Black Blood

-B2- Chapter 16

I don't know how long I stare into the darkness until my eyelids rise from their trans. It takes a while for my eyes to get used to anything but darkness. Slowly I sit up straight as I try to realise where I am.

I am lying in Alisha's bed, in an empty room. I don't remember how I got here, nor what happened after I spoke to Nalu. All I remember are the colours and the darkness. That voice, that boy's voice.

It's not the first time that voice has crossed my mind in my dreams. Each time I feel the fear, hear the fear but see nothing. It's a voice that sounds so familiar but I can't put my finger on the person. Sometimes the line between fantasy and reality blurs, sometimes it seems real.

'You're awake'. Surprised, I look up at the door. The lady I have been avoiding for months stands in the doorway, dressed in a black dress. The dress is simple, with no embellishments or embroidery. Her hair is put up in a bun and her extraordinarily blue eyes look at me with multiple emotions. Alisha walks slowly in my direction while I push myself sitting down. I don't know what to say so I say nothing

'Every time you come here you end up unconscious in my bed,' she tries to get the uncomfortable atmosphere out of the air. I'm too focused on her choice of clothes to laugh. I always wear black myself, purely because it was taught to me when I lived in the castle. I now know that besides being my father's favourite colour, it is also the colour of mourning. Other peoples wear that colour only after death visits.

'Why are you wearing black?' I ask with mounting nerves. Alisha slowly sits down next to me on the bed, looks at me with a sigh.

'King's army attacked several villages last night, including us. They rounded up dozens of elves, put them in the square and hanged them. Then they burned the empty houses to the ground, along with the stables where the horses stood.' My heart shoots into my throat, the air seems to have been knocked out of my lungs. I do not know what I am hearing and certainly not how to realise it. All those elves in the temple, drinking and laughing. Dozens of them are dead. My shock may be warped given my goals over the past few months but it is no less sincere. These elves were innocent, had no chance.

'Why?' I ask as I can actually fill in the answer already. Christiaan and my father have been looking for me for some time. It's a miracle I'm still here and I couldn't tell you how.

'It was a warning,' she replies slowly. She looks away towards the ground.

'A warning about what?' My words come out of my mouth ever more quickly and ever more irritated. Shock begins to give way to anger.

'For when we would help you.' With that answer, I knock the covers off me, swing my legs off the bed and push myself upright. That getting up quickly was not a good idea soon becomes apparent. My legs seem to have no strength left and the stars find their way back in front of my eyes. I hold myself to the wall for a few seconds before putting everything aside and starting to stagger towards the door.

'Celeste please sit back down. The cunraab hasn't fully worn off yet.' I completely ignore her comment and the fact that I am walking in a nightgown. I don't know by whom or when I was changed but I don't have time to worry about it. I need to see it, I need to see what my father is capable of.

I don't have balance, nor speed but I still manage to wiggle my way to the door. I put my hand on the doorknob and pull open the wood without thinking. The smell of fire and death hits my nostrils without pardon. The smell of burning human flesh reverberates in the air.

What I ingested last night I do not know but clearly it is not elaborate. At that awful smell, nausea hits me in the face.

My body doesn't hesitate for a moment to throw out everything I ingested yesterday. I just barely manage to turn myself towards the side of the house before my intestinal contents hit the grass. My eyes close, my hands try to keep the nightgown clean and I can do nothing but wait.

'Fuck Celeste,' says Alisha behind me as she grabs my hair. The burning contents leave my gullet until there is nothing left. I spit the vomit taste out my mouth, wiping my lips on my arm.

As soon as Alisha lets go of my hair, I stubbornly start walking on. You would expect that now that the booze is out of my body the dizziness would also subside, nothing could be further from the truth. I stagger along the stone paths towards the source of the corpse smell. The closer I get to the square, the stronger the smell of burning flesh becomes. The smell almost makes me lose my non-existent intestinal content once again.

The black-clad elves standing outside their houses look my way in surprise. I can't blame them given my appearance. I also don't know how I manage to end up at the foot of the square but what I do know immediately is that I would have been better off staying in bed. The smell of death is stronger than ever.

Hanging in the oak tree are five ropes formed into a loop. People are still hanging from three of those loops, from the fourth they are just taking someone off and the fifth is empty. In front of the oak is a pile of wood on which dozens of corpses are being devoured by the fire. Around the spectacle, dozens of elves shrouded in black stand, weeping.

Defeated, I look at the situation, barely realising what is happening. I have known for some time what my father is capable of but seeing it in dead bodies makes me realise the reality, The man is a monster.

What I only realise once I stare ahead for minutes in that most of the elves are not standing around the fire with the dozens of corpses but the one next to it. What or who lies on top of the others pile I cannot see through the sea of people. Slowly I get my legs moving again.

The realisation that I haven't seen Novak yet only now hits me. My heart hits my throat again, my hands start to sweat and I hold my breath. Novak can't be dead, he can't be. Slowly I push myself through the people, ignoring the angry tear-stained faces.

The panic in my body rises with every step. I want to look away, to escape reality. Tears begin to find my eyes as I move closer with each step.

'Watch out,' an elderly woman grumbles as I make my way past her. I ignore her comment and walk on. As soon as another elf blocks my view I stay still. I don't want to see it, I don't want to watch Novak burn.

Slowly, the first tear leaves my right eye. I can't do this alone, I don't want to do this alone. I close my eyes for a few seconds, take a deep breath and want to take a step forward. The moment I put my foot in front of the other a hand is placed on my shoulder. I want to turn around, yell at the person but as soon as I see who the hand belongs to I immediately forget about it.

I don't know how fast to fly around Novak's neck. Instantly, the two familiar arms find their way around my body. The tears seem unstoppable. I will have to apologise for his wet shoulder later. The relief that finds my body is indescribable. All the pent-up feelings of the last few months seem to leave my body with the fear. All the uncertainty, panic and moments when death almost came to visit me. Novak's warmth never felt so good.

'I'm here,' he says softly with his face in my hair. It takes a long time for my body to stop shaking and the tears seem to have dried up. I slowly lift my head off his shoulder and look into the two familiar red eyes. Ideally, I would like to kiss him but I haven't forgotten about my upcoming marriage.

Novak smiles small as he dries my cheeks with his fingers. Slowly the realisation sinks in that Novak is not the one on the pile of wood. The question remains, then who is it? I swallow, take a breath of air and slowly turn my head.

The person in front of me has shifted, giving me a straight view of Nalu's body being devoured by the fire.