Rawn
The gentle patter of rain against glass drew Rawn to consciousness. Cool wind brushed against his cheek. The air. He knew this air. It smelled like rain and freshly cut grass. It smelled like the trees he once climbed as a boy. Sweet like the flowers that filled the castle gardens. He blinked blearily at the open window, curtains billowing in the breeze.
Distant voices drew him to look at the door cracked slightly open.
“Have the castle send more fresh linens and clean water.”
The sound of that voice rocked Rawn’s chest. He was dreaming again, as he had hundreds of times before.
“If the healer is available, please send him to see his lordship again. He needs more tending...” The door opened, and a lovely woman stepped in with a servant, carrying a tray.
She halted when she saw him. His wife. His Aerina. The tray dropped from her hands with a crash, and she bolted for the bed with a cry.
He reached out and caught her, wincing as he did.
“I feared I would never see you again.” She wept. “Then I feared you would never wake.”
Rawn held her tight, breathing her in, feeling how solid she was. “I fear this is another dream.”
Her wet eyes looked up at him, and she laughed wetly. Aerina kissed his cheek, his forehead, his nose. “Does that feel real to you?”
Rawn nodded, his vision blurring.
“I was there with you beneath the keep,” she said, weeping. “Not only in spirit, but in your dreams. I called out to you, my love.”
The whole time he thought they had been dreams he conjured to stave off the madness threatening to consume him in that pit. But she had been the one saving him.
“I heard you, Aerina. Your voice saved me from the darkness.” Rawn pulled her to him, his arms trembling. He pressed his forehead to hers, trying and failing not to pathetically weep. “I carried your absence within the hollow of my bones. There was not a day that went by where you have not occupied my thoughts. However far I was across the world, my heart remained here with you.”
Aerina didn’t speak. How could she when she shook with heaving sobs? Half of him still feared it was a dream. But she was in his arms, solid and warm, sharing the air he breathed. Nothing else felt more real than this.
Rawn thanked the Gods and thanked the fates. He thanked every star in the universe for this gift.
Then he broke down, too.
It tookanother day of rest before Rawn was well enough for visitors. First came Zev and Keena. The Lycan was quiet in his relief. He took a seat in the chair beside him and filled him in on everything that had happened from the moment of his capture to the events of their excursion across Greenwood, and coming to his rescue in Red Highland.
“The prisoner with me,” Rawn murmured, his voice still a little weak. “Elon. Did he make it?”
Zev nodded. “He crossed with us to Avandia.”
“His sister came as well,” Keena chimed in. “It’s the talk of the castle. Apparently Garaea was King Leif’s second contact. She petitioned for immunity for herself and her brother, in exchange for the other half of the key. They wanted a safe place to escape their father. But the key was lost when the Blood Keep came down.” She and Zev exchanged a look, and Rawn nodded that he understood. When he had nearly died from casting the Blood Scythe, he remembered exactly what he had done with the second half of the key. “Regardless, King Leif has allowed Elon and Garaea to stay. I suppose he isn’t so terrible, after all.”
“Eldred went to Dwarf Shoe to find Sylar,” Zev mentioned. “With Elon to accompany him. He was beside himself with the news of his son’s survival, let alone that he’s with a red elf. But I think Eldred was pleased to learn he’s a grandfather.”
Rawn chuckled tiredly at that. “I’m certain he was.”
“Von has joined us, too. Dyna has finally gathered all her Guardians.” Zev looked pensive about that. Not against it as he once was, and Rawn wondered what changed.
“He came to your aid, if you recall,” Keena said.
Rawn nodded. He would have to thank him.
“Lucenna wanted to come visit you, but she was hurt during the battle. The healers are doing well to treat her. Klyde hasn’t left her side. And Cassiel …” Keena’s smile faded, and her wings drooped. “He was terribly wounded. Dyna took him to the Melodyam Falls.”
Rawn looked at Zev worriedly. “What happened?”
Zev’s brow tightened, and he lowered his gaze. “Cassiel … lost a wing during the battle. He was bleeding profusely. Taking him there may have been the only way to save him, but I don’t know if they made it. It’s been a few days. I haven’t heard from her.”
