The Rising Dawn

Chapter Thirty-Two - Smoke and Ashes

Nika awoke to numbness and the distant remembrance of pain. Her skin felt too small, her throat rasped, her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth. But she was alive. She could feel her heartbeat.

“Here,” a bottle of water was pressed to her mouth. “Drink.”

Nika drank greedily, trying to wash the taste of ashes away. Even water scratched down her oesophagus. Her eyes ached. Her limbs were heavy. Her stomach seemed boiled and blistered.

“You awake now?”

Nika blinked her eyes into focus and the Raven stared down at her, waiting.

“I…yes,” she tried to say but the words sounded inhuman from a cracked voice.

“That was a bloody stupid thing to do,” the Raven informed her.

“No…choice,” Nika managed.

“I know.” He shook his head. “You’re lucky to be alive.”

Nika tried to sit up but he pushed her back. She gave in, sinking down onto her bed.

“How…did it…go?” she asked, though it took some time to get out.

“Badly,” the Raven said, simply. “Third fell but we took heavy casualties. Less died in First. Everything went wrong down in the Underneath. Very few escaped. Reports say Gavarn gave his life for them.”

Nika didn’t have the strength in her to feel more grief. Her people were devastated. Her gang was crippled and broken, scattered and destroyed. Every particle of her body seemed to hurt. There was nothing left to feel any more pain.

“How am I?”

The Raven snorted. “Terrible. But you’ll live. A few days and you’ll be back like normal, save for the scars.”

“Badly scarred?”

“Very badly,” the Raven nodded. “And your lungs will never work the same again. But aside from that, you should be more or less ok.”

They were hard words, without a trace of sympathy or gentleness. Nika welcomed them. No hiding, no adjusting, no delicacy. Just the harsh truths. She deserved nothing else.

“Sleep,” the Raven ordered. “I can keep things in control for a while.”

Nika didn’t want to but she was given no choice. Her mind was already slipping away. She didn’t bother to say thank you. The Raven wouldn’t want to hear it. She just let sleep claim her and wished she would never wake again.

When Nika awoke the second time, the Raven was back again.

“You can get up,” he told her. “If you want.”

Nika didn’t want but she knew she should so she forced herself upright, groaning softly at the agony in her muscles. The Raven turned his back while she dressed, crying out in pain as the material rubbed her raw skin.

 The Raven shook his head at her quietly when she stumbled into the door, her sense of balance completely off.

“You’re a disgrace,” he told her. “A disaster.”

“Mirror,” Nika croaked back. “Where’s a mirror?”

The Raven brought her a mirror and Nika stared at her reflection, trying to find herself in the altered features.

She shuddered in her own quiet horror. It wasn’t as if she had ever been beautiful. But compared to red-raw flesh and a network of scars, she had been a goddess. Now, she was worse than a monster; she was a person made monstrous.