by Walls, Devri
“Is it too tight, can you feel your fingers?” Eleana pressed.
He wiggled his fingers back and forth and flexed his biceps. “No, it’s good.”
Eleana nodded and whispered the final enchantment. The snake opened its mouth, reached for its tail and bit down. The instant the two ends connected and the magic sealed itself, a force roared through Emane’s body the likes of which he had never felt. It was that of fire and a million needle pricks. He rocked back on his heels with a gasp as the room began lazily swimming around him. He heard his name off in the distance, recognized it vaguely as Kiora’s before he crumpled to the ground. Blinking, he looked around. The room was still rotating, and his body was on fire. There were hands grabbing his head, pulling it up and Kiora’s face came into view.
“Are you ok?” she asked.
He frowned, it sounded like she was miles away. “I don’t know,” he mumbled, forcing his mouth to cooperate. “I feel strange.” His body was screaming, fighting with the magic, rejecting it. He could feel it inside, the magic roared forward, forcing itself through him, his body resisting. More than anything it felt wrong, like it didn’t belong. That feeling of ownership, of needing it was gone. He tried to hold on to the room, to Kiora’s face, but he couldn’t. Surrendering to the magic, he closed his eyes.
***
Kiora looked up at Eleana as Emane went limp. “What’s wrong with him!?” she yelled.
“I don’t know Kiora,” Eleana knelt down next to her touching Emane’s face. “This hasn’t been done enough times to know.” The band on his arm had hardened and grown cold. “Drustan, how quickly can you get him back to his bed?”
“I will get him there as fast as I can.” He morphed into a creature Kiora had never seen before. It looked like a cross between a human and a wolf. He scooped up Emane and sprinted out of the cave on two legs.
“Eleana, I don’t understand. What is going on?” Kiora was panicking
“Come. We will talk as we go.” Kiora had to practically run to keep up with Eleana. “Emane’s body is rejecting the magic. You have to understand, each person is so different, the magic reacts differently in each situation, and something like what I just did, has never been done before.”
“What do you mean?” Kiora’s voice rose.
“As we mentioned, the other items that were made they were all removable. Emane’s band is sealed on him, it is logical that it would make a more powerful connection with him.”
“Will he be ok?”
“I hope so.”
Kiora wanted to scream at Eleana that her ‘hoping so’ wasn’t good enough. But the bridge looming in the darkness froze the words in her throat. Cold hard fear grabbed at her heart. Looking forward, Eleana was already crossing. Emane needed her, she couldn’t just stand here. Gripping the sides of the rope bridge she tried to breath. Closing her eyes she forced her feet forward.
“Don’t look down, don’t look down don’t look down,” she whispered through clenched teeth.
Not soon enough she felt her feet hit flat ground again. Gasping in relief she hurried onward, Eleana’s copper hair had already disappeared in front of her. She ran past the still burning torches and past the waterfall. By the time she reached Emane’s room he had deteriorated even further. He lay on a large four-poster bed, much like hers. Eleana and Drustan stood to the side. Rushing to Emane, she grabbed his hand, he was deathly pale and sweating profusely.
“What do we do?” She looked desperately to Drustan and Eleana.
“There is nothing else we can do. We must wait for his body to accept the magic,” Eleana answered.
“What if it doesn’t?”
“It will,” Drustan said with a forced confidence, his eyes looking anywhere except at Emane.
“How do you know!?” Kiora snapped, glaring at him across the bed. “You are the one that wanted to put it inside him!”
“Kiora!” Eleana reprimanded her.
Kiora’s anger snapped back in on her, understanding the logic of Eleana’s reprimand. These were their allies she couldn’t alienate them now. She gritted her teeth. “I’m sorry, Drustan.” Dropping her head she pressed her forehead against the back of Emane’s hand. “I’m worried about him.” Looking over to the offending piece she ran her fingers over the foreign magic twisting around Emane’s arm. Scowling at it she asked, “Can we take it off?”
“No, we can’t. If we were to remove the magic while his body is trying to adjust, it could kill him.” Eleana moved around the bed placing her hand gently on Kiora’s shoulder. “I’m sorry Kiora, I don’t have any other answers for you.”
Drustan’s shoulders sagged slightly, his worry showing in his eyes as he turned to follow Eleana out of the room.
Kiora got little sleep. Emane tossed and turned, moaning most of the night. She summoned some water and a washrag, trying to keep him cool, but his temperature kept rising. Even sitting next to him, Kiora could feel the heat radiating off his skin in waves. She wanted to lie next to him, to hold him. But she was worried that her own body heat would make it worse. So she sat by the bed instead, holding Emane’s hand, putting cool rags on his forehead and pleading with him to wake up.
The next morning a girl with fuchsia hair and large pointed ears brought her in some breakfast.
“We assumed you would prefer to eat in here today,” she said, dipping her head with respect.
“Thank you.” Kiora looked at the food but couldn’t find her appetite.
The same girl brought in the lunch and dinner tray but Kiora could not find it within herself to leave Emane’s side. His skin was ashen, his lips dry and cracked. Dipping a clean rag in a bowl of water, she wrung it out over his lips, the liquid dripping into his mouth. Thankfully she saw him swallow before tossing his head to the side. She ran her finger gently over his face, tracing his cheekbones that now stood prominently above his sunken cheeks. Dark circles sat under his eyes like bruises.
Sometime after dinner, Eleana came into the room. Standing in the doorway she asked, “How is he?”
“Not good.” Kiora swiped away a tear. “He just lays there and moans, and I can’t bring his temperature down.” She laid her head on the bed and sobbed, “I don’t know what to do to help him.”
Eleana made her way to the bed, looking down on Emane. “It’s almost over, Kiora.”
Sitting up, Kiora wiped her eyes, hope catching in her throat. “How do you know that?!”
“Calm down and feel his thread.”
Sniffing, she frowned, “His thread? I don’t understand.”
“Feel it, and you will.”
Kiora closed her eyes and tried to shove away all of the worry and the fear, allowing herself to feel the thread. It felt like Emane, but the outside was different, the outside was magic. She rolled the thread over in her mind, it was almost completely surrounded with the exception of a thin line. Her eyes flickered open looking for an explanation.
“As soon as his thread is completely encased by the magic this will be over.” Relief was evident in her eyes. “He will be alright, Kiora.”
Kiora nearly collapsed onto the bed with relief. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Looking at the trays around the room she said, “They told me you have not eaten all day.”
Running her fingers back over Emane’s forehead, Kiora nudged back a piece of blond hair that had fallen forward. “I haven’t had an appetite.”
“The colony is worried about you as well, Kiora. Please, sit with me and eat.” Kiora’s eyes still lingered on Emane. “Emane will be fine shortly. Eat.”
Kiora reluctantly released his hand moving over to Eleana. Dropping herself into a chair she picked up a roll and began to tentatively pick tiny pieces off. “It would have killed him, if they would have inserted it, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes,” Eleana said sitting across from her. “His body would have gone into shock immediately, I think. It wouldn’t have taken long for his heart to give out.”
The food f
elt like sand in her mouth and she forced herself to swallow. “Did you know that the whole time?” she asked glancing back at Emane, checking to make sure his chest was still rising and falling for the thousandth time.
“No, I knew it was possible,” she said, her gaze following Kiora’s over to Emane. “But until I saw his reaction to the magic I had no idea how serious it would have been.”
Kiora watched Eleana evaluating Emane, noticing again how young she looked. She knew Eleana fought in the last war, which would make her at least a thousand years old. “Eleana, how old are you?” she asked abruptly.
“Surely you know not to ask a lady her age,” Eleana said, amused.
“Sometimes you talk as if you have been alive forever.” She shrugged, tearing off another small piece of bread.
“I’m not that old. But it has been a very long time. Thousands of years.” Her eyes looked distant. “Thousands of years watching the same cycle happen over and over again.”
“How old is Dralazar?”
“Almost the same age as me.”
“You two have fought against each other for thousands of years?”
“It wasn’t always that way.” She sighed and Kiora finally saw the tiredness in her eyes. “I suppose it is time that you know. This is something that I would appreciate it if we keep between us for the time being.”
“Of course.”
“Dralazar is,” Eleana inhaled deeply, exhaling slowly before fixing her eyes determinedly upon Kiora “my brother.”
Kiora’s roll hit the ground. Embarrassed she nearly dove off the chair to pick it back up. “Your brother?” she said, falling back into her seat. “I don’t understand. You are so much more powerful than he is. And he… how could you possibly be related?”
“He took one path and I took another.”
Eleana looked away and Kiora questioned if there was something else that she was not telling her.
“He wanted glory and honor and all the things that I did not. His choices took away what he could have been.” Eleana leaned in, “Do not underestimate him, he is brilliant at what at he does. The way that he manipulates people to get what he wants is flawless. His magic is strong, but the darkness he chose squandered what could have been.”
“How can you bear to fight against him?” He is you brother, she thought.
“Because he is wrong. He wished to subject everyone and everything to his rule. He has chosen to go against everything that we were supposed to stand for and protect. And he will do anything to get what he wants.” Eleana’s voice hitched in a most uncharacteristic way. “I cannot allow that, even if he is my own brother. Being powerful does not give you the right to force your opinions on weaker species.”
Still reeling from the revelation another thought poked at her. “How will I be strong enough to fight someone that has been alive for thousands of years?” she said more to herself than to Eleana.
Eleana stood to leave. “I have told you that you are the most gifted one I have ever seen, you have unlimited potential. It is our character that helps us access our abilities, my brother has none. Because of that, Dralazar will never reach what he could be. Now, if you would excuse me.” She walked to the door, but paused, “Kiora, this conversation was meant for you and me alone.” Eleana reminded her before shutting the door behind her.
“I understand.” Kiora leaned back in her chair, her head spinning. She could not imagine Eleana’s heartbreak, having to fight her own brother. She also wondered why Eleana had chosen to tell her at all.
Putting the barely touched roll down, she moved back to Emane until his fever broke. She didn’t know what time it was, only that it was late. With Emane sleeping peacefully, she finally felt comfortable enough to lay her head on the bed and rest.
She woke the next morning to find the bed empty.
“Emane!” She sat straight up, looking frantically around the room. She saw him sitting in a chair eating breakfast and watching her.
“It’s ok, I’m right here.” He turned his head to the side. “How are you feeling?”
Trying to shake the sleep from her mind she said, “How am I feeling? What kind of question is that? How are you feeling?”
He looked better than yesterday, but his hair was plastered to his forehead and his skin still had a grayish hue to it.
“Very strange– and hungry,” he said picking up an apple, “I have been trying to save you some breakfast but it’s not working.”
“Please, eat. I’m fine.”
“It looks to me like you haven’t eaten in some time either.” He motioned to the trays filled with old food from yesterday.
“I wasn’t hungry.” She padded over to the chair across from him. Leaning forward she evaluated him. “Do you remember what happened?”
He shook his head, “Not really. I remember getting this,” he motioned to his shoulder, “then things started to spin and it went dark. After that it’s all a blur. I remember hearing your voice a few times, but I can’t remember what you said. What happened?” He took a bite of his apple.
“Eleana said your body was rejecting the magic. You were running a fever and were incoherent.” Kiora’s eyes shone with tears she was desperately trying to hold back. “I was worried I...” she swallowed looking down at her feet. “I was worried we were going to lose you.”
“How long have I been out?”
“Two nights, one day.”
“Wow,” Emane said, his mouth full of apple. “Did you stay here the entire time?”
“Of course, I had to make sure you were ok. You were in so much pain.”
“I feel like I have been through a war,” he moaned. “Every muscle in my body is aching.”
A knock at the door interrupted them. It was Eleana and Drustan.
Eleana walked in, but Drustan stood tentatively in the doorway. “I am most relieved to find you out of bed, your Highness,” he said.
“How are you feeling?” Eleana added.
“Tired, sore and starving.”
“We will have some more food sent up for the two of you. It looks as if you will need more.” Drustan eyed the meager remains on the breakfast platter.
“Emane, I know you have been through a lot but we do need to start using your magic as soon as possible,” Eleana said. “The longer it sits without use the less effective it will be.”
“When were you thinking?” he asked.
“After breakfast, if is agreeable?”
He nodded, “I will trust you, whatever you think is best.”
“Very well, I will show you where we are to practice after you have eaten.” She floated past Drustan giving him a meaningful glance on the way out.
Drustan remained, looking as if he had something he wanted to say but couldn’t quite find the words in which to say it.
Emane watched him for a minute before breaking the silence. “Did you need anything else, Drustan?”
“Prince...”
“Emane,” he sighed. “Please, just call me Emane.”
“That is very difficult for me,” Drustan said, still not moving from the doorway. “I would prefer your proper title. It is more respectful.”
“Alright,” Emane groaned, propping his legs up on an extra chair. “What is it that you needed?”
“I would like to offer my apologies, to both of you.” He nodded in Kiora’s direction. “I was stubborn and insistent about inserting the magic into you. I was thinking more of the war and less of you as an individual.” He raised his chin, as if it would somehow help him barrel through this. “I sometimes forget how fragile you humans are. I was wrong, and I apologize.” He bowed and stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Kiora was speechless.
“I didn’t see that coming,” Emane said.
“Neither did I.”
“I do really hate being referred to as fragile,” he said still staring at the door.
Kiora laughed looking over the breakfast tray. “You really didn’t leave anything for m
e did you?”
“No, I’m sorry. I am not very good at saving food.” He tried to sound optimistic. “He did say they would be sending more up.”
“Does it hurt?” She motioned to his shoulder.
“No,” he said peering at it. “But it feels different than anything I have ever felt before. It’s almost like I have something alive wrapped around my arm. I can feel its energy.” He shook his head. “I can’t figure out how to describe it. Is that how your magic feels?”
Before she could answer, there was a knock at the door and the same fuchsia haired girl came in carrying four trays of food and two jugs of juice. It wouldn’t have been nearly so strange had she not grown extra arms to carry her load. The strange looking fuchsia haired girl was now the strange looking six armed fuchsia haired girl. Kiora tried not to stare. She set the trays down on the table between the chairs.
“My Lady,” she addressed Kiora, “Prince, the colony is pleased to hear that the magic has taken and is looking forward to a celebration in honor of you using the magic we have bestowed upon you.”
“Errr, um thank you.” Emane cleared his throat, dropping his feet back to the ground with a thud. “I am honored to have received it.”
The girl bowed and left the room.
Kiora snatched an apple of the tray and began to devour it. Now that she was no longer worrying about Emane, she was ravenous.
“What celebration?”
Kiora shrugged her shoulders, “No idea.”
“Interesting. Hopefully I can use the ‘magic they bestowed upon me.’ It would be a little embarrassing if they had to cancel the celebration.”
“You’ll be fine, I will help you.”
After breakfast Kiora was so full she didn’t want to move. “I don’t think I ever eaten so much at one time,” she groaned.
“You did eat a lot!”
“No more than you,” she objected, before pointing out that he had eaten an entire tray of food before she was even awake.
“True, but I am twice the size of you.” He was trying to pull his jacket on over his button down shirt but couldn’t get his newly banded arm reached far enough behind him to get his arm into the hole. “This is ridiculous,” he fumed.