Compromising Situation

Muld hallucinates in a fever dream.

23.

Compromising Situation

 

Before him stood Gregg Hofflis, smiling with his good humor evident in his eyes.    Muld raised his hand in greeting and it didn’t seem strange that his master was entering his bedroom.   

“Master!   Come in!   Mother’s been nursing me back to health.    I’ve been sick - something that I ate.”

He smiled up at his mother as she looked at him with knitted brows and put a wet towel on his forehead.

“I’m so hot, mother.  Can we open a window?”    He asked this to Syndi, who was somewhat frightened to have him look at her and speak clearly to her, but not actually see her.

“Muld, you’re dreaming; you have a high fever.”   She told him, mopping his brow.

“I can fix that, mom!    Tangunt me convertere quod ad aliquid frigus!” Muld chanted and touched his forehead, which turned cool for a few moments as the cooling spell was not designed to work on living flesh.

“Ah!   That’s better!”  Muld said happily, turning to speak to where he saw his master in his fever dream.   “Master, I’m glad you finally made it to Westmark!    You should see all that we’ve done!   With you here we’ll get more done.    All your stuff is safe in my Bag of Holding.”

“But how are you, my boy?”   Master Hofflis asked as he sat down in a chair next to the bed, “You’ve grown love-sick!”

“I was just telling mom about that!”  He answered, “Have you seen her, master?”

His eyes saw Master Hofflis shake his head, which invited him to describe her.

“Oh, she’s something, master!   Long, fiery red hair that just begs you to run your hands through it.     She’s young, but breathtaking!  Her skin is soft and smooth; she has delicate features and full lips… ah, those lips!    I could watch her talk all day.     Her eyes are unbelievable, Master!   Unbelievable!    As green as spring grass, they could hypnotize a dragon.    When she looks at me I can’t talk properly or think straight.    Her form is perfect and graceful.    She has long shapely legs and arms, master!”

“How is she shaped, front and back?”   The old master asked mischievously, though he had never been that vulgar in real life.   In his dream, nothing seemed strange.

“Oh, quite nice.    She’s surprisingly curvy for an elven girl.     Growing rounder all the time in those areas.     I’ve been watching the progress!”   Muld laughed, and as he expected, Master Hofflis laughed with him.   He had always admired great feminine beauty.

“You’ll embarrass your mother, Muld,”   He told him.

“No, I’ve told her all about Syndi - that’s her name.   She’s a Losasidhe princess.”

“A princess!    You’ve turned the head of a princess, my boy?”

“Me?   Well, no, I have befriended her, but she’s too high class for me.    Her mother’s a regular dragon - she wouldn’t let me near her if she knew how I felt.    She told me that Syndi wouldn’t fancy someone like me.    I’m just a passing stage for her.”

“How’d your mother take it?”  The master asked Muld.

“It made mother mad.     She told me to just stay away from her.    I don’t know what to do.”

“Do you love her, lad?”

“Oh heavens, yes, I love her, master!     She’s perfect in all ways.   Beautiful and so smart, charming and nice.    I’d love her if she was an Orc, I think.     But everyone is interested in her.”

“So why don’t you fight for her?”

“It wouldn’t make any difference; it wouldn’t impress her.    But she likes me as a friend and I’m teaching her the art, so I get to see her.”

“Let your mother talk to her, Muld.”

“Mom?    I don’t know, master; Syndi thinks Mom is dead.”

“Dead?”

“Yeah… that’s weird, you know…something…there is something…”  For a moment Muld was confused at their conversation.

“Don’t worry about it, lad, I don’t need to know her secret.”

“She has a secret… yeah, I think she does…”  Muld babbled, trying to lick his dry lips as he thrashed about in his fever dream.

“I know her secret, boy.   Her mother…”

“Yeah, yeah, her mother is a pirate!   A pirate queen!”

“What about her father?”

“He’s a king of the snow… no… no… he’s a Losasidhe king.”

“Her mom’s a pirate?”

“Yes, everyone thinks she’s a dwarf… she’s not… but she goes by Hobnail.”

“Her mom?”

“Yes, like I said, yes, yes!   Hobnail…she has a fleet of airships and… wait… uh… wait…I don’t know… um…. Well, anyway… are you hot, master?   We should open a window.   So hot!”

Muld looked up into Syndi’s face with eyes that saw someone else and smiled, “Mom, you are so beautiful!   I never knew the brooch could bring you here!    Syndi showed me how.    You’ll love her, Mom!”

Syndi was trembling with fear and a teardrop fell on Muld’s cheek.   For an instant it cleared the clouds of dreams and he saw her.

“Syndi?   Oh… I’m… I’m hallucinating.   I’m so hot; you’d better leave, or you’ll get sick too.    I don’t want you to get sick.”  

She stroked his cheek and he kissed her hand, already slipping back into fantasy, “You’ll have to take charge, Syndi!   Teach them everything I taught you.    Don’t let them play around with that poison!    That’s for the pirates!   We’ll set poison traps and catch them all!   Then they’ll fall into the boiling lake!    So very hot, we’ve got to cool it down, down, down.    Ice on that lake would do it!  Poison ice!   Yes, poison ice!    That would fool them!”   Muld laughed wildly, as if the idea was ingenious.  

Syndi was growing scared and was about to call for the servants to summon the healers, when Muld’s fever suddenly broke and he began to chill violently.

“Cold!”  It was all he was able to say, curling up into a ball as he shivered.

Syndi hugged him to her, using her body warmth to try to stop the chill.

“So… sick…and cold…”  He said through his chattering teeth.

Syndi swooped up the light coverlet from the bed and wrapped both of them in it, to keep the heat inside.   Muld had his eyes closed and shook wildly, his teeth chattering as his body shook.

“Oh Muld, you’ve got to fight it!   Come on, sweetheart, fight it.”

“Cold…s-s-so… cold.”  He whispered and Syndi hugged him tighter to her and silently prayed.

“I’m here, love,”  She assured him, but he was so cold and weak that he could not respond.

“Dying…”  He finally said in a weak voice and the word sent a chill down her back.

“No, you’re not!    You are NOT dying, Muld!   Do you hear me?   You aren’t dying!   I won’t allow it!”    She began rocking him back and forth; weeping quietly as she tightly clung to him.

“It’s alright… I saw… my parents… Master Hofflis… waiting…”

“THEN LET THEM WAIT, DAMNIT!” She screamed in his ear, “You aren’t going to leave me!”

“It’s… okay… I…I… understand…it’s okay…”

“IT’S NOT OKAY!   Muld, I need you!    Don’t you understand?   You can’t go because I need you.”

“You don’t need… me.”

“YES I DO!   YOU ARE NOT LEAVING ME, MULD!   I FORBID IT!”

Muld smiled weakly, unable to open his eyes, “Okay…I’ll…stay here.”

She kissed his forehead and his cheeks repeatedly, now weeping in relief.

Muld was more confused than ever, but did not think about it, just concentrating on stopping the chills.   Syndi kept him tightly wrapped with her face against his cheeks.

Slowly the chilling ended but it was replaced with terrible cramping pains in his stomach.

“Syndi?”  He said as it worsened, “Syndi, I think I’m going to be sick!”

“What?” She replied, and at that moment his stomach rejected its contents.