When Sharlo woke up, the sun was shining through his bedroom window. He expected to hear birds chirping or crows cawing, but it was totally silent outside. Sharlo pushed away his sheets and rolled out of bed. He walked over to his mom’s room, which was right across from his. He knocked on the door, but there was no response. He opened the door a crack.
“Mom?” he asked to see if she was awake, but there was no response.
He opened the door all the way and walked over to her bed, where she lay on her side, her back to Sharlo, with the sheets thrown on the floor.
Sharlo tapped her on the shoulder. “Mom? How are you feeling?”
Marta stirred and rolled onto her back, causing Sharlo to grimace. Her eyes were blacker than they were yesterday and her breathing was shallow and laboured.
Sharlo shook her gently. “Mom, wake up. Are you okay?”
She slowly opened her eyes and moaned.
“Morning sweetling,” she croaked.
“Are you okay?” Sharlo asked with concern.
Marta coughed three times. “Yeah, just-” she coughed again before vomiting up a thick black liquid onto the bed.
“Woah, mom!” Sharlo grabbed her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
“Go- go get Kailith,” she said as she wiped the liquid off her chin. “Quickly, I’ll clean this up.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, be quick, please.”
“Oh-okay,” Sharlo turned quickly, ran out of the room, down the stairs and out the door, not even bothering to put on his shoes.
Kailith’s blacksmith shop wasn’t very far from Sharlo’s house. It didn’t take very long to run right to his front door, on which Sharlo pounded furiously. Sharlo knew Kailith was already awake, because his chimney had smoke pouring out, which meant his forge was active.
Kailith came to the door almost immediately, wiping his blackened hands with a cloth.
Seeing Sharlo’s frenzied state, Kailith instantly asked what was wrong.
“It’s mom,” Sharlo panted. “She’s sick, her eyes are all black and she’s throwing up some sort of black goo!”
“Alright, I’m coming.” Kailith threw down the cloth and slammed the door behind him, but didn’t lock it. Sharlo started running without looking behind him to see if Kailith was following.
Sharlo got back to the house, ran through the front door and back upstairs, where his mom was scrubbing the black goo off the floor with a towel. Kailith rushed past Shalo to Marta’s side, asking her if she was okay. She said something that Sharlo couldn’t hear and Kailith nodded.
“Sharlo, go get the doctor. Now.”
“Right,” again, Sharlo ran out of the house. Doctor Alverus didn’t live too far away.
Sharlo kept thinking about the black goo that his mom had hacked up. Sharlo could barely hold back his own vomit. He was out of breath so he slowed down to a walk.
Then his vision got blurry. His eyes started to water and his heart rate increased, he started to shake and he felt like his whole body was on fire.
Not now! Anytime but now!
He stopped running and tried to steady his breathing. Kailith and his mom taught him what to do if this ever happened, take deep breaths, count three things you can see, three things you can hear and move three body parts. Sharlo tried to focus on his surroundings.
There’s a house, a tree, a dog running around. I can hear… people talking in the market, I can hear sheep, and birds.
Sharlo looked at his hands and tried to wiggle his fingers when he felt someone grab his arm and lift him off his feet. He felt a rough hand cover his mouth, another hand pinned his arm behind his back and forced him to the ground.
“That’s him,” a man’s voice said. “The kid with purple eyes.”
“Is Kailith at the smithy?” Said another man.
“No, he’s at Marta’s, something’s wrong with her.”
One man laughed. “It’s perfect. They’ll give us so much gold for him.”
“Well hurry and tie him up.”
Sharlo struggled, but couldn’t move. The man twisted his arm and he tried to yell, but the man’s dirty hand was still over his mouth.
“Don’t move or I’ll break your arm.”
Sharlo felt like he was going to pass out. He couldn’t breathe and spots were appearing in his vision. He tried to yell again. His vision flashed purple and he felt the man release him. Sharlo crawled away and lay on his stomach, trying to take deep breaths.
When his breathing steadied, he stood up and looked at the men who attacked him. Their bodies were smoking and they looked like all the muscle had left their bodies. Sharlo could see every bone under their skin. Their lips had peeled back, showing their teeth and their eyes sank deep into their skulls.
He yelled and jumped away.
Did… Did I do that?
He felt his heart rate increasing and took more deep breaths. Breathe in, count to five, breathe out. His heart rate slowed and he looked at the dead men before him.
“I can’t,” he said out loud. “I need… Doctor,” and he ran off. The men had pulled him behind some thick bushes, so their bodies should be hidden from sight for now.
Sharlo ran to Doctor Alverus’ house and pounded on the door. The doctor answered the door and looked at Sharlo with concern.
“Whatever is the matter, dear boy?” He asked.
“Mom… Sick… Throwing up,” Sharlo waved his hand making a gesture for vomiting.
The doctor nodded, “I’ll get my things and be on my way, you go ahead, I’ll be there soon.”
Sharlo nodded and fell to his knees. His lungs felt like they were on fire. Doctor Alverus knelt down and grabbed Sharlo’s shoulders.
“Sharlo! Are you alright?”
“Out of breath,” he panted.
“Well, alright. Just give me one moment to get my things,” the doctor retreated inside his house and Sharlo sat on the ground, panting like a thirsty dog.
Doctor Alverus emerged a few seconds later with a black leather bag in his hand.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Sharlo got to his feet and Alverus followed him back to his house.
When they arrived, Marta and Kailith were sitting at the table. Doctor Alverus rushed to Marta’s side and started asking her some questions.
“Kailith,” Sharlo panted, still out of breath. “Need to talk to you.”
Kailith rose and approached Sharlo.
“What’s wrong?” He asked.
Sharlo beckoned him over. “Outside,” he gasped.
Kailith stepped outside and closed the door behind him.
He lowered his voice. “What’s wrong?”
“I… I think I killed two guys…” Sharlo’s started to cry. “They attacked me. I don’t know what happened,” Sharlo choked on a sob and Kailith pulled him into a close hug. Sharlo felt Kailith’s rough beard scratch his cheek.
“It’s alright,” he shushed him. “Where are they?”
Sharlo pointed, “Over there, behind some bushes.”
“Alright, take me to them.”
Sharlo rubbed the tears from his eyes and led Kailith to where he left the two corpses.
“Behind there,” Sharlo pointed.
Kailith walked behind the bushes. When he saw the two men, instead of gasping or yelling, he simply scratched his beard and pursed his lips.
“I don’t know what happened,” Sharlo mumbled. “I was having an attack and they grabbed me. I think they wanted your money, or mom’s, I don’t know.”
Kailith rubbed his chin, saying nothing. He always made it hard for Sharlo to tell what he was thinking.
“Go back home. I’ll hide the bodies. I don’t recognize them, so they’re probably not from here.”
“Okay,” Sharlo said quietly and walked back home, holding back tears the whole time.
When Sharlo got back home, doctor Alverus was already leaving.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “For now, I’ve given your mother something to help her sleep and prevent a stomach infection. I’ve taken some of the stuff she vomited up and I’ll come back later if I can find out what it is.”
Sharlo nodded, “Okay.”
“Take good care of her. Make sure she gets lots of sleep, food and water.”
“Okay,” Sharlo couldn’t look directly at the doctor.
He patted Sharlo’s shoulder and walked off.
Sharlo looked over by the river, where the sun was high in the sky.
Must be noon. I slept till noon.
Sharlo pushed open the door to the house and walked in silently. Marta must have been upstairs, because she wasn’t sitting anywhere in the kitchen.
Sharlo sat down at the table and put his head in his hands. He couldn’t stop thinking about the men, their skin all brown and wrinkly.
“Never seen someone die before,” he said to himself quietly, a single tear falling down his cheek.
It was a few minutes before Kailith came back.
“I need you to gather some clothes, Sharlo,” he instructed calmly.
“Are we running away?” Sharlo asked.
“No, we’re going to visit some old friends of mine. Elves.”
Sharlo’s heart leapt a little. “Elves?”
Kailith nodded. “Yes, they might be able to help your mother,” he looked directly at Sharlo. “And you. Now go get your things. We’ll be gone about a week. We’re leaving today”
Sharlo nodded and went upstairs, where he opened up the chest that had all his clothes in it. Most of them were brown or white.
Elves, He thought with awe. How sick can mom be if we’re going to see the elves?
He started getting excited, the thought of the dead men completely gone from his mind.
ns 15.158.61.16da2
