Where did she get the dagger from? Ileus was furious and shocked. The pommel of the dagger was encrusted with gemstones. How did she manage to hide it for so long?

Ileus growled back… fiercely. “Move from there,” he said through clenched jaws. “Else I won’t be responsible for what I do to you!” 

“You move away from here!” She shouted. “Don’t even think of coming near her.” She swayed the dagger in her direction and the blade shone. 

Everyone closed in towards her. She turned a circle showing her dagger to all. She said in a guttural voice, “This is my dagger. I am trained to protect m’lady. If you as much as touch her, I will kill all of you!” She swayed the dagger in the air repeatedly. 

“Trained to protect her?” Ileus grumbled. “How come I never saw you in that mode at Vilinski?” His lips curled behind showing his sharp fangs that had lengthened a little. A rumble formed in his chest, which was slowly turning into a ferocious growl. 

“You don’t know anything, vokudlak! So stay away before I kill you with it!” she snarled. She lunged herself at him with her dagger, but before Nyles could even touch him, Ileus went all feral and charged at her with such wildness that she was taken aback. She struck him with her dagger in the scuffle managing to slash his arm. Blood oozed out. The men around him growled and the group pounced on her. Nyles was pinned to the ground in seconds. 

Guarhal kicked her in the belly. Nyles screamed as she spat blood from her mouth. 

“You will all pay for this,” Nyles yelled as Aidan pinned her head to the ground. Tadgh got a rope to tie her hands. 

She laughed. “I will get out of it in a second. You can’t do a thing to me!” She struggled under Aidan’s grasp. 

Irritated as hell, Aidan slapped her fiercely. She felt an acute stinging sensation on her cheek. The impact was so harsh that black stars marred her vision. After that… only darkness… She fell down on the floor, unconscious.

“Now try to get out of that!” Aidan hissed. His expressions were that of extreme aggression. He dragged her away with hand on the floor. He wanted to kick her again but was stopped by Zlu. 

Meanwhile, Ileus used the water that Carrick had fetched from the stream and crushed the herbs in it to make a coarse paste. Kaizan had wiped the pink froth around her lips with his sleeve. Ileus opened her mouth and put the paste in. He made her drink water over it so that she would swallow, but she couldn’t. Water trickled out of her mouth along with the paste and her chin and sweater got stained with it.

“Anastasia!” He called her. Restlessness surged through him heightening the panic and fear. Without giving it a thought, he put more paste in her mouth, drank water and then pressed his mouth over hers to push the water in her, to push the medicine down her throat. He wrapped his fingers around her neck and with his thumb eased the muscles to let the medicine go down. 

When he pulled away, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve. His lips quivered with anticipation as he stared at her. Her face was pale. He placed a hand over her cheek and grazed it with his thumb. “Anastasia…” he said in a low voice. Her skin was so cold that the feeling made his knees become wobbly. His heart plummeted and he hoped that the medicine would help her… fast. He had made an extremely potent one using an herb he had got from the Far East. 

Kaizan lifted her in his arms. “I hope she becomes fine soon,” he muttered under his breath. There was a thin sheet of sweat on his brows. He walked her to the place where Carrick had already cleared a place and had spread a few bedrolls. With Ileus on the heels, he reached the first one and lowered her gently on it. 

Immediately, Ileus knelt down beside her. He bent over her to unbutton her cloak and pulled it out. Then his hand went to her forehead where he stroked her briefly out of concern. Quickly, he covered her with thick furs. He sat down and massaged her hands and feet for the next fifteen minutes. But the girls continued to stay in that condition and his trepidation increased. 

“What do I do?” he said in a gravelly voice. 

Kaizan put his hand on his shoulder and said, “I am there. Go and freshen up. You look like shit.” 

He didn’t look like shit, he felt like it. Ileus tucked Anastasia beneath the furs and then walked to cater to his personal needs. When he was back, he found that Tadgh had started a fire to warm the food. He had caught birds from Sgiath Biò and now they were on the skewers over the fire. 

Darla was helping Tadgh to tie Nyles across a column in the tunnel on the right side of the bedrolls. She threw a blanket over her and turned to help Carrick.

Ileus walked back to Anastasia to check upon her. “Wake up…” he murmured as he saw her pale face. 

Kaizan brought food for him in a trencher along with clean bandages. He cleaned the wound on his arm and tied fresh bandages after applying healing lotion. He said, “How the hell did her dagger go unnoticed?” 

“That is a mystery to me too,” said Ileus. “She was sitting with Darla and Zlu but neither of them could feel it on her?” He picked up the dagger that Aidan gave to him. It was beautiful with two big red rubies on either side of the handle. Numerous gems were encrusted around the rubies, but all were crafted in a way that they didn’t hinder with the grasp.

“Well we didn’t even check upon her personal belongings, so it could have gone unnoticed,” Kaizan shrugged. “Also the fact that she is a Fae and can use her magic…”

“I don’t think so!” Ileus snapped. “Everyone’s abilities are limited in Sgiath Biò, except… Anastasia’s.” Ileus’s gaze flung to Nyles when he saw that she stirred. At least she was securely tied. “But I have rarely seen her using her magic.”

Kaizan took a bite of the warm meat. He sighed and changed the topic, “We should start early in the morning tomorrow. Óraid is a three days journey from here. With our limited abilities, we have traversed so far safely, and this is quite a feat.” 

Guarhal came next to them. “I agree with Kaizan. We must start as early as possible.” 

Ileus nodded. His gaze went to Anastasia. “I hope she becomes better,” Ileus said, once again his voice was gloomy. 

“Have some faith in yourself, Ileus!” Kaizan said. “You had excelled in the potions class at the wizard academy and you have never failed.” 

Ileus took a deep breath. “I have never cured a Fae.” He stared at her face. She was so beautiful. He hadn’t realized that he had stopped breathing when he said, “How could she be poisoned?” A frown formed on his face out of confusion.