The Myatheira Chronicles: Volume Four: In the Beginning

by Melissa Collins

  “You would think something of that nature would be less obscure. Such a skill could be useful.”

  “It frightens the humans,” Pehrona shrugged. She looked exhausted. Mentally drained. But Therek didn’t seem to care. He continued to press her, offering another fragment of his torn shirt to apply pressure over Kaori’s wound.

  “There are no humans here. I beg you to at least try.”

  “I could make it worse, Your Grace. Energy manipulation is not an easy task, and if I make even the slightest error, I could inadvertently cause the blood flow to increase, thereby killing her more quickly. I do not want that on my head.”

  “Then tell me what to do and I will do it.” Therek stared at her, holding her gaze, steady and defiant. In the depths of his azure eyes the torture was visible. He looked wretched. Desperate for something he could do to help. Kaori didn’t want to believe her condition was dire enough to merit the fuss Therek was making. She’d never experienced anything like this before. So sheltered while growing up that she couldn’t grasp the idea of incurring a wound that could take her life. It was beneficial, really. Without the experience, it was easier for her to keep calm. Denial, perhaps. An inability to recognize the true danger of her affliction.

  Quieted by Therek’s request, Pehrona sat perfectly still. Stiff. Kaori wondered if she was even breathing. Her face was so pale! Torn over what to do. Kaori couldn’t blame her. If the risk was really as high as Pehrona claimed, Kaori wasn’t sure she wanted her to do anything either.

  Weaving her fingers through her disheveled hair, Pehrona heaved a sigh of frustration, the internal battle she waged still obvious in her eyes. “The carriage is not steady enough to perform the procedure. At least for me. I cannot concentrate.”

  “If you do not do something soon then I will have no choice but to attempt it myself.”

  “You haven’t an inkling of what needs to be done.”

  “All the more reason why you should be the one to do it.”

  Lips pursed, Pehrona glared at Therek, her brow downturned in a way Kaori had never seen on her before. She was angry. A hint of pink could be seen rising to her pale cheeks, the sharply pointed tips of her ears quickly turning a deep shade of scarlet. “You are impossible,” she huffed, her back straightening to bring herself closer to Kaori. “If she dies, I refuse to take the blame.”

  “And if she dies because you chose to do nothing, the blame will be entirely yours.”

  Kaori wanted to argue with them. She was fine! Why were they getting so worked up over a superficial wound? Tensing her body, she tried to sit up again. If she could just show them she was alright, it would end their ridiculous debate. The mere effort it took to contract the muscles in her abdomen sent a new wave of pain throughout her body, the sound of her pained cries ringing through the small cabin against her will. Therek’s hand was over her chest in an instant, forcing her to remain on her back. He didn’t have to say anything to convince her to stay still. The look on his face was all she needed to see to know that the wound must be far worse than she wanted to admit.

  Her hands moved instinctively to clutch at her stomach in hopes of easing the agony. Instead it only made it worse, the tips of her fingers sliding through the heavy flow of blood to unintentionally dip into the laceration, feeling for the first time the true depth of the injury. Deliao’s knife had been longer than she thought. It was a wonder he hadn’t pierced completely through her slender figure. “I… do not understand,” she gasped, finding it difficult to catch her breath. The pain somehow felt worse after her discovery. Aware of the danger she faced if Pehrona and Therek weren’t able to find a way to do… something. Anything. She just wanted them to fix it!

  “What is it, Kaori?” Therek asked, clasping her hand gently in his own to move it away from the wound.

  She didn’t want him to see her in an emotional state but she was having a hard time suppressing the panic which coursed through every vein in her body. Was this what it felt like to be in shock? An utter loss of control, frantic, head reeling, though physically she was stricken, trembling, unable to put any of her frenetic strings of thought into words. Staring at Therek she prayed he would understand what she was trying to say despite her incoherence. The only word she spoke was that of Deliao’s name. She wanted to know why he had done this to her. And in front of all those people! So many witnesses who could attest to the fact that his behavior was unwarranted. Brutal. In every way she was inferior to him. The furthest thing from a threat. Deadly force was completely unnecessary.

  Squeezing her hand, Therek cast her a sympathetic glance. “I am as confused by that man as you are,” he replied, soft and comforting despite the continued uncertainty so clear in his usually confident features. “You must have pushed the right button. Deliao has a temper. That is no secret. But for him to snap so viciously before the eyes of so many… It is unlike him.”

  “She publicly struck him,” Pehrona added, her eyes open wide as if still coming to terms with the thought herself. “An assault on a member of the Imperial Army is punishable by death. He was within his rights to attack.”

  “Even the Imperial Army has rules. Deliao was out of line by touching her. If the incident were to be brought to trial – a fair trial – Kaori’s actions would be deemed self-defense and no charge would be laid against her. The General knows this. Much like he must recognize the controversy which will spark from his display.”

  If it wasn’t so painful to laugh, Kaori would have. Therek’s argument was sound yet there were so many reasons why it was comical for him to believe that her attack against Deliao would be forgiven. The soldiers had never been reprimanded for disobedience of those supposed rules in the past. “My parents were… arrested because I defended… myself against the soldiers before,” Kaori stated in short, agonized bursts of breath. Nausea burned the back of her throat, preventing her from saying anything more. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, shaming her more than the thought of having allowed herself to be beaten in front of the entirety of Rothdara. She didn’t want to cry. Not in front of Therek.

  “With Sulel, there is also no such thing as a fair trial.” Jaw clenched at the sight of Kaori’s suffering, Therek turned his head to look at Pehrona, impatient. “I thought you were going to staunch the bleeding.”

  Waving her hand in a dismissive gesture, Pehrona said nothing in response. It was futile to argue. Once Therek’s mind was made up, he was obstinate. Hesitant, Pehrona let her fingers rest gently atop the exposed skin of Kaori’s abdomen. At her touch, Kaori flinched, teeth gritted, trying desperately to keep the tears from escaping. This was torture. Alcohol wasn’t something Kaori had experience with, but in that moment she wanted nothing more than to consume the strongest drink imaginable in hopes of dulling the torment.

  Under her breath, Pehrona could be heard mumbling something about the carriage. The rocking motion was distracting. Moments of stillness were fleeting, the cushioned seat vibrating at a near constant as the wheels passed over the gravel road. It set Kaori’s nerves on edge to think of Pehrona attempting anything, regardless of whether it was necessary. At the same time, she didn’t want to die. If enduring a bit more was what she needed to do in order to live, then she would have to be strong.

  Kaori’s skin began to tingle under Pehrona’s touch. The tips of her friend’s fingers felt electrified. Pulsing. A bright green glow emanated from Pehrona’s hands, matching the brilliant, intense light which now radiated from her eyes. Through the discomfort, Kaori was mesmerized by Pehrona’s appearance. Never in her life had she witnessed such a thing before. Such control over the inherent energy possessed by every Vor’shai. Were they all capable of this? If so, she could understand why the Emperor felt threatened by them. It was unusual. Almost magical to see the way Pehrona’s eyelids quivered under the flow of energy passing between her and Kaori, the soft green light seeping from Pehrona’s body to envelope Kaori in its glow.

  Fatigue quickly started to set in. Under t
he strange sensation of Pehrona’s energy, Kaori’s muscles grew weak, no longer able to hold her head high enough to watch what her friend was doing. From where her head fell back onto the soft cushions, she stared up at the ceiling in bewilderment. Whatever Pehrona did, it numbed the pain slightly, granting Kaori a brief reprieve from the injury. If she wasn’t so afraid of breaking Pehrona’s concentration, she might have been inclined to ask questions. Inquire as to what exactly was happening. But she didn’t dare. There was no telling what would happen if the link between them was severed. Given Pehrona’s hesitance to try such techniques, Kaori could only imagine the outcome would be disastrous.

  Gradually, Kaori felt her heart start to slow. Each beat lingered longer than the last until she found herself wondering if it continued to move within her chest at all. When the blood finally pulsed, it echoed loudly through her head, ringing in her ears, bringing with it a bright flash of white light before her eyes. What was happening? Was she dying? She didn’t want to die. There was still so much to do!

  Sluggish, she tried to lift her head, unable to focus on the image of Pehrona. She knew her friend was there. She could feel the gentle pressure of her fingertips upon her stomach though the outline of her figure no longer registered in Kaori’s mind. Words wouldn’t form on her lips, making it impossible to cry out for help. She wanted Pehrona to stop. Couldn’t Therek see that something was wrong? Why was he allowing this to continue?

  Thud. A sudden burst of blood pumped through her veins, strengthening her senses for a moment, albeit fleeting. No matter how much she thought to fight the darkness which threatened, she felt herself slipping away. Succumbing to the overwhelming desire to sleep which crept over her until she lost control, it pulled her from the frightening world of reality and into the welcome release of unconsciousness.

  Sounds came muffled to Kaori’s senses as she slowly started to regain consciousness. She didn’t know where she was, though she was aware that the constant rocking motion from the carriage had ceased. There was no grinding of wheels along gravel. The tingling sensation around her abdomen was gone, replaced by nothing more than a dull ache. A reminder of the injury she sustained. She was afraid to move in fear that the pain would return. After everything she’d already endured, she doubted whether she had it in her to withstand any more.

  From somewhere in the distance she could hear voices. Some loud, others soft and unclear. There were so many! Those she could decipher were filled with fear and anger, shouting to be heard over the others. What was going on? The last thing she recalled before drifting off was Pehrona at her side, manipulating her internal energy in attempts to ease the bleeding of Kaori’s wound. So where did the voices come from? Where had they taken her?

  It took significant effort to force her eyes open. The lids lacked the moisture to move smoothly, scratching under the motion. When she finally managed to succeed, she was surprised to discover her surroundings were familiar. The graceful canopy of her bed created a soft barrier between her and the rest of the room, filled with the furniture and belongings she had collected over the years. She was home. Safely tucked away in her bed. But where was Sivar? Through the excitement of her escape and the fear of her injury she had forgotten about the danger her brother was in. General Deliao had been at the execution. She recalled the image of him drawing his sword to fight the rebels while Therek held her back, preventing Kaori from coming to his aid. Despite the validity of Therek’s argument, she was racked with guilt at the thought of having left her brother there. What if he was dead? Deliao was more skilled with a blade than Sivar. Given the lack of training of every person who fought under Kaori, Deliao could have easily cut through them all to leave nothing but a line of corpses in his wake.

  Images flashed in front of her eyes, grotesque in their vividness. Bodies covered in blood. Severed limbs. She shuddered to picture her friends having fallen to such a horrid fate. And she had left them there to die. Their fearless leader. A lot of good she’d been to them when they really needed her.

  Unable to take the anxiety any longer Kaori gritted her teeth, prepared for the pain she knew would come with any motion of her body. Slow and steady seemed the best way to go. Sudden movements would only make it worse. Careful not to jostle her midsection, she let her legs slide across the sheets to dangle over the side of the bed. To ease the tension in her stomach she allowed her upper body to turn with her legs until she was sprawled sideways across the mattress. She laid there for a moment, feeling the tips of her bare toes brush the surface of the floor. The hardest part would be sitting up. No matter what she did, it would require the muscles in her abdomen to lift her off the bed. Pain was unavoidable. Once she came to terms with that fact, her task would be far less daunting.

  Determined to alleviate some of the discomfort, she flattened her palms on the bed to support the weight of her body. Anything she could do to put less pressure on her stomach. For now it seemed to be working. Slowly she let her hands slide forward, deliberate in their placement until her shoulders were no longer on the bed, inching herself gingerly into a seated position on the edge of the mattress. Not wanting to linger there, she let her feet slide the rest of the way to the floor, the wooden boards cool and hard against her skin. It felt good. Refreshing. After the flood of warmth she experienced under Pehrona’s touch, it was reassuring to know that whatever her friend had done, it had come to pass and, for the most part, her body appeared normal.

  Once on her feet, it took Kaori several moments to regain her composure. The effort it took to stand created a wave of dizziness, nearly causing her to tumble backward onto the bed, arms outstretched in attempts to catch her balance. She wavered slightly before managing to steady herself, her hands instinctively retracting to press on her stomach, doubled over from the stabbing pain which shot through her from the excessive movement. Her eyes trailed down to the torn fabric of her gown, afraid to find that she might still be bleeding, or that the wound had somehow been exacerbated by her actions. All around the opening in the material she could see the blood which had soaked into the gown, long since dried while she slept. No new moisture was evident, granting only a mild comfort in the fact. From where her fingers ran along the wound she could feel the jagged surface where someone had applied several sturdy sutures, the edges tugging and pulling on the skin with every twist and turn Kaori made.

  The sight of the injury made her sick. It was a clean cut, though the area around it was bruised, caked in dried blood. Lifting her chin, she had to make herself look away. Her stomach was queasy. If she continued to stare at the wound she wasn’t sure she would be able to refrain from retching, and given the location of her injury, she didn’t think that would be the wisest thing to do. It took her friends long enough to staunch the bleeding without her doing anything to make it worse.

  Satisfied that she could walk without too much pain, Kaori set her attention on the voices once again. A mixture of male and female, occasionally overlapping, building in volume until a familiar voice coaxed them into silence, urging them to remain calm. Therek. She didn’t expect him to still be in Rothdara. In the past he wasted no time in returning to Eykanua after a rebel attack. It was reckless of him to be there. Especially within the confines of the Levadis home. After Kaori’s demonstration of defiance at the execution, she was sure to be number one on the General’s list of suspects. Therek’s continued affiliation with her would only incriminate him as an accomplice.

  Eyes locked on the door, Kaori began a slow shuffle across the room and into the hall. Each step increased the pressure in her midsection. She had no way of knowing the extent of the injury or if she placed herself at risk by being out of bed. At the moment she just couldn’t bring herself to care. She needed to know what happened to her brother. Her friends. Liurn and Davian were with Sivar on the rescue. And Koyl… he was young and inexperienced. There hadn’t been enough time to properly teach him and Nichele how to defend against a skilled swordsman. She hated to think that her negligent planni
ng led them to their demise so soon.

  Paused at the top of the stairs she gazed down, dreading the discomfort she knew the steps would cause. Inhaling a deep breath, she braced herself for the worst. One foot, then the other. Slow and cautious, she made her way down, moisture welling in the corners of her eyes at the uncomfortable tug of the sutures. If the pain didn’t ease soon she would be in no condition to face anyone. Not when so many people were looking up to her. Counting on her to be strong. No one could be allowed to see her reduced to tears.

  At the bottom she took a moment to collect herself, wiping her eyes to erase all signs of her agonized tears. Leaning against the rail, Kaori grimaced, arms wrapped around her abdomen in hopes that the pressure and support would somehow help ease the agony. For several minutes she remained perfectly still. Waiting. Praying for the strength to go on.

  The voices were closer now. Easier to make out. Amidst the frenetic chatter she recognized Pehrona’s softer tones, overpowered by an unfamiliar male. “We cannot let him get away with this! Deliao is not above the law.”

  “Nor are we,” Therek’s stern voice interjected. “To launch an attack against the General only places you all at risk and makes everyone guilty of the crimes of which our people are already accused. Our only peaceful option is to go through the proper channels. The concern must be taken before the Emperor.”

  Another female chimed in, clearly upset by Therek’s suggestion. “How exactly are we to do that?”

  “The Emperor will not see us.”

  “We no longer have a Countess.”

  “Lady Kaori is still our Countess…”

  “But not in an official capacity. She cannot go before the Emperor.”

  Staring up at the ceiling Kaori tried to separate all the voices. When one stopped, another started, increasing in volume to make sure they were heard. Who were all these people – and why were they in her home? They weren’t all recruits brought in by Arcell and Mathious. Liurn knew better than to have the rebels all gathered in one place. Especially not her house. No. These were not her followers. They had to be citizens of Rothdara. Family and friends of those who had been set for execution.