Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 119158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 596(@200wpm)___ 477(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
As we entered town, Nylian stopped the horse near a small group of women. “Can you direct me to the town’s healer?” The three women stared wide eyed at him, not saying a word. “My friend has fallen ill. Please,” he added. Their eyes darted to me for a second. It didn’t help that I answered their looks with a wide grin and a wave of one hand. They probably thought I was addled in the brain, but it got one of them talking.
“Take a left on the next street. Blue building on the right,” a woman with steely gray hair replied.
“And an inn?”
“Same street.”
“Thank you,” Nylian murmured and gave the horse a nudge with his heels.
The moment we were out of earshot, I whispered, “They were totally dumbstruck by your beauty.”
“More likely, they were shocked to find themselves face-to-face with an elf.”
“Really?”
A derisive noise roughed up the back of Nylian’s throat. “Your memory is faulty. It seems you’ve forgotten that Misty Pass is within the borders of Edros—a human kingdom. Elves don’t frequently move through Edros towns.”
Shit. He was right. Edros had a long history of hostility toward the elves of Wolfrest, as the two kingdoms fought regularly over the location of the border. Once we settled at the inn, I’d need to see about getting my hands on some paper and ink to make some cheat notes for my own world. I didn’t even have my damn phone to save a few thoughts in. My brain was so scattered and overwhelmed by everything I was seeing, I was forgetting the history and rules I’d set up.
“Maybe,” I hedged as Nylian directed the horse to the left. “I still think your golden good looks struck them silly.”
“I’m losing hope that the healer will be able to do anything to help you. Not only have you lost your memory, but it’s clear you’re also insane.”
“Whatever. Just get me off this horse,” I muttered. I didn’t know how long we’d been riding. However, I was sure that it was long enough to make the muscles in my thighs ache as soon as I was on my feet.
Thankfully, it wasn’t difficult to locate the doctor’s building. Blue didn’t begin to describe it. It was a bright robin’s-egg-blue with boxes on every window ledge overflowing with different plants. Not the typical window-box flowers, but things that probably went into the healer’s poultices and tinctures. Signs also covered the two-story building, offering a variety of services.
Balance the humors and get a good night’s sleep!
Drain the pus and save the leg!
Buy two demon exorcisms and get the third one free!
I was going to die a second time.
“You know,” I started as Nylian dismounted the horse behind me while my fingers tightened on the saddle horn. “Maybe my memory will come back on its own. It could be bad for the healer to go poking around.”
“This is for your own good.” The elf grabbed my arm and pulled, breaking my hold on the saddle and sending me sliding off into his arms. A strangled yelp escaped me as I landed on him and stumbled a few times before my feet settled enough to support me.
While it was tempting to dig in my heels and force Nylian to drag me inside the building that was emanating a strange and pungent odor, I clung to the last shreds of my dignity and walked in under my own power. The interior did not help to instill in me any new faith.
The first floor was mostly one large room overflowing with battered books and dusty yellow scrolls. Plants of all kinds hung from the ceiling, drying out to be used later for whatever concoctions were needed. The smell that I’d caught a whiff of was even stronger now. A mix of spicy, rancid, pulpy, and rich in bodily fluids. My stomach turned, but the smell was forgotten as something small and furry scurried among the flotsam covering the floor, darting into the deeper shadows. I told myself it was a cat.
I didn’t believe the bullshit I was shoveling.
“Hello! Is anyone here?” Nylian called out.
I seized his forearm, preparing to drag him outside. “Nope. No one—”
“Coming! Coming!” An older woman’s scratchy voice rang out in a singsong tone. A couple of seconds later, a white-haired woman appeared in a baggy brown dress that hung on her thin bones. She smiled a mouthful of crooked yellow teeth at us and clapped her hands together. This person looked more like an animated corpse than a living, breathing creature. “What seems to be the trouble?”
Nylian pulled his arm free from my grasp and placed his hand on my shoulder before shoving me a few stumbling steps forward. “I found this man in Trengrave Woods. He’s lost his memory. Can you help him?”
“Oh, you poor lost lamb. Let old Mother Thistle help you.” The soon-to-be corpse took one of my hands in both of hers, leading me over to a chair stacked with books and heavily sprinkled with what looked to be to be cat hair.