ARWIN

  The meeting spot was a perfect, and likely unnatural, ring of trees growing so closely together that they formed a fence with openings too narrow for a body to go through. The outside of the ring was ringed with berry-filled shrubbery. At the nymph’s command, giant tree roots obligingly shifted, opening a short tunnel into the inner sanctum.

  Inside the ring was a mossy hollow. The spot was very dark, with the trees above blocking most light, but blue glow bugs gently drifted overhead. Nobody else was here yet. They arrived at the meeting location before any of the other nymphs. Arwin thought that strange given the head start the rest had had but had no energy to think or question. His injuries were bad; he’d bled heavily on the way here, and he needed to lie down. So he did. The moment his head touched the spongy moss, he passed out.

  Arwin awoke to find himself lying near a warm, crackling fire. He smelled woodsmoke and the perfume of flowers. Nymphs were gathered around him, visibly worried over each other’s injuries and his, apparently. Hands glowed with magic, and cuts and scrapes slowly faded away under their healing powers. Arwin looked for the one who’d brought him, but she was nowhere to be seen. Yaz was gone, too.

  A nymph with nut-brown skin and bright yellow hair stepped up, anxiously pulling another girl behind her. “He’s awake! Please help him, Honey!”

  “Coming, Delia. Don’t push.” Honey arrived at his side. She was slim, with black hair pulled back in a ponytail and held in place with a large sunflower. A garland of herbs hung from her neck. She wore a satchel made from woven plant materials. She looked at him with big, golden eyes under thick black lashes. Her skin had a faint, pale yellow tint that spoke of warmth and happiness. She looked young and exuded innocence and honesty. Seeing the extent of his injuries, she gasped, “Oh my! Poor pet! Well, I can see he didn’t just eat someone’s homework and get a tummy ache, did he? Or get a bad hairball from licking himself. He definitely looks like he’s been in a fight. Does he have rabies?”

  Arwin asked, “Who are you?” Hearing her strange words, he gave her a curious look.

  Delia knelt beside him. “This is Honey. She was away until now, healing forest creatures. She’s so good with injured animals. Her healing magic is the strongest of all of us. She will help you.”

  The new nymph saw his bloody leg and looked sad. “Mercy! Look at these wounds.” She bent over and looked down at him with sympathetic eyes. She gave him an awkward smile. “Uh, um, I’m sorry. I’m not very good at delivering bad news.” She took a deep breath. “So you’re going to be just fine, ok?” She gave him a big, really awkward smile and a thumbs up.

  Arwin relaxed. “OK…” He blinked. Then his eyes opened wide. “Hey, wait a minute—“

  Honey lowered herself and knelt on her heels so that her firm thighs cradled the sides of Arwin’s head. She whispered loudly to Delia. “I don’t like the look of that wound. And I don’t know that there’s any point in trying to bandage it. Whenever I try, most animals just chew the bandages off or get them all dirty and useless. Then infection sets in.”

  Arwin protested, “I’m not an animal!”

  Honey didn’t seem to be listening. She shook her head. “Maybe it’s best if we just cut the leg off.” She reached behind her into her satchel and pulled forth a jagged saw that was obviously way too big to have fit inside the small bag.

  Arwin’s eyes widened. He worriedly raised his hands to block her. “Hey! Stop! There’s no need for that! Bandages are fine! I’ll take care of them. Promise!”

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  “Wow, he looks like he’s in worse condition than I thought. Maybe there’s no point in cutting off the leg.” She put the saw down.

  Arwin breathed a sigh of relief.

  She placed a thoughtful finger on her lips and wondered out loud, “If he’s this bad, maybe it would be kinder to just put him down.”

  “Hey—!” Arwin tried to fight through the pain his body was in. “What do you mean ‘put him down’?”

  Honey reached into her satchel again. She brought forth a scary-looking crimson vial marked with a skull and crossbones, labelled Poison. Then she pulled forth an axe. She looked at Delia with a serious expression. “Which do you think would be kinder? Poison or beheading?”

  Arwin begged, “No! No! Stop! What are you doing? Haven’t you ever treated a person before?”

  She looked at him with suddenly innocent eyes, then smiled and shrugged. “No. I only treat forest animals. You’re my first human patient ever.”

  Arwin’s heart sank. He babbled, “Look, I’ll be fine. Really. Just give me a few moments to rest, and I’ll be good. No need to worry yourself, ok?” Which was silly. He could be slowly bleeding to death. That seemed preferable to beheading, though.

  Delia placed a hand on Honey’s shoulder, seemingly serious as well. “I don’t think we need to put him down just yet. Maybe something less extreme?”

  Honey rolled her eyes. “Fine. Even though I just sharpened this axe. And I haven’t even had a chance to try out this new poison mixture I concocted yet. I tried really hard to get it to taste better than the last batch.”

  Arwin trembled. Who was this woman? She wasn’t like any of the other nymphs! So cute but also so dangerous!

  Honey shifted Arwin so that she sat on her heels again but now had Arwin’s head in her lap, then beckoned to someone behind her.

  A large, yellow dog with shaggy fur trotted up. First, he sniffed the wound in Arwin’s shoulder, then the one along his stomach, then the bad cut in his leg. When he was done, he turned to Honey with a sombre expression and gave a soft, sad bark.

  Arwin, worried, tried to sit up again, but Honey held him down in her lap. Growing even more frantic, he asked, “What? What is it? What’s he saying?”

  No one answered him. The dog strode off, and a white cat arrived. The cat placed a paw on Arwin’s brow, then used the other to open first one eye, then the other. The feline raised a paw and batted him on the forehead.

  Arwin flinched. “Hey! What’s that for?”

  The cat haughtily looked down its pink nose at him, turned his head and gave Honey an uncaring shrug, then sauntered off.

  Arwin was quite alarmed. He implored Honey, “What’s going on?”

  She cheerfully answered, “I just wanted to have a little lab work and a cat scan done. But don’t worry, everything looks fine!”

  “Oh good.” Arwin lay back again.

  Honey raised her hand and loudly stage-whispered to Delia behind it. “Everything does not look fine.”

  Arwin’s panic returned full force. “Huh?”

  Honey assured the other nymph, “He’s definitely going to die.”

  Arwin gasped. “No!”

  Honey suggestively raised the axe again and questioned Delia. “Are you sure you don’t want to just put him down?”

  Delia looked like she was fighting off a smile. “No, I don’t think we need that quite yet.”

  Honey put the axe back down. “Ok. Well, then. Let’s get to work.” She clapped her hands together. “Let’s get started on that leg, shall we?”

  Her hand very, very lightly touched the sword wound.

  Arwin felt the hole in his thigh heat up. The pain became greater. He groaned, and when he felt a sharp twinge in his leg, he reflexively sat up, reaching for his wound. He lay back in terrible pain.

  While Honey worked, Delia’s hands touched his badly bruised shoulder, making him wince.

  He looked over and saw a warm, yellow light emanating from Delia’s fingers, bathing his skin. His shoulder pain eased, and the skin rapidly mended. The sudden increase in pain from the healing processes must have been due to the rapid regeneration.

  The healing took a long time, especially on his leg. When Delia finished with his torso, she moved down and joined Honey’s efforts on his limb.

  Eventually, the pain receded, and Arwin felt soothed and relaxed.

  Honey looked at him. “Feel better?”

  “Yes. So, I’m not going to die then?”

  “Well…maybe we should run some more tests. How does this feel?” She gently pushed her finger into the recently healed area of his thigh.

  Arwin was surprised. There was no more than a lingering soreness. “It’s much better!”

  Her hand moved in circles. “No pain anywhere in the area?”

  “No. Hardly any. It feels great.”

  She smiled. “Good.”