His arm shook with the effort of keeping that wall from knocking them into the briars. His whole body trembled, whether from pain or maintaining his position, she didn’t know. Probably both. Then his elbow slowly straightened. Bit by agonizing bit, he willed himself to push away from the wall. She felt the incredible determination through his mind. His agony, but his unwillingness to give up, to give in and let theCelestials win over him. In his mind, they were not above him, as their stations declared. They were his inferiors. They should be looking skyward at him.
He shoved away from that wall until his elbow locked. Until they had breathing room in the tent of his exertion.
“Go,” he wheezed, carefully releasing her body. Even now he would keep her from falling forward and killing herself. “Hurry. Get to safety. Once one of us steps out of this obstacle, it’s safe. It should release me.” He paused. “Itshould.Once you escape its net, itshouldlose its ferocity. The wall of briars should disappear or diminish.”
“What if it doesn’t?” she whispered, stepping to the side while crouching.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we steal the right chalice.” It was a joke, and she didn’t waste any more time. Couldn’t. If she didn’t help by getting out of here, she would help by finding a log or something to wedge into the briar wall that might release him.
She was quick but careful, the space limited and a few jutting briar patches in her way. She crawled for some stretches, slithered in others, and noticed the moving wall shaking, belying his extreme effort or pain. She could see the cleared tunnel up ahead.
She felt a snag on her shirt at the back, near her right side.
Her heart stopped. Had something poked her? Was she imagining it?
A horrible burning sensation spread across her skin.Fuck.No, she was not imagining it.
“A little wider,” she yelled at Tarian, fear seeping into her words before she could shove the feeling away. “I’m caught. There’s not enough space.”
She heard him groan, like a bodybuilder lifting too much weight. The shivering wall moved an inch. Two. It was enough.
She crawled across the tunnel floor as fast as she dared. It felt like her skin was blistering. Like it was dripping away from her body. The pain throbbed, sinking into her ribs at her back. Deeper, into the very center of her, like a knife twisting. She couldn’t seem to ignore it. To avoid it.
Zorn’s voice swam into her consciousness.
To give in to the pain is to give in to death.
She gritted her teeth. She remembered his teachings and internalized the feeling. Became one with it. Let it continue to pass through her until her mind accepted it and moved on. Zorn was full of amazing tricks for horrible things. Fuck, though. This hurt worse than anything she’d ever even dreamed of.
The last of the briars seemed to wave goodbye…and then the tunnel cleared of them completely. Not just in front of her, but behind as well. It was as if the whole obstacle had been an illusion, and once she was out of it, it vanished completely.
Breathing heavily, her mind fracturing to skirt the throbs of excruciating pain, she turned back to Tarian.He’d fallen onto a knee, his good hand braced on the ground, his bad arm held in close to his chest. His dark, curled mass of hair fell over his face as he bowed his head. His sides ran freely with blood-tinged liquid, and his ribs expanded and contracted quickly with each labored breath.
Can I come to you?she thought, but the distance was too great. He couldn’t hear her thoughts. She repeated herself out loud.
“No,” he responded gruffly. “If you cross the threshold you just exited, the obstacle will flare to life again. I’ll come to you. I’m just…taking a break.”
The break lasted another few minutes, and in that time, she assessed the throbbing pain that registered in her body. Deep in her soul, it felt like. But as time passed, it didn’t get worse. It didn’t spread or affect anything that might steal her life, like closing her throat. The liquid had pierced her shirt, not her skin, and dripped onto her. That was it, and that wasn’t enough to kill her.
That answers that,she thought as he slowly stood, like a man on the brink. Each movement took a lot of effort. Agonizing, she knew. His steps were halting, not at all exhibiting the grace with which he so often moved. His sword was in its sheath and each hand flexed and clenched, over and over, as he handled the pain.
His gaze was downcast until he got close, and then it flicked her way. His eyes were bloodshot and thethin gold line around his pupils had turned red. She furrowed her brow at it, wondering why it had changed color. What that meant for a fae.
“It’s so others may assess our state of being in the event we can’t respond ourselves,” he answered, back in range.
“So red means…”
“Gravely injured. In this case, in extreme pain with the possibility of being poisoned.”
“But…” She reached out for him, to give him something to lean on.
“No,” he whispered raggedly, pushing her hand away. “I might have some of the poison on my skin. Keep your distance, dove. You are ten times more fragile than I am.”
She clenched her teeth stubbornly, having heard that since she was fourteen and hating it just as much now. But as with her early days, he was right. In this, she was vulnerable. Any open cut and that liquid might find its way into her bloodstream. She was lucky the other drop hadn’t.
“I thought this plant wasn’t poison to you?—”
His head snapped up, and his eyes hyper-focused. “What did you say?” He squinted marginally, and then he yanked her around before grabbing her shirt in two fistfuls and ripping down the back, rending it in two except for a small section at the very bottom.
