Convalesce (Book 2 in the Wolfen Brethren Series)

Give up

Black fog swaddled her mind, spasmodic noise filtering in and out of her ears. Her body floating, floating. She was incorporeal, disembodied.

Her eyes clenched tight as images flickered and flickered behind her lids. The world was dark. There was no light. Just shadows with swishing skirts and disfigured faces. Deep holes where eyes should be as tongueless mouths screamed blood curdling noises.

Red filled her vision and her veins. Ice cold fire. She was burning and freezing. Her body battling against itself. She was dying, she could feel the life force leaving her body. Water dripping along her skin as the gods washed her body in the ocean of life.

She was sinking, air trapped in her lungs as red melded into blue and blue, black. Her back thudding against the bed of the ocean.

Hands reached for her, swiping and stabbing at her skin. Sightless hands ripping her open, her life essence floating above her. A ribbon of red in the cold darkness that sheathed her sight.

They stole her breath, figures floating in black cloaks with calloused hands wrapped around her dainty neck. Her head thudded against the floor as they choked her. Her body twitching with the need to breathe, to fight against these faceless bodies.

Their voices screeched above her, a wailing sound as a claw swiped at her abdomen. Hands digging deep and ripping innards. They wore her intetines around their neck like a necklace. The twisted chain decorated with her organs.

Feet twisting above her as black bodies danced away with her life. They left her there, on the bed of the ocean. She could see nothing but black but she could feel.

The icy fire throbbed through her body, travelling inside every cell of her being. Each fragment that made her Jana freezing over. What was left of her was slowly dying, cells deteriorating one by one until she was nothing.

Nothing but a crumpled form smacking against rock as waves crashed above her head. She could hear it now, the whooshing of noise and then the thundering crash. Waves hitting water, rippling and rippling.

Her body became light, figureless. Until she too was like those faceless figures. Dark and lifeless and free. Her body floated to the top, twisting to the song of the ocean. The haunting cries of the sea creatures. The wailing.

Body twitching and shaking, the current pulled her along. Water slapping over her as she floated higher. Light was flashing through her lids, black blinded by the white light. It's burning splendour guiding her through the haunting depths of the ocean until she felt her body take form. Her fingers wriggled and then she felt air as they poked through the waves.

Water lapping over the digits, crashing and crashing. The ocean fighting against the light until light won out. Her head shot through the waves and then she saw. She saw white.

Her eyes shot open as she gasped for breath. The white material of the tent flickering as orange lamp light cast over her. She was burning. Burning. Burning. Then the ocean took her under.

---

When she finally came to, the natural morning light shone through the tent, blinding her with its brightness. Her hand braced across her face and then her body woke.

Mind screeching in pain as her abdomen protested against movement. Against air. She could feel the trapped air in her lungs. Air she refused to breathe because the pain was unbearable. Unfathomable. To not breath was better than to feel.