Page 49 of Dragon Heir

Allard lifted his gaze to us. “Is this what happened to the others?”

I pursed my lips before I looked up at Will. “They didn’t remember being cursed.”

“Then you know what caused this man’s change?” Vargas questioned us. Her face was slightly ashen and her hands fidgeted together in front of her.

“I do,” Will spoke up as his worried eyes met mine. “The god-like creature.”

I nodded. “Yeah. It’s the same rotting flesh and those eyes-” I paused and shuddered.

Ware scowled at us. “You told us you had rid the world of that foul fiend and yet now we find someone afflicted by its disease!”

Will looked over his shoulder and frowned up at our guest. “There was no reason to believe we had not. Those infected by its curse were cured.”

Ware waved a hand at the pewter pitcher. “So how did this thing get it?”

“If we had the answer to that question then we would probably have the solution to our problem,” Will countered.

“I-I should really like to get home,” Wrecan pleaded as he sat up with Allard’s help. “I have some dresses due next week and a ball in a few months-” He paused and looked about us. “How have the leaves come out? Is it not spring still?”

Allard shook his head. “It is summer now.”

Wrecan’s mouth fell open. “Surely. . .surely you jest. This is some twisted joke, isn’t it?”

“You have been sick for quite some time,” Allard told him as he nodded at our group. “We only just now were able to clear your mind of the disease.”

The man stared dumbly at him before he swallowed the lump in his throat. “I. . .then how long have I been sick?”

“A few months,” Allard informed the man.

“A few months. . .” Wrecan repeated as he ran a hand through his hair and stared at the ground in front of him. “My God, what happened to me?”

“Nothing a little rest will not fix,” Allard assured him as he helped him to his feet. “I will see you to your room and then we have a carriage take you home.”

“S-sure. . .” Wrecan mumbled as he let the dragon doctor lead him into the house.

“Well, doesn’t that beat all!” Slechtic spoke up as he rolled into the center of our confused little group. “Cursed and doing the bidding of another!”

I looked up at Will. “He said he was from Mirum.”

Will had pursed his lips and he nodded at my observation. “Yes. I wonder if that doesn’t mean that our foe originates from that city.”

“Does that mean something to you?” Ware questioned us.

I shrugged. “I don’t know unless the monks have decided to get their revenge on us.”

A dark shadow fell on Will’s brow. “There was another whom we ‘wronged’ there.”

I blinked at him before my eyes widened. “That snake guy! What was his name?”

“Simon Baddock,” Will reminded me.

Vargas wrinkled her nose. “That slithery serpent? I had heard he had finally met his demise.”

I snapped my fingers. “And he knew about spells and stuff like that, too! Maybe he knew about this curse!”

“He may have but you will recall we disposed of him,” Will pointed out.

Ware crossed his arms over his chest and gave a harumph. “Like you disposed of this sickly darkness?”

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