly was sleeping.
My fingers danced slowly into his hair and claimed more territory until I reached the top of his head. To realise that his locks were drenched in sweat.
The shivering was coming from him, the movement of the mattress gentle enough to placate his abrupt motions, but I wasn’t spared when I touched his forehead. To find it burning. I dared to trail down the side of his face, caressing his cheek and reaching his jaw in need of confirmation.
The man was feverish, sweating and shivering to the point of needing urgent medical care. I had never witnessed anything like this. His body temperature was higher than ever, a fever-induced warmth, to the point where I could barely touch him without feeling pain. It gave the term ‘burning up’ a whole new meaning, because this man was… actually burning. His skin had reached an inhuman temperature, and his entire body shook with its effect.
I didn’t know much about drakes specifically, apart from the general information I had been able to find in books and other materials. Even though the fae had been among us for a few decades, the humans blatantly refused to acknowledge their presence and educate the people in regards to these new and unwelcomed companions that had started to claim the earth we had been solely occupying.
There wasn’t medicine for them or even medical knowledge concerning the faeries, so I was lost for what to do. Was this an issue that a mere dose of antibiotics would fix? Or did it need some sort of specific healing? Did it have any connection to the way the air burnt that morning?
“Dahr?” I tried to shake him awake, unsure of what else to do. “Wake up, you are burning up.”
Like every teacher, I had to pass the advanced first-aider course and, just like everything else I was obstinate to complete in my life, I had achieved the highest mark in my class. But for once, my knowledge did not prove useful in this situation.
I found myself tied to the bed, with a possibly delirious man by my side, unable to call for help.
I seriously doubted that if I started screaming in the middle of the night someone would come, given the fact that I had spent various portions of my late evenings singing, screaming and making a fuss, and no one dared to come into this tent, apart from the two females who took care of my needs and refused to speak to me.
I was on my own, at least until morning.
I moved back to the floor and felt around in the darkness to find the carafe of water and glass that were placed on a chair within reach. The water was room temperature, so I doubted it would do much to calm his rising fever, but it was the best I could do. I grabbed the jug and one glass and felt my way around the bed until I reached Dahr.
My eyes hadn’t adjusted to the darkness of the night yet, and I doubted they would at this point, so I was left with no choice but to feel my way around his body and hope for the best.
The first thing I did was to pour some water into the glass, after which I carefully laid the container to the side and moved over to where his mouth was supposed to be. I took advantage of the fact that he was still turned to the side and would not choke in this position, and tipped the glass into his mouth only slightly, just enough to let some water in.
I didn’t hear him swallow or wake up, I didn’t feel his lips or his throat move either.
Fine.
Plan B.
