It was a short process: about five minutes of pulsation had her breathing easier, five minutes more and her fever was diminishing on its own. Several times she stirred violently, her sickness-induced sleep having no more hold on her. It felt like forever to me.
Feeling her breathe deeply and healthily, I tore my hands from her. Immediately the strength in my legs failed and I collapsed to the floor, gasping and trying to bring myself back to reality. I had let myself get carried away, and exhausted myself. A few minutes more and I would have given my life to her without even realizing it. The innkeeper ran to his wife’s side.
“Is she well?” he gasped nervously.
“Yeah,” I breathed. “She should be fine…” I drifted off to sleep for a moment before shaking myself awake. I would not be able to walk like this. “Could you help me, please?”
The innkeeper looked from his wife to me before nodding. She would be here when he got back. Struggling to my feet, I slung an arm around his skinny waist and leaned against him for support. It was awkward to get up the stairs, but somehow we managed it. Some part of me trusted the man a whole lot more than I had twenty minutes ago. I frowned. It probably had something to do with being so intimately introduced to him through his wife’s memories.
I slumped into the bed upstairs, quite happy to be lying down again, and I was only awake long enough to hear the innkeeper shut the door as he went back downstairs. I did not dream again that night.
Morning seemed to come too soon, and I was awakened by the sickening smell of cooked meat. I rolled over and tried to ignore the stench and the sunlight that permeated the room. Just as I was drifting off again there was a knock on my door.
“Breakfast,” Levent’s gruff voice came through the door, before his heavy footsteps retreated.
I groaned loudly and forced myself out from under the pleasantly warm blankets and sunk to the floor beside my bag. I noticed that the innkeeper had put it back together at some point, but now I was tearing through it blindly seeking out some clothes.
The smell of meat was putting me off my breakfast, but I knew that if we wanted to make any progress in getting to the port today we would have to leave