When her friend began to protest, the queen interrupted. ‘Please, Sister, I need to get away from this place for a few hours or I truly will go mad.’

‘Are you issuing a royal order, my Queen?’ Maarika looked back at her with a blank expression for a moment before the spell broke and a broad smile lit up the blonde shield maiden’s face.

‘Yes, if that’s what it takes, I am ordering you.’

‘Then I have no choice but to obey. The queen might want to think about changing her clothes, though. That fine coat might get caught up in one of the boars’ tusks!’

Astrid was already on her feet. ‘Give me an hour. I will see Erik, then meet you at the Four Mounds by the edge of the Western Woods.’

Faun Forest

10

It took Fleya two days to recover from the attack; it would have been longer were it not for the healing potions Lann prepared for her, using the very skills she’d taught him.

It was odd being able to see, rather than merely smell and touch, the herbs he collected. Everything he knew about herblore and medicines had been learned in the darkness of the period he’d been blind, when he’d had to rely on his other senses to identify the oils, salves and lotions his aunt kept on the shelves. Oddly, he found his restored vision was more of a hindrance than a help when it came to the task. A red-knot mushroom looked almost identical to the blastcap toadstool, and his aunt had already taught him how they often grew next to each other. One was used as a means of quickly bringing down a fever; the other was deadly if ingested, killing in a matter of hours. When he came across a group of almost identical-looking fungi growing beneath an old log at the back of the house, he’d been forced to close his eyes and smell them. Like that, it had been easy to separate the red-knot from the blastcap.

He made a poultice that he applied to Fleya’s neck and throat, both of which were a livid purple colour where the creature had held her in its deadly embrace. Having done this, he bade her drink a strong tonic that would help her to sleep and heal.

At the end of the second day, she was shushing his orders to stay in bed, insisting she was strong enough to get up. He built up the fire so the heat from it poured into the room and they sat in their old familiar positions, Fleya sipping on grudnflower chae while he read to her from a book. The irony of the situation was lost on neither of them.