Warrior of the Moon

42

He had been surprised to see Celestine fall as soon as he had arrived; perhaps even more surprised to see it happen at Iliss' hand. But he did not feel any pleasure at it.

Because as soon as he turned toward the dais, he saw her.

Her hair, dark and glossy as the feathers of a raven, was splayed out beside her. Her nymphs were working on rolling her on her stomach, and Tarin caught sight of her back as they did so; at the platform itself. When he realized her hair was so glossy due to the blood it was soaking in, he flew to her.

No, no, no, no...

He crashed to his knees on the dais beside her, ignoring the puddle of blood he was in. Nahla cast one look at him and nearly sobbed with relief - nearly, because she was already sobbing in fear.

"We haven't been able to staunch the bleeding, Tarin. We would need water. Please, please stop it, please," Nahla begged. She started rocking back and forth on her knees, clearly starting to believe she was going to lose another queen.

Tarin leaned over his queen and placed a gentle hand on her forehead, even as his other hand pressed against her wound. He was relieved in some deep part of his soul to see her eyelids flicker at his touch, as if she had registered the pain of it somewhere equally deep down in her. Thankful now more than ever that he had not wasted his own energy on a Portal, he called upon his own magic, and the magic around him, to flood Serena with all the healing power it could harness.

Even as the magic passed into her system, he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Fight it, Princess," he murmured, kissing her just under her ear. "Please. Don't leave me. We've handled Celestine. You're safe; you did it. Fight it."

He only knew he was crying upon tasting the salt on his tongue after the tears trickled down his face. He ignored that, too, particularly once he took his hand away from her back and saw what it had done.

Nothing.

Nahla looked at it too, then looked at him in panic. "What's going on?"

"It... it didn't do anything. I don't understand..." Tarin stammered.

"It's because of her blades," Iliss said, striding up to them. Tarin glanced past her and saw that she and Vice had bound Celestine in chains. He assumed Iliss had poofed somewhere else in the castle to get them, and he was glad that his mother would not be a problem at the moment; though rather unhappy that the blast he had seen the tail end of had not, evidently, killed her.

"Celestine's," Iliss clarified, coming to stand beside Tarin. Her eyes were wary as they flicked over Serena's form. "They're unnatural things, formed of dark matter; the blood of the spirits she turned."

"Just tell me, Iliss," he ground out. Serena's color was rapidly fading.

"Any wound made by them can only be unmade by Celestine," Iliss responded. "Or, specifically, Celestine's magic."

Tarin grit his teeth together and rose. "But you knocked her out--"

"Because she was going to kill everybody," Iliss defended herself. "And I knew that this wouldn't kill her, either; she's done something really awful to keep herself alive. I just don't know how we'll convince her to heal Serena--"

"How did she get stabbed in the first place?" he cried, spinning back around to his queen. "Why would any of you let her fight Celestine alone?"

"That doesn't matter right now!" Nahla yelled, leaning forward to cradle Serena's face as best she could. Blood had begun to dry up on her lips. "She's barely breathing. I thought Celestine punctured one of her lungs, but maybe not; surely she would have been dead already if that were true--"