Chapter 26
Alistar awoke to a strange sensation. His body was lax and loose, warm beneath a heavy quilt, his head cushioned by something soft.
W...where is this?
He was alone in a spacious room, lying on a large bed that was generously furnished with an unnecessary amount of pillows and rich blankets. A real bed, like his parents had slept in when they were his age. He had never woken so comfortably in his life, had never felt so well-rested.
Walls of smooth stone were outfitted with large, ornamented paintings, along with low-hanging tapestries of thick, grey fabric. A heavy desk sat up against the wall on his right, the padded seat of a wooden chair tucked neatly beneath its surface. Beside him sat a broad night table with the same smooth finish as the chair and the desk, the most stylish wood that Alistar had ever laid eyes on. A great dresser with knobs of polished brass took up nearly half of the leftmost wall. The room was very neat, more lavishly decorated than he'd thought possible. Thinking on it, this was the first actual room he'd ever been in.
Looking over, he noticed a tall glass of water sitting on the night table. It wasn't until he laid eyes on it that he realized the dryness of his mouth and throat. Without thinking, he reached out and drew the glass to his lips, guzzling the contents down like a depraved beast. Placing the empty cup back on the table, his mind slowly began to sober. What was going on? Last he remembered he had been dying by the side of that mountain road.
Throwing off the covers, he saw that he was naked save for a light pair of grey trousers with the legs cut off at the knees. Somebody had changed him out of his clothes.
A sudden panic shot through him.
The crystal!
If whoever had saved him had also undressed him, then there was a chance that they had discovered his prized possession. What if they had unknowingly handled it and died after saving his life? What a horrible way that would be to repay his unknown savior.