The Forgotten Island

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT :

THIS IS FINE, EVERYTHING IS FINE

-Arya-

Fish stood over me, gaunt cheekbones surrounding watchful blue eyes. Tentatively, she puts a hand on my arm “you, uh...you were making some strange noises in your sleep. I got worried” I swallow hard, blinking slowly to clear the fog from my brain. I have had some strange dreams before, but a hot gargoyle man was a first, even for me. I focused in on Fish, taking in her haggard appearance and slumped posture. Though I was happy to see her awake, the days of sleeping clearly had not restored her to full health, and I felt guilty that she was worried about me when it should be the other way around. Sitting up on my elbows I gave her a faint smile which seemed to relieve her. “Sorry, I was dreaming about a sexy statue that was about to ravish me. Lucky you came along when you did, or he might have stolen my virtue” She barked out a laugh at my joke, and I saw her shoulders relax as she smirked at me. I scooched over in my bed, and she crawled in beside me. Facing each other, I put my forehead against hers and closed my eyes. We used to lay like this during sleepovers, whispering in the dark so we wouldn’t get caught awake after bedtime. “You were asleep for so long” I whispered “I was afraid you wouldn’t wake up. Darnell was even more of a mess.” Her shoulders started to shake, and I didn’t need to open my eyes to know that she was crying. I pulled her in close, resting my chin on her head. “I tried so hard; I gave everything. I couldn’t save them, Arrie. Why is this happening to us? They were good people, none of them deserved to die” Her soft cries turned into sobs. And though I didn’t have an answer for her, I held on tight. I may have done some foolish things in my short life, but I wasn’t foolish enough to take for granted that somehow, I had managed to have my greatest friend by my side through this nightmare. Having nothing else, I used my shirt to wipe her eyes and nose, I could wash it later when we found some water.

A long while later Fish finally fell into an exhausted sleep, though I didn’t let her go. I still lay awake when Darnell approached with quiet steps in the night. He crouched beside my bed; his voice low so he wouldn’t disturb Fish. “We will ’ave to leave now dat she is awake. Val’s fever continues, an we ’ave run out of food.” I nodded at him in understanding and watched him slink back to bed. For the thousandth time today, my mind wandered to the beast in my dreams and his matching statue on the shores of the beach. We had never found an answer to the fantastical mysteries of the island, and I tried not to be bothered with the question of whether the artist was inspired by a real-life character. I closed my eyes and pictured his. They were such a deep gray, like fog over the ocean as the sun sets. Somehow, his presence in my subconscious had slowly began peeling away the pervading sadness that had been taking root in my heart. I held on tight to the thought of him as I fell asleep, Fish’s soft breathes a familiar sound around me.

-Malakai-

I slammed my fists against the chair’s armrests as I bolted awake, furious at the separation from my mate. Pushing the seat back with a snarl, I rose and began pacing the room, arousal still burning in my loins. The plan had been simple: create a way to see her memories in order to discover her whereabouts so I could fetch her. I didn’t plan on her walking in on me. When I was a young lad, Eupixa had found me at the bottom of an ale barrel, hiding from the world. She was the sister of the sorceress who had freed my brother and I from the prison beneath the palace. As reward for her actions, the Queen had tortured the sorceress, maimed her, and then hung her headless body on the palace gates, left for the crows to eat as a grisly reminder. Eupixa took my brother and I to see the Fates, to learn how we could dethrone the Queen. When the Fates prophesized that my mate would be human, I was disgusted and ashamed. Humans were weak, fragile little things with short lifespans that would taint the demon blood line. Initially, I had vehemently refused their counsel, and accepted the consequences that came with it. The Fates mocked my decision, foretelling that I would not be able to save my kingdom without her by my side. I had rebelled, resulting in failed battle after battle, while the Queen grew stronger. The sisters had laughed in delight at my demise, appearing by the hearth after each failure. My people suffered, my army of rebels diminished, and I began to lose hope. And so, I resigned to the fate they gave me, and turned once again to Eupixa for help. My brother and I urged the rebels to go into hiding until we could regain our numbers and rebuild our strength. In the meantime, we would search out this so-called mate of mine and bring her here to join the fight.

The task was no easy feat, humans weren’t from the demon realm, and so we had to search for her using magic. Eupixa had finally found her after a year of searching, only for my brother and I to come back empty handed. Well, not completely, we were able to retrieve a rose from her home that seemed to live endlessly. The encounter with my mate’s mother had left me curious as to what type of female my mate really was. From there the trail had gone cold, the location spells each ending with sparks of light exploding around us and Eupixa cursing the skies. I had seen the dream orb Eupixa had gifted me with as a way to try and find my mate, and now here I was, pacing my quarters like a pent-up animal after the encounter.

Speaking of the demon, Eupixa strolled in, an eyebrow raised quizzically at my flustered appearance. The war council must be assembled and ready; I didn’t look forward to the seemingly endless reports of death and carnage from our spies among the cities. I straightened my clothes, pushing my hair from my face. Walking by Eupixa I looked her square in the eye “I need another orb.”