Page 117 of Earthbound

Yeeran reached for the vial, ready to bring it to Furi’s lips, but the queen turned away.

‘Give it to my citizens first.’

‘No, Furi.’

‘This is a command,’ she said weakly, though her eyes still sparked with annoyance. ‘Give it to my citizens first.’

Yeeran shook her head. ‘You cannot command me, for I am not one of your subjects. I will not do this, Furi.’

Furi looked past Yeeran until her gaze locked with Jay’s. ‘Do it.’

Jay hesitated, but only for a second, then they took the vial from Yeeran before she could protest.

The conversation had exhausted Furi and she lay back, her eyes closing.

‘I’ll have my healers distribute the medicine as quickly as I can,’ Jay said, a practical coldness to their tone. They strode to the door, but before they left, Jay turned back to Yeeran and she could see their face was wet with tears. ‘Call for me if anything changes. She might not survive much longer.’

Yeeran let out an anguished scream as Jay left.

‘I refuse to cry for you, Furi. Tears are for people dead and gone. But you are here still, and I am not letting you leave to the beyond. You hear me?’

But Furi did not hear her. She had fallen back into a fitful sleep.

Yeeran strode to the window. The air was thick with smoke. Rayan had set a controlled fire in the agricultural fields, sacrificing acres of harvest in the hopes that the locusts could be destroyed.

But from the specks still circling above, it had not worked.

‘It’s all burning, Furi,’ she whispered. ‘I will not let our love turn to ash too.’

—

‘How goes the distribution of the cure?’ Rayan asked Yeeran, later that day. His face was streaked with dirt and sweat.

‘We have enough, but for some it has been too late already. We lost four more today.’

‘Furi?’

‘She’s hanging on. But she’s refused the tincture until everyone else has had it first.’

Rayan swore and slammed his hand down on the fence that separated them.

‘Are the fires helping?’ she asked.

‘No, I’ve been told that the swarm will have likely laid eggs by now. We could be plagued with them for many months yet.’

‘We won’t survive much longer. We don’t have enough food.’

‘I know,’ Rayan bit back. Then he rubbed a hand over his face. ‘I’m sorry, it’s been a long day. Made more complicated by this.’ He reached into his pocket and removed a letter.

Yeeran started to read.

Grandson,

I have pleaded for many hours for this slip of paper, I hope it reaches you safe.

Though I have not seen them with my own eyes, we have heard that locusts swarm the city. There is a plant, the knellsheen mushroom, whose spores emit a pesticide. It is labelled in my shop though you would be better growing the plant to maturity with your gift. It will rid the fields of locusts.

Hopefully this information can go some of the way to healing your trust in me. I realise now that I have never told you how much I regret my actions against Lettle. Know I do, greatly.