The Unblessed Child

Chapter Fifteen - Aftermath

In the first light of the morning following the attack, the mission to retrieve goods and supplies from the sunken ships began. Water blessed struggled the night prior as the little light given by the moon made the retrieval missions futile. A few unlucky water blessed staff had the heart wrenching task of retrieving bodies of other staff, those that were earth, air or fire blessed in order to give them proper funeral rights as their custom dictated. Any unblessed who had perished in the battle were given back to the ocean, in hope that their sacrifice would calm the Goddess Undina, keeping her beasts of the water at bay for the remaining journey.

Prince Chastion dove time and time again, rescuing as much as he could and only rested when his mothers' demanded he stop for fear they would lose him too. The truth was, anything he could do to distract himself from the reality that his sister lay on her deathbed, was welcomed and provided a small amount of relief from the growing guilt. Princess Kibo had been injured more severely than the other members of the royal family and had been otherwise on bed rest, trying to recuperate from the immense amount of water blessed magic she had executed during the attack.

A deep sadness fell upon the fleet, so many had been wounded that the two remaining healers' bays were overwhelmed with too many crowded beds and not enough supplies to last long. Anyone who had any healing experience was required to help, assisting with amputations, cauterizing wounds and treating infections with what little they had.

Rachida pushed open the wooden door that led to the healer's bay aboard Princess Kibo's ship. She looked around the room as a stench of rot and decay filled her nose and the sounds of crying, sobbing and painful pleas created a chorus of despair. There had to be at least three dozen inside the room, most were laid on furs on the ground with only six beds housing the severely wounded. Rachida tried to avert her eyes from the terror surrounding her and moved swiftly to the back of the room where a red and white canine turned its head and wagged its tail in excitement upon seeing her. She placed down a small bowl she had been holding and Kit lapped up the food eagerly.

"How is she?" Rachida asked the canine, who now licked its lips and curled up once more beside its master. The long red locks of Aardriyah's hair were slightly dampened from the leaks in the ship, but otherwise lay unmoving and as lifeless as their owner on the hard floor of the healer's bay. Rachida pulled a small blanket over Aardriyah and grasped her hand, holding it tightly and trying to heat her enough to shock her into waking. Nothing happened, Aardriyah's eyes remained shut and unmoving, her chest barely rising and falling - the sole indication that she continued to live, for the time being.

The days following the attack on the Royal Fleet, were the hardest to get through. The damage caused to two of the ships was irreparable and resulted in severely cramped conditions on the remaining ships. The bodies that were recovered were given proper funeral rights, per the custom of their blessing - water blessed were given to the water to be taken to the deep of the ocean, air blessed were passed higher and higher into the sky until their bodies were disintegrated and their particles drifted on the winds. The fire blessed lit their fallen bodies alight and cried as the ashes of the comrades flew across the sea. The only bodies who were unable to be given proper rights, were those of the earth blessed. A decision was made to keep those bodies in the little remaining stowage on the ships and at the first sight of land, bury them accordingly. Any unblessed who had perished in their fight were given to the ocean, as there was not enough space to return them to their homelands or loved ones.

Rachida returned to the healer's bay each day, giving Kit his well needed food and praying to all the gods that her friend would make it through. When they had found Aardriyah collapsed in the healer's bay, not far from where she now lay, they were unsure how she had ended up there or why. She had been severely bruised from being thrown across the ship with the volatile waves, but otherwise bared no indication of wrongdoing; nothing that warranted her endless sleep. On several occasions, Rachida had noticed the prince's presence in the healer's bay. He'd talk to all those that were able to do something more than moan in agony but seemed to spend an unusually long amount of time watching over Riyah. After spending time watching over her, he would leave without a further word and usually wouldn't be seen for the rest of the day.