INICIAR SESIÓNDarius PovBy the third morning, I was able to get out of bed, but I still wasn’t feeling strong. My legs hurt if I stood for too long, and my hands shook whenever I tried to pick something up. The healer wanted me to rest for two more days. I refused, so she called me stubborn and gave me a bag of dried leaves. She told me to chew them every few hours. They tasted awful, but I followed her instructions."You can't ride," the healer said.⠀"I'll ride," I said.⠀"You'll fall off," the healer said.⠀"Then I'll get back on," I said.⠀The healer threw up her hands and left the tent. I sat down on the edge of the furs and pulled on my boots very slowly. It took me four tries to do up the laces. When I stood, the tent tilted for a moment, and then it settled. I could not shift. I had tried the night before, alone, and the wolf had come up in me like something dragged through mud and then sunk again. The healer said it would be days before my body could manage the change, and maybe longe
Darius Pov⠀They gave me the remedy a little before dawn. The older healer prepared it herself. She boiled the leaves in a small iron pot until the water turned into a dull green, then strained it through a cloth and let it cool. It smelled like sour pine and old smoke. Magnar held my shoulders, and she tipped the cup against my lips, and I swallowed. It was bitter enough to make my eyes water, but I swallowed it. She gave me another cup an hour later.⠀"It may take time," she said. "I can't promise it will work. If it's the right poison, you'll feel it by morning. If it isn't, we try something else."⠀"What else?" Ayla asked.⠀"I don't know yet." She wiped her hands on her apron. "Watch him. If his breathing slows, call me."⠀Ayla nodded. She sat down beside me again and didn't move. I don't remember everything that happened that night, but it came in pieces, a long dark stretch of shivering, so bad that my teeth rattled. Someone piling more furs over me. Ayla's voice saying my
Ayla’s PovThe older healer crushed the leaves into a bowl while another woman heated water over the fire. They mixed the crushed herb with the hot water, then waited for it to cool.“Help me lift his head,” the older woman said.Magnar moved to Darius’s side and carefully raised him while the healer brought the bowl to his lips. Darius was barely conscious, and most of the liquid ran down his chin. She tried again, managing to get a little more into his mouth.“That’s enough for now,” she said. “We have to wait and see if it works.”I stayed beside him, holding his cold hand as the healers covered him with more furs.***Darius’s PovCold, that was all I felt for a long time. I couldn’t tell where the cold was coming from. I couldn’t feel my hands or feet properly, and I couldn’t find my way out of it. I heard people talking, their voices fading out. A woman said something about boiling water, and a man answered, and then another voice said, “Not too strong. He can’t take too much.”
Ayla’s Pov⠀I almost walked past the plant.At the end of the path, I found a wide hollow in the mountain. The rocks around it blocked the wind, and the snow on the ground had started to melt. The stone was wet, and the sun reached the spot, making it a little warmer than the rest of the mountain. Then I noticed something green growing between two large rocks.I walked toward it slowly, my legs still weak from the climb. When I reached the plant, I knelt and looked at it closely.The plant was small, with thick leaves growing close together. It was no bigger than both my hands. The leaves were round and silver-green. I touched one gently. It felt soft and slightly fuzzy.I turned the leaf over. The underside was dark purple. I picked it and rubbed it between my fingers before smelling it. The smell was strong and sour. It made my nose sting, and my eyes watered.I laughed out loud, but it came out as a sob.⠀"Sour pine," I said to nobody. "Purple underneath."⠀I took out the cloth
Ayla’s PovDarius's eyes were open when I came back to the tent. I stopped at the flap the moment I realized. The fire had burned lower, and the tent was dim and warm. He lay where we had left him, with a blanket pulled up to his chest. His face was gray, and sweat had dried on his forehead in a thin white film. But his eyes were open, and they were looking at me.⠀I crossed the tent and knelt beside him.⠀"You're awake," I said.⠀"Barely," he said in a low tone. "Ayla."⠀"I'm here."⠀"What's... happening… to me?"⠀"The healers think it's poison. A plant might help, and I'm going to find it."⠀His facial expression changed immediately when I said I was going. His mouth moved to speak, but nothing came out. Then he tried again and finally said, "No."⠀"Darius."⠀"No. Pls... don't... go," Darius said again. ⠀"Pls don’t stop me. I have to."⠀"The mountain..." His breath caught. "It's dark. You're... the child..."⠀"I know," I said.⠀"Stay. Please. Stay with... Magnar."⠀I
Chapter 37Ayla’s PovThey carried Darius to the healers' tent. It took about six men. Magnar took his shoulders, and two warriors took his legs. I walked beside them with Darius's hand in mine until someone told me to let go so they could fit through the flap. I didn't let go. They gave up and carried us both through. The tent was warm and smelled of smoke and bitter leaves. They laid him on a pile of furs near the fire. The healer who had been checking him knelt beside him. Two more came in behind him, a younger man and an older woman with gray hair tied up in a cloth, and they pushed everyone else back.⠀"Out," the older woman said. "All of you who aren't blood or bone."⠀"I'm staying," I said.⠀She looked at me. I looked back. "Then sit there," she said. "And don't touch anything."⠀I sat by his head. Magnar stood behind me with his arms folded, and he did not move. The healer held a candle close to Darius's eyes and watched them narrow. The younger man pulled off his boots an







