She stepped toward the nearest bush and hunkered down, catching her breath. Both the pack and water skin were still on her back. The creature out there thrashed and bucked, offering another roar. After a while, though, the noises slowed. The pulses did, too. Then everything quieted. Deadly quiet, as though every living thing had vacated this area.
Go.
She rose slowly. The wylds had saved her life. The nameless, faceless, natural, sentient…thing had helped her escape. She should’ve been bewildered. Utterly perplexed. Maybe scared. Instead…she smiled. Then chuckled. Then full-out laughed. It seemed…so fucking awesome. Awesome wasn’t even the right word. It was?—
Go!
“Pushy, that’s what it is…” she mock-grumbled, still smiling to shake loose some of the adrenaline still sizzling her nerves.
A rock moved at the last moment, catching her foot. She tripped over it and fell on her face. She could feel the swell of victory all around her.
When she got backto the shack, Tarian was standing, leaning at an angle, his hand braced on a countertop. His eyes were tight and filled with pain, with worry, as they landed on hers. The circle around his pupils was a deep blood red.
“Hey.” She closed the door behind her and noticed a glow from a bronze bowl at the back corner. It provided enough light for her to dimly see the modest and meager surroundings of the one-room space. A bed was pushed into the corner in the back, and a rocking chair sat empty in the other corner, a thick layer of dust over the back and seat. “What’s…”
She glanced around. None of the cupboards had been opened since she’d left, and nothing new seemed to be on the countertop.
“What are you up to?” she asked. “Headed out for a jog?”
His torso flexed, and he swayed before catching himself. His hair fell into his eyes as he dropped his head.I heard the darkrend. I worried you might be in trouble. It took this long to stand. I’m not quite up to my usual standards.
“I’m going to go ahead and talk out loud, if that’s cool.” She unslung the pack from her shoulders. “I’m assuming I’ll get warned if something else big and mean is coming, and then I’ll quiet down.”
If you don’t mind, I’ll still speak like this.She could hear the fatigue and pain emanating through his words.I set the ward. You are safe within these walls. Nothing can get us in here, not even a group of Celestials.
“That’s good to know. And yes, I was in trouble. That thing saw me across the brook and closed in. I…am going to be really honest here…” She unslung the water skin and placed it on the ground before helping him back down. A rocking chair would not feel nice on his back, and there was nothing else to sit on, save for that bed—and if one of them had to lie in it, she didn’t want water or crushed plants making it gross. “It scared the absolute shit out of me. I haven’t frozen in fear in…I don’t even remember how long. But I did. Froze solid.”
He winced as he settled, bowing over his legs.What did it go after?
“What do you mean?”
It roared its battle charge. What was it chasing?
“Me. It saw me across the brook. I was getting those plants—which look nothing like your mental images, by the way. Do you habitually take drugs, should I get my eyes checked, or am I just a gloomy person and that’s the only filter I have to see the world through?”
His body shook with silent laughter, and then hestarted to cough before groaning.Please don’t be funny. It hurts to laugh.
“I wasn’t meaning to be,” she muttered softly. She was just in a buoyant mood after the whole wylds situation.
What situation? More importantly, what do you mean it charged you? It couldn’t have. You’d be dead.
She told him what happened as she found a bowl and grabbed the plants. She carefully picked off the petals and paused in her story to repeat the instructions the wyld had given her. Then she sat down behind him with the bowl and interior of the flower.
“A chalice,” she said, suddenly understanding.
What?
“The cup-shaped interior of a flower. One of our meanings of the word chalice. That’s what I’m using to help you heal, right?”
He tried to turn and see but winced and stopped himself.Yes. That didn’t even dawn on me.
“Oh.” She left it in the bowl, unfolded a thick and soft cloth she’d found in a cabinet, and picked up the water skin. “Can I use this water to wash your back, or does it have to be boiled first to get rid of all the bacteria? If the latter, I’m going to need more supplies because I don’t know how to make fire with just sticks. Zorn has always been very verbal in his frustration about that fact.”
He started to shake silently again before taking a deep breath.Stop. Please stop. You’re killing me. Andyes, you can use the water as it is. Water in Faerie is safe for all species to drink, directly from the source.
Tarian sat on the dusty, dirty floor with Daisy kneeling behind him. She told him the story as she squeezed water over his skin, watching it run in rivulets down his tattoos and tense muscles. Her knuckles occasionally grazed his skin, eliciting goosebumps across his body.
He stayed stoic through the process but didn’t speak while it was happening, very likely trying to handle the pain. The good news was that almost all the oozing had stopped. What was persistent was mostly blood, the wounds surely clean of poison at this point.
