Cobalt Crown - Book One

19 Broken

     Pain. It was a horrible, aching pain that washed over Astor in his half-consciousness. His muscles wanted so badly to be stretched, but when, reflexively, he tried to move them, the pain intensified. With that, his eyes flew open. Now fully conscious, the base state of the pain increased slightly, and he realized that it was all over his body.

     His mind raced to the first thing it usually did when he felt pain, his mother. But he quickly fought that urge. Instead, he tried to focus on what specific injuries he might have. His headache throbbed with each heartbeat. Raising his head was tantamount to being bludgeoned on it. Still, he looked around.

     He saw shelves and barrels. Racks and tools were scattered about the space. He was not in the inn. He tried to angle his neck to see if he could get a better look at his wounds, but he was covered with a thick blanket. Bandages peeked out from under its warmth. He tried to move the blanket off, but his arms refused. So he laid there, thinking about what had happened.

     Kyrael.

     She had blearily opened her eyes at the touch of his magic. Internally he smiled. Hopefully she was okay. Viir was there too, he remembered. He thought that he must have been patched up by Viir if he was in a warm bed, bandages covering him in places. He couldn't really tell by feel to what extent his body had been wrecked. There was just pain. Too much to really feel what kind of injuries he had.

     The door opened, and Viir stepped in.

     "Oy, you're awake. 'Fank the gods. When the little lass took that tumble, and landed on top of you, I 'fought that was going to be it for you lot." His voice was strangely concerned, a change from his normally gruff and terse exterior. "We uh... took you to the girl's house. It was the closest place where we could get supplies, and she said she knew a little bit about medicine."

     Astor nodded. "So it was she that nursed my wounds?"

     "It was a li'l of both of us. She was a tad bashful about getting every injury. What with her being-"

     "-I think I know what you mean, Viir." Astor cut him off. He sighed. "How bad is it?"

     Viir's face softened. "Actually, it's not that bad considering the height. You have three broken ribs. One almost pierced your lung, so breathin' will be difficult for a li'l while. Dislocated shoulder, we... relocated it. Broken leg. Splinted. All considered, you both should have died.

     "My opinion is you did a mighty fine job on that aural push. It looks like your auramancy is getting better. The old wizard would be proud, if not a li'l worried that you put yourself in danger, but what else in new?"

     "Caiaphus isn't that much older than you, uncle Viir"

     "Yeah, but I like to remind him... and me," he said with a chuckle. "The point is, you should be able to rest a bit, just enough to muster one of your 'ealing hands, get yourself better, and off we go. 'Opefully before the girl's family gets here and sees all the half-mangled armor we 'ad to take off of you."

     "Actually I don't think it'll be that simple." The voice came from the doorway, where Kyrael stood, eyes slightly wide. "I gave you some of our best remedies, but they take time to work. You might need to stay here for a few days."

     "Nonsense," Astor began, "I'm fine, look." Through pain, he flung off the blanket, now seeing the extent of his injuries. One of his legs was splinted all the way to his pelvis. He was in so much pain he didn't even feel the splint there. He swung the leg out of the bed.

     "Astor!" said Viir, but he had already begun.

     Astor reached deep within and went back to that night. If he summoned enough energy he could still hear her scream. His hand began to glow. He saw on his leg where the bruising was the strongest, and laid his hand upon it.