13. Ten

Ten

A sher's eyes snapped to the door as it squealed open, and he tried to push himself up into a seated position. His eyes squinted against the torchlight and relief washed over him as Lily entered the cell. He lay back down on his stomach.

"Good morning!" she greeted, clearly more comfortable than the previous night. "I'm sorry it's taken so long to get down to you. I had to make some stronger healing potions for your shoulder, and it was a...little...difficult." Her gaze froze on him and the basket in her hand trembled. She had stopped only one step away. "What...what happened?" she whispered, her voice strained. She spun to face Takai. "What happened?"

The human soldier hesitated. "The king and Wester . . . well . . ."

"They tortured me," Asher finished.

Lily looked down at him with pity. "Wester said I would need more bandages, but he didn't say why," she said to herself, clearly disturbed at the marks the whip had left behind. She knelt in front of him. Her brown hair was braided back this time, but it was frizzy like she'd slept in it or been working all day. "I'm so sorry they did this to you. They believe they are justified."

"Oh?" he scoffed, but even making that sound sent a burn through his ribs. "And why do they believe that?" He tried not to sound overly sarcastic.

"I just learned last night that your sorceress refused to help them during the blood plague. The queen died and Prince Liam lost his leg. I'm going to have to clean out some of these. They've opened your skin."

He tried to look over his shoulder to see himself, but couldn't see much. He rested his cheek on the cold stone floor.

Lily's fingers tenderly touched his back, and then she began to use a warm rag to begin cleaning out some of the wounds.

"My father was there at the meeting. Rose tried to help the other kingdoms, but they didn't like that she pointed out they were trying to use dark magic. When the elves and humans attacked, Rose sacrificed her own life to protect our land."

Lily's movements stopped.

He looked up at her.

"That's not what they believe," she explained. "They explained Merete was the one who sacrificed herself."

He shook his head. "That's not true."

"It doesn't surprise me there are two different accounts," Takai mentioned.

Asher glanced at the soldier, who was leaning against the wall, watching the two of them. "Which do you believe?"

"I will tell you one thing I believe. I believe torturing you is wrong."

"Oh! I meant to tell you that I learned last night your father is still alive!" Lily announced with excitement. "His mention of torture made me think of last night, and...yeah." She blushed. "He's alive."

Asher couldn't resist a little smile. She had been so excited. She had no idea he'd seen his father just a little while ago, or that his father had been forced to watch the humans beat him. "Thank you for telling me," he said.

She started unwrapping the bandages. "I have a feeling your shoulder may be worse than it was yesterday. And I was right." She heaved a sigh and shook her head. "I hope this new potion helps."

Asher let out a slow breath and drew in another. His shoulder was on fire. He wasn't in the mood to talk, but Lily had been kind to him so far, and it was much better than being alone. "What makes this potion special? How is it different?" he asked.

Her green eyes filled with light and she smiled as she started wiping the blood off around his shoulder. "I had to use more powerful herbs. Making potions is special because we have to use different kinds of plants, but when you mix them together, you have to use magic to make them really powerful. Otherwise, the herbalists would be here helping you instead of me. The first time few times I tried making a healing potion, I ended up making an acidic one, a love potion, and one that exploded and cut Wester's hand." She grimaced. "I've learned to be a lot more careful since then."

"The only magic thing I've ever done is transforming."

"Can I ask...what animal do you turn into?" Her excitement reminded him of Bashton, and it twinged his heart.

"A white tiger," he said.

She blinked. "What is that?"

"A tiger with white instead of orange. Do you know tigers?"

She shook her head slowly. "They aren't native to our area. Are they?"

Asher hadn't ever thought of that before. They had such a variety of animals in his kingdom, it had never occurred to him whether or not their animals were native to other kingdoms. "Do you have cats here?"

Lily nodded.

"It's like an orange striped cat, but really big. Almost as big as a horse."

Her eyes widened. "That sounds amazing! Will I get to see you turn into it?"

Asher held up his wrists just enough to make them rattle. "Takai told me the iron prevents me from shifting. I haven't been able to since being here."

Lily turned to Takai.

"I don't understand it, so don't ask me," the soldier answered. "They could be enchanted."

Lily pulled out a vial of deep-pink liquid, almost magenta. "This is the stronger potion. If I pour the stronger medicine directly into your wound, the rest of your infection should go away quickly. It might even help you heal faster. I could try and heal your back." She uncorked the bottle. "Did the potion last night hurt at all?"

He shook his head. "It felt sort of...prickly? But it didn't hurt."

She rested her hand on his arm. "With how strong I made this, it could potentially hurt. I hope not, but I thought I should warn you."

"Get on with it, then." He closed his eyes and braced himself.

As soon as the liquid made contact with his wound, it made a hissing noise, and pain burned from the edge all the way deep inside, burning and growing in pain. "Mm."

"Are you okay?" she asked gently. Lily brushed his hair from his face. "Does it hurt?"

"Sort of." He opened his eyes. "That feeling like...when you get a sunburn and it hurts when you touch it. It's fading, but...still there." He lifted his head to look at the wound. A pinkish-yellow color bubbled at the surface of the wound.

Lily took a cloth and pressed against it to clean it. But as soon as she put pressure on the wound, it exploded in pain and Asher grunted, slamming his eyes shut once more.

"I'm so sorry!" Lily gasped and started to jerk her hands away, but he put his hand over hers.

"Don't," he said through clenched teeth. "Just give me a moment."

She waited and when his hand relaxed, she lifted the rag.

Asher looked at it again and was shocked it had almost completely healed. There was a large scab now with rough edges, but no sign of infection, and the angry red around the wound was gone.

"Thank you," he said softly and looked up at the girl.

She smiled down at him. "I'm really sorry we had to meet this way. It would have been nice to have met you in your kingdom."

"I can't wait to go home," he confessed.

Lily put her things away, then tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear. "Let me see if I can heal your back more." She hovered her hands over his back and closed her eyes.

He watched her over his shoulder. A red light filled the cell and he felt his back burn where the whip had struck him, and each of the wounds began to heal.

She sat back on her ankles and blinked a few times. "How does that feel?"

He took a slow breath and was relieved his back didn't hurt like it had. "Thank you," he said.

"What is it like having parents?" She bit her lip. "I know I probably shouldn't ask, it's just...I can't stop thinking about it. The closest thing I have to a parent is Wester, but he only took me on because my parents died of the blood plague, and with my magical abilities, I was an outcast among the people in my town."

The emotion of his mother's death was still raw. She couldn't possibly understand how it felt to talk so close to the death of a family member.

Takai cleared his throat. "Asher's tired. I think you should leave him the food and water and let him get some rest. Wester is having him taken up to the tower later."

Lily nodded immediately and got back up on her knees to get out the food she had brought down. "I wanted to make sure you ate real food." There was a small jar of fruit, bread, butter, cured meat, skins of water, and even a small pie.

Asher stared at it all. "Did your wizard tell you to give this all to me?"

"Of course not." She smiled and stood, then dusted the legs of her robes where she had been kneeling.

Asher pushed himself slowly into a seated position and leaned his back against the wall. "Thank you."

Takai pushed the cell door open. "Give me a moment with him."

"You're not going to hurt him, right?" she asked.

"Of course not. I only need to tell him something."

Lily glanced at Asher, then back at the soldier before she nodded and stepped out into the hallway.

Takai cleared his throat softly and walked over. "I spoke with Prince Liam about trying to get you out of here."

Asher looked up at the stranger and frowned. "Why are you trying to convince the prince?"

"He isn't like his father. And if he lets you go, it's a better relationship between the kingdoms." Takai shrugged. "I'm just trying to do something to help."

"Look, I'm not lying when I say no one in our kingdom knows the location of the tree. We aren't hiding it," he said.

"I feared as much." Takai rubbed the back of his neck. "That doesn't change the fact you shouldn't be here and really shouldn't be tortured."

Asher snorted. "Yeah, well, you aren't stopping them, are you?"

"I'm trying," he emphasized.

Asher nodded. "Sure. If you can't get me out, just get my father out of here. He's the king and should be with our people."

Takai nodded. "I'm going to get you both out. Just hold on a little while longer."