Into Taleria

Chapter Twenty Five

"Kate? Kate!" The voice called as if from far away, garbled and fuzzy like a call about to be dropped.

She cracked her eyes open, just a slit, squinting against the bright light blazing above her.

"Mom?"

The voice cleared, deepening as it let out a relieved chuckle. "I should hope not."

He shifted until he blocked the sun and she could see him. "Aduil? What happened? Why am I—the goblins!" She bolted upright, scrambling to stand, but he caught her before she could.

"It is alright, Kate, it is over, everything is alright." He wrapped her in a tight hug, and she buried her nose in his hair, breathing deep of that comforting green scent of his until her racing heart began to slow.

"It is over," he repeated in a soft soothing tone, as if trying to convince himself as much as her, and she pulled away to take her first real look around and...well, he wasn't wrong.

The goblins were dead. All of them. All around her, the ground was littered with blue bodies, many missing limbs, and all oozing a thick, black...well, that had to be blood, didn't it.

"Dag, Aduil... How long was I out?"

"I do not know; I did not see." He looked her up and down, checking for wounds. "Are you hurt?"

She put a hand to the side of her head. "No, I, I think something hit me in the head, but," she glanced at her arm, which they both knew should have been sliced open—not to mention teeming with all sorts of nasty infectious germs from the looks of the blade that hit her—only to find the skin unmarred, as if it never happened. "Score another one for mysterious healing, I guess. Or two." She shook her head. "But what about you, are you okay?"

He ran a gentle hand down her arm, over the place the wound should have been. "I thought... I thought you had run. I thought you were safe. It was only when the last goblin was slain, and I turned to follow that I found you among the fallen and I... Never have I been so frightened."

"Yeah, well," she started, knowing it was so not the time, but unable to stop herself, "that's what you get for jumping out of trees. Told you I'd get you back."

That startled a laugh out of him.

"Perhaps I should not challenge you again, if this is how you would meet it," he said.

"And don't you forget it," Kate agreed with a smug smile.

"Are you certain you are not hurt?" He rose, extending a hand to help her up.

"Ye—woah." The world spun as he pulled her to her feet.

"Kate?"

"No, I'm okay." She gave her head a little shake and blinked a few times until it passed. "Just a little dizzy. Must be that knock to the head. But I'm fine."

"Then if you feel able, we should move on," he said. "This is no place to rest."

Looking out on the corpse covered field, Kate could only agree.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, Kate was beginning to wonder if that knock to the head was more serious than she thought. The dizziness had come back, and she hadn't really worried about it at first, it was so faint, but it only got worse the further they rode. The fact that the sun seemed to have decided to shine a spotlight directly into her eyes wasn't helping. She blinked and shook her head.

This wasn't good. Maybe she had a concussion? She should probably say something.

She squinted over to Aduil, riding along beside her, gesturing with one hand and laughing as he told her about the time he and his brother had laid a trap for one of Lindolir's bullies to dump a bucket of...something...on him...mud? Pond scum? He had just said it, but Kate couldn't seem to remember. Her attention kept wandering, and it was getting harder and harder to focus on anything for long.

She blinked again and stared at Aduil, trying to concentrate on his words, but his voice kept fading in and out, sounding muffled and distant, like it was coming through a tube a mile away.

        ...Wait. I was going to do something, wasn't I?

  There was something...important...

She frowned down at her weak, shaky hands. The reins were slipping away, and she couldn't grab them.

          Well, that not good. That's...

     Right.

 That's what I was going to do.

Tell Aduil.

"..."

If she could just make her voice work.

She tried again.

"Aduil?" It came out quiet and slurred, little more than a whisper. She turned to look at him. Or tried to. Her head was swimming, she could barely make out his shape.

At least the sun wasn't so bright anymore. Bonus.

"Kate?"

       What?

Oh, right.

"Aduil...I...I think I was wrong," she mumbled. Her vision dimmed, the world tilted. "I'm not okay..."