Kingsbane

Chapter 27

     Grayson lay quietly on a cot in the small kitchen space, watching the fire burning in the stove. Avalbane had relieved the swelling in his side and the ache in his bones and then had left him to rest for a while. She hadn't seemed thrilled to discover he was Siva's Bane, but she hadn't been unkind to him either.
    He could hear hushed speaking from the other room where Sverre lay, but it was all in that melodic language he didn't understand. He was curious to know if Sverre would be alright, but felt too much like an interloper to get up and inquire.
    "Gray's son?" Pai cooed, fluttered down from the shelf she'd been sitting on to prance lightly over his shoulder and down his face. "I want to go home."
    "I'll take you in a little while." He whispered. "Okay?"
    "I miss my sisters." She pouted, leaning against his cheek and resting her head just beneath his eye.
    "Why don't you take a nap in your dirt. When you wake up, maybe I will be able to take you back."'
    "Grayson." Avalbane appeared at the foot of his cot. Pai climbed onto his head and snuggled into his hair. Av lifted her hand as he began to sit up. "Rest."
    "Is Sverre going to be okay?"
    "He'll be gone soon." She breathed. "The poison has progressed too far. The only thing I can do now is make him comfortable."
    "Oh."
    "This disease you have, it's in your blood?" Sitting down beside him, she smoothed her long braid.
    "Yeah."
    "My brothers have never been the brightest men in Faery, but I had, had higher expectations for them, despite it. That's my fault, of course." The cot creaked as she leaned over and threw another log into the stove. "I am a good healer, but I can not work miracles. I suppose I should be flattered that Siva thought so highly of me, but if this disease is in your blood as Rafferty has said, if it so much a part of you..." She trailed off, looking pale and so distraught that Grayson couldn't stand it.
    "It's okay." He assured her. "It was a long shot any way."
    "I'd still like to try."
    "You should be with Sverre right now." He protested as she moved to kneel beside him.
    "I've said my goodbyes. Rafferty is taking his turn now. I do not doubt when Siofra gets here, my brother will be able to let go." Closing her eyes, she held her hands out over him. "I only hope she hurries. He has waited too long for peace already."
    Grayson watched as light began to emanate beneath her palms and that familiar warmth spreading through him where she touched. It made the longing for Siva so great he could hardly stand it. When would he get to see him? Would it be soon?
    "Is Siva coming with Siofra?" He inquired softly, feeling drowsy.
    "I don't know. Don't speak. If you feel tired, don't fight it. It is the magic running through you."
    "Feels like morphine." He murmured, closing his eyes.
    Pai slipped her little leafy feet down over his forehead and sat with her head in her hand, tangled in his hair. She chirped inquiringly at the healer, who clicked her tongue in annoyance. Pai tried again, kicking her feet and flapping her wings insistently.
    "Pai, knock it off." Gray mumbled shooing her away.
    "I want to go home." She whined. "I don't belong here. I can not see the stars."
    "I will take you home when we are finished. Now be quiet or I'll plant you on the windowsill and leave you there." Avalbane grumbled, "Grayson, go to sleep."
    "I'm sorry about Sverre." He breathed. "I shouldn't have puked."
    Avalbane didn't understand his words, but she didn't give them much thought. In fact, she shut all thoughts out. That was the beauty of her power. All her own pain was put aside as she healed that of others.
    "I can't believe you're going to let something like this kill you." Rafferty sighed, taking a long drag of his nearly finished cigarette as he sat in the chair at Sverre's bedside.     "After all the motherfuckers who tried to spear you, it's that son of a bitch Tang that's going to get the credit? It's unacceptable, isn't it?" He couldn't fathom it, even as he watched his friend struggle for air. "You're just giving up. Coward."
    Raff rested his forehead in his palm and took a deep breath, hoping to assuage the knot in his chest. This is not something he had ever planned for. He'd always planned on going first. Always. He never thought it'd be Sverre. "You fucking coward..."
    "You're the-scared one." Sverre snorted, flashing a pair of foggy blue eyes at him.
    "Avalbane he's-"
    "Don't." The man ordered. "She's said her piece. No sense-having her repeat it."
    "You need to get it together, you hear me?" Raff hissed, blinking the tears from his eyes, embarrassed. "Your conscious now, so there's no excuse."
    "Come here, idiot." Reaching out, Sverre lay a hand on the back of his friend's head, pulling it down until their foreheads touched. Rafferty closed his eyes. "Ha. Your still that same sad brat we drug home back then."
    "Stop it, Sverre."
    "Don't change." Raff remained still as Sverre raised both his shaking hands and gently boxed his ears. "Give that to Siva for me. And don't make my sister cry anymore."
    "This is bullshit."
    Sverre laughed weakly and released him, small, sad smile still playing across his blue lips. "I suppose you don't-" His arms fell limply to his side. "You don't hear that, do you?"
    "Shut up, stop talking crazy. You hear voices, you ignore them, got it? No white light, no warm fuzzies, you stay here and deal with it. You-" Raff paused, looking up as the front door creaked open. "Siofra?"
    The Queen stood in the doorway her pale cheeks flushed from running, her long hair full of brambles and twigs. Her dress was torn and muddy as though she'd fallen in her haste to reach them. The grief radiated around her, engulfing all it touched with sorrow.
    "Sverre." She stepped inside just enough to shut the door behind her, but she seemed unable to come further. "Sverre?"
    "Come here." Raff urged, "He's awake."
    She couldn't move. They'd spent a hundred years separated by many miles, and here this few feet between them now seemed the farthest they'd ever been. If she hadn't known how this was going to end, perhaps it would have been different, but as he forced himself to sit up, she silently pleaded Faery for mercy. As he brushed Raff's hands away she begged for his salvation. And as he crossed the space between them and fell to his knees before her, she cursed Faery for it's heartlessness.
    "Save him." She hissed, kneeling and embracing him just as she had in her vision. "Save him or our land is finished."
    His arms looped feebly around her waist and he rested his head on her shoulder, his tears wetting the fabric there. She kissed his head and fisted a hand in his hair. "Save him! Save him, you cruel bastard."
    "Wait for me." She thought he heard him whisper, but it was so faint, she half-believed she'd imagined it. His last breath shuttered in his chest and he went limp in her arms. As she pulled him closer, his body dispersed into a sweet smelling liquid. It did not soak her clothes, did not make a puddle on the floor. It simply fell to the soil below and disappeared.
    "Siofra?" Rafferty whispered, stunned. It was not a natural thing for a body to turn to water, not even in Faery.
    Slowly, almost menacingly, the Queen rose, removing the dirt from her clothes with a wave of her hand. The tears mended and the foliage in her hair turned to ash and fell away. Her eyes burned hotter than Tang's dark fire as she looked up at him.
    "My heart is dead. Prepare for the coming seasons, General. Not a flower will bloom in this world while I sit upon the throne. Faery has stolen my hope, and with it, it's own life."
    "Siofra-"
    "Bring the human to the castle. Someone, at least, should have what they want."
    She knew something wasn't right, knew that Sverre shouldn't have simply disappeared, but nothing her mind could say would sway the anguish in her heart. Her soul was drowning in despair and no sense could breach the shadows lurking there. Not yet. Not while his tears still wet her skin.