Tales of Love and Power

Chapter 22: Mahaila

Mahaila lay on her bed cushion feeling every part of her body aching. Her vision blurred through the pain radiating from her swollen face. Her breathing was shallow and weak. She gasped and whimpered softly as Madam Rozar worked to clean her wounds. Even though her touch was gentle, the salve against her open wounds felt unbearable to Mahaila.

"Stop," she begged her voice barely above a whisper. "It hurts," she spoke weakly as she turned away from Madam Rozar's hand.

Madam Rozar stopped seeing how Mahaila was aching. She turned to Supervisor Astrea who was watching closely from across the chamber. "She's in too much pain for me to apply the salve." Madam Rozar said to Supervisor Astrea her voice laced with concern.

"Then give her something to make her sleep." Supervisor Astrea suggested with a flicker of compassion. Madam Rozar fed Mahaila a sleeping pill and within minutes, she began to surrender to the slumber that beckoned her. But as she began to fade into the darkness a single thought crossed her mind "My veil." She mumbled trailing off as consciousness slipped from her grasp. "I need my veil..."

Confused by her statement, Madam Rozar looked toward Supervisor Astrea for an answer. "She had a veil with her when we found her on the golden path."

"Go bring it here." Supervisor Astrea ran to find the veil as Mahaila fought to stay awake. When she returned and handed Mahaila the veil, Mahaila clung to it to her chest. Carrying a piece of Abzalin and her newfound faith close to her. Under the effect of the pill, she fell into a deep sleep. Two two women continued their work as Mahaila slept and in her slumber, she could hear Madam Rozar's voice lulling her like a distant echo.

Mahaila dreamed that the voice belonged to the mother that birthed her. She dreamed of the way her mother would smile while bandaging her scraps and cuts. In those days, it felt as if a smile from her mother would heal all of her bruises. Her mother's smile seemed so real as if she could reach out and she'd be there. But then the dream shifted. Her mother's smile faded. The comforting image of her mother comforting image was contorted with grief.

She was crying.

Begging.

She looked as heartbroken as the day her father was taken from them. When sickness plagued him so quickly that they had barely had time to say goodbye.

It didn't feel like a memory, but rather as if Mahaila was reliving it. The memory pulled Mahaila down an abyss of her deepest trauma- her dark night when she was left by Supervisor Kalza in the woods, the lonely nights in the dungeons, and then sharp burning pain of when Hazeda attacked. They all came back at once. One agonizing memory after another, making her relive every cruel moment once more.

Mahaila felt helpless, unable escape her fears and losses. Though she slept she felt no peace as she spirals in pain and sorrow.

She woke with the sun in her eyes. Her body aching was nothing compared to the weight of her that lingered in her heart. The pain of the past, present, and the ever-uncertain future that she now feared to behold.

As the morning sun spilled into her room, it's soft light shined upon her eyes. She blinked awake, the fluttering of her swollen eyelids sending shark herbs through her bruised face.

She was alone when she regained consciousness.

Her head pounded as if her thoughts had become too heavy to bear.

She slowly opened her eyes and the outline of her empty room coming into spoke.

Her eyes landed on the mirror and it beckoned for her to approach it. She needed to see how much damage she suffered.

Mahaila swallowed the lump in her throat her head pounded as she sat up, and her heart raced in anticipation. She groaned as she swung her legs to the side of the bed. Her legs felt weak as she took a deep breath in anticipation of what she had to do next. Her head was spinning as she stumbled as she stood and nearly fell.