A Dove's Tale

Chapter 71

I stepped inside my house, and it was with a mixture of disappointment and relief that I found Mother asleep. She was resting comfortably, though, and she'd been up to talking earlier in the day, so I couldn't really complain. Telling her about Prince Chevalier could wait. She needed her rest, and I had work to do. My heart couldn't float off into the clouds just yet.

Maybe later.

Jason and Rachel were coming down the hill when I was climbing back up it with the freshly scrubbed bucket. Rachel was still wearing her floral crown, skipping and twirling around while Jason followed with a sour look on his face.

"I found my Prince Charming," she sang out.

Jason rolled his eyes. "You're five."

"I don't care," she said. "He's perfect."

Jason groaned. I laughed, wishing I could drop everything and join her, but I wasn't five anymore. Life wasn't that simple for me. Mother would enjoy hearing about Rachel's newfound adoration for Prince Licht, though, and I was looking forward to telling him tomorrow, too. I rounded the corner of my house and shyly dropped my gaze to the ground, unable to look at the guards when I walked past them. Rachel's giggling drifted through the air to me as I let myself back into my house. A desperate gasping for breath hit me as soon as I stepped inside.

My head snapped up, and the bucket hit the ground. I ran to Mother's side, taking in her sweaty brow and alarmingly fast shallow breaths at a glance. It could be pain, I told myself. When her pain was uncontrolled, she would get hot and her breathing would get labored. She just needed her medicine. I shook her shoulders gently, calling to her as if nothing was wrong, as if my heart wasn't beating a frantic rhythm against my ribs.

"Mother, wake up. It's time for your medicine."

She didn't respond. If it was just pain, she'd respond. I dashed back to the door, bursting through it with enough force to startle the guards.

"Call the doctor. Now!"

"The...doctor?" the guard on my right asked hesitantly.

I groaned in frustration and put a hand to my forehead as I tried to think. Of course, they knew nothing about the doctor. "Ask Jason. The...the boy with the little girl."

The guards stared at me, uncomprehending.

"There isn't time for this," I growled, grabbing the speaker by his arm and dragging him toward the hillside. "They went that way!"

He took a few hesitant steps. I shoved him in the back and shouted, "Now!"

"Ivetta?" Jason called.

I could barely hear him over the blood rushing to my ears, but the guard was moving in the right direction, and Jason was on alert, which meant I needed to get back inside to Mother. She hadn't moved, except for the exaggerated motion of her chest as she struggled to breathe. I shook her harder, pleading, "Mother, wake up!"

Her eyelids fluttered open this time, but her green eyes were so clouded with pain I wasn't sure she could see me.

"It's alright, Mother, the doctor's coming," I said, forcing my voice to be calm, swallowing the fear that threatened to overwhelm me. "I'm here now. Don't try to talk."

Her forehead was burning up. I ran across the room to wet a rag in the washbasin and hurried back with it. "Here, this should help," I said soothingly, laying the damp cloth across her forehead.

"Ivetta," she gasped.

"Shh, save your strength, Mother. The doctor will be here soon."

She reached out her thin hand, grasping at the air. "Where are you, Ivetta?"