The Wright (Friday Updates)

Ch. 42 Breath

The voice of the Bell was a song that I had never heard before, and one that I had known all my days, a slow and true vibrato that moved like the beat of the earth's heart, the push and ebb of ocean froth sweeping over my toes as I dug them into sand. It was the howling of wind through tree branches and the call of the mighty elk. It was the sensation of pain, a lover's touch, grief, longing and happiness, like warm honey dripped on my tongue, the ache of a final goodbye, and the hopeful coaxing of a seed just sprouting.

I felt it pound into my tissues, shocking and jolting through Kinnut as if searching for evidence that he might still exist within that still shell.

The Haling Orb was destroyed. I could not risk Rose or my mother running off with it and so I had to hope that he would choose to come back, needing to come back. We were fated for a reason.

Within the pulsing fold, I began to sense something else. It was the radiance of the Bell, life, but different, less thick. Reaching out tentatively with my magic, I offered a bit of energy to the source, just to my left but within the periphery of the artifact. Helping whatever it was draw enough strength to manifest itself, little golden and light blue flecks of light began to pull together, intertwining and joining like snowflakes. It was a strangely shaped mass at first, until it refined itself into two human-like forms.

Clutching his wrist, probably hard enough to leave bruises, I prayed that the two spirits were arriving or showing themselves to help me and not bring bad news. What would I do if it was Rose and Michael or strangers taking advantage of the situation? What if they tried to take his body? What if Kinnut had decided to move on?

"Clia," a voice murmured, no more than fallen leaves tumbling over themselves. "You heard me."

"Yes," I nodded, relieved.

"I have him." Arms parted and one seemed to lead the other toward his body. "Know that I loved him as family...as I love you."

My eyes burned, the shimmering glow of Kinnut sinking down into his still form, spreading outward, filling his flesh with the current I was familiar with. The Bond yanked hard at my chest, ripping and tearing its claws back in to anchor itself. "Thank you...Heralla."

"Forgive your mother."

Stroking hair from Kinnut's face, I felt the stirring of his mind returning. With a flush of magic, I dispelled the clotting from his blood, stoking the tiny furnaces within each sleepy cell to pull his wound closed. I fixed his heart with the care of working with wet, impressionable clay, urging the first rush of blood through.

Bluish-purple color still tinged his lips, but as I moved his diaphragm, his lungs began to reoxygenate the flow.

"I will try-" I started, but Heralla was gone, the Bell quieted and my focus turned to Kinnut.

A tremulous breath rattled his chest, of his own doing, and I gasped softly. I watched carefully as his eyelids twitched, pink seeping into his mouth.

"Kinnut?" He was there, I could feel it, preventing the jolting of his nervous system as it tried to tell him he was hurting.

Finally, he opened his eyes and I was never so glad to see their sparkling, snowy-gray depths, a sob escaping. My knuckles were white with how tightly I was holding him to me, tears dripping onto his cheeks.

Kinnut licked his lips, blinking and reorienting himself to the physical realm. "Clia," he murmured.

"Yes," I wept, smiling hugely.

"Did we do it?"

"We did."

"You..." He trailed off, searching my eyes for something. "You used your wishing tree on me."