Rykka (Beastborne: Book 1)

Part 10: Rescue

Song: Smoke Signals - Phoebe Bridgers

It came as a great surprise to find the same pair of eyes staring down at Lythias as the last time she had awoken from a near death experience. If her ears weren't ringing and she could actually make out any of her surroundings aside from his peculiar black eyes she would've demanded to know where he came from. Why wasn't he with the others? Were they all here? Her heart began to pound as she remembered her situation and sat up. It still took a few moments for her eyes to adjust but she knew why once they did. Lynsias had managed to get them to the forest surrounding the pass somehow. She was relieved to see no signs of the others but she was weary of that notion at the same time.

"Where are the others?" She asked, finally able to form words with her lazy tongue. Silence met her in return. Frowning slightly she turned back to Lynsias, who was now sitting on the ground beside her staring at her with a look she could not understand. "They are safe, they traveled through the other exit. They were surprised when you gave away your position voluntarily." Some part of her swelled at the knowledge that they hadn't assumed she had blundered somehow and had known of her sacrifice upon sight of it.

Lythias said nothing only nodding slightly. They had saved her life, but she knew that even if they hadn't she still would have done the same. They didn't have to owe her anything, they didn't even have to like her, for her to not want their blood on her hands. Even if it was indirectly through sheer circumstance. "How do you feel?" As Lynsias said it, she remembered what had happened before she had lost consciousness. Her body was sore and she could taste that same distinct salty taste on her tongue. Only this time it was bolder and she found she liked how the fresh undertone felt almost refreshing to her dry mouth.

"Fine." She managed to say trying not to think about the pain in her chest that was growing more and more present the longer she sat upright. Lynsias scoffed and she narrowed her eyes at him slightly, looking at him out of her peripherals as she focused on breathing through the throbbing of her chest. Her back felt as if she had been slammed with the force of an entire avalanche yet, she could tell it was much better off than she had been. In fact, she was unsure how she had survived at the moment. The kind of power it would've taken to heal wounds such as those and evade her enemies was not something she had previously thought Lynsias would've, no could've possessed. The type of magic held by those of the plains was entirely different than the type of magic capable of doing such tasks.

Still, as she finally was able to face him, careful to turn her body as little as possible, she could see how exhausted he was. He was pale, at least the few inches of skin she could see was. His eyes were blood shot and glassy and even though he concealed his lower face, she could smell the blood that seeped from his nose. She imagined he couldn't feel much better than herself. In fact, she found that she had an uncanny ability to sense his discomfort, even over her own but she brushed it off.  She was half tempted to lay back and just go back to sleep until her enemies arrived. The pair of them were half dead already and it wouldn't take much to finish them off. The only thing that kept her from succumbing to the idea was the thought of how she would be the one with blood on her hands if Lynsias died tonight. Whether she had asked him or not, he had saved her life and was now suffering severe drain as a direct result.

"We need to move." She said finally, looking down she realized her chest had been exposed in order for him to heal her. She knew skin on skin contact was required but still she was slightly irked that he had not pointed it out sooner for the sake of the weather. A firm chill had set into her bones by the time she was redressed. She wasn't as drained as she thought she would be but she knew that it would come soon. Her body had been storing its essence while Lynsias's had taken over to heal her but now that she was awake she was sure it would start to do its own work on her injuries. So to call for her missing companions she simply whistled. She had been able to feel them in the back of her mind from the second she opened her eyes but she wouldn't be confident they were fine until she saw them for herself.