Flamingo

Chapter 7 – Flamingo
There was only one thought that came to my mind as I stared at his unmoving body on the floor: “I am in big trouble.” My heart beat wildly in my chest, and I found my thoughts flying in different directions.
“Hey,” I tapped him with my shaky hands, but he remained still.
I knelt beside him and felt his pulse. It was weak and faint. I sighed in relief, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t get worse. At least he was breathing, and he didn’t show other life-threatening symptoms. At this point, every part of the inn was dead silent, like a graveyard. Everyone must have been sleeping, so I couldn’t ask for help.
I wondered what could have happened to him, but I couldn’t just sit and do nothing. I paced around the room, my brows furrowed with worry as I watched his skin grow paler with each passing second. Then, I suddenly remembered the little orb that Annalise had given me before she left Ruqgu. I didn’t even know how to use it on someone. The darn thing didn’t come with a manual.
So, I sat down and stared at the pouch I put it in for half an hour before I took it out. As if sensing my touch, it stirred awake and shone brightly before changing colors, just like it did the last time. I held it against his chest since I had no idea how it worked, but nothing happened.
His pulse remained weak, and his breathing slowed, multiplying my worry tenfold. I didn’t want a stranger to die in my room. What if the person who poisoned him wanted to frame someone else for his death? I didn’t even know who Petty Wetty was.
What if he was an important person in Nayak? He was obviously not from this village; his clothing and hairstyle indicated that he was from Nayak. The orb continued to shine brightly, but I doubted if it was working at all. Minutes later, nothing had changed, and the light appeared to be dimming as the orb changed back to its lapis lazuli blue color. I cursed under my breath as I watched it fail.
What if Annalise was lying about me controlling the orb and the oath in general? The thought invaded my head as I cried out in frustration. I couldn’t believe I was tricked, and all this sham about a goddess I didn’t believe in had made me a fugitive.
Tears started pooling in my eyes as I stared at both the stranger and the orb I had placed on his chest. I wanted to remove it, but I prayed for the last time that this thing might work on him. My faith in the entire thing was very little, but I hoped that Goddess Natalí heard my plea as I placed it back with a small prayer. My tears dropped on the orb, and before my eyes, it started melting while shining brightly. It became a liquid substance and wrapped itself around my fingers like a cat demanding attention from its owner.
I cried more as I watched what I would have described as magic unfold in front of me. It left my fingers and penetrated his skin, the light spreading throughout his entire body before fading out.
*Blink
He did not move, and nothing happened. Was he dead?
*Another blink
He suddenly rose, and I squeaked in surprise. That scared me! He sat up and stared at me for a while before uttering some words.
“Today, I make an oath to you and Goddess Natalí that I will protect you until the day I draw my last breath,” he said, and the light from the tears shone once again before fading.
So that is how the oath works. Is this how my mother made hers? When I get to Nayak, I must learn more about this goddess and how to wield the power that was given to me. After the oath, he looked around the room as if searching for something before grabbing my chamber pot and emptying its entire contents into it.
I recoiled from the stench of vomit, grateful that at least he had the common sense to do it in my chamberpot rather than mess up the room. After his embarrassing business, he stared at me for a while before dropping the pot beside him.
The content of the vomit looked weirdly purple. Yes, I was right about him being poisoned, but I never thought it could be something as deadly as deadly nightshade, popularly known as Belladonna. A deadly plant that only grows around the banks of Fleur River.
I had a run-in with it when I was young, and I don’t think I would ever forget the experience. I touched the plant because its flowers were pretty, and it had a strong sweet smell. I was around ten years old, and my father took me to the first village to see one of his relatives.
I was playing around Fleur River and touched the death trap. The pain I felt was like hell, but because I didn’t ingest it, it posed no real threat to my life, except for the excruciating pain. But I thought the four kingdoms came together to eliminate every trace of Belladonna from Fleur River? As far as I knew, it was declared a forbidden plant like ten years ago. But how? It is highly deadly when ingested, even in small quantities.
The person who did this wanted him dead, but he was both strong and lucky to have survived. Strong in the way that he could manage to walk even with the instant pain the plant caused by freezing the victim’s blood. It also caused hallucinations, explaining why he was calling himself the king of Nayak. Poor thing.
The tears helped him expel all the contents from his body; otherwise, he could have died. He sat down on the floor, looking at me with a confused expression. I could understand. Even after getting rid of the poison through vomiting or defecating, victims who only touched or inhaled it still suffered from after-effects like arousal and hallucinations. But the victims who ingested it never lived; they died a slow, painful death.
He didn’t utter a word, and my palms started getting sweaty. How I wished I could read minds to know what was going on in his head at that moment, but I had no idea, leaving my anxiety on edge just looking at him stare at me for that long.
“When you’re done staring, I’ll be here waiting for my thank you,” I said with a monotone, and I think only then did he realize I was in the room.
“Ah, I’m sorry. Thank you, I guess, but why is everything so pink?” said my weird stranger. I looked around the dark room with a confused expression. Pink? What in the world? Must be his hallucinations.
“Pink?” I said, holding back a giggle.
“Yes, thank you for saving me,” he said again, and I blinked my eyes, as if my eyes were the right part of my body to confirm I wasn’t hearing wrong. I guessed his situation was rubbing off on me.
“You’re welcome. What is your name again?” I asked him awkwardly.
“Flamingo,” he replied, and at this point, I couldn’t help but laugh. Deadly nightshade is a real challenge. I never thought there would be a day when I would hear a man refer to himself as a flamingo, especially a Nayaki one.
They love their masculinity more than anything and despise pink as a color, preferring purple, blue, and black. But hearing a man call himself a flamingo? A bright pink-colored animal? I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You should get some rest. I’ll get you some water and clean this up,” I said to him, helping him lie down on the bed like a toddler before standing up to dispose of the vomit-filled chamber pot.
I paused as I thought about what I had just done. Did I just lay another man on my bed? Where would I sleep? What would people think if they saw a man leaving my room tomorrow?
“You’re so beautiful,” he mumbled under his breath as sleep gradually overcame him. I smiled but proceeded to do what I had intended to do until he uttered his next words.
“I will kill the man who dares to lay his hands on you again.”
That stopped me in my tracks, and I gulped. How did he know?