The Forgotten King (Korin's Journal) (29 page)

“Don’t worry.  You’re forgiven,” I said loudly, clapping a hand forcefully on Briscott’s shoulder.

Briscott let out a scream and jumped, disappearing and reappearing as his head almost hit the ceiling.  We all shared some friendly laughter after Briscott’s nerves settled and we explained everything to him, but I’ll never forget the look on his face.

Chapter 24

Invisibility Just Makes Me Sick

It took just over an hour for me to understand why I’d never heard of a wizard using an invisibility potion. 

Once my body eased back into visibility—around an hour later as Ulys had estimated—I became sick. 
Violently sick.  Sick as in vomiting with enough force that I worried that my stomach and intestines were about to come up with the meat rolls I’d recently eaten.  That wasn’t even the worst part. 

All of my muscles felt like rubber, and I was barely able to stand.  That made getting to the privy down the hall much more difficult than I’d have liked, especially considering that I had to run to it every few minutes.  My vision had blurred to the point of needing Til’ or Briscott to actually lead me there.  Given the profound weakness consuming my body, they nearly had to carry me.  Before the end of the first hour, I’d convinced myself that Ulys had poisoned me.

Til’ got worried enough to venture back into the barroom for help, while Briscott did what he could to keep me comfortable.  He wetted the washing cloth to drape over my burning forehead and made sure I drank plenty of water to protect me from dehydration.  Otherwise, there was little he could do.

Til’ returned with Isilla close behind.  Her eyes shone with unvoiced laughter, but she was at least kind enough to keep it inside.  She was also kind enough to keep from making any further prurient insinuations.  Maybe it was more from the fact that I threw up on her sandaled feet than kindness. 

Anyway, against all odds, it turned out that Isilla was a sorceress—one with some skill in healing.  According to her, though, the aftereffects of the potion pretty much had to take their own course and would last no more than a few hours . . . a few, agonizing, eternal hours. 

She brought in a small beady-eyed animal, one that was fairly rodent-like with long, flexible spines covering its back.  Holding it in one hand, Isilla had me lay on the bed and pressed her other hand to my forehead.  With a slight warmth coursing through my body, my stomach somewhat settled.  The weakness remained, but as bad as I’d felt before Isilla’s magic, I wouldn’t have dared complain.

Isilla stood from the bed where I lay, stroking her hand across the animal’s spines.  Though her cleavage was still prominently displayed, she didn’t go out of her way to accentuate it as she’d done at the bar.  “Well, I guess I won’t wait up for you,” she laughed.  “You boys sleep well.  Whether you feel better in the morning or not, you will all be out an hour after sunrise.  Got it?”  I weakly nodded my head in response, with Til’ and Briscott voicing their agreement. 

“And you,” she continued, pointing at me, “stay away from any kind of ‘magic’ potions.  There’s a reason people who know anything about magic don’t use them.  Those Ghruzin-blooded aftereffects tend to worsen the more you use them.”

“Ghruzin?” Til’ questioned.  I actually wasn’t familiar with that god myself.  As I’ve said before, there are dozens upon dozens of them.  The human brain can only retain so many.

Isilla only smiled.  “Good night, boys.  If you need my magic again, it won’t be free.”  She turned and left the room, pulling the door shut behind her. 

“Loose stools,” Briscott said when the door shut.  Til’ and I looked over to him in confusion.  “Ghruzin’s the god of loose stools.”  Briscott’s amusement was obvious with the way his eyes sparkled.  Til’ started laughing.  As I lay there feeling like living death, I failed to see the humor. 

“You’re joking, right?” I asked incredulously.  I’d always thought the number and types of gods and goddesses to be ridiculous, but this was just too much.

Briscott laughed again.  “Mostly.  He’s actually the god of diseases.  Supposedly after an epidemic of gastrism a couple hundred years ago, he became known by the other moniker.” 

I rolled my eyes.  I’d already known that there was a god of sickness, so the idea of having a separate god of diseases seemed . . . well, stupid.  From what I knew of gastrism, though, his name was aptly changed. 

“I can’t believe it’s going to be worse next time,” I groaned, pulling the wet cloth on my forehead down over my eyes.  “Max better give me a damn warm welcome when I find him, or I may just leave him there.”  Of course I didn’t mean that, but I was starting to wonder if we could’ve found a better means of access into the Wizard Academy.

“As long as you get Xalis,” Til’ threw in.  “Who knows, maybe Isilla was just messing with you.  Maybe it won’t be so bad next time.”  I only groaned in response.  As much as I’d have loved to believe
Til’s suggestion, I knew it was too much to hope for. 

Briscott stood from his chair.  “Til’, why don’t you go see if they have any leftover bread they’d be willing to part
with.  We need to get something bland in Korin’s stomach to continue to keep his nausea at bay as well as keep his strength up.  Get some more water, too.  If they won’t give it to you,” Briscott flipped a copper coin to Til’, who snatched it from the air, “give them this.” 

“Okay, I’ll be back.  I’m going to see if they have some scrap wood, too, so I can make some woodwork.  I can sell it while Korin’s rescuing Max so I can give you guys some money to start off with when I have to head to the Snowy Waste . . .”  Til’ continued to talk as he left the room and shut the door behind him.  I’m not sure that he actually stopped talking when he was out in the hallway. 

My heart had sunk when Til’ had mentioned his leaving to return Xalis to the dragons in the Snowy Waste.  I’d known for weeks that we’d be parting ways, but it didn’t make the concept any easier to accept.  For years, Max had been my only consistent friend.  Before meeting Til’ and Sal’, I’d forgotten just how it felt to have close friends.  Well, human friends, anyway.  Now that I knew that feeling again, I hated the thought of losing it.  Also, though Til’ intended to find us once Xalis was returned, I couldn’t help but worry about him.  Traveling through the Glacial Mountains would be anything but safe, and he’d be all alone.  And what would the dragons think about him entering their lands? 

The sound of Briscott’s chair dragging across the carpet towards the bed snapped me from my reverie.  I pushed the washing cloth back onto my forehead and opened my eyes to see Briscott taking a seat beside the bed.  He pulled his cloak off the back of the chair and dug through an inner pocket.  As he brought his hand out, now holding a tiny leather pouch, I thought I saw a familiar glass vial drop back into the pocket.

“What was that?” I asked, gesturing to his cloak.

Briscott gave me a startled look and quickly threw his cloak back over the chair.  “This is dried blueleaf,” he explained, ignoring my question.  “I know that Isilla told you the effects of that blighted potion would be gone in a couple hours, but since we have no blighting way of knowing for sure, a pinch of this in your water will help you get some sleep, even if you do continue to feel sick tonight.  Your mind won’t be muddled when you wake up either.”

“That sounds good,” I replied.  My brow wrinkled as a thought occurred to me.  “Where did you get that and the money you just gave Til’?” 

Briscott flushed.  “I’ve kept a little money stashed away in case of emergency,” he replied.  “I know I shouldn’t have kept it secret, but if I’d told you about it, the money would’ve ended up going to blighted Ulys.  I just bought the blueleaf out there.”  He tilted his head towards the door.  “After my little . . . episode, I thought I might need a little something to get myself to sleep tonight.”

I instantly felt bad for questioning him.  My sickness had made me forget about what had happened with him when we’d first entered the room.  “I’m sorry.  After what that potion did to me, I guess I just feel like making sure I have all the information I need from now on.”

Briscott gave a rich chuckle and patted me on the shoulder.  “Think nothing of it.  Loranis willing, Til’s right and you won’t go through this tomorrow.”

“I just hope he wills me to not need any more urgent trips to the privy,” I joked.  I tried to laugh but felt too weak.  If I felt worse the next time I took the potion, I’d only have the duration of the potion to get into the Wizard Academy; find Max, Sal’, and Xalis; and get out.  I was too exhausted to worry about the prospect of taking longer than that.

I looked into Briscott’s eyes.  “In all seriousness, are you okay now?  You kind of worried
Til’ and me when you rushed out.”

Briscott waved a hand in dismissal.  “I’m fine now.  Don’t worry about me.  You’ve got enough to think about.”

Til’s knock sounded from the door.  “I’ve got some bread and water,” he announced.  Briscott stood and let him in.  Til’ walked into the room with half of a loaf of crusty bread in one hand and a full ewer of water in the other.  Under his arms, he carried two short planks of wood and two round table legs that were splintered on one end.  

“They were throwing out an old table that a wizard broke with an errant spell, so I got part of the table top and these legs.  I’ll make sure you have plenty of money to get started on your way to Gualain,” Til’ explained, glowing with pride.  He let the wood clatter to the floor and handed me the bread.  After filling the empty mug with water, he brought that to me as well. 

I situated my pillow so I could sit up against the headboard while nibbling at the bread.  Briscott lifted his pouch with questioning eyes.  I nodded and held out the mug, letting him put in a pinch of the blueleaf.  He took a second pinch and tilted his head back to swallow it without water. 

Briscott held the pouch out to Til’.  “Something to help you sleep?” he offered. 

“None for me, thanks,” Til’ answered as he dug through his satchel.  He brought out a couple of carving tools, eyeing them with disdain as he had with all non-Kolarin carving tools.  He set them down next to the scrap wood.  “I’ll be working on these tonight.”

Briscott tossed the pouch of blueleaf onto the table.  “It’s there if you change your mind.” 

“All right,” I started as I chewed on another nibble of bread, “before this stuff kicks in, I just want to go over what’s going to happen tomorrow.  I’ll be going into the Wizard Academy alone, so I mainly just want some input on the plan.”

Til’ and Briscott nodded.  Til’ came over and sat on the foot of the bed, swinging his legs back and forth over the side.  “For tomorrow, we need to decide on a meeting point. 
How about where we stabled the horses?”  We had stabled the horses only a few streets away from the Wizard Academy.  We’d all agreed that we didn’t feel quite comfortable stabling them in the Black Magic District. 

“That sounds good to me,” Briscott agreed.  Til’ nodded.

“If I don’t meet you back at the stable within two hours of heading to the Wizard Academy, you’ll need to make yourselves scarce.  Hopefully I won’t take more than the hour the potion lasts, but I don’t want to rush this either.  Augril at the stable had a wind-up clock behind the front desk that you can check to keep track of time.  By no means are you allowed to attempt to come in after me.  Got it?”

“But—” Til’ argued.

“By no means,” I repeated.

“But Max and Xalis—”

“By.  No.  Means.  I understand your concern, Til’, but without the potion, how would you even get in?  If I’m caught, we’ll just have to hope that I can convince the Council to release me and then come up with a new plan.  It won’t do any good to have us all locked up.  Okay?” 

Til’ crossed his arms and stuck out his lower lip in indignation, but gave a reluctant nod. 

“He’s right, Til’,” Briscott agreed.  “We’ve been in this town a couple of days and haven’t found anything better than this potion to help us, so if he’s caught, we may have to rely on Korin to get himself out.”  Til’ still looked unhappy about that idea.

“Til’, if I don’t meet back up with you at the stables, I want you to write Sal’ a letter and have it sent to her at the Wizard Academy.  Even if it took the full two weeks to pass through to her, she’d be able to help me if I couldn’t get out on my own.  If it does come to that, you’ll have to come up with a way to let her know I need help without blatantly saying so.  Her eyes wouldn’t be the only ones to see the letter.”  The thought of those ice-blue eyes made me yearn to gaze into them.

I shook the thought from my head and turned to Briscott.  “Briscott, you don’t have to stick around for any of this.  If things go bad tomorrow, you’re more than welcome to move on to Gualain.”

“No, I’m blighting sticking with you.  Once we have your wizard friends on our side, we can do a lot more damage against Gal . . .
”  Briscott trailed off, not wanting to mention my father’s name.  I tried not to let the painful stab to my heart show on my face.  “Against those blighted undead,” he amended.  “Going alone would just be suicide.  Going with you may be as well, but at least I’d be with friends.”

“I don’t like any of this,” Til’ chimed in indignantly.  “How can we just let you stay in there if they catch you?”

“Til’,” I said through a yawn.  The blueleaf was already hitting me.  “We don’t have a lot of options right now.  Hopefully I’ll get in and have Max, Xalis, and Sal’ before the potion even wears off.”  I didn’t want to think about what would happen otherwise.  “Like I said, just send Sal’ a letter if I don’t make it.  That’s all you could do without risking your own safety.”

Til’s eyes were wet as he turned them away from me.  I knew he was worried about me, but there was little else we could do.  With the Wizard Council not seeing petitioners and letters taking two weeks to reach important wizards, we were sorely limited on options.  I wasn’t going to leave Max to the laboratory wizards any longer than I had to.