The Sea Devil's Eye - Mel Odom [126]
It wasn't there. Still, the powers granted by her love and devotion to Sekolah worked. When a priestess truly lost her faith, those went away as well. How was it then, she wondered, that she could doubt so much yet still retain them?
She had no answers and nowhere to turn. So she swam, heading to Voalidru because there was nowhere else to go.
* * * * *
"Lady, I do hope that Glawinn was right and that you can hear me,* Jherek whispered.
He took a fresh compress from the water pitcher by Sabyna's bed and placed it across her fevered brow. Even the paladin's daily attempts to heal her and Arthoris's attentions with his waning supply of healing potions didn't stave off the infections that wracked her body. She enjoyed a brief respite from the fevers, but the bite marks deepened, turning black around the edges, drawing in the flesh around them as they consumed her. Both of the wounds were the size of one of his hands now. It had been seven days and still she had not regained consciousness.
Azla had ordered Azure Dagger to sail north but they lingered still around the Whamite Isles. At present the nearby seas were filled with drowned ones, morkoth, koalinth, and sahuagin. Once they'd even been turned back by a merman patrol claiming the waters as something called "Eadraal's."
The young sailor ministered to Sabyna with care. Tears filled his eyes as he listened to her harsh breathing and his hands shook as he touched her hot flesh. Over the days he'd cared for her, he'd found he talked incessantly. He'd told her of his life aboard Bunyip and in Velen, of Madame Iitaar and Malorrie, and of the mysterious voice that had led him this far by speaking the cryptic, Live, that you may serve. And he'd talked of her; what she'd shown him, what she'd come to mean to him.
In the quiet moments of the long nights when he'd sat by her bed working to keep her fever down, he couldn't help recalling how her face had looked before the drowned one had grabbed her and dragged her into the sea. Had she been about to forgive him, or about to condemn him? He didn't know and the waiting was unbearable-only second to knowing whether she would ever awaken.
"I love you, lady," Jherek whispered.
He told her that several times a day, hoping that she might seize onto it and return to them. That was the declaration she'd challenged him for, but he felt it wasn't enough to truly turn her from the dark path she walked into the shadowlands. Still, he told her because she'd asked and because he did love her and wanted her to know even if she was taken from him.
A knock sounded at the door, then Glawinn's voice said, "Young warrior."
Jherek brushed his eyes free of tears and cleared his throat. "Aye."
"May I enter?"
"Aye."
Glawinn entered the room carrying a plate of food. He didn't ask if she'd awakened, and Jherek was grateful for that. If Sabyna opened her eyes, the young sailor didn't doubt that everyone on the ship would know.
"I brought you something to eat," the paladin said.
"I'm not hungry."
Glawinn put the plate on the chest of drawers against the wall and asked, "When was your last meal?"
"Not long ago," Jherek answered, applying a fresh compress to Sabyna's fevered forehead.
"Not long for a camel, perhaps," Glawinn replied. "I know you've not eaten in two days. It will do no good for you to get sick as well."
"I won't get sick. I haven't so far."
"When was the last time you slept?"
Jherek looked at the man's eyes and said, al don't remember."
"This isn't healthy. Others can care for her."
"I know," the young sailor whispered, "but I would rather."
For a moment he was afraid Glawinn would argue with him, then the paladin got down beside the bed on his knees and prayed to Lathander, asking for the Morninglord's guidance and succor.
Jherek joined him on his knees but couldn't join in the prayer.