Fractured Crown (Book 1: Terra)

Chapter 14

Hours later, Raena was finally sitting up, hissing slightly at the pins and needles sensation she felt along her body. She kept herself from gagging as she looked down at her left forearm. Staring at the layers of skin that had been ripped off by the draugr's vicious teeth made her sick with both anger and fear, and she looked away, slowly standing up and ignoring the pain that shot up her leg. She had thought the thorn bush she had landed in had only scratched the surface of her thigh, but it seemed it had cut deeper than she had initially suspected.

She scanned the small medical room, eyeing the many wooden bookshelves stacked with books, herbed potions, flora, and aromatic oil essences – all of which Grandpa Sage had either collected or concocted during their years in hiding. Her gaze finally landed on the messily arranged table, where a roll of bandages had been left. She walked towards it and unrolled enough to wrap it around her arm a few times. She tore at the fabric and placed what was left of the bandage roll back onto the table.

"Need help?"

Raena turned towards the familiar voice. Braedon leaned against the entrance, arms crossed, a small frown plastered on his face – not a look of disapproval. She couldn't recall Braedon ever disapproving anything she had done. Rather, he seemed riddled with concern. Raena held up her loosely bandaged arm in response, and he walked towards her unwrapping it.

"You should probably put some lotion on it first to keep it from infecting," Braedon suggested softly.

Raena looked past Braedon, towards the entrance, half-expecting the draugr to appear there. She kept her gaze averted from the fleshy mess that was her arm, and if Braedon was as disgusted as she felt, he made no show of it while he picked up one of the bottled antiseptic lotions on the table and began rubbing it gently over her arm. Raena bit the inside of her cheeks to keep from crying out as the cool, thick liquid sunk into her wound.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" Raena asked, more as a means of a distraction than genuine curiosity. The small window on the far side of the room had darkened with nightfall, the temperature having dropped considerably, and the starry night sky appeared to blink at her sleepily. She wanted nothing more than to lay back down on that stone bed and fall into a dreamless slumber. But that was out of the question.

"Because," Braedon shrugged casually, placing the bottle back and picking the bandage back up to begin wrapping the wound. "You can't sleep."

Raena tried to meet his gaze gratefully, but he looked fixated on her arm.

"It's not that I can't sleep, technically," Raena tried to sound optimistic. "I just don't want to. Not with that zombie thing chasing me in my subconscious," Raena half-chuckled, but it sounded awfully hollow. An image of the monster's blue, pitiless eyes flashed in her mind, and the sound of its neck snapping rang in her ears.

He tied up the bandage and Raena dropped her wounded arm by her side, sighing before sitting back down on the stone bed. She was so, so tired. Braedon sat beside her, and a long silence passed between them.

"I'm sorry," Braedon said finally. His voice was so quiet, Raena wasn't entirely sure if she had heard him correctly. "I'm sorry I can't... help in any way."

Raena noticed his hands in his lap, curled into tight fists. She blinked up at him, masking her surprise.

"What do you mean?" she held up her bandaged arm. "You've helped plenty. There's nothing anyone can do."

"I mean," he shook his head. "I'm not like Grandpa. I don't have powers that can help you. I don't even know what I can do."

Raena remained silent. She wasn't sure what to say. It would make sense if Braedon had received his grandfather's powers, the earth element, or even his grandma's – the water element. And yet, it seemed he had acquired neither. He never spoke of his parents, though it was probably because he never got the chance to know them. Unfortunately, they had died during the early stages of the Elemental War, and Grandpa Sage was always limited in supplying information about his beloved, deceased son and daughter-in-law. All Raena knew was that both parents were Terrans, so that ruled out any chance of him being any of the other remaining elements. Which was strange, and Raena had once searched as thoroughly questioned Grandpa Sage, but all distant relatives seemed to have a direct link to the Terran bloodline – the only exception being Braedon's grandma – who had, unfortunately, also moved on from this life.