The Haunt of Danzig Ruin

Homeward Bound

       Leon stayed with Petrich, who ended up on his knees, his arms covering his head, as if the rafters above would happen to give way from his screams.  He stayed in this position for a solid half hour, until he slowly unfolded himself and stood upright, emotionally and physically drained.
         He looked over at Leon and gave him a wary grin. "Thank you."
          Leon came to him and this time brought his arm about Petrich's slumped shoulders to keep him steady. "It could very well not be the last time you have to just let it out, you know."
           Petrich nodded and swallowed hard. "I need water in the worst way."
           "You're in luck. We've plenty collected rain water." Leon lifted his face to the dawning sky through the broken roof rafters. "I think the rain has finally stopped. Not at all sure what crossing the river will be like once we get there."
              Nora quietly sipped on a bowl of warm bone broth, as Fitz brushed out her hair and began plaiting it into a long braid. 
              "Your hair is obviously longer." Fitz commented. "It is nearly down your mid-back now."
              "Yes." Nora said between sips realizing that she was, indeed, hungry and thirsty. "And Petrich has grown a short beard since you've seen him last."  She brought the cup down and stared straight ahead. "Gods, Fitz, how would we have been able to explain ourselves without the journal?"
              Fitz could only shake her head.  "The Dream Plain is something I had never in my life even heard of. Good that Petrich had some sort of idea."
              "Only but little." Nora turned to Fitz after her braid was secured with a ribbon. "I am confident his mind will heal quickly, but he did suffer some damage, as you know from reading the journal. We did not come across anyone else that was part of the Plain as we were, but surely there were because by the end we were actually hunted down, devices designed to let us be seen! So there are bound to be more there. . .trapped, and mentally incapable of knowing how to leave." 
              "Tell me, Nora, what was your plan to leave the Dream Plain?"
               "It seemed obvious to us to leave by way we got in. We figured we would come back here, and. . ." Nora stared down at her now empty bowl. "I suppose we just assumed Crinoline would give us a way of leaving."
                "What if dying was the only way you could have left?" Fitz said, thoughtfully, "Which is exactly what you did, together."
               Nora looked up at Fitz, her eyes wide. "What if we had not died together?" she gasped.
               "Then, perhaps one of you would have awoke and the other," Fitz gave a small sympathetic shrug, "Would have not. But that is only speculation, sweetheart. Please don't look that way."
              Nora's pained expression only deepened. "It hurts to think about even hypothetically."
               Fitz had to agree. The agony of such a separation would be far too much for either of them to bear. That would have been true for them even before their bonding.
An almost undetected sound reached them from a far dark corner. Nora turned to the shadowy figure standing there, ever vigilant, never eating, never sleeping. All Tim needed was a place to finally rest, now that is own mission was complete.
"My pain of separation would have been not unlike yours from Davin." Nora said to him, as he quietly stared at them.  "All the more reason I made a promise to her Ladyship that we would reunite you to your friend of whom you search. He is awaiting you."
In the light of dawn, there was no longer doubt that Tim was indeed a walking corpse. His shadowed eyes were now even more sunken within his eye sockets. The thin sickly gray hued skin stretched over every sharp contour of his facial bones.
Given much more time and he would not even be able to make the journey to the resting place of Davin Rowe along the Valcalax River. The deterioration of the muscle tissue in his thinning limbs was quite alarming.
He opened his mouth to speak but his vocal cords were no longer able to vibrate the passing air into speech. Only a husky dry breath issued out. Tim shut his mouth again and nodded to Nora's words and even attempted a grin. It was enough to convey his understanding.
Leon and Petrich returned to the room, Leon's protective arm about Petrich's shoulders. Nora immediately brought Petrich to the warmth of the fire and sat him down.
Fitz poured more broth into Nora's empty bowl and sat it down for Petrich. Before she moved away from them, Petrich touched her sleeve. Fitz knelt beside him, paused, and then gently took him into her arms.
Petrich rested his forehead against her shoulder and sighed shakily, just almost to the point of sobbing. Fitz soothed his hair in an act much like a mother cat licking the fur of her lone kitten.
Life and death situations were not new to them. They had both ended up in critical condition in hospital during the days of the Rykindella commission with no one but hospital staff and Dietfried Baugainvillea to look after them.
               Since then, all three of them had kept in communication via letters and telegrams, but especially Petrich and Fitz who genuinely viewed each other as loving siblings separated only by distance.
"My boy. . .my brilliant, wonderful boy." Fitz said gently near his ear, her voice hitching a little, "It's time to go home, yes?"
She felt Petrich's head give a nod against her shoulder in agreement.

*. *. *.

            They had been given a couple of days of recovery, after which Petrich and Nora regained most all of their strength. Fitz said that one more day for them both would be optimum, but they refused and made themselves ready for travel.
Leon was the first to verbally point out the improbability of Tim being able to make the journey all the way back to the Valcalax River.
"Then we shall carry him the steps he cannot take." Nora answered boldly, gathering a a length of moth eaten drapery, and adding it to their luggage. "He's returning to Davin, one way or another."
Slowly, but surely, Tim accomplished the more difficult part of the journey down the mountain side, but then collapsed less than three miles away from the Valcalax.
He tried with all of his dwindling strength to stand again and could not, prompting Nora to take action. She took the drapery, and unrolled it to the length of Tim's body. Petrich and Leon fashioned long poles out of a couple of strong saplings. With them they made a sturdy enough stretcher given the scant weight left to Tim's body.
Nora led the way now, taking on an extra knapsack, followed by the stretcher bearing men, with Fitz bringing up the rear also carrying extra luggage.
Nora, as most anyone else, disliked funerals, but found a sort of solace when everyone would gather afterward at the local pub for a farewell drink to the dead.
Even children like herself were welcome to join in, not in the pints of ale or shots of whiskey, but fancy sweet drinks from the soda fountain. Nora enjoyed these times, but for more than the sweet drinks. She loved the pub songs everyone tended to know by heart for these gatherings and would lift up their voices as one.
As she walked, Nora hummed the most familiar of these songs, then she found the words and sang aloud. Her voice carried high up into the boughs of the giant surrounding trees. The song, having many stanzas, carried them through until they stood at the cairn of Davin Rowe, the sound of the Valcalax River less than fifty yards away.
Fitz carefully removed the stones of the cairn, revealing the remains of Davin Rowe. Tim used the very last of his strength to crawl, then drag his skeletal form to the remains and lay with them. At this point, all his movement stopped.
"Please, Nora," Leon said lowly after a moment, "Sing us another song."
Nora thought of another, her father's favorite. She began to sing as she gathered even more stones so that the others could place them to make a cairn for two.