| I emerge from another period of blankness. I seemed to be calm and in control but my right thigh throbs, the wound has still not healed despite my best efforts. It is then I notice Xun’riia staring at the wound as if in a trance, seeming to focus on the weeping fluid that seeped from it. Her tongue licks her lips as if she wants to taste that strange fluid. Something is very wrong. What is this substance? It does not smell foul nor does it look anything like the festering pus from an infected wound.
Xun reaches out with a tentative finger and touches lightly the fluid, catching a tiny globule on the tip. She sits there staring at her finger licking her lips. Whatever this is, it’s affecting both of us in different ways. I need to solve this puzzle for both our sakes. Just as Xun’riia touches her lips with the wet fingertip, I push her away angrily. This is not right!
I lock myself in my room searching through my tomes looking for a possible end to this. At last I may have found an answer. The Matriarch of the ants may have a formula to a potion that will cure this ill. I return to Xun and tell her what I found. The ant Matriarch is one of Lloth’s minions so getting to see her will not be dangerous, its what she’ll ask in return that might prove a challenge. We get there and I instruct Xun’riia in what to do, in how to consult her. After a period of time she comes to me and tells me the Matriarch will help but she requires us to kill some of her enemies first. This was not unexpected and we depart searching another cave to do the ant queen’s bidding. The task was not that difficult, the ant queen’s enemies fell with ease. Lloth was on our side.
Once completed we swiftly returned to the Matriarch and once more Xun’riia returned to me. From the smile on her face I could tell immediately that the Matriarch had kept her side of the bargain. In her hand she held some powders and instructions on how to use them. We returned to our home as quickly as we could. Once there I waited impatiently as Xun’riia prepared the cure. At last all was ready. She took my leg in her lap and gently applied the potion. At first there was nothing and then I screamed in absolute agony as the pain surged through my thigh, like a million tiny burning pins!
I know pain. I have gloried in the giving and receiving of pain. But this was something else, this was a pain like no pain before. As I passed out my last thought was had the ant bitch tricked us? I could only have been unconscious briefly, when I came around the pain had gone. I looked at Xun, she was smiling widely, then I looked at my thigh. The wound had healed fully. All that remained was a 5-inch long scar marring my perfect beauty. The pain had gone, the festering wound had gone, Xun’riia said her thirst had gone. I can only hope my darkness had gone. |