"Fro right to wrong, fro trouthe to fikelnesse,

That al is lost, for lak of stedfastnesse..."

- Geoffrey Chaucer, "Lak of Stedfastnesse"

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Soundtrack of the chapter: Spikeroog from The Witcher III

Media: Beautiful blend by Khan

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Chapter Eighteen: Miracles

Eli's head lolled in Cady's arms, his eyelids fluttering. She hugged him tight, as if she could shield him from his anguish.

She tried to remember what happened back then, before all hell broke loose. Thomas was about to toast to Raphine's health when the goblet dropped from his hands. He had contorted before her, twitching so madly that he seemed possessed. She had wanted to call for help, but then the door blew open and chaos descended.

Raphine's Sanguinis' speech about the Walkers had struck a chord of anger within her, igniting that spark of hate toward the leader of Oracles. But now was not the time for resentment. She must get Eli to the Healers as fast as possible.

Something cold touched her bare ankles. She had ripped off her heels when she was fleeing. Cady hissed and leapt up before the liquid from the twisted plant could come in more contact.

Cady inhaled, calming down her erratic heartbeat. Drawing from Zoroth's energy, she threw Eli's arm across her shoulders and started dragging him toward the Healing chambers.

Something silver emerged darkness. Cady blinked. The only source of light left was the sporadic flash of lightning coming from the skies. Darkness wasn't much of a trouble to Cady, she could see well in the black.

"Jo? Is that you?"

"Yeah, I noticed you weren't with the others and thought you might be in some trouble, so I got back."

Cady's knees buckled. Her hand shot out and grabbed the wall for support.

"Help me get him to the Healers, he needs help."

"Of course, Captain Obvious." Jo immediately went over to Eli's left side and supported him. Cady felt the relief was half of the burden was lifted off her shoulders.

"Did you see what happened to Thomas?" Jo panted as they went down the stairs with caution. Eli wasn't helping in the slightest, apart from sagging and mumbling nonsense. "I think he was possessed."

Cady nodded, dodging a group of Oracles running the opposite way. "Whatever it was, it isn't Thomas speaking. He would never betray the Hall of Spirits."

"And the Mandrake, who would place such a thing in the Hall?" Jo continued. "It is-" She broke off with an ear-throbbing scream and collapsed to the floor. Cady grunted as Eli slid from her shoulders, all of them ending up in a tangle of limbs.

"Stay away from me!"

Jo's screams were as feral as Raphine's. She scrabbled away from Cady, her eyes filled with terror. She stared at the window and froze. Jo raised a shaking finger and pointed at something invisible. Thunder crashed and Jo's shrieks were lost. She leapt to her feet and ran down the corridor with her hands held over her ears.

"Leave me alone! Don't touch me! Daddy, help!"

"Jo!" Cady shouted after her friend, but she had disappeared into a corner, blending in with the shadows.

Eli's eyes sprang open and Cady screamed. All the white in his eyes are gone, replaced by a shiny, obsidian black. His jaws started working furiously, clamping up and relaxing at top speed. Raspy noises came out from his throat and he vomited a clear, foul smelling liquid on Cady's dress.

He suddenly sprung to his feet and grabbed Cady by the neck. She gasped and closed her fingers around his hands, trying to pull them off. But his grip was vice tight.

A snarl ripped from his lips. "They're coming to attack us!"

Cady cried out. "Zoroth!"

Her Consort was out in a spilt second, pushing Eli off her. Eli kicked and fought against Zoroth's strong arms that kept him from leaping forward and strangling her. When the moment of seizure was over, he fainted again.

"We need to get him to the Healers," she rasped, shaking away the spots dancing before her eyes.

"But they'll see us!"

"He's going to die!" Cady screamed. "I don't care anymore, this place is crazy!"

Without another word, Zoroth swept down the corridor and headed toward the Healer chambers. Cady followed him, still trying to get rid of the uneasy feeling gnawing in her heart.

He raised his foot and kicked the door open. The great panels swung inward and collided with the walls.

Cady's hands flew to mouth and she felt her heart almost skid into a halt.

All the Healers in the room were dead. Black finger-like threads stretched from their mouths and crawled all over their skins. No one appeared to be wounded, for there wasn't a single drop of blood anywhere. Their eyes were wide open and glassy, as if they had died from...fear.

She ran to the nearest basin and retched. Hot tears slithered down her face and she sobbed.

"Zoroth, what are we supposed to do now?"

Zoroth stood by the window, his eyes downcast.

"Jasper, he is our only hope now."

With a furious swipe, she brushed the tears from her eyes. Of course, Jasper was a Physician; perhaps he could do something about this.

"Let's go."

Zoroth swept Cady into his other arm. With a grunt, he leapt from the window and his wings unfurled, blending into the blackness of the night sky. Cady reached out and caressed Eli's face. It was stone cold.

"You will not die, Eli. I will make sure you won't. I promise."

Eli murmured something against Zoroth's chest.

Cady looked down and spotted Jasper's hut among the trees. Soft light poured out from the windows and she felt herself sag with relief. Jasper was home.

The moment Zoroth landed, she dashed to house and hammered on the door.

"Jasper! Open up!"

A very sleepy Jasper answered the door. Patched sleeping robes hung from this thin frame and his dark hair was stuck out in odd angles. He scratched his head.

"What in Trael's beard are you breaking down my door at such an ungodly hour?" he said groggily. "I need my beauty sleep."

Cady grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "This isn't the time for jokes, Jasper! We need your help, now!"

The urgency in Cady's voice made him jerk upright. "Calm down, Cady. Now tell what happened, slowly. Is this a wardrobe crisis?"

She threw up her hands in frustration. "Eli is dying! And the entire Hall of Spirits is on the brink of collapsing!"

Eli moaned from the grass. Jasper pushed Cady aside and darted to Eli's side. He prodded the black liquid on his ankle with a blade of grass and crinkled his forehead.

"Stars Alive, how the hell did he get himself poisoned by a Mandrake?" he exclaimed, flinging the grass away into the river. There was a sizzling sound when the grass came in contact with the water. A slight ripple appeared on the river surface before the grass crumbled into black ashes and sunk to the bottom of the rushing waters.

Jasper directed his arm at his hut.

"Zoroth, get him in, and quickly!"

As quick as lightning, Zoroth scooped Eli up in his arms and made a dash for the dining room. Jasper swept everything on the table aside, sending books toppling onto the floor and glass vials shattering.

"Lay him here," he instructed, rolling up his sleeves. "And get me more candles, Cady."

She strode across the cramped room and unhinged the iron lamp hanging from the fireplace. "Where are the candles?" she asked, fumbling about the mantelpiece.

Jasper gestured wildly at the corner next to the kitchen. "In that trunk over there."

Cady wrestled the rusty locks out of place and threw the lid open. It was too dark to see much. She groped around the contents in search of candles. After much squinting and shoving, her fingers closed around several waxy objects, smooth and cold to the touch.

She held them out triumphantly. "I got them!"

"Hurry! Bring them over and light them!" Jasper's chastised her. "We don't have any time to waste!"

Cady bit her lip. The flint slipped out of her shaking hands multiple times, much to Jasper's exasperation. She finally managed to struck a spark and light the first candle. The moment the flame spluttered to life, Cady was thrown aback by Eli's gaunt and skeletal face.

His hair, once sunshine golden and wavy was plastered to his sweaty brow. Dark shadows carved out his eyes while blackness ate their way through his veins, protruding from the soft skin and pulsating like a heart. A milky white substance oozed from his eyes, which rolled back into his skull.

"This is not good," Jasper muttered. With a deft flick of his hand, he sliced Eli's robes open, exposing his cursed leg. He grimaced at the smell of rotting flesh emanating from the wounds.

"Zoroth, pass me the sachet by your side."

He tossed Jasper the sachet who tore it open at once, sprinkling the whitish powder over the shifting mess of flesh.

The moment the powder landed on Eli's leg, he screamed. His cries of pain shook the hut, rattling the planks from the nails. He trashed about, foaming at the mouth. He knocked the pouch out of Jasper hands which exploded into a scatter of dust.

"Seize him!" Jasper shouted an order to the both of them. "He is now a danger to himself!"

Cady caught him by the arms and forced him down, relentless to his screams for mercy. Zoroth held down his other leg whilst Jasper pulled out a thick rope from a sack. Within a few minutes, he had secured Eli to the table. No matter how hard he struggled and spat, the ropes wouldn't budge.

Jasper poured the remaining powder on his leg. Eli screamed again, but this time it held less power. He slumped back in defeat, his breathing labored. Cady ran her hand through Eli's hair, trying to comfort him, to assure him that he was not alone. But Eli didn't even seem to notice her presence.

Eli moaned again when Jasper placed both of his hands over his wounds. Cady winced when a wet squelch emitted upon contact. He didn't seem to mind the disgusting flesh writing under his palms. Jasper took a deep breath and started chanting.

Cady didn't understand whatever words tumbling out of his mouth. Vowels tumbled across consonants, and it elevated into different pitch and rhythms. Zoroth watched him with his mouth hanging open, his wings limp at the sides. It fell and rose like a tidal wave, sweeping away pain and poison. Where a disaster wipes, it always left behind emptiness. Jasper's song was no different.

He sang the praises of the old Starlets, and hymns of the ancient ones. With every word that fell from his lips, a rune hovered behind it. A warm glow started to seep out from his palms, wrapping itself around the boiling skin. The runes hovered around them, each on brighter than the last.

Jasper opened his eyes. They shone silver, exactly like the molten eyes of the Stars.

The song ended with a low timbre, the runes pirouetting into a dense ball of light where Jasper guided it to the skin and pressed it against the cursed wounds. The runes scattered and flattened out, knitting into the bloodied flesh to form new, healthy ones. When the final rune was in place, Jasper withdrew his dirtied hands and blew the hair out of his face.

"He will need a lot of rest," said Jasper, his voice soft. "It was lucky you got him here fast. I cannot imagine what would've happened if you were a few minutes late. It's a wonder he had held out with this curse for so long."

Jasper nodded at Cady. "You were right about the poison. It is lethal Decanate saliva. Its spread is inevitable without proper medication."

"You saved him," she said, eyeing the raw but smooth flesh.

"I've only stopped it temporarily," he sighed. "It would take ages to force the poison out of him. Not impossible, but complicated."

He nodded at the blankets at on his bed. Zoroth caught what he wanted and promptly passed him the patched linen. He unfurled the blankets and covered Eli up with them, except for his leg which poked out from beneath the layers.

"Jasper," said Cady. He looked up, his eyes inquiring.

"It isn't just him. Someone hung a large ugly root before the Hall and tried to assassinate the High Priest. All the Healers...they're dead. The Hall is in a mess. We need you."

Jasper's tightened his hands on the table, his knuckles turning white upon the force he squeezed the wood with.

She caught his hand. His eyes widened, the shock jolting through him as though struck by lightning.

Jo needed him, Thomas needed him. Oh, Thomas... The scene where Thomas suddenly went rigid, his face as blank as a sheet of paper with white mist pouring out of his mouth made her heart felt arrested. Raphine Sanguinis needed him and she needed him, more than she could ever explain.

He was there since she had fainted from her failed attempts to impersonate an Oracle, stopped Zoroth from taking a rash decision to end his own life. He had taught her so much that the Hall of Spirits would never have. And he healed Eli, even when he was a freelance Physician. The force of sudden understanding was overwhelming. Apart from Josh and Zoroth, she realized that Jasper was the third person she could confide in without costing her life.

She gave his hand another pleading tug.

Jasper threw his head backward and took in a deep breath. "An ugly root you say?"

"A mandrake," Zoroth threw in. "Things aren't pretty, Silverbird."

"If it is a mandrake, it will be more than 'not pretty'. You people really do know how to get into trouble." Jasper hurried over to his stock cabinet and started ramming herbs, jars, some smudge sticks, candles and a slanted athame into a large pouch.

"Let's get going." He swung the bag over his shoulders. The force of the swing hit Cady in the hip. She winced, but didn't lash out.

As Zoroth waded out of the mess on the floor, Jasper suddenly poked him in the chest.

"You, winged man. Stay behind and guard Eli. He won't wake up for a good few hours, so you don't have to worry about him discovering about you."

"B-But," Zoroth spluttered. "Cady."

Jasper patted his chest. "She's got me."

"But how in Valador's name are you going to get up the windows without me?"

Zoroth now looked like a very sulky child denied a chance of going to the park. His brows are furrowed and his lips pulled down into an upside-down 'U'. Cady gave her Consort a hug.

"Don't worry, Zoroth. I got this."

He suddenly leaped forward and grabbed Jasper by his shirt. "Listen here, Oracle. If I so much as find a scratch on Cady, it'll be on your head."

Jasper shoved him off. "Hey, what's your problem? I'm going to help your Ascendant. Please get that fact through that thick Decanate skull of yours."

Cady slapped Zoroth mentally to prevent him from wasting any more precious time. With every slipping second, another life might be lost.

Zoroth sat down hard on a stood and crossed his arms.

Jasper waved at Cady, follow me. He cut easily though the woods, shifting like water wherever the deadly branches snaked out to trip him. Cady, however, suffered bruises from constant stumbling and floundering among the trees. Annoyed, she wove a shield of shadows around her, hence saving her from being ripped to shreds by the wooden army.

When the Hall of Spirits came to sight, she dropped the shadows where it receded back into the woods. The smoky darkness cloaking her eyes faded. She froze as she registered the sight before her.

The majestic gates were open where bodies piled up before it. More bodies sprawled all over the lawns, as if someone had scattered seeds on a plantation. The usual warm lights dancing from the windows were dim, swallowed by pitch blackness. Her hands flew to her mouth, muffling the choked gasp.

Jasper shook his head and adjusted the straps on his shoulders.

"This is really going to suck."

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A/N

Jasper has finally agreed to help Eli and also, the entire Hall! And it seems that Eli's curse had taken a horrible turn. D:

To answer most of your questions in the last chapter, Thomas Soleil is actually Cady's friend since THoG, it's just been some time and you guys forgot about him. He was the one Josh trusted to take care of Cady ( refer to chapter one). XD 

Oh, and I have finished writing THoS! It has 41 chapters and one epilogue. I was sitting before the screen at 2 am and wondering what should I do with my life now that THoS is completed. I will announce whatever I will be doing ( sequel or no ) at the end of the story. ;)

Raisin buns,

Stef