Alone Together

Chapter Nine

        I wake up with a dry mouth and a pain in my stomach. I'm covered in blood, and for a moment, I wonder what happened. Then it slams into me and I try to sit up before realizing that my fingers are tangled in Helios's. The blood has crusted and both of us are topless. His eyes are already open, examining me. "How do you feel?" he croaks out. I let out an unintelligible groan, and he squeezes my hand. He smiles at me, and then Moon-Song enters with two cups of water. He helps me drink first, holding my head up. I reach up and try to do it myself, but I allow him to help because my hand doesn't seem to work right. I drink greedily, and I make a noise of protest when he pulls it away. Helios can drink by himself. "We almost lost you, Ari," Moon-Song says. I look down at my bare, blood-crusted stomach. A heavy bandage was placed over my wound, stuck in place by whatever means they used. They had told me once, but at the moment I couldn't recall. I glance over at Helios and notice that he has the same bandage. 

        Soon enough, Moon-Song leaves after helping me sit up. I finally let go of Helios's hand after assuring myself that he wasn't going to die because of me. "That was really, really stupid," I murmur. He smirks at me. "I have a talent for doing the really, really stupid things," he jokes. He continues on, more seriously. "But, seriously, A, I couldn't leave you there." I shake my head at him. "You could have left and ran back to camp. You didn't have to injure yourself to save me," I say. It still bothered me. How could he have made that decision when the most we'd talked was so long ago when he'd given me a lesson in magic. "Like I said, the tribe needs you. You were dying, A. I couldn't just leave you," he explains. "Still, now I have no idea how I'm going to thank you," I joke. He laughs, actually laughs, even though I can tell it hurts because he clutches at the place on his side. 

        Days pass and we heal. We get cleaned up, although they forbade us from taking a proper bath until we were better. Ice-Veins increased his preparations for war, bringing us closer to the first battle. He promised he would wait until I was in fighting shape, and we would storm the Tesera camp. From all the stories I had heard, the Akiire approached war reluctantly. It was true, in this case, but once they had made the decision to go to war, they were ruthless. They used the blood of any Tesera memebers found close to the border to repaint our lines, leaving them as a warning. I didn't find out until much later, when Apollo had come in, his eyes bright as he told me the story. Ice-Veins himself had done it, according to Apollo. 

        Weeks later, our wounds healed enough for them to let us bathe. They had wiped away most of the blood, but it felt nice to scrub my skin and hair until I was truly clean. Helios and I had gone down together, with Serana, Astrid, and Apollo to guard us. They turned their backs, but Helios and I hadn't cared. We had been filthy at the time, and hadn't cared. We'd both gotten new clothes to replace our ruined ones, and we'd pulled them on as soon as we got out of the freezing water. We hurried back to camp and sat next to the fire, shivering well into the evening. We stayed away from the main camp for a long time, and eventually Ice-Veins came and asked for permission to attack before we were healed. We told him he was the chief, but to be careful. The next day, they attacked. Helios and I hunkered down outside the children's longhouse. Several warriors stayed at the camp to guard and protect us. We were alone for the better part of the day, and we took the time to talk more. We told each other about our lives before the tribe, and we had lived vastly different. He had been a beggar thief, and his life had been much worse than mine, and mine hadn't exactly been nice. Mostly, we talked to keep our mind off the battle we couldn't fight in.