The Atheil Chronicles: A Call to Fire

Chapter 33

A man was yelling, his voice loud in the silence of the room. Ariana swallowed, her throat feeling rough and dry, then turned her head toward the commotion. Where was she? Where was Tyrynion? Had it all been some fevered dream or was this real? She was too terrified of what that answer might be, not really believing in her own fortune enough to hope. She quieted her breathing as she squeezed her eyes shut even harder, listening.
"-dare you come back here! Get out!" The man was screaming.
Another man responded, though much more calmly. "I need her help. She's in rough shape and she's the only healer I know in a hundred miles."
The first man was yelling again. "You left her, Tyrynion, you don't just get to come back and act like nothing ever happened!"
A third voice cut in, now, their voice soft but urgent. "That's enough, Reunen." It was a woman. "Ty, what's going on?"
Ty, Ariana thought, her heart constricting in her chest. Tyrynion. He was here, he really had come for her. His voice rang out again. "Look, Rael, I never would have come if it wasn't something incredibly important. I promised you as much. But this girl, she needs you. She's been seriously hurt."
"What do you care about some human girl? She shouldn't even be here; you'll be exiled for real this time." The male voice responded snarkily. He had stopped yelling but his voice held obvious resentment in it.
Tyrynion was quiet for a minute before he answered. "I swore to protect her." He said.
The man, Reunen, let out a sound of disgust. "You just can't help yourself, can you?" When no one spoke, he continued. "This is what you left my sister for? To galavant around Atheil so you can play the hero for random women in distress? You're going to drag my sister into the same trouble you always manage to get yourself into. I won't let you."
A loud cracking noise sounded and then silence ensued. "Put aside your petty hatred and let me talk to your sister." Tyrynion said, his voice suddenly sounding deadly. She had never heard him so angry and out of control before.
"Come on." Rael said, and Ariana heard footsteps coming toward the room that she was in.
She looked down at herself for the first time, seeing Tyrynion's cloak still wrapped around her frail body. She could feel pain radiating from almost every surface of it and she knew that blood was trickling down her legs, even now, from her healing wounds being pulled taut during her rescue. She pulled the cloak tighter around herself, trying to shield herself from them, turning to face the wall. Please, she thought, please don't come in here. She couldn't bear to see anyone right now, to have to tell them what had happened to her. She felt shame rise up in her at the very thought.
She could hear their footsteps stop right outside the door, then Rael's voice sounded. "Ty, what's going on? I only got a glimpse of her when you brought her through the door but she looked like she'd been tortured." She sounded worried, her tremulous voice lowering as she said it.
There was silence. "I think she was." He said, finally.
"What do you mean you think she was?" Rael demanded. "Tyrynion, Ruenen's right; you left me a long time ago and now you come back with some human that's obviously been severely tortured. How can you even think of keeping things from me right now? I deserve to know what I'm getting myself into before I agree to help you." She didn't sound angry but Ariana could hear the edge in her voice.
Tyrynion seemed to consider this. "I'm sorry." He said, truly sounding it. "You're right, of course. I've been selfish; on more than one account."
Rael didn't respond to this. Ariana had just begun to wonder if she had stormed away when she spoke. "That's in the past," she said stiffly, "tell me about what's going on now."
He sighed. "Malor wants her something fierce; I cannot say why. We were traveling through Balthorn to get to the Eastern kingdom and she was grabbed there." He paused as she let out a gasp. It sounded like she was about to question him but he silenced her. "It took me 13 days to finally find her; I know as much as you do about what happened to her in that time. What I do know, though, is that she was covered in her own blood when I found her, shaking in the corner of a dark room, with talon marks all over her body. I think," and he stopped, sounding strained as he took in a heaving breath, "that he did more than that."
His words hung in the air as silence spread outside in the hallway. Ariana could feel her heart beating wildly in her chest as she waited for someone to speak. 13 days? She thought, her hands starting to tremble. Had it really only been 13 days? It had felt like a lifetime to her when she was there; certainly she had lived an entire lifetime in those 13 days. She began to shake as the shock of everything that she had been through began to come back to her.
She quieted her spiraling thoughts and tried to calm her shaking limbs, unsuccessfully, as Rael finally spoke. "Who is this 'he' you keep referring to?" She asked, though she sounded as if she were afraid to hear the answer.
"A Goblin." Tyrynion answered, his voice dark. "One of Malors Goblins that does his dirty work. Morgrean is his name."
Ariana felt a fear rise up in her at the same time as Rael let out an equally terrified gasp. "Morgrean?" She repeated, lowering her voice. "The one that has been staying in Nathoru?" Ariana definitely wasn't imagining it; she sounded absolutely petrified.
"Yes." Tyrynion answered. "That's where I found her."
Rael was quiet. "Of course I'll help you." She said, and Ariana could feel that she was sincere. "Of course. Let me see her now."
Ariana barely had time to slam her eyes shut as the door opened across the room. She heard tentative footsteps come in, stopping in front of the bed. She felt butterflies erupt in her stomach as her heart raced involuntarily. She just wanted them to leave her alone, to leave her with her own pain. She knew that she was still shaking and she hoped it wasn't noticeable.
"Ariana." Tyrynions gentle voice said close to her head. "Ariana, I know you're awake."
She ignored him but her body began to shake more violently. A terrible aching was blossoming in the pit of her stomach and it took everything that she had not to curl into herself at the pain.
"Ariana, please, " Tyrynion begged her, "you're seriously hurt. I've brought my friend Rael to help you."
Ariana swallowed as she felt the gentle caress of Rael's hair fall on her shoulder. "Open your eyes, dear. I swear you're safe here."
She took a shuddering breath and turned onto her back, facing them. Tyrynion was kneeling by her side, his long arms resting on the bed as if in prayer. He looked ragged and tired, his ashy blonde hair barely visible beneath the dried blood in it. Her eyes turned to the beautiful woman standing just behind him, her face looking shy as she surveyed Ariana. She had long, chestnut brown hair that fell to her waist in cascading waves. Her skin was a shining golden bronze, the olive green of her upturned eyes playing against it so that they almost reminded her of the forest canopy back home.
"Hello, Ariana." She said, and her lilting voice was soft as she spoke now. "My name is Rael; I'm a healer. I want to look at your injuries so I can help you start to feel better. Would that be alright?"
Ariana eyed her carefully. Her heart shaped face was sincere as she looked down at Ariana and she reached up a slender hand to push some hair back behind her ear. Ariana, who was still shivering, managed to nod. The pain in her body was now radiating up her spine, a tension beginning to build in her and causing a hammering there.
Rael waved Tyrynion away, who just moved to position himself near Ariana's feet instead. She could feel the creaking of the mattress as Rael sat beside her on the edge of the bed. She reached up her hand slowly to pull back the cloak. When Ariana didn't move to stop her, she began to peel it back, letting out a soft gasp as she saw the full extent of her injuries. "My God." She said, horrified. She looked down at Ariana with something like pity mixed with compassion. "What happened to you, dear?" She asked her.
Ariana swallowed and then her lip began to quiver. She couldn't answer her. She couldn't even begin to get the words to come out of her mouth.
At her response, Rael reached out and laid a hand gently on her shivering arm. "It's okay," she said, covering her back up, "you don't have to tell me right now." She turned to Tyrynion, her face suddenly stern. "Out." She said, pointing to the door.
"No!" He said, clearly outraged. He glanced at Ariana shaking in the bed, a look of fierce protectiveness coming to his face. "I won't leave her again."
Rael sighed heavily. "She's covered in blood, she's hurt, and she's afraid, Tyrynion. Please get out so I can help her. You can wait just outside the door."
He looked at Ariana's eyes, a question forming there. "It's alright." She managed to say to him, lifting a hand to wave him off. "Go."
He stood rooted to the spot, not willing to move. Rael shot him another look and, after a long pause, he turned and left grudgingly, the door shutting with barely a noise behind him. Rael turned back to her. "May I?"  She asked, indicating the cloak.
Ariana nodded and she reached out gingerly to once again peel back the fabric from her body. Without a word, she got up and walked over to an ornate looking dresser. Just about every square inch of its surface was covered in glass bottles of varying shapes, sizes, and colors. While she rooted through those, Ariana turned her gaze on the room itself, really noticing it for the first time. The walls were a deep maroon with a swirling gold pattern bordering the wall at about waist height. There was an armoire in the far right corner of the room and another dresser next to that. A matching full length mirror stood in the left corner of the room where Rael was currently standing and gathering her supplies. Next to the bed was a night stand, a glass of water set on it and a hair brush next to that.
Rael finally made her way back to the bed, 3 glass jars in one hand and a pitcher of water and rags in the other. She set them down on the night stand and turned to Ariana. "I'm going to clean the wounds first." She said, dipping one of the rags in the pitcher and then wringing it out. "It may hurt." She warned.
Ariana nodded shakily and then winced almost immediately as she began to drag the rag across her bruised and torn skin. Rael looked up at her and gave her a sympathetic look before continuing. She started at her ankles and worked her way up, sometimes swapping out for a new rag and dropping the blood soaked one on the floor beside the bed. At some point she cut away the dirty nightgown that she had been given and draped a sheet across her to maintain her modesty. Ariana about jumped out of her skin when she brought the rag across her spine later, the talon marks that were present there hurting worse than anything thus far. As Rael worked more and more on her, she began to feel even shakier, the pain in her body peaking until she felt herself beginning to lose consciousness.
"Stay with me." She heard Rael's lilting voice say, but Ariana had no control over herself anymore. She faded into the darkness, her skin tingling like it was alive with electricity.
* * * * *
Ariana opened her eyes to Raels concerned face looming over her. Relief was obvious in her face as Ariana came to, shaking her head gently.
"Thank God." She said, putting a hand to Ariana's forehead. She wrinkled her eyes in concern. "I need to do this immediately, otherwise you'll just keep passing out." She said, mostly to herself.
Before Ariana could ask what she was talking about, she put one hand on Ariana's stomach, keeping the other on her forehead. She lowered her head, closing her eyes and starting to mouth something that Ariana couldn't quite hear. A breeze blew through the room, swishing around Rael and lifting her hair as it passed by her. She was just about to protest when a dim orange glow began to emit from Raels fingertips. At the points where her fingertips met Ariana's skin, warmth began to spread and race through her body as if it were in her very veins. She felt it seeping into her muscles, then her bones, a weightlessness spreading through her until she felt her body starting to physically relax. The pain that was so overwhelming before began to fade, relief flooding through her as it did so. A tightness was forming in her skin and she realized that her wounds were coming together, the tissue beginning to knit itself shut even as she watched.
As quickly as it had started it was finished and Raels head sagged as her eyes flew open. She took a shuddering breath, turning her gaze to Ariana. She was smiling but she looked utterly exhausted. "Do you feel any better?" She asked, and even her voice sounded drained.
Ariana flexed her fingers, arms, feet, and then her back. The talon marks down her spine had been what hurt her the most and now she only felt the faintest aching from them. She turned to Rael, amazed. "How did you do that?" She asked.
Rael picked up some of the salves and started opening them. "Ty didn't tell you?" She asked. When Ariana didn't answer, she shook her head. "I suppose not." She said, turning back to her, a small jar of blue tinted salve in her hand. "I'm a healer."
Ariana watched her scoop out a heaping portion of the salve and plop it onto her foot. She began spreading it over her legs, massaging it gently into the skin with circular motions. She felt herself relax even further, the salve going on like cool water over her skin. It had a texture like a sugar scrub and seemed to dissolve after being massaged into the skin for a minute or so. "A healer." Ariana repeated. "So you can just heal anyone by putting your hands on them?"
Rael gave a half nod. "Sort of. I can heal most things but not everything. It depends on the severity of the injuries. When we do magic, we pull on the reserve we have within ourselves. If you had been moments from death with your organs crushed, it would have killed us both for me to even try to heal you."
"Wow." Ariana said, letting out a sigh as Rael started massaging the tender skin of her wrists. "Can anyone be a healer?" She asked.
"No." She said, moving up Ariana's arms. "Only some have the ability. If you're born with it, that means it's the only magic you can do."
Ariana looked at her. "You can only heal? That's it?"
Rael laughed, the sound like the trilling of bells. "You make it sound like a curse."
"I didn't mean-"
"Oh, it's alright." She said, smiling at the look on Ariana's face. "I've never known anything different." She got a far away look on her face, her olive eyes seeming to see something beyond the room. "My family have been healers for generations. We used to get a lot of work in Peridien, that's why we live so close to it. We were the exclusive healers for the city. That is, until Atheil fell." She motioned for Ariana to flip on her stomach and she complied, closing her eyes as Raels hands began to move over her sore spine.
"What do you do now?" She asked sleepily.
"I get work when I can but that's not often enough anymore. People are afraid to leave their houses with Goblins running around all the time." At the mention of Goblins, Ariana's eyes flew open, her whole body tensing. She took in a panicked breath, not even able to control her reaction. A tremor started in her fingers before Rael slipped her hand over them. "Calming breaths, Ariana." She said soothingly, breathing deeply as if to show her what she should be doing. "It's alright; you're here with me and Ty is right outside the door. You're safe."
Ariana swallowed, trying to take a deep breath. When she failed, she closed her eyes and tried to relax. As soon as her shoulders began to sag, she took in a slow, deep breath. The air pulled into her lungs, her chest expanding until she could feel the satisfaction of it spreading down into her abdomen and beyond. She felt ashamed and embarrassed. She had never been like this before, never been jumpy and afraid. She turned away toward the wall.
"It will take time." Rael said quietly, her voice barely a whisper. "I know it's probably not what you want to hear but these hurts don't go away just because your body heals." Now Ariana did look at her. There was a knowing glint in her eyes that made Ariana wonder if Rael was perceiving more than she let on. "It takes time to let the scars on the inside heal. The ones here." She brought up a hand and tapped Ariana's temples with her finger. 
Ariana took in a shuddering breath, closing her eyes again. "I just-." She stopped. "I just wish that I had never left that night." She could feel the pain of it all starting to bubble up inside of her as she said it but she couldn't stop. It felt like a weight growing on her chest that she couldn't shake. "I wish I'd never come here at all."
Rael was quiet, her one hand still laying on Ariana's back. When she spoke, her voice was soft. "We can't rewrite the past any more than we can write the future. These things are simply what once were but they don't need to be what you are now."
Ariana felt hot tears welling in her eyes and turned her face into her elbow facing the wall. "I just want to sleep." She said faintly, trying not to let the pain creep into her voice. "I don't want to feel anymore. Please, can't you do something?"
Rael didn't answer but simply got up from the bed. Ariana could hear the sound of a drawer opening and closing, then the clinking of glass. When she came back, Ariana felt the mattress bowing under her as she sat down beside her. "Here." She said, and Ariana propped herself up on her elbows as she turned to face her. She was holding two small pale yellow pills in the palm of one hand, the glass of water in her other. "These should give you dreamless sleep." She said, letting Ariana grab them from her.
Without even a second thought, she threw back the pills and swallowed them down with water. She handed the glass back to Rael, laying her head back down on her arm, but this time facing her. Rael glanced down at her with a sympathetic look on her face. "Let me go get Ty before you fall asleep. I'll be right back."
Ariana nodded, already experiencing the feeling of weightlessness washing over her body. She melted further into the mattress, her eyelids feeling suddenly heavy as she saw the door opening and Tyrynion coming in. He strode across the room, kneeling down beside the bed. His deep umber eyes were serious, though there was more than just a hint of sadness in them.
"Rael says you're still too weak to travel; that it'll be at least 2 days before you should be able to leave." He paused, watching her face. She blinked slowly up at him, not speaking, and he lowered his voice. "She said she gave you a sedative to sleep, so I only have a minute or two." He reached out a hand and, with a sideways glance at her face before he did so, laid it on hers. "I have to go to the Eastern Kingdom, Ariana. I saw something on our way here that they have to know about; an army gathering, one that could take out the remaining kingdoms if we aren't prompt. I have to warn the Eastern Kingdom to take up arms immediately."
Ariana felt herself nodding, almost as if it were some distant connection to her and not really herself doing it. Her eyes were shutting of their own accord, the heaviness in them finally too much for her to bear. "Come back for me." She whispered, still feeling his hand on hers. "Please don't forget about me."
She heard his intake of breath and then he squeezed her hand. "I promise." He said, his voice sounding so far away.
She felt him let go of her hand and then her world was darkening, closing in like a warm blanket wrapping around her, enveloping her in its safety. She wanted to call to him, to tell him to be safe, but she was already too far gone for that now. She took a shuddering breath and then she fell into the darkness, her heart feeling lighter than it had in a long time.