Free Questing Sucks! Book II by Kevin Weinberg

do—the worse lie she’d ever tell.
    “It sounds to me like you’re coming down with a cold common to these parts. It does all the things you’ve said.” She turned off her brain and commanded her lips to form a playful grin. “Don’t tell me the Great Sehn is terrified of a little cold?” Cah’lia didn’t know how, but she managed to make herself laugh. “I can’t wait to tell Patrick about this.”
    “A cold?”
    “Of course, Sehn. It’s a common thing around here. They say it’s terribly painful, but the strongest and bravest are rarely bothered by it.”
    Sehn pushed her hand off his lap and jumped to his feet. “Hah! I was just trying to trick you, Fool’lia. The Great Sehn feels no pain. You have seen through my deception, and for that you shall be awarded eight friendship tokens, redeemable in hell.”
    Sehn laughed at her. “Did you really believe that I would say such pathetic words? Not in this lifetime. Now, I shall return to my own room and leave you be. Let this be a lesson for you.”
    Cah’lia watched as Sehn half-walked, half-limped to the other end of the room and pulled the door open before slamming it shut again behind him. The moment he left her sight, Cah’lia counted to five before jumping to her feet and dashing across her quarters—there was no way she’d make it to the washroom near the kitchens. She ripped the decorative flowers out of a pot in the corner of the room, turned it over to let the soil and dirt inside fall out, and then setting it upright again, she placed it down and leaned over it. She didn’t remember what she’d eaten that day, but as she retched and her stomach convulsed, she emptied it all out into the flowering pot.
    Panting, she tried to stand to her feet, but the nausea returned an instant later and she vomited a second time, and then a third. Yet it was the taste of deception—of betrayal—that most soured her tongue. She shivered as she replayed the conversation in her mind.
    She didn’t know for how long she vomited, but by the time she’d finished, Cah’lia fell to the carpets, exhausted. She wiped her lips with the back of her sleeve and buried her face into the floor, hushing her whimpers. She gripped the sides of her head and slammed her mouth shut to suppress a scream. She writhed and came close to pulling the hair out of her head. She had lied. She was liar. She was disgusting. And what a lie to tell, too. A lie which suited a monster. She wasn’t any better than Patrick or Saerith, who used Sehn no differently from the way a blacksmith used his forge.
    When her violent bout of emotion had finally passed, Cah’lia crawled to a nearby wall and leaned against it. There were some promises that couldn’t be kept. She cradled her knees to her chest and wept into her hands.
    “I’m sorry, Sehn. Please forgive me.”
    She felt foolish, but not as foolish as she probably looked, sitting there and bawling like a newborn. What was she supposed to say? Could Sehn even handle the truth? She didn’t know what was right or wrong anymore. All she knew was what Saerina and Patrick had told her—Sehn’s death was a matter of when, not if, and the when was approaching rapidly.
    The desire to vomit faded while her eyes ran dry of tears. When she returned to bed for the night, she could feel the warmth from Sehn still in the blankets and sheets. She wrapped them around herself, as they were all that would stop her shivers.
    “What am I supposed to do? Why won’t anyone tell me what I’m supposed to do?”
    As Cah’lia trailed off to sleep, she decided to speak with Saerina the next chance she was able. Both the humans and elves alike had a common saying—where there’s a will, there’s a way. Cah’lia had no clue how, but some way, through some means, she’d keep Sehn alive.
    There’s always a way
.

Chapter 6: Terrible News
    Sehn let out a small grumble as the sound of ringing bells woke him from his sleep for the third time in the last