Oriehn

Chapter 30- Taliesin

Chapter 30- Taliesin

I watched from the shadows of the vent— our well-used entrance to visit Alice— as she stirred and finally roused, setting off the alarms and alerting the doctors of her improved condition.

For a moment, I had thought that she had seen me, her eyes narrowing to scrutinize the air duct in the corner, until the flurry of motion from the door caught her attention, and I slipped away unnoticed.

"She really did wake up, right?" Drai asked as I dropped from the ducts above our prison.

"Yeah," I smiled softly. "She is going to be alright. It seems to me that she might be in the clear."

"Do you think she will come find us?"

I hesitated, opening and closing my mouth quickly. "I-I don't know." I let my gaze wander about our prison, taking in the weakened and starved Oriehns surrounding me. They were not nearly as used to the air as I, and they breathed deeply in short succession.

Even Drai, who was always substantially active on the lunar station, looked as if she was being suffocated.  If I did not move my people soon, they would die here, either of asphyxiation or at the hands of the wardens.

"I can only hope that Alice will come. Even if she did not hear us, she must have some inclination after she woke that we are not in a position to wait long," I explained to Drai.

Her face was pale and her cheeks were sallow. They had taken her and tested her endlessly, the doctors trying to accelerate the process of the Oriehns losing their immortality.

Reaching through the bars, I grasped her hand in mine. "I am going to get us out of here. Either way, with Alice's assistance or not."

Drai shook her head limply, "I am going to die here," Her eyes were glazed over with tears, but her sobs were silent and gaping as though the air could not penetrate into her lungs and fill them with life.

"Drai? Drai!" I grasped her palms, reaching for them and placing them gently over my heart. "Calm yourself. Breath with the rhythm of my heart." Her tears continued, but the gasping stopped.

"That's right. In," my chest expanded, hers following with slightly less volume. "Out," I exhaled slowly. "You will not die here, Padraigin, and certainly not like this."

"Like what?" She retracted her hand to wipe at her eyes, but then quickly replaced it.

"In a cage, on your knees," I chuckled lightly. "It will take the keenest foe to overcome you in battle. I hardly think that the humans qualify, and the air certainly does not."

She laughed breathily, until it melted into a series of coughs that wracked her body. Her one hand gripped my shirt tightly and the other covered her mouth. When the coughs were finally silenced, she stayed crouched over, looking at her hand.

Blood dripped over her palm, and she looked up slowly to meet my eyes, mouth still open, traces of the inky blue smeared across her chin like war paint.

"You are fine," I cleaned it off with the hem of my shirt, concern etching my mind into a razor sharp edge. "It happened to me while I was down here." The lie slipped off of my tongue smoothly, but we both knew the truth— I could not remember enough to confirm or deny that statement.

Leaning against the bars, she turned so her short hair flowed through the gaps. I ran my fingers through it soothingly, watching as her shoulder hiccupped up and down with airless cries. "Shhh... Drai, breathe. Just breathe."

"I-" She wheezed "I can't," The episodes she had were lengthening, and the time in between each one dwindled. "S-Sin," She started.

"Shh, darling. You do not need to talk. Breathe, Drai. Just Breathe."

"Sin," she choked out. "Tell A-Alice, tell her tha-that she was wro-wrong."

"Wrong?" I held up her head through the bars. "Do not worry about that, Drai. I need you to sit up, darling." Panic strained my voice, I was sure.

"N-no," She whispered. "Te-tell her. She was wrong," She began convulsing, shaking what little breath Drai had out of her body.

"Okay!" I shouted quickly, catching the attention of the other Oriehns across from our block, their heads swiveling towards us. "Okay, I will. But you need to sit up, Drai. The air needs to get to your lungs." She struggled, but with my help, she was able to breath slowly. Her gasps were the only sound filling the air for what seemed like an eternity.

"What was Alice wrong about, Drai?" I leaned my cheek against her head, grazing my fingers against her shoulder, tracing her mark.

She hummed, panting heavily. "Sh-she was wrong about be-being human," She gasped, coughs convulsing her body and wavering her words. "She is n-not a monster. Sh-she is Oriehn," She drew in her breath sharply, unable to release it until she writhed on the cement choking on air.

Her blue blood spread out on the floor below, flooding the small chasms in the cracked floor as she pulled away from the bars and my hold. Hunched over, she looked over, seemingly decreasing in size as she slid to the floor. "S-Sin?"

"Yes, darling?" I keened out, my eyes blurring her figure. "Come back, Drai. Let me help you, darling."

"Sh-she loves yo-you," She closed her eyes, turning on her back limply. "Do-don't waste ti-time."

"Drai?" I pleaded. I wiped roughly at my cheeks, and clutched at the bars. "Drai?"

The silence stretched, roaring through my ears. Not even her haggard breathing echoed about the walls. "Drai?" She lay still, hands peacefully clasped over her stomach. "Drai! Drai, come back!" I sobbed, "Wake up, Drai." I reached for her hand, but it was just out of reach.

"Drai! Take my hand," I sobbed, wailing as I strained to touch her, to hold her. "Drai!"

"Sin?" Another feminine voice called out above the roaring silence. "Taliesin, what is wrong?" I slumped forward, arms outside the iron cage, my head resting against it. I looked over to see Alice, kneeling outside Drai's cell. "Sin?" She asked, tears in her eyes.

"She is dead," I whispered hoarsely. "Padraigin is dead."