🔥 The Path of Fire (Path of Light and Fire Book #1)(Completed) 🔥

Chapter 29.1: Interregnum part 1

Leena regained consciousness, stiff as a board. She tried to open her eyes to look around, but they refused to cooperate. She lay there afraid, not knowing where she was or whose custody she was in.

She needed something to drink.

"Water, please," she rasped.

Something pressed to her lips and she drank greedily. The stiffness subsided and she pried open her eyes. Alaina stood above her, a white strands of hair hanging in the center of her face. Her eyes were sunken and puffy.

"Did it work?" Leena asked.

"Did what work?"

She opened her mouth and Alaina fed her some more water.

"When I got there, the three of you were just lying in the dirt. Sakima's explanation didn't make much sense. He said Sabin was just stumbling along killing anything that came in his path and you and Turrent stayed behind to stop him."

Leena waved the gourd of water away, a new appreciation for the ability to move her hands. "That's pretty much the truth." Her head spun as she tried to sit up. "Where is he? Is he still-?"

"Shh." Alaina put her finger on Leena's lips. "You are not in danger. Rest."

Alaina tapped her on the temple and she fell asleep.

**********

This time she was able to move. She wiggled the fingers on her right hand and the wrist was fine. She sat up and connected the dots. Their gambit worked; Alaina and Sakima had nursed them back to health.

She recognized the room of the Dice's Inn. A table held a water gourd and a couple of apples. She drank the entire gourd of water and inhaled the apples, dropping the cores in the empty container. She felt much closer to hale and stepped outside.

Leena walked down the hall, stopping in front of a Yuan warrior. He nodded inside. Sabin sat on the bed with his shirtless back to the door.

She knocked on the open door. "How are you feeling kid?" Leena remained in the doorway just in case things weren't as settled as Alaina suggested.

Sabin said nothing. If his back didn't rise and fall she'd be more worried. He either didn't know she was there or didn't care.

"He's been like that since we brought him back."

Sakima's eyes were bloodshot and his shoulders sagged.

"He hasn't spoken?"

"Not one word," Sakima continued. "He rotates between staring at the wall and lying on his side in a ball. He eats, but not much else.

"What about Turrent?"

"He's still on bedrest." Sakima pulled her into the hallway. "Wassa wants your permission to talk to the Dragon."

"Who the hell is Wassa?"

Sakima shook his head. "Wassa is the woman you kiss-drowned and the head of this Yuan army."

Kiss-drowned, is that what we're calling it?

"She wants my permission to talk to the dragon? What in Schewa's name is a dragon?"

"It's not a what, it's a who. 'Yusabin is the Dragon'."

"I'll meet with her later," Leena said. "The most important thing is that everyone is okay. Where's Kianna?"

Sakima flinched and refused to make eye contact. "You should talk to Alaina."

He led her further down and knocked on the adjacent door. Then he pushed it open.

Alaina sat on a bed, flipping through a leather book. Her head popped up and she graced Leena with a half-smile.

That was all the confirmation Leena needed. She ran and gave Alaina a hug. "I'm so sorry. How?"

"Yulan."

Leena knew that would be the answer, but it still sent her into a fit of anger. "At least the bastard got what he deserved."

"What do you mean?" Alaina asked.

"When Sabin went all berserker, the first thing he did was put his fist through his chest. If he's still alive, I doubt he's eating much more than soup."

"Small victories," Alaina said.

The whole vibe Alaina exuded was strange. Leena had seen grief in many forms. People would bury themselves in activity. Others would shut down like Sabin clearly had. Alaina seemed likely to be the inconsolable type, still in tears long afterwards. Either she'd misjudged Alaina or the girl was hiding something.

She wouldn't push it now. The wound was too fresh and whatever Alaina was hiding she probably had good reason to.

She'd keep an eye on the girl, though. Just in case.