Chapter 04: Crystal Sickness

The wooden door to the hut creaked opened. From the dim lighting inside, Sherlotta’s face appeared, she walked out the door, her face grim. The villagers who had been talking amongst themselves all turned to look at her as she walked into the crowd. It was the yuke child who was first to talk, she walked over to Sherlotta before she asked the question on everyone’s mind. “Sherlotta! Is Eryll all right? Is she okay?”

Sherlotta nodded, “She’s feeling a lot better now. Lian and Ilina are looking after her.” She said before crossing her arms over her chest in an attempt to hide her sadness.

It was the older yuke who spoke up next, “But this sickness. Can it be…?”

Sherlotta was solemn “There’s no doubt about it. She’s caught the crystal sickness.”

Toumli’s eyes were filled with tears. “B-but how could that be? Why Eryll? And why now…?” she whimpered. It was clear that no one in the village understood how it was possible. They all stood there for a moment.

The younger yuke was clearly the most confused, “What’s the ‘crystal sickness’? She’ll be all right, won’t she? We have medicine, right?” She asked, trying to remain strong.

Her teacher answered her, a great amount of sadness could be heard in his voice while he spoke. “There IS a cure. But the ingredients we need cannot be found in this forest.”

She shook her head, trying to wrap her head around things. “So…” she began. “So we have to look outside the forest, right!? The ingredients must be SOMEWHERE. We just have to find them.” She began to bow over and over again as she begged, “Please, PLEASE! We HAVE to make Eryll better again. I’ll do anything, anything at all. I’ll study magic every night, I’ll clean my room without being told, I’ll…” she broke off.

Her teacher simply stared at her. He said nothing, nothing at all. She realised all too quickly what it meant. She gasped, “N-no, no NO!” she cried. She then ran over to the red haired selkie, “Please, Bachenn, help her! She was my very first friend in the village!” she cried.

Bachenn turned his gaze away from her; he couldn’t bear the look in her eyes.

She turned to face the lilty boy, “Phelple! You’re Eryll’s friend. Why don’t you do something? Please!”

He looked to the side, “Er…well…” he muttered.

The girl looked around, she turned to face everyone, anyone. Somebody must be able to do something. “Why is everyone just standing around!? If we don’t do anything, Eryll might…” She began to choke on tears. This couldn’t be happening, this wasn’t happening.

It was the elder who put an end to the eerie silence, “You see…” he began. He cleared his throat, “We can never leave this village. None of us can. It is the Law, and we must obey it.”

The yuke girl looked at him, puzzled. “Th-the Law…?” her sadness turned to rage. “Who made that up? Who went and decided something like that? You’re saying that you’re all willing to watch Eryll die just because of some stupid RULE!?” She was about to storm off.

“Norschtalen, that is enough!” The teacher said in a stern tone.

“But… But, I-I…” she said meekly. “What about Eryll!?” she cried, tears streaming down her face as she ran off. The villagers watched her as she went, no one could do anything about it.

The villagers disbanded, Meeth wanted to help out Eryll just as much as anyone, but she knew the law. Instead, she approached the older yuke who was talking to Sherlotta.

“Crystal sickness? I expected Meeth to succumb, but not someone like Eryll. We are supposed to be safe from the illness. The world is changing, after all this time…” he cut himself off.

Sherlotta remained silent, folding her arms over her chest.

He looked at her, “Sherlotta?” he inquired.

“It’s just… Oh, never mind.” Her face grew sadder, “Our concern right now is Eryll. The crystal sickness CAN be cured, if we have the right medicine.”

“There’s no guarantee that it would work on the young girl, not in the state she’s in.” He replied.

“Agreed. But we have to try regardless. There’s simply no other way.” She unfolded her arms, “I’ll have to leave the village and search for the medicine… out there.”

He shook his head, “No, no, impossible. We need ye here, to watch over Eryll in case her condition worsens.”

“But I’m the only one who can go into the outside world. Who else…?” She began to think.

“Well, there IS somebody.” He pointed out.

“Uh-uh, no way!” she yelled.

“Remember, Meeth has completed her coming-of-age ceremony. It’s time Meeth be allowed to stand on her own two feet. Besides, she’s going to have to learn about the outside world sooner or later.” He said.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But…” she protested. Shaking her head, she became concerned, “It’s a big, dangerous world out there for a child. How can I help but be scared for her?”

He sighed, “Ye see how much Sherlotta loves ye, Meeth?”

Meeth nodded shyly.

“Huh? H-how long have you been…!?” she was clearly startled. She began to become more nervous, “Listen, I DO trust you. You know that, right? I believe you can do anything you put your mind to!” She said as she fiddled with her shorts.

Meeth had to hold back a giggle, “I know, thank you Sherlotta.” She said cheerfully. Not wanting to cause anymore embarrassment to Sherlotta, Meeth turned her attention to the older yuke.

“Don’t ye mind Norschtalen, now.” He said, “She’s just so worried about little Eryll that she doesn’t know what she’s saying. This crystal sickness that Eryll has caught is a disease that’d been around these parts for hundreds of years. In the old days, many people caught it in their youth. But we had medicine that fixed it soon enough. The thing is, almost no one falls ill with it anymore. Expect for that other time…” he began to wonder off, but quickly brought his attention back to what he was saying. “We never think to keep the ingredients on hand. What would be the point? These days, I reckon most folk haven’t even heard of the crystal sickness!” he explained.

Meeth nodded understandingly, she knew what he meant: there was no point if nobody was likely to catch it. Sadly someone had, and that somebody just so happened to be Eryll.

He continued, “Ye’re not bound by the Law of the village like we are. Ye can do and act as ye please. Ye can go where ye want…” He was clearly trying to suggest that Meeth go in search of the medicine.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, it was just that she’d never left the forest before. She had no idea where to begin. She wanted to try and comfort the others before she left. After all, it would be helpful to get a bit more information before heading out on such a big adventure. So she began to looking around for somebody else. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that Norschtalen, the young yuke, was standing under a tree next to her house. Meeth walked over to her slowly.

Norschtalen looked up as Meeth approached, “Meeth, I’m SO sorry about earlier. I just kind of lost it. I know the village has its rules… I was wrong to yell.” she looked down at her feet. Her head suddenly cocked up, “Meeth, if you leave this village and follow the main road, eventually you’ll reach a big town. I used to live there before I came here to study with Teacher. It’s full of scholars and adventurers who travel there from all over the world. I’m sure someone will be able to sell you the medicine you need for Eryll.” She explained.

Meeth paused for a moment, “Yes, I suppose someone might be able to. Beside, Walt- I mean Teacher was suggesting to Sherlotta that I try and find the medicine.” She practically regretted mentioning it as soon as she said it. Now she definitely had to set out on this quest.

“Really?! You’ll do it?!” Norschtalen cried. She began to jump up and down with excitement; finally, someone was going to be able to help Eryll.

“Of course! Eryll is my friend as well. I couldn’t just leave her now, could I?” She tried to sound more confident. “But first I’m going to talk to the other villagers, see if they can give me some… Advice.” She explained, it was an excuse, so she didn’t have to leave just yet. Still, she knew there was only so much time she could waste before she really would have to leave.

Norschtalen looked slightly sad again. “I’d love to go with you, but I have such a terrible sense of direction, I’d never find the way.” She looked around nervously, before leaning in closer to Meeth, “The truth is, I only stumbled onto this village because I got completely lost in the woods. Teacher is the one who saved me. Since then I’ve gone out lots of times on errands for Teacher but I’ve never even made it out of the woods, let alone reached town. I always get lost and someone has to come and rescue me.” She began to bow repeatedly. “Oooh, Eryll, I’m sorry. I can’t do ANYTHING. Please, please help her, Meeth. She’s the first friend I ever had in this village. If something were to happen to her, I don’t know what I’d do!”

Meeth tried to calm her down. “Don’t worry, I said I’d go, didn’t I? It’ll be fine, you can count on me.” She said in hopes of cheering the girl up.

She looked up at Meeth “I know you’ll find the perfect medicine in town. Bring it back and save Eryll!”

Meeth waved her farewell, before heading over the bridge. She decided to try and comfort the elder first.

“Meeth, it is most unfortunate this has happened on your birthday.” He said, looking somewhat regretful. “I never imagined Eryll would succumb to the crystal sickness, although she IS about that age… The sickness affects some people who live near crystals; it usually strikes in childhood.” He began to go in lecture mode again. “Meeth, you grew up here, so you don’t think giant crystals are particularly unusual but, in the outside world, they probably no longer exist. The crystal in this forest is very special: it is the last of its kind in the world. Once upon a time, crystals were everywhere, and the crystal sickness was common. Well, we call it a sickness, but it’s actually something different. People who catch it become stronger. Afterwards, they never fall ill again. We considered it a blessing, and celebrated whenever a child fell ill with it. Do you remember when you caught it? You were the same age as Eryll. You’ve never been sick since then, have you?”

She shook her head. “No sir, I haven’t.”

He nodded. “And when you get hurt, you heal much faster than normal people. That’s the crystal sickness, too.”

“Wow!” Meeth exclaimed, she was beginning to wonder why everyone was so worried. Alas, the bitter answer to her question came quickly.

“But despite that, Eryll is in serious danger. Even if we had the medicine…” He cut himself off, it was clear he wanted to be left alone.

Meeth walked away quietly, leaving the elder to his thoughts. Instead, she headed down the slope towards the river. There she saw the two lilties.

“Phelple…” Toumli muttered.

Not looking at her, he asked “Mum, is Eryll okay?”

She tried to perk him up a little, “Ilina and Lian are looking after her. They say she’s feeling a little better. We’ll bring her some fruit later, all right?” she suggested, in hopes he’d feel better.

He ignored her words. “She looked really sick, huh? She couldn’t even stand up. But when she gets better, she’ll be stronger than before. After she recovers, she won’t get sick all the time like she used to. Right?” He was trying to hide his concern.

“That’s right. You’ll be playing together in no time.” His mother said.

“Yeah. I sure hope they cure her REAL soon!” he declared.

She was silent for a moment, she hadn’t quite expected him to say that. “Phelple…” she whispered, seeming a little happier.

Meeth decided it was best to leave the pair alone, though she really wanted to talk to them. There was no point, they needed to be alone. Instead she made her way towards the tent. There she overheard another conversation.

“Can’t we make medicine for Eryll with ingredients from the forest?” the selkie woman asked.

Bachenn, her husband answered. “No. When Meeth got sick, we searched and searched, but no luck. Waltrill knows the recipe, but we just don’t have the ingredients we need.”

She grew more concerned. “That girl has a weak stomach, too. I AM worried about her. Crystal sickness always hits hardest the first few days. I wish we could do something, I just hate seeing her in pain like that, trying to act brave.”

“If only we had medicine…” He said glumly.

“What ingredient do we need? Maybe I could look for it?” The boy chimed in.

“I don’t think so!” His father scolded him. “It’s attached to a very powerful monster.”

The boy just stared at his father. “I guess monster huntin’ is kinda over my head.” He looked rather annoyed.

“Ya think?” was all his father could say.

The mother sighed, “What a pair…” She sighed again “I’m worried…” was all she could say.

Bachenn simply repeated, “If only we had medicine…”

The boy added “I sure hope she gets better soon…”

Meeth looked at them all: she couldn’t bring herself to say anything to them, how could she? They were all so worried about Eryll. Meeth walked back up the slop, and sat down by the tree stump. She pulled out her faithful journal and pen. She flicked over to the second page, and at the bottom read what she’d already written, ‘Eryll is sick.’ She thought for a moment, before she added more to the paragraph, ‘They say it’s the crystal sickness. The other villagers can’t leave the forest, so I’m going to town to find medicine.’ She paused, and reread what she’d just written. She knew now that she was the only one they could count on, and she could wait no longer, it was time she set out. Nobody else was going to be able to do anything; it was all up to her. She pushed herself up, and walked over the bridge, towards the exit of the village. Looking up at the lamp, she held her lance close to her chest. “Now or never” she muttered. Sucking in another deep breath she walked into the forest.

Heading north, Meeth weaved her way through the forest until she could see a large clearing. It was such a large amount of open space, that it made her feel unsteady. Never in her life had she’d ever seen anything like it. Hugging her lance as tight as she could, she took a step forward. Taking a step into the world full of the unknown.

<<<<<<<<  Chapter 03: An adult at last                      Chapter 05: The first few steps into a giant world >>>>>>>>