The King of Saminu

Chapter 27

A hand reached out to grab mine. Eyes closed, I could only feel the presence of it, before it grabbed onto mine. Instead of a loving caress like I was expecting, it was warm and sticky, and my eyes shot open to stare at the bloodied hand of my husband. One hand was held over the right half of his face, where the injury seemed to have been coming from. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. I was breathless as I rushed to heal Brann, but I was slow. Just as my hands were close enough to his face to heal, another hand reached out and grabbed my shoulder.

Ellsk was staring at me, his eyes abnormally pale, leftover vomit on his chin and the front of his shirt. His eyes begged for me to help him, and I was at a dilemma. Who do I heal? I turned, still too slow to be of any use, bringing my left hand to reach under Ellsk's shirt and heal him, my right hand reaching out to heal Brann. My energy divided, but so divided that it was barely helping anyone.

I had to make a choice. Ellsk was sick, but Ellsk always recovered. Brann was injured, clearly bleeding profusely, but wounds to the face always bleed more than what was usual. I tried to ask Brann to move his hand, but words didn't work in whatever place we were in. I reached out, pulling Brann's hand away from his head, and the wound was bad. Clearly a wound made from either a strong swordsman or a lucky shot with a knife. The dilemma continued.

I reached my hand away from Ellsk and started healing Brann instead, trying to accelerate the clotting of his blood in order to help the wound heal faster on its own. His eye was swollen shut on his right side, but his left eye pleaded with me, begging to help him. He was pale, his skin lacking the underlying red tones I was used to. The bed I was laying on jostled, and I turned around, finding Ellsk to have collapsed on the floor.

I removed my hands from Brann and watched, horrified, as my bloodied hands moved agonizingly slow to my younger brother. He was laying in a heap on the ground, his skin reaching a blue color as oxygen was being deprived from him. I tried to put as much energy and speed into healing him as I could, using both of my hands to manually pump his chest while I healed him. Brann clawed out towards me again, crumpled on the bed as he silently begged for help.

My vision was blurry from tears, but that didn't help ease the pain I felt as the scene unfolded around me. Brann's singular functioning eye begged for help once more, before he finally collapsed as well. I switched to try healing both boys once more, but the attention both of them needed amounted to more than what a single person could offer. I had to make a choice. It's just some blood loss. The face always bleeds more than is serious. I convinced myself, continuing to pump Ellsk's heart and breath for him when I needed to.

In the end, I couldn't save either of them.

*****

I jolted awake with a start, immediately checking my hands for blood. The dream wasn't real. Ellsk was no where around me, and Brann was still supposed to be gone.
"Gamm?" I whispered, looking to the sleeping mass on his bed. He grunted, but stayed asleep. "Gamm?" I spoke even louder, and angry blue eyes made contact with my own.

"What?" He hissed. If looks could kill, I wouldn't be here.
"Do you think Ellsk is okay? Mams and Pappy would take him to a doctor if he got sick again, right?" I questioned. Gamm hit his forehead hard enough for me to hear.
"You wake me up in the middle of the night to ask me if Mams and Pappy are good parents? They have money now, Ren, they're gonna take care of him. And if you fucking wake me up again, I'm gonna go sleep in the barracks for the rest of our deployment," Gamm huffed, ending the conversation by showing me his back.

I sighed, wiping the tears that Gamm hadn't seen from my eyes. You're such a baby. Crying at the drop of a hat. What kind of queen are you? I asked myself. My hands drifted down to my stomach, where there was now a noticeable bump. The probable heir to Spenn was growing like crazy, taking up even more room as each day passed. Brann probably doesn't even know I'm pregnant. I sighed. Tears continued to stream down my face. My stomach rumbled, and I sighed.
"Are we hungry?" I questioned, but the baby didn't respond. No one did. I sighed, getting up as quietly as I could from the creaky bed.

I was used to being sore now from how much I was training, but the added back pain I had been feeling this week wasn't much fun. I limped my way outside, heading over to the mess hall, where there was our rations. I took a bit of mine early - an apple that was starting to go bad. It was nothing in comparison to the fresh fruit that grew at the castle, but I couldn't complain. We were on a military base in Slifni. People were dying while I ate.

I had finished the soft fruit before I even reached the small cabin. I tossed the core to the bin that stayed outside, then entered the dark. Before I could take any steps inside, however, I was stopped in my tracks to a figure searching over my bed. It was dark, my mind still full of the fear that lingered from my dream, and without thinking anything through, I shot a blast of ice towards the intruder. Not only did it shoot off too far to the left, but it skidded to a halt before even making its way close to the bed.

I froze as the figure turned towards me.
"Rensker, why would you try and harm me? Do you not recognize your brother?" Ellsk questioned, and my heart plunged. I rushed forward, grabbing Ellsk into my arms and swinging him around the room. Both of us grew dizzy, my center of balance caught off guard. I sat down on my bed and Ellsk followed suit.
"Ellsk, I'm happy to see you, but why are you here?" I questioned, and Ellsk shrugged.

"The gods need me with you. They told me that I needed to be in Maeri. I was told that you needed protection," Ellsk spoke faster than what I was used to hearing from him and his eyes were wide. I could see his entire iris. It may just be the lighting, but his eyes looked paler than what I remembered them to be. I reached out to grab Ellsk, who was still swaying, and his skin nearly burned me. He's sick again. He tried to pull his hand away, but I held on tighter. My hand started to glow, and I put forth all my energy into healing my brother. My dream played on the back of my eyelids. Ellsk muttered his foreign language under his breath.

"Ellsk, I'm twenty one years old. What's a ten year old going to do to protect me?" I questioned, angry with the boy for coming all this way when he was sick. Ellsk sighed, still trying with little strength to pull away from me.
"I have all of the gods on my side, Rensker. There is nothing a human can do against a god's blessing," Ellsk spat, then he started shaking. I pulled the boy into my lap, placing both of my hands on his forehead afterwards in an attempt to quicken his healing.

"Ellsk, you should have stayed in Spenn. You don't need to protect me, I'm starting to be able to take care of myself. Had you stayed with Mams and Pappy, you possibly wouldn't have gotten sick. And even if you did get sick, you would've had an entire mass of healers at your disposal, all of which are more helpful to you than I could ever be,"
"You do not get it! It does not matter if I grow ill, Rensker, it matters if you do! You are the key to everything that the world has been aiming towards. Without you, nothing would matter!" In all of his years, I don't remember Ellsk ever raising his voice. He's really sick.

"Ellsk, calm down, you're going to wake up Gamm," I whispered, but Ellsk stared at me, black eyebrows furrowed. After a moment, his eyes glazed over, and his wide eyes turned to slits.
"We are going to win the war soon, Rensker. The war will be over," Ellsk's voice was slurred and slow, a dizzy quality to it. I worked as hard as I could to heal my brother faster.
"You're very hopeful Ellsk. I wish I could be as happy and hopeful as you are," I muttered, but my voice fell to deaf ears. Ellsk's eyes were closed, his breathing growing heavy. But as he slept, his fever grew warmer.

"Gamm!" I called as I felt the sun begin to make its debut in the sky, the glow of my hands starting to dim. Gamm sat up, his hair messy and his glare even harsher than the one he had held hours ago.
"That's it, I'm slee- who's in your arms?" Gamm asked, anger replaced with concern.
"I-I had a dream about Ellsk being sick earlier, and now he's here, and he's sick, and... can you go grab one of the healers? I don't know if Ellsk will be able to last the day without one," Gamm didn't need to be asked twice, and he ran from the room, still barefoot and shirtless.

Just as my powers fizzed out, Gamm was back with a Spennian healer to replace me.
"We have this under control, Rensker. Why don't you get some rest? There's bags under your eyes and you look a little... unwell," The healer smiled in my direction, and I nodded, following his orders.

Ellsk had died in my dream, but I wasn't going to let that happen. I could save him. I will save him.