Chương 48: Granny Grainne

Evan tilted his head, and despite his worry for Oliver, an awed gasp escaped him.

"Tree houses! Of course!" Catriona's and Declan's village was spread out through the forest canopy. Round wooden platforms wrapped around the trunks of the massive trees at different heights, but even the ones closest to the ground were at least thirty feet in the air. The platforms were connected by a number of bridges, walkways, and stairs. They supported houses, some just one or two. Some larger platforms had half a dozen buildings arranged around the tree trunks.

The entire village looked like it was straight out of The Lord of the Rings. Evan leaned in and closely studied Catriona again, but no, no pointy ears under that long blonde hair.

"How will we get up there?" She pointed at the tree trunk.

"We'll use the stairs, of course." Only now did Evan notice a narrow spiral staircase that wrapped around the tree's massive trunk. The foot of the stairs was hidden by bushes and other growth at the base of the tree. If Catriona hadn't pointed it out to him, Evan would've walked right past it. The only issue was that it was a really narrow stair, and the builder seemed to have forgotten the safety railings. Declan was completely unbothered by that fact.

He was already climbing up at a quick pace, ten feet above their heads. Evan wasn't afraid of heights, but that staircase certainly wasn't adhering to any modern building codes. One wrong step and he would fall to his death. He looked at his friends and noticed they seemed rather reluctant to climb the tree's stairs, too. Except Oliver, who just looked like death and was too sick to care about anything but desperately clinging to his last few health points. Catriona seemed to sense their hesitation.

She gave Evan a little push.

"Come on. It looks more frightening from the ground. Little children run those stairs up and down."

"I don't think I'm going to do any running today," Evan said, before wrapping his arm a little tighter around Oliver's waist. Together they started their ascent, and despite having to drag Oliver up every step, Evan soon found his footing. He kept one hand on the tree to steady himself, but Catriona was right. It had looked scarier from below. The rest of his group followed behind, with Catriona going last. Declan had already disappeared from Evan's view.

He'd stopped at the first platform, then used one of the walkways to switch trees.

"Keep going," Catriona called out from behind.

"Grainne's house is further up." They passed three more platforms on their way to the healer. Evan risked a glance down and regretted it immediately. They were at least sixty feet in the air. The last time he'd been this high up was when Leah had talked him into riding the Wild Thing roller coaster at Valleyfair amusement park. He'd been scared shitless back then, too. Finally, Catriona ended their scary climb.

"Stop here." Evan left the stairs and climbed onto a platform. There was only a single house perched up here. It was built from the same dark-colored wood as the platforms, from the same wood as the trees, Evan now realized. That gave it a very natural look, as if it had grown straight out of the tree trunk instead of being built against it. Evan risked a glance over the railing around the platform. Below them was a lot of activity. People in earth-toned clothes moved between the trees and buildings.

He guessed this treehouse village was home to at least a hundred people, but it could've been more. Above them were more levels he couldn't see from his vantage point. If he hadn't been holding up a nearly unconscious Oliver, he would've loved to stay awhile and watch the bustling village. It was truly a fascinating sight, straight out of a fantasy movie, but getting Oliver to Grainne was more important.

Catriona nimbly jumped up the last couple of stairs and hurried right to the house in the middle of the platform. She knocked.

"Granny Grainne? Are you at home?" A moment later, the door opened, and an old, wrinkly woman stuck her head out. Her hair might have been blonde once, like Catriona's, but now it was completely white. She also might have been the same height in her youth, but age had shrunk her significantly. She was hunched over and looked so frail Evan feared a strong wind gust would blow her over the platform's railing.

Her eyes, though, were the same intense light blue as Catriona's and Declan's, and there was a certain sparkle to them that told Evan that Grainne might look ancient, but her mind was still fully intact. The old woman looked at Catriona for a moment before her gaze flickered over Evan and his group, who'd gathered behind the Forest Folk girl. Her eyes narrowed.

"You brought outsiders to our village, Catriona?"

"One of them is injured, Grandmother."

"I can see that…" The old woman's gaze came to rest on Oliver. She leaned forward a bit and studied the wound on his shoulder, which still hadn't stopped bleeding.

"Ah, Earthwyrm, huh?" Evan nodded.

"Yes, we killed it, but he got poisoned in the process. Please, he needs your help. I know we're strangers to you and you don't owe us anything, but if you don't help him, he will die." This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Grainne took a step backward and pulled the door open wider.

"Old Grainne has never turned away a patient in need. Come in, quickly, before anyone else sees you and causes trouble." Evan nodded thankfully, but before he made it over the doorstep, Oliver collapsed. Evan tried to catch his fall, but he couldn't prevent him from hitting the ground with a thud. Grainne tapped Luca on the shoulder.

"You and the red-haired boy, carry your friend inside." She turned around and disappeared into her house.

"Ailie, clear the table. We have a patient!" Luca picked up Oliver's legs and Evan wrapped his arms around his chest. Together, they carried him inside, followed by a concerned-looking Jasper and Catriona, who slammed the door shut behind them with a last glance over her shoulder. Grainne was limping ahead, waving them into a second room. A wall separated her house into four quarter-circle rooms. The one Grainne led them into had a wooden table in the middle.

The walls were covered with shelves filled with hundreds of glass bottles holding colorful liquids and jars with powders, dried leaves, berries, and all kinds of other stuff Evan assumed were potion ingredients. Evan and Luca carried Oliver's limp body over to the wooden table and lifted him up, while Grainne rolled up the sleeves of her dark green tunic.

"Alright, boys, move aside." Evan took a few steps back, giving the healer space to work, but Luca remained rooted to the spot. For a moment, Evan thought Luca was hesitant to let a Forest Folk healer attend to Oliver, but then he realized what had suddenly paralyzed his teammate. The girl—he assumed it was Ailie—waited next to the table, looking expectantly at Grainne while holding a small wooden crate filled with potions. She had the same light blonde hair as Caitriona, but light green eyes.

Luca was staring at her, mouth slightly agape, completely entranced, as if he'd been bewitched by a mythical creature. The girl was very pretty, Evan had to admit that, but he couldn't believe Luca was really gaping at a girl while Oliver was literally dying on the table in front of him. He grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him backward.

"Come on, man, now is not the time." Luca blinked at him as if he'd just snapped out of a hypnotic trance. Grainne had noticed Luca's sudden interest in Ailie too.

"Stop making googly eyes at my assistant and move out of the way," she snapped before elbowing her way past him. Evan heard her mumble, "Young people. So single-minded," before she stepped up to the table.

"Ailie, remove his armor. Quickly." The two women started opening buckles and straps and had Oliver out of his armor within a few seconds. Without the armor, the full extent of his wound became visible and even Jasper, who was standing back the furthest, gasped. The large, bleeding gash on his shoulder was surrounded by a red rim. Not the usual red Evan had seen countless times in infected wounds, but bright red.

A spiderweb of red lines spread out into the tissue around the wound, covering half of Oliver's torso and nearly all of his arm. Grainne held her hand above the wound, palm down. A soft gust of wind blew across Oliver's body.

"The Earthwyrm's spike must have broken off during its attack. Some shards are still inside the wound," Grainne diagnosed.

"We need to remove it to stop the spread of the poison. Ailie, keep the blood clotting powder ready. I'll need to cut the wound open some more and dig the shard out." The wind drew back into her palm, where she reshaped it with a complicated hand gesture. Somehow the old woman managed to focus the wind enough to create a sharp blade that reminded Evan of Alexandra's wind blade ability, but smaller and more precise. Grainne controlled the blade like a puppeteer, making it dig deep into Oliver's flesh.

He gave a weak moan, but otherwise did not react to the ordeal he was put through. A bright red liquid oozed from the cut the blade had made. Too bright to be Oliver's blood. Evan assumed it was the Earthwyrm poison, but he wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad sign that it was coming out of his friend's body in large amounts. He hoped it was good. Out was better than in, right? The next step was less magical and closer to the kind of surgery Evan was accustomed to from his old life job.

Ailie handed the old healer a set of prongs, and Grainne started digging. Jasper cringed visibly and stepped out of the room. Luca stayed, although Evan had the suspicion he only stayed to not look weak in front of Grainne's pretty assistant. Poor Oliver made more feeble sounds of suffering while the healer dug out several shards of a bone-like material from the wound. She dropped them into a glass bowl Ailie was holding out for her. By the time she announced she was done, at least a dozen shards were in the bowl.

Evan checked his party screen to take a look at Oliver's health. He drew in a sharp breath when he saw his health bar. It was sitting at just 4%.

"He's not doing well," Evan said to no one in particular.

"You have to hurry." Catriona gave him an icy look.

"Don't disrupt her concentration," she hissed.

"Grainne is doing very difficult magic."

"She's right," the old woman said.

"This is the difficult part." She took a step and rolled her shoulders as if she was preparing for a boxing fight, but instead of punching someone, she just leaned over Oliver's body, closed her eyes, and breathed in. Evan's eyes grew wide when a tiny whirlwind started to form above Oliver's wound. Strange, red-glowing particles swirled around faster and faster, before they disappeared right into Grainne's mouth.

"What is she doing?" Evan asked, alarmed. Catriona leaned in closer so they could talk quietly.

"She's cleansing the poison. The skill is called Purifying Inhale."

"Won't that harm her? It can't be good for her to breathe all that red gunk in."

"No, she's going to be fine. Just exhausted. It's a very mana-intensive skill, especially when the poisoning is this bad." Grainne was still going, sucking the red poison out of Oliver and into her own lungs like a very wrinkly hoover. Evan kept monitoring Oliver's health bar and noticed his health point decline first slowed down and then stopped completely while Grainne was cleansing his body of the poison. Finally, the old woman stepped back.

She sighed heavily and looked completely drained, but satisfied with her work.

"It's done. All he needs now is rest. And maybe a health potion or two. Ailie, see to that, but remember not to overdo it. We don't want an overhang effect." Grainne left the room, and her body language made it clear she didn't want to be followed. Ailie walked over to one of the shelves, reaching for another wooden crate filled with potions ranging from light sky blue to dark midnight blue. Before she could pull the crate from the shelf, Luca shot forward.

"Here, let me get that for you." He reached up and took the crate from the shelf, handing it over to Ailie with a smile and the same entranced look in his eyes as before. The blonde girl took the crate's handles, but Luca didn't let go. For a long moment they both held on to the box, staring into each other's eyes. It was Catriona who snapped them both out of it.

"Ailie, I think you really should give him a healing potion now." The other girl looked almost startled. Blinking, she looked at Catriona before taking the potion crate from Luca with a shy smile.

"How long until he wakes up?" Evan asked.

"I'm not a healer, but it will be awhile. He needs to be nursed back to health slowly. Too many health potions at once can develop their own toxic effects."

"I didn't know that."

"It will be at least a few hours until he's recovered enough to talk."

"Do you think Grainne would mind if I stayed here and waited while he rests?" Evan asked.

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind, but why don't you let your heart-shaped-eyed friend watch over him? I could introduce you to Lamont in the meantime. He's our tribe's leader, and he might be able to tell you something about these criminals you're hunting."