The Might of Evil Dreams (A Novel of the Elemental Chronicles)

Twenty-Six - A Seal Upon the Heart

Thomas

I am a child again, running the grounds with my brother. We see Lucian and our mother on the garden path ahead of us, and we hurry to catch up. But the path seems to stretch the faster we run, and the further they are away from us. I can see them turning, my mother's hand extending towards us. Francis soon falls behind, and the last thing I feel of him is his hand, slipping out of mine. And then I am running by myself, the air turning thick and my feet weighing me down. I cannot run, and when I try to take a deep breath, the thickened air rushes into my nose and mouth, choking me.

I came gasping and thrashing out of my dream, covered in a cold clammy sweat. I heard a deep voice in the distance, coming closer. Then a cool hand landed on my forehead, and another on my chest, keeping me down. I blinked the blur out of my eyes, looking into Dr Granby's face, and the sight of the old man brought tears rushing to them. I sat up and pulled him forward, into an ungainly embrace. He was so surprised he couldn't react.

"My dear Thomas," he said as I let him go, now fully realising the untowardness of the contact. "What an ordeal you have been through, my boy. It is a miracle you and Lady Dorchester survived."

I reached up to wipe at my face, wincing at the ache in my cheekbone. Granby gently tugged my hand away, inspecting his handiwork. It was bandaged up my wrist and across my palm, but the itch there told me I had stitches.

"What state did you find us in?" I asked him when I sagged back into my pillows. I was in my father's old bedroom, and many of his touches still remained: dark leather, deep red velvet, an imposing oil portrait of him above the fireplace I had never noticed before.

"Unconscious, the both of you. And unresponsive, to boot." He tugged at his waistcoat as he sat down next to the bed. "You and Her Ladyship, covered in blood. Collapsed across your chest, she had, and still holding your hand."

Emmeline. I'd nearly forgotten. "How is she? Is she all right? May I see her?"

"Relax, Thomas, relax." He restrained me with one hand on my shoulder. "She is faring just fine. I patched her up while you were sleeping."

"But she...she was..." I thought of the blood I'd seen on her, streaked up her hands and arms and oozing down her neck. "She was bleeding..."

"Fortunately, the worst of her physical injuries is only a cracked rib. Judging by the bruise, it appears she fell on it and broke it with her elbow." He said it all with a straight face, but I could hear the slight amusement in his voice. Frankly, there was nothing humorous about this.

"When can I see her?" I sat up again, making to climb from bed. But my knees suddenly gave way beneath me and I found myself sprawled on the rug.

"When you can stand, son, that's when." Granby took one of my arms, hauled me upright, and then set me back in bed. "And it appears you're in no fit state to do that yet."

"How soon can I?" I was anxious to see her. The last thing I remembered was Blanchard forcing the sword into her hand, asking her to harvest my Essence. After that, everything blurred together.

"It depends. Having the Essence nearly torn from your person is a rather taxing ordeal for the body." He pulled the sheets up around me again, patting my hand on top of them. "You must rest now, Thomas. I'll return to check in on you in a little while."

I tried to protest. In fact, I wanted to. But my eyelids felt as if they had weights tied to them. I let them fall shut, falling down into a deep dreamless sleep soon after.

||

My next visitor, when I woke, was Johnny. At first I was shocked to see him there, because I'd seen Blanchard fire at him, and Emmeline screaming his name as he fell. But now he was here, intact, although a bit pale. One of his arms was in a sling, and it occurred to me that Blanchard's shot must have missed a vital area. That, in itself, was nothing short of miraculous.