As soon as they'd seen Yevad hit the ground, the others had rushed over to check on their felled comrade.
James had managed to turn the man over onto his back, and they'd gotten a good look at Yevad's face in the firelight. Even in the warm glow of the fire, Yevad looked as pale as a ghost.
"Oh my God! Is he dead?" Danny asked, alarmed.
"No," James answered, giving the boy a sideways glance. "He's still breathing. . . ."
Yevad lay unconscious as they assessed his condition. He had a faint pulse. Sweat bathed his face and drenched the hair on his head, plastering it to his forehead. His breathing was very shallow and indistinct.
Mikaya touched his hot, damp skin.
"He's feverish," she announced.
"Let's get this armor off of him," Lina suggested.
Nodding, James went to work trying to remove the plates of armor. Seeing that he was struggling, Mikaya helped him.
Danny was enlisted to take the pieces of armor and put them aside, out of the way. When he took a good look at the arm guard, he noticed a gash that cut straight through the steel. Sticky blood bordered the rupture.
"Look at this," he said, taking the piece of armor to Lina.
"What could have sliced through solid steel with such ease?" she wondered aloud.
Mikaya looked at the several broken links on Yevad's chain-mail shirt. Gasping, she also examined some similarly broken links in her own chain-mail.
"It was the Fairies. Their claws sliced clean through like it was nothin'," she said in a low, thoughtful voice.
James glanced over at her fingers caressing the broken bits of her chain-mail shirt that draped over her waist. "Were you injured, too," he asked, concerned.
"No. I'm fine," Mikaya replied, shaking her head from side to side.
Lina turned to face James, with her head cocked slightly to the side. She smiled knowingly before shifting her attention back to the injured man on the ground.
After the armor and chain-mail had been removed, Yevad began to shiver uncontrollably. The cotton shirt and pants he wore were soaked in sweat, and the heat of the fire was not enough to warm his fever-wracked body.
Carefully, Lina moved the cloth away from his wound to get a closer look. She gasped, her eyes widening in consternation.
"What the hell is that?" James asked as he stared at a light black mist swirling around the wound before entering the gash in Yevad's arm and disappearing from view.
"It's magic," Mikaya answered, breathlessly. "He's been poisoned by the Fairy's magic. How is that possible?"
Lina's whiskers began twitching nervously, and she pulled her paws back to her sides.
That wasn't the Fairy's magic. It did have an air of magic to it, but that wasn't all. Whatever that was infecting Yevad's wound gave off a distinct, putrid odor. Rather than magic, it smelled like something else, something alive.
"What do you think?" James asked Lina.
"It could have been Poison, but if it had been that spell, the Fairy's death would have nulled its effects."
"It feels like magic . . ." Mikaya interrupted.
"He's human. His body can't hold any magic on its own," Lina replied matter-of-factly.
"Why not?" Danny asked, confused. He didn't mention has past experience with the Bishop's use of magic.
"It's just the way it is," James answered.
"But what if a human being could use magic?" Danny insisted.
James looked at him suspiciously. "Have you heard of such a case?"
"Uh . . . no. No, I just thought . . . why can't we use magic? Why are we the only ones?"
"More importantly, how is there magic residing in his wound right now, making him sick?" Mikaya asked, frustrated by the tangent their conversation had taken.
Lina could not reveal her suspicions yet. She had to be sure, and there was no way to verify if what she thought was actually true until she returned to the Harvest Lands. Remembering that they were no longer where they had always been made Lina even more agitated.
"It could be residue? What do you think?" she asked Mikaya.
Staring at the injury, Mikaya could no longer see the black mist. The faint trace of magic aura seemed to have become increasingly faint as well.
"You may be right. Maybe it was just a bit of magic that got trapped in there at the time of attack. It seems have dispersed now."
"Hey, Lina, could you heal his wound?" Danny asked, suddenly remembering the powerful magic she'd used to help save them at the Fairy Pond.
"I do know a basic Recovery spell that may help, but I've used up quite a lot of magic tonight," Lina replied. "What about you, Mikaya?"
Mikaya shook her head sadly. "I suck at Recovery spells. I never was able to get 'em right, since my strength is in dark magic."
"Oh. I guess it's up to me, then," Lina said, sighing as she stood and positioned her paws over Yevad's body.
She began to chant softly, and a green light emanated from the pads of her paws and began to work their way down toward Yevad's injury.
While she worked, James moved closer to Mikaya and whispered into her ear.
"It's too bad you can't share your magic with her. Might've helped speed up his recovery."
"If I could do that, I would have given it to Elena, don't ya think?" Mikaya answered a bit brusquely. "'Sides only the Harvest Lands can lend magic like that. . ."
The plants in the Harvest Lands, when touched, could transfer magic directly into a magical being. They were so powerful, that even at a great distance they could contribute magic toward a spell when asked by someone whose clan had at one time or other forged a bond with the Harvest Lands.
Elves could call upon the Harvest Lands to lend power to their spells because they had formed such a covenant with the Harvest Lands long ago. Even so, the spell to communicate with the Harvest Lands also required the magic user to expend magic, and, at a distance, the gifted magic couldn't be directly received into the body of the petitioner. Instead, the person would specify the spell they needed help reinforcing, and the plants in Harvest Lands would track the magic's trail back to the source and amplify the spell indicated in the request.
Thinking about all this, Mikaya suddenly recalled that the Gatis were said to live in the Harvest Lands. Surely, their clan must have made a pact like the one between the Elves and the plants in the Harvest Lands.
"Lina, why not request for the Harvest Lands to amplify the Recovery spell?" Mikaya asked.