28 Nadia's Condition

Andri has a moment of confusion when he doesn't hear anything from the Princess. Judging by her previous concern regarding the orphan boy, Andri figures she would run to him the moment he shows up. When she remains silent, he turns and sees her slumped on the ground unconscious. Andri rushes over immediately, his hands glowing orange with Soma Asura as he touches her forehead searching for the problem.

The orange glow spreads throughout her body as he curses under his breath. Irvin and Andri both knew her body wasn't well, but she refused to stop moving until we met up with the others. Andri's brows scrunch when he figures out the problem and realizes it's worse than he thought. It's something he can't fix; he's not strong enough.

Commander Irvin comes over and asks, "Is there a problem?"

"Her condition is more severe than I thought," he replies.

"It's more than just exhaustion?"

"Yes, she has a sickness I've only seen in Primals brought over as slaves. The sudden change from the freezing lower Outlands to the warm rocky Miota causes them to need a period of adjustment to their new climate. When their owners push them without giving them time, their bodies can't handle the new environment, and they've been known to die."

A loaded silence stretches between them. Filled with an unspoken confirmation. After all, as the Princess grew up on the highest mountain in the four kingdoms, how can her body be unaccustomed to the environment? Irvin quiets as he processes the new information.

"Should we do something about this?" Andri couldn't help asking as he stares at the Princess. It doesn't take a genius to know if she is replaced then it could bring danger to the kingdom.

Irvin clenches his jaw, "All we need to do is bring back Princess Nadia," trying to convince himself, "The tests show she is the Princess," sigh, "For now, can you heal her?"

"No, it's not a disease I can kill nor is it reconnecting bones and tendons. I can return her body to a normal state, but she would become sick again because I'd be preventing her body from adapting." Andri answers distressed at his failings, "I'm not strong enough, and her condition is more severe than the ones I've seen before. It's a miracle she held on as long as she did."

"What do you suggest?" Irvin asks, quick to the point.

"We need to give her body time to adjust."

"How long?"

"It can take one to three days."

"Can she be moved?"

"I'd advise against it."

"How much danger would she be in?"

"If it gets worse her lungs could collapse, she can go blind, or develop mental disabilities, and worse case death."

Commander Irvin falls quiet for a long moment before coming to a decision. "We'll eat, rest, and then keep going. It decreases the chance of our enemies finding us. We'll have to travel slow, but it's safer to be moving. We'll carry Princess Nadia in shifts throughout the day."

"Understood," Andri answers.

____________________

Irvin leans against a tree keeping a lookout. Lark lays on the ground with his hands folded behind his head. He looks to be sleeping, but at the sign of trouble, he's the first to spring into lethal action. Andri sits against a tree occasionally checking the Princess' current condition. The orphan boy fidgets nervously as he lay next to her. He has been like that since he saw the state she was in; while Scias and the slaves cook the animal Lark caught.

Lark speaks up, "It has been bothering me, but why didn't the attackers take her when they had the chance. We were busy fending them off. There was plenty of opportunities to grab her."

Andri cuts in, "Maybe they just wanted to free the captives."

Irvin adds, "If that's true, they didn't need to stick around to fight me."

Lark replies, "And their goal wasn't to kill anyone. It seems more likely they wanted to stall."

"Makes sense, they didn't have any killing intent, so they aimed to injure to slow us down," Irvin concludes.

Lark says, "It also explains why they used such a high-level spell on the oza and tried to kill the pleos. It wasn't just to distract, but to destroy quicker transportation."

Andri asks, "If they're not trying to take her back and instead slow us down, then what's the point?" Irvin and Lark look at Andri with surprise because he has never spoken this much without being asked a direct question.

"They have back-up coming?" Lark asks.

"It's also possible they don't want her in the capital for some reason," Andri includes.

Irvin sighs, "either way, Lark, set up extra precautions. There are too much we don't know so we're going to take a detour to throw them off our trail."

"That increases the chance of running into larger predators," Lark reminds him.

"Don't we still have the spells to keep them at bay?" Irvin asks.

"We have a few that didn't burn but using them leaves us open to detection spells."

"Then we'll wait on activating them when we get moving. Get ready because we'll continue after eating."

"Understood."