Page 110 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

About to test this theory, Maude lifted her hands to swirl the wind around Herrick to pick him up and toss him across the room, but a strangled sound stopped her.

Next to Herrick, Gunnar had been sleeping soundly until his body went stiff, his back bowing off the roll he had been sleeping on. Alarmed, Maude sat up and got to her feet. From where she stood, she could see his rigid body shaking slightly, his arms turning inward on him. Head thrown back the way it was, Maude could see Gunnar bite down on his tongue, causing blood to flow freely. Now awake, Herrick shot up and turned to his closest friend in terror.

Maude rushed toward them, reaching Gunnar as Herrick was about to place cloth into his mouth to clean the blood.

“Stop,” she said as she reached them. “Turn him on his side and grab his pack to put under his head.”

Herrick and Maude turned Gunnar on his side as the convulsions continued. Hakon and Eydis were awake now, staring at him in terror and confusion. Liv, sprinting to their side, moved Gunnar’s weapons away from him.

“Maude,” Herrick said, the sound of helplessness in his words causing her to look at him.

“It’s okay, it will pass,” Maude said, her voice reassuring despite her uneasiness.

Herrick looked into her eyes and must have understood her sincerity because he only nodded and looked back at his friend.

A few moments that felt like hours passed before Gunnar finally relaxed, his body going limp beneath Maude’s hands. Keeping him on his side, Maude moved to sit in front of him and wipe away some of the blood beginning to dry in the corners of Gunnar’s mouth.

No one spoke. Maude continued wiping his face off with a cloth that Herrick had soaked in cool water, washing away the sweat and blood from his episode. Slowly, Gunnar pried his eyes open, blinking away the haziness as he took in his friends sitting around him, worry etched into their faces.

“What happened?” Gunnar asked, his voice sounding small to Maude for the first time since she'd known him.

Her friends looked to her to answer, the fear in Herrick’s eyes never really dissolving.

“You had an epileptic episode,” Maude said softly, helping Gunnar to sit up. “I think you may have bit your tongue. We turned you on your side so you wouldn’t choke.”

Surprise crossed Gunnar’s face. Maude, weary of his reaction, asked, “You’ve never had an episode like this before?”

She knew his answer before he shook his head.

Unable to find words of comfort, she had Gunnar tilt his head down so she could inspect the wound on his head. The skin appeared normal, finally healing well with thegalderin his blood. No inflammation around the slice or oozing. Maude thought it was unlikely the slice to his head would cause this.

“Have you seen episodes like this before?” Liv asked, glancing at Gunnar.

“There was a soldier in my father’s armies who had similar episodes,” Maude explained, washing Gunnar’s blood off her hands in a bowl Hakon had filled with water. “He’d suffered through them for most of his life. You may have the same affliction.”

“You’ll rest here today with Eydis while we scout for the best route to the Knotted Caverns,” Herrick ordered his friend, tone warranting no argument.

Gunnar began to speak, but Eydis interrupted him, “Maybe you can go over some staff maneuvers with me so I’m not a complete liability in the Caverns.”

Gratitude flashed in Herrick’s eyes at Eydis’s offer. Gunnar looked as if he would disagree but ultimately nodded and told Eydis he would helpher. Laying back down, exhaustion weighing in his movements, Gunnar closed his eyes and tried to rest some more. Hakon and Eydis moved back to where they had been sleeping, speaking softly to each other while Liv returned to her watch. Crisis over for the moment, Maude tried to go to the spot she had taken up for herself against the altar, but Herrick stopped her.

“We should get moving,” Herrick said, strapping his battle axe to his back and sword to his hip.

Maude snapped her mouth shut, her teeth clicking with the force, and turned to Herrick. His usual annoying cheerfulness was absent, only morbid silence in its place.

“Herrick,” Maude began, but he cut her off.

“We need to go before the sun gets too high and the day gets too hot. We also need to hunt for more supplies; the last of the dried meat ran out last night.”

“Liv and I can hunt; you need to go find the entrance to the Knotted Caverns,” Hakon offered, his weapons already strapped into place.

Maude opened her mouth to argue when Liv, snapping out of her recently withdrawn state, shouted from the entrance with a thumb up in the air, “Sounds good to me!”

Herrick nodded, avoiding her eyes, as he walked out into the new day. Maude reluctantly followed, picking up her bow and stringing it as she walked. She handed the bow to Liv when they passed her.

“Good hunting,” Maude muttered, and reluctantly followed Herrick.

Liv chuckled. “You too.”

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