Through the Portal

When they started walking, Josie was a little thirsty, but she was sure she could handle it. She felt bad about drinking the water and causing trouble for everybody, so she didn’t dare to complain. Nobody talked for a while. There was nothing anybody could say to make things better.

Tristan kept looking at the child, trying to determine how quickly her symptoms were coming on. She was still walking normally and didn’t seem to be in pain, which was promising. However, as the hours passed, she started to look a little ill and he knew she was getting worse.

Josie held tightly to William’s hand, her fear evident in her clutch. She wanted him to protect from the thirst she was already feeling. She wanted him to save her. She had always counted on him to be her protector and he hated himself for failing the child.

“It’s okay,” he told her, feeling guilty about lying. “We’ll get to the palace and they’ll fix you up. Everything will be fine.”

She nodded, staring straight ahead in silence. She partially didn’t speak because her mouth felt dry, but she didn’t want them to know. They ate while walking, barely pausing to take out their food. Josie stared from person to person as they drank from their water bottles. Her eyes were envious and pleading.

She looked to Katherine. “Can’t I have just a sip?” She licked her lips, trying to wet them. “Please?”

The guardian gave the child a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, but that would just make it worse. Please, do your best to hold out until we get to the palace.”

Josie frowned, but didn’t respond. Her spit felt too thick in her mouth. She hoped they wouldn’t have to walk for too much longer.

“Would nimbus weed help her?” Jake asked, knowing he had a couple of leaves left. They were good for most ailments. Even if they didn’t cure her, he thought they might offer some relief.

Katherine shook her head. “She can’t eat or drink anything. There is only one cure for this in Mirra and it is at the palace.”

He nodded, unhappily, looking at the child. She was the youngest and they all wanted to help her. Being unable to do so put the whole group in a foul mood, although nobody would talk about it.

William started slowing down as he felt some pain in his ankle, so Jake gave him one of the last leaves to keep him going a while longer. However, he knew it wouldn’t last as long as it did before. The more of the weed someone ate, the less of an effect it had. He decided not to tell anyone just yet, though, knowing there was nothing to be done about it.

Late in the evening, Josie flopped down on the ground, too weak to walk anymore. “I’m thirsty.” Her voice was weak and pitiable. It was the first time she had complained like that. She hadn’t wanted to seem like she was whining, but it was getting to be too much for the eight-year-old to handle. More than anything in the world, she just wanted some water.

William yearned to pick her up and run all the way to the Blue Palace, but he knew that would be impossible, even if he were uninjured.

“It’s okay, little one.” Kaelen knelt down to allow her on his back. After a moment, she climbed on and he stood, again, allowing the group to keep going. “Just close your eyes and think of nice things. We will be at the palace before you know it.”

Josie buried her head in his shoulder, miserably. She could hardly think of anything but water. Her lips were dry and starting to chafe. Her throat was sore and her head was aching. She wished they would just give her something to drink. She felt certain that would fix her, but she dared not go against Katherine’s orders, so she did her best to think about how nice everything would be when they got to the palace. She imagined how good she would feel once they fixed her and she could have a nice, long drink of water, again.

Meredith sped up so she could walk beside Katherine. “Is it supposed to progress this quickly?” She glanced back at the child, filled with concern.

“I told you she would start feeling sick, soon,” the guardian replied, keeping her eyes fixed ahead. She didn’t want anyone to see how afraid she was. “The sooner we get to the palace, the better.”

“Yes, well, you keep saying that, but it seems like we keep hitting walls,” Meredith commented, looking for a place to direct her frustration, “Shouldn’t we have been at the palace, already? Do you even know where you’re going?”

Tristan heard her and spoke up. “You would dare to question the person who has been protecting you all this time?”

Meredith turned on him. “I wasn’t talking to you. Why are you even here? You haven’t done a very good job of protecting anyone. William still got hurt and, now, Josie is sick.”

“It’s not my fault the Dunyan boy is a clumsy oaf and the child was tricked by a kitsune,” he replied, curtly.

“So it’s all our fault we got dragged into this crazy land where nothing makes any sense and we have no idea what we are doing?” she demanded.

“Well, you are certainly right about having no idea.”

“Enough!” William sighed. His ankle was starting to hurt, again, and he was in no mood to hear their argument. “Can everyone stop fighting for two seconds, until we can get Josie taken care of?” Before, he had been more than willing to fight the elf, but Josie’s predicament was the only thing that mattered to him, then.

Meredith looked down in shame. “Sorry.” She fell silent as she walked.

Jake walked over to William and handed him a nimbus leaf. “It’s the last one, so make it count.”

The older boy frowned and nodded as he popped the leaf in his mouth, using it to go faster for as long as he could.

It was later than usual when they set up camp. William tried to argue against stopping at all, but Katherine was adamant. “We won’t make it there, tonight, and it will do no good for us to be dead on our feet.”

“Will Josie be alright if we rest for the night?” Henry asked, looking at the child, who was already lying on the ground, passed out from exhaustion.

Katherine nodded. “It’s best if she conserves her energy to fight the thirst as long as she can. She will need every ounce of strength to make it to the palace.” She covered Josie up, looking unhappy as she watched the child. She wanted to help, but knew she couldn’t even relieve the pain. The magic in the water was too strong for her. She looked back to the group. “Get some sleep. We start again first thing in the morning.”

As everyone lay down to rest, Tristan took a seat beside Katherine, keeping his voice low, so no one could hear. “She gets worse with each passing hour.”

“I’m aware of that.” Katherine looked at the group in the fading light of the star snails.

Tristan paused, not wanting to worry her further, but knowing they needed to be realistic. “At this rate, she might not make it to the palace.”

“She will make it.” The guardian didn’t look at him. “She has to make it.”

“Because you foresaw their importance?” he queried, knowing that was not a good enough reason.

“Because she is an innocent child who deserves to live,” Katherine replied as the last light blinked out, leaving them with only darkness.

After a few hours, Josie awoke, next to William, her stomach starting to cramp, which made her cry, although she didn’t have the water for tears.

William woke up at the sound and laid a hand on her shoulder. “Josie?”

“My tummy hurts,” she whimpered.

He sighed and pulled her closer. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.” He prayed that wasn’t a lie. “You’ve been really strong, so far. Just keep being strong a little longer.”

“Tell me a story,” she begged, softly, wanting to be distracted from the pain, “How does our story go?”

He paused. “Well, there is a brave girl named Josie in it. She gets into some trouble when she drinks some bad water by mistake, but she gets healed and helps her friends defeat an evil sorcerer, because she is so brave and strong.” He knew it didn’t sound very good, but he wanted to comfort her. He kissed the top of her head. “In the end, they all lived happily ever after in the Blue Palace.”

“I want to see the palace,” Josie told him, softly.

“You will,” he promised as he held her close, “You will see it very soon, I’m sure.”

Katherine was awake and heard them talking, but she stayed silent, not wanting to lie to them any more than she had to. She didn’t know if they would reach the Blue Palace in time. She just knew that they had to do it for Josie’s sake. She had brought the group to Mirra because she’d had a vision that they would be able to save it. However, she would never forgive herself if the little girl died because of her actions.

She forced those thoughts aside, not wanting to entertain them. She told herself that they would reach the palace in time because they had to. She would not let the child die. She would protect them all, no matter what, because she was the guardian and that meant nothing if she couldn’t even save an eight-year-old girl.

The next morning, Katherine made sure everyone woke up as early as possible. She whistled to set the snails alight and they headed out, eating as they walked, in order to save time, since they had none to spare.

Jake had run out of nimbus weed and William’s ankle was slowing him down, forcing the others to keep pace with him. He looked over at Josie, feeling even guiltier for delaying her getting the help she needed. He considered telling them to go on without him, but knew that Katherine would never agree. If they left him in the forest, he would die. If they didn’t leave him, Josie might die. William didn’t like either option. He pushed himself as hard as possible, despite the pain. Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead from the effort.

Katherine noticed it and slowed the pace, a little. She glanced back to Tristan, who was currently carrying Josie. The child had laid her head on his shoulder and was drifting in and out of consciousness, every inch of her body aching. She whimpered from time to time, but said nothing.

Valda caught up with Katherine and spoke, softly. “It doesn’t look good.”

“Just don’t let her have any water and we will make it,” the guardian insisted. She told herself that they would manage it as long as nothing sped up the illness.

The she-elf paused, seeing the clear determination in the younger girl’s face. “What if we don’t?” She didn’t like the idea any more than the rest of them, but she couldn’t just ignore it. “We can’t pretend it’s not a possibility.”

“I will not allow it to be a possibility,” Katherine replied, firmly, “I am the guardian of Mirra and I will save the child, no matter what it takes.”

Valda paused, uncertain. “You know you can’t think like that. You are the guardian and must do what is best for Mirra, but you can’t save everybody.”

Katherine rounded on the she-elf. “I can save her!”

Everybody stared at them, nervously, getting the gist of the conversation from that last statement.

Katherine turned away from Valda, again, and spoke more softly, “I can do it. I must. If she dies, it will be my fault.”

Valda watched her as they walked, not sure what to say. In battle, she was certain and never faltered. However, when it came to emotions, she tended to be on less stable ground. She wished there was something to fight, right then. She would take a shadow beast over a sick child any day. “Very well, my lady. I’m sorry to have doubted you.” She fell back into step with the group, keeping her gaze fixed ahead.

“I want water.” Josie’s raspy voice was barely audible. “Please, let me have some water.”

“You can have water at the palace,” Tristan promised.

“I’m really thirsty,” she whimpered. She would have cried if she could have. She lifted her head and looked at William. “Please, give me some water. I really need it.”

The older boy was tempted. He almost reached for his satchel, not wanting to see such a pained expression on Josie’s face. However, he remembered the warning Katherine had given them and stopped himself. “Just a little further, kiddo. We just need to make it a little further.”

“Please.” A hoarse sob escaped her lips.

He looked away, unable to bear it. “Just a little further.”

She continued begging until her voice gave out and she started coughing. At one point, they had to stop because she was dry-heaving. However, there was nothing to eject from the empty stomach. By the time they stopped to make camp, that night, she was barely able to move.

Valda was carrying her, at the end of the day, and she set the child down, gently. Josie had already passed out and Valda felt her head. “She’s burning up.”

Meredith ran through her mind what she knew about dehydration. “She’s going to go into seizures, soon, isn’t she?” Nobody answered and the girl swallowed. “There must be something we can do.”

“We can continue walking in the morning,” Katherine replied, as terrified as the rest of them, but trying to hide it. “We should be at the palace by tomorrow night. She just has to hang on until then.”

William looked at the guardian. “Tell me the truth, Katherine. Do you really think she will hold out another day?”

She paused, unable to give a good answer. “She has to.” She swallowed as she looked at the little girl, lying motionless on the ground. “We will walk as quickly as possible.”

“Can’t you take her pain away?” William asked, “Like you did with my arm and my back?”

Tristan looked at him. “You let her take your pain?” He seemed a little angry about it, which was confusing to William.

Katherine shook her head, answering before he could. “I can’t because she is not healing. I can only take the pain of those who are healing. She is getting worse, instead.”

“Then what good are you?” William knew it was no use being angry, but he was getting hysterical. He picked Josie up and held her, frightened by how warm she was. “You just have to make it one more day, kiddo.” He held her close, wishing she would say something.

Eventually, Katherine got them to lie down and go to sleep, although William had trouble. He kept Josie close, wanting to be right beside her if anything happened. He was miserable and wished they had never come to Mirra, at all. He decided that he hated adventures and wanted to go home to their apartment. He closed his eyes, trying to will it into being. He knew it was silly and pointless, but he would have given anything for Josie to be okay. It took a while, but he finally fell asleep.

He woke up, again, in the middle of the night and felt Josie wiggling. He sat up and looked at her, quickly realizing what was happening. “Josie!”

The shout woke the others and Katherine quickly whistled a tune for the star snails to illuminate the scene, revealing a seizing Josie, just as Meredith had predicted. Katherine rushed to the girl’s side, knowing there was nothing she could do. She was helpless against magic illnesses.

William started crying as he watched the little girl, wiggling around on the ground. She had always counted on him to protect her and he had failed. “I’m sorry, Josie.” He whispered the words, feeling utterly helpless. Eventually the seizure stopped and she lay completely still, showing no sign of life.

Suddenly, there was a sound of hoof beats coming through the trees and heading right towards them. William picked up Josie to protect her from whatever was coming. He was slightly relieved to note that she was still breathing. He stared into the trees as a white unicorn charged out of them. He could hardly believe his eyes. His first thought was that Josie would be thrilled to see the unicorn. His second thought was that unicorns didn’t exist. His third thought was that he was an idiot and there was a unicorn right in front of him, but what was it doing there?

Katherine jumped up and spoke softly to the creature. It nodded and she breathed a sigh of relief, rushing back to William. “Give me Josie.”

He held the girl tighter. “No.”

“If you want her to live, I need to take her, now.” Katherine looked into his eyes and held out her arms. “The unicorn can bring her to people who can help, but we have to go, now.”

Staring into the guardian’s eyes, William slowly released the child into her care. “Save her.”

Katherine nodded and lifted her onto the unicorn’s back, climbing on after. “I will come back for you when Josie is safe.” With that last remark, she rode off on the unicorn with the sick child, leaving the others to stare after her in shock.