Broken Aro (The Broken Ones)

by Wylie, Jen

  Chapter 8

  Take a Deep Breath

  She hit the water with a hard, painful slap along her side. Immediately she sank, the cold, raging waters surrounding her, taking her in and holding her tightly.

  Kei hadn't gotten the chance to break her chains. She panicked, struggling to move back to the surface. Twisting, turning, thrashing, and kicking, her struggles proved to be in vain. She didn't know how to swim. She didn't know what to do. Slowly, or so it seemed, she kept on sinking.

  She was going to die.

  Keeping her eyes squeezed closed, she held in a sob. She tried to keep the little air she had in her lungs. She didn't want it to end like this. If she was going to drown, why couldn't she have done it holding onto Kei? Why did she have to be alone?

  Why had Kei made her leave? Stupid boy. She was so angry at him and at Kendric and Prince and the others who'd left him and hadn't let her stay with him. But it didn't matter. She'd never get to tell them, because she was still sinking. Into the dark. Maybe her brothers would be waiting for her. Maybe Kei would be, too.

  Something pulled her hair suddenly and then brushed against her head, her shoulder. Her panic grew. She twisted and kicked, hysteria pulling at her throat. Had the fish come for her already? Would they try to nibble away at her when she wasn't even dead yet?

  Something grasped her arm, lost its hold and then caught her tight. She wouldn't open her eyes to look, not that she'd see much. It began pulling with jerking movements, pulling her deeper, closer to death. The water became a vise around her body. Her strength ebbed out of her as exhaustion pushed aside her fear. She struggled weakly, but it didn't matter.

  Cold blasted her face, startling her, a shock to her system. It struck her something had pulled her up, not down. Someone.

  Her eyes flew open. Salt water burned her eyes. Gasping for air and choking on waves she kicked wildly, struggling to stay above water. Air. She could breath. She sucked in a great lung-full, her heart beating furiously in her chest. She grasped frantically for the one who'd saved her.

  Prince.

  He was saying something but she couldn't hear over the crashing of the waves.

  She yelled at him, kicked him, and hit him with her hands and the chains that bound them. "It's your fault!" His fault she wasn't with Kei. His fault Kei was alone. "You left him! How could you? I hate you!" She hit him again. "I hate you!"

  He grabbed the chain between her wrists and jerked. "Be still!" His bellow was so loud, so full of anger, it actually made her stop.

  She started to sink and the panic came again, the fear of the crushing darkness below. She reached for him, hands grabbing at his face and shoulders as incoherent screams ripped from her mouth.

  "Shhh. Hush. Do not tread the water. Be still." His voice, though still loud, had become calm.

  She stopped screaming, though the sobbing would not stop. After a moment her body even listened and soon they just floated, the waves bouncing them gently about.

  "There. See. Be calm, be still, and we will be fine. I've got you."

  She tilted her head to look up at him and her fingers curled into his shoulders. "I'm scared. I'm scared."

  "I know. Do not worry, child. I won't let you go." They were words of comfort...and probably lies. But they made her feel better.

  A wave caught them suddenly and twisted them about violently. It yanked her out of Prince's arms. She screamed, the sound cutting off abruptly as he again caught hold of her. She started to shake. It wouldn't stop. She knew fear caused the most of it, however the terribly cold water didn't help any either.

  "Aro. This is not working." She looked up at him again as he continued, "I won't let you sink, but you must let go for a moment. You must trust me."

  She didn't. But she did release him because it didn't really matter. If he wanted her to drown she would. All he had to do was let her go.

  He moved his arms. "Grab my shoulders." She did so quickly before she could go under. His arms were raised now.

  "What are–"

  "Now put your chain over my head."

  She understood suddenly and struggled to do as he asked. As soon as she did his arms lowered around her, holding her close to him and she could feel his chain across her back.

  "There. Even the waves won't part us now," he said into her hair.

  She nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck. He shifted and they floated quietly, his body tilted back as she rested across him. How could he possibly be floating? She let the strange thought slip away. She didn't really care. She wasn't sinking, and if the waves constantly splashed her face and she choked on water more than air sometimes, she could at least breathe.

  The only sound was the crashing of the waves. It frightened her. She turned her head and looked around. Though night, the moon lit the world with a soft, eerie glow. "The others?"

  "I don't know."

  She turned her head again and bit her lip hard. The ship, at least a small chunk of it, hung on the rocks behind them. Even as she watched it banged against the rocks, pieces falling into the water. Unable to tear her eyes away she could only stare silently until eventually the last piece fell and the waves claimed it. "Kei."

  She closed her eyes to try to keep the tears away and then gave up. It didn't matter. She held on to Prince while she shook and cried.

  She stopped crying sometime. She didn't know when, but the shaking continued and her teeth chattered. They kept floating on the rough waves. She could feel Prince's legs moving steadily but slowly under her as he kicked. Sometimes his arms would shift across her back as he steered them through the growing debris around them.

  She looked up sharply once, when for just a moment everything became dark.

  "Just a cloud," Prince assured her. She relaxed her grip on his neck, unaware she'd held him too tightly.

  Her eyes scanned the starry sky. She didn't see any clouds, not anywhere near the moon anyways.

  Every once and a while, wood bounced off of them, hitting her legs or shoulders. It didn't hurt. She was numb from the cold and the waves had finally started slowly growing calmer. It was almost peaceful.

  "Aro."

  His voice sounded distant, foggy. She opened her eyes a little. "Mmm?"

  "How are you?"

  What a foolish question. "Wet. Cold. Tired." That summed up the main points.

  "We're coming up on the rocks. The currents there will make things a bit bumpy. Keep your head up."

  At least he had good news though. The rocks had been at least halfway to shore. So they were headed in the right direction and getting closer. Maybe they would even make it...and then…what?

  He twisted suddenly and she hung on as they reached a current and the waves sucked and spun them, dragging them this way and that with a growing ferocity. She held on more tightly, her numb hands in fists behind him.

  She didn't see what struck her so suddenly and so painfully her vision blurred and pain shot through her head. She blinked and closed her eyes against it, but the stabbing pain didn't fade and she could feel a strange warmth sliding down one side of her forehead.

  "Aro?"

  "I'm fine," she whispered and turned her face so her cheek pressed against his, wanting to shield her face from whatever else floated dangerously on the waves.

  They turned suddenly. His hands tightened around her. He banged up against something, jarring them both, making him stiffen. They spun away, only to hit something else, and then again.

  It took her a while to figure out he kept turning them, over and over, so he would be the one who hit the rocks. He was protecting her. She didn't understand why, but silently thanked him for it.

  She did not go unscathed; a few times the angle they hit caused the back of her hands to scrape along the rocks. It stung, but didn't really hurt. She knew it should have, that it would later, but her hands had just become too numb to feel anything.

  They banged their way through the rocks until finally they were free and floating quietly again
. Her mind was numb, everything was numb.

  His face pressed against hers. "You mustn't sleep."

  She made a muffled sound of agreement, too cold and too tired to speak.

  "We are almost there. You can sleep on the beach, but not here," His voice grew angrier when she didn't respond and he shook her. "Don't you dare fall asleep!"

  Tears came again. He was angry with her. He was always angry with her. He continued to yell at her, his voice a distant rumble in her ear. She wanted to answer him, but just couldn't. Everything felt too heavy, too cold and dark. Had he let her go and she had started sinking again?

  She didn't even have the energy to care.

  Chapter 9

  Alone with a Prince

  Everything hurt. She remained motionless and in pain, trying not to move, hoping the pain would go away. It didn't, and eventually she cracked open her eyes, wincing at the brightness.

  Tears welled and she blinked rapidly. Her eyes felt gritty and she let the tears come, trying to blink the salt and sand from them.

  They cleared after a time and she stared off to the side, vaguely noting the beach and that it ended some distance away, cut off by ragged outcrops of rock. A blurry dark shape moved by the rocks. She blinked and the strange shadowy form disappeared.

  Her fingers curled. She winced at the pain the simple motion caused on the backs of her hands. She raised her head slightly as her mind started to clear and where she was sank in.

  They'd made it to the beach.

  She was sprawled half across Prince. Her cheek rested on his chest with her hands on either side of her head. Lowering her face again, relief flooded her as she felt his warmth and the slow rise and fall of his chest.

  Was he asleep? Unconscious? She could feel his hands resting warmly low on her back, unmoving. They had survived.

  She closed her eyes. Exhaustion overcame her. She let the sound of the waves lapping the shore and the bump, bump of his steady heart beat beneath her lull her back to sleep.

  * * *

  She awoke again to a faint crackling sound. Light flickered against her eyelids. Hot and cold assaulted her simultaneously. She shivered and curled herself up into a tight ball.

  As awareness slowly came back to her, she remembered Prince had moved her. She recalled him speaking to her quietly, carrying her gently, and later untangling their chains from each other.

  Opening her eyes she saw the flickering light and the crackling sound came from the small fire a short distance from her. The fire gave her the warmth, the cold came from the stone she rested upon.

  She sat up slowly, wincing as everything still hurt, and her mind seemed foggy. For a moment she sat very still as everything spun. Once she found her balance again she looked around in the light of the fire and was surprised to find herself in a cave.

  Not quite a cave. It looked like water had cut sections out of rock. Prince had moved them to a ledge. She crawled forward, looking around. Erosion had left tiers throughout the cave, as well as a series of small pools and a small flowing stream. To her left she could see the rock opening to the sea, and a little to the side stretched an opening that led to the beach. To her right the rock continued, and she stood and followed the ledge until it ended and she hopped down to a lower one, it did not go far before she came to a large pool. Above it rose the forest ridge she'd seen before, a small waterfall gently falling from it.

  She knelt at the pools edge. Her chains clanked and rattled in the quiet. She certainly wouldn't be sneaking up on anyone anytime soon. Cupping water with her hands, she drank deeply, wincing as her hands stung. It wasn't yet dark out, but looked to be getting close. She had more than enough light to see the backs of her hands, the skin scraped raw and weeping, cut deeply in a few places. She grimaced and stuck them in the water, swishing them around, hoping that would be enough to clean them.

  "Aro!"

  She looked up at the sound of her name as it echoed sharply through the stone.

  "I'm here," she said, more quietly than she intended, but her voice didn't seem to want to be working.

  He still heard her, as a moment later Prince came into view, a tight frown across his face. She sat back as he made his way to her side and bit her lip. Why was he frowning now? She hadn't done anything!

  He crouched down when he reached her and leaned forward, pressing his cheek to her forehead.

  She pushed him away. "What are you doing?"

  He frowned again. "You've had a fever. I see it finally broke."

  "Oh." A blush spread across her cheeks.

  He stood suddenly and with more grace than she'd ever have, slipped along the ledges and around a corner by the pool. How he moved so gracefully in chains she had no idea. A moment later he came back, arms full.

  She looked at him questioningly as he set down what looked like a pile of clothes and two large bowl-shaped shells. One nearly overflowed with something purple and sweet smelling.

  "What's all of this?"

  He held up the bowl with the sweet stuff in it. "Today I gathered roots, berries, and so forth from the woods." He smiled slightly. "This should help your wounds."

  She leaned forward to look at the gooey substance. "You made that?" He nodded. "Do I eat it?"

  He smiled slightly and shook his head.

  He should smile more. It certainly looks much better than his scowl.

  "I scavenged some cloth. It will likely be needed. I washed them as well as I could. I believe they are dry now."

  She raised her eyebrows. "You made medicine, and you did laundry? How long have I been sick for?"

  The frown came back and he looked away, adjusting the pile of cloth. "We reached shore early yesterday. You succumbed to one of the sicknesses on the ship I believe. When I woke, you had already become lost in the fever. Delirious. I did not think you would make it through the night."

  She stared at him, not quite certain what to say. He looked very uncomfortable, and she wasn't quite sure why. "Thank you," she said finally. "For taking care of me."

  He nodded once, sharply. A quick, fake smile crossed his face. "Well, let me look at your hands."

  She put a hand in his and watched him examine it. He rinsed it in more water, dabbed at it with a piece of cloth and proceeded to carefully cover the wounds in a thin layer of the purple mixture.

  "Why didn't you do this earlier?"

  He frowned again. "I did clean them as best I could." He glanced up at her. "I just finished gathering the ingredients."

  "Think I'd die and didn't want to waste your time?"

  "Do not even think such things," he said softly.

  She held in a smile as he finished her other hand. He just looked so serious, his brows drawn slightly together. She could almost picture him sticking his tongue out a little as he concentrated.

  He chuckled suddenly and released her hand. "Do not get used to this."

  She smiled. "I wouldn't dream of it."

  He looked up and grinned at her, and it was such a boyish, sweet smile it made her breath catch. Flustered, she looked away, her gaze falling on the pile of cloth. She paled suddenly, as what they were, where they had come from finally registered.

  Scavenged he had said. From dead washed up on shore. Gah! Her stomach twisted at the image. Why did she have to be reminded about what had happened?

  "Aro? What's wrong?"

  She looked away from the pile and shook her head quickly. "Nothing."

  "Let me look at your head."

  She tilted her head, allowing him to better see the cut she knew was on the side of her forehead. "Is it bad?"

  He gave a little shrug as he cleaned it. "It is deep. Long. It should be stitched. You will have a scar, but your hair should hide most of it."

  "Perfect," she muttered. She wasn't pretty to begin with, and now both her hands and face would be scarred.

  He began spreading on the paste. "This will help quite a bit. It will both kill any infection already there, and prevent further ones from occurrin
g. It will also pull the wound together somewhat as it dries."

  "If you say so."

  "I do." He smiled slightly. "Leave it be, until it turns almost white, and begins flaking off on its own." He sat back and looked at her hands. "I think I will wrap your hands though. It will help protect them."

  She grimaced slightly, but nodded and tried not to watch as he ripped strips and carefully wrapped her hands. "You know what you're doing, too," she commented quietly.

  He smiled again slightly.

  "How is your arm?"

  He looked down at it. "Fine."

  He had finished with her hands. "Let me see." He didn't protest as she took his arm and undid everything. The wrappings were wet and she set them aside to examine his arm. It seemed to be healing well. It hadn't become swollen or turned any strange colors. Prince handed her more ripped cloth and she carefully re-wrapped his arm and put the greave back on.

  She noticed suddenly, through the rips in his shirt, purple paste streaked up the outside of his arms, from shoulder down to his elbow. Memories of the sea and the rocks, of crashing and pain skittered through her mind. Clenching her jaw tightly for a moment, she pushed the memories away.

  She frowned suddenly. "How's your back?"

  He opened his mouth slightly, closed it again and sighed. "Will you look at it?"

  She nodded and he turned. The back of his shirt was in tatters. Brownish stains covered large areas, causing her to grimace. She gently raised the bottom of his shirt up to sit on his shoulders. She cursed the chains again. If they were gone he could have just taken the shirt off.

  When she finally saw his back, curses erupted loudly from her mouth before she could stop herself.

  "Is it that bad?"

  Tears formed and escaped as words caught in her throat. She sat back, her hands to her mouth. He looked like he had been whipped. His back was shredded and cut into ribbons. Patches of skin hung loosely across his back. The rest had been scraped completely raw.