Chapter Fourteen

Flames danced around the light show of elusive sparks as Joshua put another branch he’d obtained from a seasoned fallen oak tree onto the fire. His mind raced with concern as he watched Lucy’s health dissipate with every passing hour. He was baffled. She looked healthy to the naked eye. She showed no symptoms of disease yet grew weaker and weaker for no apparent reason. He’d hoped the old wizard would create a potion to heal her.  Now he was faced with the dilemma of taking her to Balthazar in her weakened condition or seeking aide from an old witchdoctor who lived in the most remote depths of the mountains. He weighed the pros and cons of both and decided that it would be far more advantageous for him to deliver a healthy and vibrant young enchantress to the Lord of Shadow Land than to show up with the shell of a woman who lay snuggled beneath the woolen blankets he’d brought along.

Joshua sighed. He’d never been to the witchdoctor and only