He chuckles. “Well, I had Rhenor teach me before we left and Ereon showed me again last night when ...” his words trickle away and we both just nod. He looks around making sure no one is looking at us before he cups my face, “I thought I would worry about all of this cloth hiding your beauty, but it seems nothing can do that.”
I lean into his hand and look up at him. We have a long road ahead of us, but I'm glad that at least now, he's back to being my friend, if not more, than what he was in Antalis. When he was still too scared to get close.
Just a few more feet and I will touch Shaston's sand. I'm already having to squint as the sun's light becomes almost blinding, bouncing off the red sand ahead. The sand seems to shift in color from red to orange as it comes closer into view. Instead of being in the rear of the convoy as we have been most of the way, Ereon and I lead now.
Ereon stops just before the mountains open to take in a long breath. “Well, here we are. Welcome to the Kingdom of Shaston.”
He leads his horse forward and mine follows behind. The coolness of the mountains dissipates and scalding heat overtakes everything. It feels like fire in my bones and I clutch my chest because my breath leaves me. I struggle to take a single breath. “Something is … wrong,” the words feel like needles as I grapple for breath.
Straining to find anyone, I look forward to where Ereon once was, he's trying to speak, his mouth opening and closing as his eyes squint in pain. He clutches his own chest and bends over his stead, holding on by only his thighs. A heavy pressure builds inside of my chest and I have to close my eyes to try to find my breath. A deep breath in, and a deep breath out.
Pain shoots from my heart, radiating all over me. I can feel the pain in my fingertips to the bottoms of my feet. I curl inward, grabbing onto the saddle horn to keep from falling over when images invade my mind.
Images I've had from nightmares over the years. A man burning at a stake, fire engulfing everything from homes, to stables, to people. The metallic smell of blood takes over everything, there is so much blood everywhere. The cries of children and women are ear-splitting. The war yells of soldiers fighting and swords clashing. A woman in the middle of it all, ice surrounds her as fire blazes outside of the boundary she seems to keep.
“Nohæ!” I can hear my name being yelled. Calling me in the distance to retreat from these horrific visions, but I can't. I just stare at the woman. Her body shaking as she stands, tears staining her face and blood dripping from her fingertips. She looks broken and defeated.
She turns and meets my gaze, her words barely audible. She holds something in her hands, but I can't make it out. “A læ t neni pe , o a læ pengæ pe wæ lomo popo ra læ”
“Is she even breathing?” Siphonie's siren voice sings to me this time.
“Keep her face covered! Find something to make us shade, hurry,” Ereon's voice is like thunder in the background of this scene. “Princess, come back.”
I'm not ready to leave, not yet. There is still more to see.
“It's time, Daughter.” I watch as the woman brings a dagger to her neck and I flinch as she slices her throat. Crimson ribbons run down her dress as her knees buckle and she smiles, looking right at me. I move away from the scene and feel as if I slam back into my body.
People around me shuffle and scream, and I feel them shaking my body but I can't reach them. Stuck in some sort of in-between, my body too tired to find anything but the darkness waiting for me, not knowing if it will keep me in the nightmare I just saw or let me go in peace. I give in, letting it pull me like the tide, away from everything and everyone around me.
thirty-seven
THYLAS
Following behind them, I nudge my horse to cross the boundary. Hopefully letting the nightmare of this mountain pass stay behind us. I'm home, in the land of saffron sands that still haunt my dreams. The past I thought I had left behind. The memories of an angry father and a loving mother swarm me until I see Carnaxa clutch at her chest. Her other hand is gripping the reins tightly as she starts to scream. I kick my heels into the sides of my horse, urging it closer to her when the painfilters into my own heart and veins. I keep urging the horse forward, riding through the pain. If I can take a lashing and not cry out, I will get to her.
She falls from her horse, her face just barely hidden in the shade from her scarf as she tumbles through the sand. I push through, ignoring the pain blooming inside of me, and yell, “Ereon!” When he turns to look back at her, his face contorts in pain. Ereon falls from his horse, landing face down in the sand, clutching his chest. My breaths are rigid as I can no longer withstand the pain echoing through my body. No longer able to hold on to the reins, I also greet the sand in agonizing pain
Just as quickly as the sharp pain arrived, it passes. I crawl across the rough sand to get to her. She's screaming and thrashing about in the sand. “Nohæ!”
Siphonie jumps down from her stead and runs to Carnaxa, trying to remove her face scarf. “Is she even breathing?”
Ereon, seemingly past his own pain, runs toward her, his boots leaving imprints in the hot sand as he does. “Keep her face covered! Find something to make us shade, hurry.” Soldiers scramble around us, grabbing bedding to stretch across tent poles to provide shade. He leans down and grabs her face, fretting, “Princess, come back.”
I knew the other night, but now everyone can see the feelings he truly has for her. His eyes are full of fear, but also with love for her. No one here can deny his feelings for her. I move to her other side and grab her hand. Rhenor looks at me with a questioning look and then looks back and forth between us all. He knows, he can see it too. He knows the Princess' desire mirrors my own feelings for her, but he can also tell that there is more between Ereon and her too.
We scramble looking for the source of her pain, anything we can find to help calm her and get her back to us. We hope to find an injury we can treat and will heal. There is no such wound.
“A læ t neni pe , o a læ pengæ pe wæ lomo popo ra læ,”her blood curdling scream surrounds us, with words I know she doesn't understand. Words only a few of us here probably do. It's the old language. Rhenor's eyes glance at mine as he shakes his head at me. Don't translate. Got it. The words are formal and for right now, they don't make any sense at least not right now. It would not do anyone any good to know, so I nod in agreement back to him.
She continues to scream over and over, the horror shreds through her as her hands dig into the sand. Her fingertips burn as she does. We pull them out, trying to keep her safe and unharmed as much as we can. When suddenly, she gasps loudly and falls silent
I don't know who grabs her first, but both Ereon and I pull her scarf down, now that the shade is providing safety from the sun’s rays. He leans down and checks her breathing while my fingers check for the pulse in her neck. Her breathing is slow, it's labored but steady. It's there. That's what's important right now. MyNohæis still here. She's still fighting, and there is nothing I can do to help her. I don't know how much longer we have till we arrive at Shaston’s castle, I don't have a way to get her to a healer aside from the one in ourShayiwho is already shaking his head saying he doesn't know. So I sit with her, wrapping her in my arms as Ereon starts yelling something at his men, and I continue rocking her back and forth. Holding her, hoping to keep her here.
“Captain … there is a small village, we need to get her there now.” Ereon's hand lands on my shoulder drawing my attention. “Let us get her there. I'll carry her on my horse, make sure you keep up.”
I nod softly, picking her up and placing a kiss along her hairline, before gently securing her in Ereon's arms. His black stead starts to trot in a different direction than where we wereoriginally headed. Siphonie is trying to ask me something as I mount my horse, but I ignore her. Right now, I have to keep up with Ereon.
“Just go. I know where he's going.” Rhenor slaps the back of my horse and we gallop behind Ereon.
