The Myatheira Chronicles: The Vor'shai: From the Ashes (Volume 1)

by Melissa Collins

  The medallion. Through the light which covered Arcastus, Leyna could see the details in perfect clarity. Unlike the first time when she’d observed it, two of the corner gems were broken, shattered. The center gem pulsed, sporadic, a flash of light flickering from inside. Next to it, a tiny, clear, pearl-like gem, radiated with a soft, reddish hue, the color inside undulating in synchronization with the center stone. As the light faded from around Kyros, Leyna could feel Arcastus seem to grow stronger from his position atop her, renewing his efforts to strike at her with the sword.

  The stones. They were linked somehow; one with each of the men responsible for Arcastus’s resurrection. The first for Kael, and the second now shattered at Kyros’s death. That means the central gem must be for their leader. It had to be destroyed. As long as the stone was intact, Arcastus would survive. But he was so strong. Her muscles shook with every effort she made to fend off the attacks.

  Footsteps pounded over the ground from all directions around where Leyna and Arcastus struggled against one another. With the last of her energy, Leyna thrust her hand upward against Arcastus’s chin, his neck snapping from the pressure, bones cracking as his head tilted at an unnatural angle. There was no time to think about getting the amulet from him. In her brief opening, Leyna rolled out from under Arcastus, struggling to regain her footing, the world still spinning rapidly in her vision. Through the confusion, she could make out the sight of Ven’shal soldiers rushing forward to aid Arcastus, coming in waves. She had to get away. Someone was at her side, dragging her in the opposite direction from the incoming enemy troops. Shouting for a retreat.

  All she wanted to do was sleep. Her right arm was numb, heavy. Deadweight from her shoulder. The sensation of darkness coming over her felt unnatural. Not the usual woozy feeling from loss of blood. She was beyond shock. Mentally, she couldn’t register the motion of her own body, feet stumbling along the uneven ground toward the camp. Her head was floating. Every beat of her heart came slower than the next. Thud. Loud inside her ears. Another step. Thud. Her brain was losing oxygen from the languid pulse.

  What is happening to me?

  She attempted to speak words out loud, but couldn’t hear her voice. No one was responding. But wait – voices came from somewhere. They were close. Right overhead. She was lying on the ground now. How did she get there?

  Thud.

  In a brief moment of release, she felt the world slip away from her, the voices gone, leaving her with a feeling of peace before her body shut down, the resounding beat of her heart ceasing, giving way to absolute silence.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The physicians in the tent scurried about at the sight of Thade holding Leyna’s lifeless form in his arms, long strides carrying him over to a hard, flat, surgical table near the back of the area. His helmet had been discarded on the field, dirt and blood smeared across his cheeks and forehead. An agonized look filled his eyes as he laid her down. “Help me get this armor off her,” he commanded. “She is dying. Do not waste time just standing there.”

  A doctor came to his aid, removing the helmet from over Leyna’s head. Seeing her face, Thade’s body stiffened, a pained grimace contorting his elegant features, even through the grime which covered his skin. The doctor pressed his fingers against Leyna’s neck in search of vital signs. “Pulse is absent,” he called out to the nurses.

  “Come on, Leyna,” Thade breathed, patting the sides of her face gently. “Come back to me. You have been through worse. Do not leave me like this. Not like this.”

  “Your Highness, it will be easier for the doctors to tend to her if you step away,” Cadell’s voice came hollowly from the entrance. He looked ragged. His own pain at seeing Leyna lying there was evident on his usually stern face. “Come. Stand over here by me.”

  “I am more help at her side than yours. If the doctors need assistance, I am perfectly capable of providing it.”

  “You are too emotional, Thade,” Cadell shook his head. “You are not thinking clearly enough to be of any use here.”

  Thade’s fingers moved over the straps of Leyna’s armor, helping to remove it from over her blood-soaked shirt. His hand moved to her wrist to seek a pulse. He found nothing. Her heart remained still. Unbeating. “Why was no one with her?” he shouted. Without thinking, he tore the remainder of the fabric over the wound on her chest, exposing the injury for the doctor’s to examine. “You assured me when I discovered her under your care that you would never let her out of your sight,” he yelled to Cadell. “This is exactly what I feared would happen! I should have fought harder to have her removed from military service, but I foolishly let you and my mother convince me to leave it be.”

  “Your mother gave me orders, and I followed them. You know her word is higher than even yours. What would you have me do? Disobey the Queen?” Cadell’s voice trailed off, dejected.

  Medical staff continued to bustle about the table, cleaning the wound on her chest. Once covered by a makeshift bandage, she was turned over, the laceration on her back visible through the torn material. “Queen Vorsila insisted our focus needed to remain on the war efforts,” Cadell continued. “And I find it difficult to disagree. Had it been up to you, she never would have been allowed to fight.”

  Pushed out of the way by one of the doctors, Thade watched the nurses working. Diligently cleaning the wounds, keeping watch over her vitals every few moments. There was still no response. “Of course I wouldn’t have let her fight,” he snapped. His eyes remained locked on Leyna, unable to tear them away. “And for this very reason! Because those men would single her out. Did you not take into consideration any of the information I sent you over the past several years? They know her. The head of this all is the very same Damir Rohld who killed her mother. There was never any doubt that he, at the very least, would come for her. And still you let this continue.”

  “We need her,” Cadell said through gritted teeth. Grabbing onto Thade’s arm, he pulled him aside, away from any possible eavesdroppers among those surrounding Leyna’s body. “You said it yourself in your own reports from Siscal that she was one of the best fighters in your unit. One of our most loyal subjects. And she knows the enemy. We cannot afford to lose her. The men respect her. They trust her. They look up to her. We are too far into this now to take her away and none of this will mean anything at all if we do not win this war. Think like a prince and not a man with a broken heart. Your people and their safety must come before all else. Do not make the same mistakes your brother did.”

  “And what good will she do us if they cannot revive her?” Thade grimaced at the thought. “She will have died without ever knowing. I will lose her without having even one last chance to tell her how I feel, and all because of this ridiculous deception arranged just to keep her in this battle. My mother may have the peoples’ interest in mind but she fails to consider her own son.”

  Tensed and rigid, Cadell let Thade’s words linger on the air between them. He watched the doctors hurry about the tent, calling out orders to the nurses, gathering their implements to suture Leyna’s wounds, the constant shouts announcing the continued lack of life signs from her. He sighed. “Do not make this any harder than it already is.”

  There was nothing to be said in response. They watched in silence, waiting for some word on Leyna’s condition, both anxious and admittedly frightened of the possible outcome. Her body had been without a pulse for far too long. Any other soldier would have been pronounced deceased long before now, but something kept the doctors going, the nurses finishing the sutures and tending to the wounds.

  When they finally moved away, Thade took a step forward, his fingers reaching tentatively out to Leyna’s slender arm, pale and lifeless against the white surface of the table. “Your Highness,” one of the doctors stated calmly from the other side of the table. “She appears to be alive, but lacking any vital signs, which I must admit has us all rather confused. Many of us have checked and double checked, and sense a flow of energy inside her. Wha
tever is causing this suspended state in her can only be some form of sorcery. But without knowledge of what it is, we cannot fight it.”

  “Will she live then?” Thade questioned.

  The doctors glanced at each other, hesitant, their uncertainty obvious under Thade’s inquisitive gaze. “From what we can tell. It is difficult to say. We can’t judge any length of time for its duration. For all we know, she could remain comatose for years, or could wake in moments. We have nothing by which to say, and that leaves me with very few answers to the questions I’m sure you have. I’ve never personally seen anything like this before.”

  “But she has no pulse. Will that not cause damage to her?” Cadell asked, moving to Thade’s side, his hand resting on his shoulder. “Surely there must be more we can do to keep her stable.”

  “The energy flow tells us that the body is still functioning. Something other than the heart is pushing blood through her system. We simply need to keep watch in case it ceases to do so, though at such a time, it would stand to reason her heart would resume the work.”

  “And her arm?” Cadell added. “The injury looks severe. Will she be able to use it again?”

  Heaving a sigh, the doctor checked again for a pulse on Leyna’s neck, pausing to think over his response. “If a more skilled physician, perhaps one of those on Her Majesty’s staff, were to perform some work on it, there would be a possibility of recovery. With only the equipment available to us here – no. She would lose all use of it.”

  “Then Her Majesty’s physicians will be contacted,” Thade stated firmly. Cadell glanced over to him, curious, but not daring to speak a word in protest. It was unusual for the Queen’s personal physicians to treat someone outside of the royal family. The gesture would look strange to anyone who caught word of the order.

  “Are you sure about this, Your Highness?” he asked.

  Thade stared ahead a moment, his eyes never blinking. “As far as I am concerned, she is to be treated like a member of our family.”

  “As you wish then, sir,” Cadell nodded. He turned toward the door, pausing in thought. Slowly, he spun back around, his gaze shifting over to where Thade remained standing at Leyna’s side. “Perhaps the orders should come from you. It would be best if you were not here when she wakes up. I will stay with her.”

  Grabbing a small stool from the side, Thade positioned it next to the table, settling himself onto it proudly. Every action was deliberate. Silent and intentionally disregarding Cadell’s suggestion.

  Cadell took another step forward. “Your Highness –”

  “I believe it is your duty to see to the troops and make sure they are being directed appropriately for defensive measures in case of another wave of attacks,” Thade stated swiftly and without emotion. “If they are doing as required, you can take a few minutes to return to the palace, check on my mother, and see that the physicians are notified of their immediate departure for our location. I will sit with her.”

  “Thade, I do not recommend this.”

  “I do not care what you recommend. I will not leave her side until I know she is out of danger. Think positively, though. If I am here, I am not on the battlefield.”

  Fists clenched, Cadell drew in a deep breath, words forming on his lips but never spoken. His own guilt kept him quiet. He watched Thade, ever vigilant, his hand clasped over Leyna’s, an occasional shift of his weight to lean forward, squinting for any sign of life in her. Obvious pain crossed over Cadell’s face at the sight, his brow furrowed. “And what will you do if she awakens? It does not change the fact that she cannot see your face.”

  “Let me worry about that,” Thade replied quietly. “You have your orders, General.”

  Hollow sounds filled Leyna’s head. Some like voices, others the clink of metal against metal, or stone. It was a mess of nothingness to her. Thud. Was that her heart? It was so loud inside her ears, echoing through every corner of her head, painful and overwhelming. She ached. As though she’d been at Malic’s Tavern for days guzzling the most disgusting bottle of ale.

  Thud.

  There it was again. The strange voices were less distant than before. They were close. Something poked at her. She thought to push it away, but her body showed no response. It came again, longer this time, yelling something in gibberish to someone else. Two people were poking at her, prodding her.

  A softer, gentler pressure, squeezed at her hand. At least she thought it was her hand. She realized she had no concept of where anything was on her body. It was detached from everything inside her head. Other than the occasional pressure of whatever surrounded her, she felt nothing. She could move nothing.

  It was different from when her mind was detached before, when Kael nearly killed her in Siscal. Things were visible then. The pain in her body had been gone and she’d looked down upon it from above; no connection to it at all. But now, she felt the pain. An uncomfortable tingle spreading throughout her. Why couldn’t she see? It sent panic through her. She wanted to know who was touching her. Who was holding her here?

  There was no memory of how she’d gotten to this point. No comfort from the fear. Was it Arcastus? What happened to him? Vague images in her mind sparked the memory of a fight. She’d been fighting him. But who won? Her arm – she couldn’t use her arm. Then how did she fight him?

  Questions raged in her head. With a final, reverberating thud from her heart, suddenly the world sprung to life around her, in a flitting second of bright light and noise. Gasping for breath, she saw a crowd of people leaning over her. One face looked surreal amongst the others, seated at her side, his features drawn, skin pale, darkened circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. Even through her confusion, she recognized him. Thade. He was there.

  She tried to reach out to him, finding the task impossible. The lights faded away. Another wave of panic came over her. Was she going under again? No. The sounds were still there. Voices spoke in loud tones over her, shouting orders to others. Their words finally made sense in her mind. It was her they were talking about. Vital signs returning. Abnormal. What was abnormal about them? Her lips wouldn’t move to form the sentence.

  When the light returned to her again, she found the same crowd of faces around her, though the one she sought could no longer be seen. Thade was gone. But why would he leave? He wouldn’t have left her. Maybe he’d never been there. Could she be hallucinating?

  “Thade…” her frail voice came as nothing more than a cracked whisper. She wanted to shout it! It was like a nightmare. Unable to move her body and unable to scream. She couldn’t get away from any of it.

  Close your eyes.

  Had someone spoken the words to her, or was she imagining it? The voice had been her own. Too loud to be any of the people around her. Her thoughts were becoming more indistinct, sleep taking over again. Yes, close your eyes, she urged silently. This is just a dream. There must be a way to wake up from it.

  The light disappeared around her, the voices fading, slowly, gradually becoming the incoherent din she’d heard before. She was tired. All she wanted was peace and quiet so she could get some sleep, drifting off into unconsciousness once again.

  Leyna opened her eyes to the light of the sun filtering in through the walls of the tent, heralding the coming of another day. They all blended together. She spent them the same, waking up in her bed, allowed only to stand for a brief time before Cadell would guide her back to rest, afraid of aggravating whatever had caused her initial fall on the battlefield. There had been little time to explain anything to Cadell during the intensive therapy the physicians put her through to improve the function of Leyna’s injured arm. She was aware that fighting continued around her, but she was disallowed from entering the fray. And it would remain that way for some time.

  “You are making good progress in your recovery,” Cadell smiled down at her from beside the bed. Leyna blinked her eyes, still trying to focus on her surroundings.

  “Am I?” she mumbled. It was a silly question, but she didn’t
care. She was still half-asleep. Intelligent conversation didn’t feel like something she was capable of quite yet. Not so early in the day. “Why are you looking at me like that, General? Is something wrong?”

  He chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. “No, nothing is wrong. I was merely hoping to have a chance to speak with you before the physicians arrive for your treatment. They do have a tendency to keep you occupied. I could use input from my Captain, however. If you are feeling well enough.”

  “I suppose that depends on what the input is that you desire. I don’t feel very useful for much at the moment.”

  Cadell reached behind him to pull forward a stool, situating it at the side of the bed. Leaning forward, he checked the wrappings on Leyna’s shoulder, nodding in approval to find them clean and well secured. “I have been curious about what happened the night you fell. How you ended up fighting the very man we explicitly decided you would do everything in your power to avoid. Your mysterious condition has baffled the best doctors in the country. Is there any insight you could provide in regards to it?”

  Sinking back into the uneven mattress of her bed, Leyna sighed. She didn’t know what to say. Everything from that night remained a haze in her mind. Flashes of images, but nothing more. “It all happened so fast,” she frowned. “I was fighting… and then there was something. Oran. I saw him and went to strike, but was stopped by someone else. Kyros took me away somewhere. There was no chance for me to get away from him. I guess I let my guard down.”

  “They took you away?” Cadell stared at her.