Love and Other Magical Adventures

four

We were sleeping that night when awoken by a scream. Grim in dragon form was on his feet before I could get fully out of my tent. I knew it was unlikely an intruder had gotten through the wards and indeed the source was immediately discernible; Sylvie, asleep, was thrashing around as if fighting an invisible person.

I dropped to my knees beside her bedroll, reaching to touch her arm through the blue plaid blanket in which she was tangled up. 

Be careful, Grim warned, because her mental shield had come completely down and her raw fear was so intense I could feel it. All I could focus on however was stopping it, for both of our sake, because it was too much to bear.

At my touch her eyes flew open and she pushed me away. Then recognition dawned and she clung to me instead, damp and fragile and smelling like my favorite flower from the salve. My initial surprise was bypassed by the emotional pain emanating from her and I automatically held her and patted her back, trying to ease some of it. Any of it.

She gasped for breath, not fully awake, defenses still lowered. Grim and I flinched from the nightmarish images erupting out of her mind, which he could perceive via me. Large, knobby-knuckled hands reaching, poking with hot irons. The fact that they'd seen her only as a fancy pet had perhaps saved her from some aspects of abuse, but they had definitely been overly generous with their cruel games and laughter over the years.

"Shhh," I said through my own horror, rocking her a little. Tremors wracked her body. In my mind rose the sight of her scars and wounds she'd borne upon rescue and in response I unintentionally sent a blast of tranquil healing into her, losing control just long enough for some wild magic to slip in.

It was too much and she relaxed against me until I was left holding up her weight. "Damn," I amended, because it had temporarily sapped my own reserves as well.

I guess I should have clarified; I meant be careful with your heart, Grimmer sent me dryly, returning to his human form in case I needed assistance.

Shut up Grim. I didn't need him lecturing me.

Also, as we both knew, it was a bit late for that.

I shifted my position to hold her more comfortably. She was waking again and I hoped being in my arms wouldn't scare her, but when I tried loosening my grip hers only intensified. "You're okay," I said as she looked around hazily. Her guard was still down, the violent colors of the nightmare fading, the baby blue of vulnerability surrounding us now. "You're safe."

"I'm really here?" she asked in wonder, and warrior or no, just then she was nothing but a traumatized girl. "I'm really free?"

My heart ached as I continue to cradle her. "You're really free," I agreed softly. "You had a nightmare."

She shook her head a little to clear it, the effects of the magic making her sleepy, then pulled back from me as her mental defenses snapped into place. She drew the blanket up ."You did something to me." Her tone was more questioning than accusatory.

Guilt plagued me anyway. "I'm really sorry, it got away from me. I wouldn't normally presume to mess with someone's emotions like that, especially without your permission, but you were, um, in a lot of distress." I didn't want to stand over her, so maintained my position in the cold dirt, sitting on my heels. "I had to help," I offered weakly as explanation.

"She can't not help," Grimmer clarified. "Especially as she shares some of your emotions during such times and the healing can be triggered automatically."

She swallowed and wiped her face, the shaking starting to abate. "The dreams can be...bad." Feebur appeared out of nowhere and zoomed into her lap, staying there. She grabbed a handful of earth and let it sift through her fingers while the other hand stroked the small creature. "Thank you. I'm alright now."

I nodded and rose finally, a bit woozy, going back to my tent. I know, I know, I thought to my friend as I sank down onto my blankets. The walls spun slightly. Don't get too attached.

Might be a little late for that. You okay?

He was right to ask, for there was no mistaking the dizziness that continued to worsen. My heart sank. No, I answered, trying to ignore the fear that accompanied it. I wished she wasn't there to see, but then I mostly ceased to care as my mind grew foggy.

He was already moving toward me, having caught the scrambled thoughts from my mind. You're okay, he sent me now to reassure me, suddenly at my side. He began unscrewing the top on the vial around my neck. "Don't be alarmed," he told Sylvie, but at that point things were already starting to fade from me and his voice was distant.

I struggled to make sense of things even as darkness soaked into my peripheral vision like spilled ink. I tried to hold onto reality, fighting the void as the seizure took hold and finally wrung wakefulness from me.

When I rejoined the world, my eyelids were too heavy to lift at first. I could sense Grimmer next to me, and taste the oddly flavored oil he had put under my tongue that kept the attack from being ten times worse. Unfortunately it didn't keep me from being drained to the core and feeling full of lead.

"Welcome back." He spoke aloud for Sylvie's sake. 

"Mmm," I managed, making my eyelids open. He helped me sit up and drink some tea.  Of course this had to happen, I sent him as some of my strength returned. I saw her pointedly looking away from us and embarrassment warmed my face as I looked at him again. How long?

"It's been about ten minutes." His eyes were black, with specks of light in them, for dragons had stars in their eyes. It was a permanent reflection even in daylight or underground, and for him extended to his human form.

Feebur whined from my lap and I slowly raised a weighted hand to stroke him.

She was watching me, expression and emotions unreadable. "Did that occur because you helped me?"

I didn't like to lie, so I rarely did. "They're frequently triggered by wild magic," I allowed, reclining again so that Feebur settled on my stomach. "When my own is gone I can tap into it, or sometimes it sneaks in as in this instance, and it's unpredictable. I have a difficult time controlling it when things are...intense. It's a great fault of mine." It stung to admit this.

Grim took over, knowing verbal speech was exhausting for me. Stop it, he admonished me in regards to my last sentence. "They've happened her whole life, though five years ago we found an oil that lessens the attack greatly." That was an understatement, as they used to last up to an hour and sometimes leave me incapacitated for days.

"I'm sorry to have caused it." Her voice was small and I didn't have to see her aura to know how regretful she was.

I shook my head as he waved off the apology for both of us. "You have nothing to apologize for. It's what Lorali does. Who she is."

I would have agreed but I found my eyes were closed again.

"She is amazing," I heard Sylvie say. She thought I was amazing? I tucked it away for savoring later.

"She is." He pulled my blankets up, warming them with a simple charm. I was always freezing after and this time was no exception. "She thinks the same of you."

Her raspy voice reached my ears. "For what it's worth, I feel as if a heavy burden has been lifted from my soul, somehow."

I was mostly asleep as heat crept into my bones but felt a burst of joy at that. "It's worth a great deal," he assured her. That one wasn't too bad, he observed lightly privately, though I knew how much they disturbed him to see. He sat in the doorway of my tent and strummed his ukulele. Go to sleep, he told me, and I did.