The Raven & The Wolf

Chapter Thirty

Gedric is leading me by touching the small of my back, careful not to touch my recently abused shoulder. My heart is beating rapidly in my chest as we move through the sleeping city. Frostula is a beautiful city. The houses are small, and are lit by balls of floating lights; mimicking fireflies. The houses are built around trees, leaving the trees in the center. Wooden bridges connect from tree to tree in wooden walkways, giving another way of access to move around in times of snow and rain. It smells like rain, and the muddy street is proof that it had just rained.

“I want to warn you. We do not bury our dead like the Sheika,” Gedric tells me while legs start to tingle in my excitement. I’d run if I knew where it was.

“Oh really,” I say, not paying too much attention. I’m too excited.

“We remove their organs to feed to the scavengers; so we can give back to the earth. Since we view our attachment to the body, we place the body in a carved look alike casket, then place them in a clear mausoleum. If they were a couple, we place them together for their eternity.” He watches me as I keep trying to walk faster than what he allows.

“Interesting,” I tell him, not fully retaining what he’s telling me at all.

Gedric stops at a clear building. It reflects like a crystal, reminding me a little of Brighton. My eyes widen when I see caskets of people, looking as if they’re lifelike and just sleeping. Gedric said they carved them, but I didn’t realize that they were so lifelike. I wasn’t expecting that they had carefully colored the wood, to capture each individual feature perfectly.

He lets me go to wonder over to where their scrawled names are, marking where they rest. Gordon and Layla of Rushana. They stand out since their names are written in a cursive green, as opposed to the traditional gold of the people of Frostula.

There is a sense of relief when I look at them, but overwhelming grief is what hits me the most. I reach out and touch the wall they hide behind. I’m so close, but I still can’t touch them. They have captured my mother perfectly. Her brightly ember colored hair gives color to her ivory skin. They have carved her in a dark purple silken dress with her eyes closed, showing she is at rest. My father has tightly curled black hair. He’s been carved with a white shirt, with a matching purple vest. He is wearing black pants, matching the shoes my mother was given.

My heart sticks in my throat as I look at them, trying to figure out what to say. “Hi Mom and Dad,” I tell them, my voice quivering with my rising misery. “I’m alive, and as safe as I can be.”

I sit down on the ground cross legged. “Ari is as persistent as ever, but I can manage him. He’s scared of me, if you can believe it. It’s a fair trade I guess. I’m scared of him too. Master Brin can tell you all about him.”

I feel awkward. I’ve waited so long for this moment, that I’m unsure what to say. Gedric comes and sits next to me. “How are you doing?”

“I’m not sure,” I tell him, looking up at their casket. “I don’t know what to tell them.”

“Sometimes, words are only used to make yourself feel better. In my culture, when the dead pass on, they know everything that is to pass in this life, before they’re reborn into the next. They know you’re safe, and that you’ve done great things.”

“Then why don’t I feel like they do,” I ask, leaning into him.

“Because you feel like you haven’t, not them.” He gently puts his arm around me. “You’ve done a lot that they’d be proud of.”

“I know, but they don’t.”

“Believe me, they do. Maybe saying your goodbye to them will help.” Gedric suggests.

“I kind of just want to sit here.” I tell him, letting my sadness roll through me. I never truly got any closure after their deaths. Now that I have, I kind of just want to cry.

“Would you like to be alone?”

I shake my head and lean into him, letting my long held tears roll free. Gedric carefully rubs my back, just letting me grieve. In a way, it’s a relief to finally be here, but there is a lot of unresolved anger that is tearing through me. After a while, I start to feel better and my tears start to slow, and my anger has lessened. This is something I’ve truly needed, but it’s horrible that it is something that I had to go through. All because one man wanted more than anything to cheat death.

After silence has followed for a long while, Gedric gently speaks, “Are you ready to go?”

I nod and let him help me stand up. I gently touch their engraved names, “I miss you Mom and Dad. I hope you’re happy in your new lives.”

“They are Nat,” Gedric assures me, taking my hand to lead me away.

When we get back to my room, it’s still quite dark. The fire has mostly died, so it’s barely lit in my room. Gedric helps me to the bed. Right before I get to the bed I trip over my own feet. Gedric grabs my hand, pulling me into a spin so I land on my back. Gedric loses his balance and falls on top of me. He grunts as he throws his hands out, catching himself instead of landing on top of me.

My mind reels, realizing his face is less than an inch from mine. The firelight is casting his face in a half shadow; highlighting his unshaven face. I hadn’t realized he looked so tired. When was the last time he slept?

“Are you alright?” Gedric asks, his face very conflicted, but worry is his most prominent expression.

His eyes are making my entire body buzz, feeling as if something is starting to resurface. I nod, finding it a little difficult to speak. “I’m okay.”

“Good,” he says, pushing himself off the bed. He helps me to my feet. Carefully, he lifts the covers and motions for me to get into bed.

I hesitate before asking him, “Gedric, can you sit with me a little longer? I don’t want to be alone right now.” I really don’t. For once, I am craving his company; or anyone for that matter. Seeing my parents in their eternal resting place, has made me feel more alone in this world than ever before. I’d usually go to Stanya when I feel like this, but I have no idea as to where she is.

He stiffens a little, and I can’t read his face; its blocked by the shadow the firelight is casting. “Just for a little,” he tells me; crawling into bed with me. He sits on my right side, so not to be near my freshly operated on shoulder.

I rest my head on his chest, feeling drained from my lingering sense of grief. He puts his hand on my head and starts stroking my hair. “Gedric?”

“Hmmm?” He asks, sounding half asleep himself.

“Thank you for saving my life.”

I feel him press something to the top of my head. “Anytime.” He falls silent after that, still stroking my hair in a soothing motion, lulling me to sleep.

I wake alone, and it’s well into the new day. Whispered talking is what woke me. “We didn’t do anything, okay?” That is Gedric’s voice. “We had just come back from visiting her parents in the mausoleum, and she was feeling lonely. She asked me to stay with her for a little bit. She fell asleep on me. That’s it. I haven’t slept since I drained her magic. I was comfortable. I fell asleep. That’s it.”

“Her parents are here?” Halthin demands.

“Yes, they are. My family found them after Ari had murdered them. They were well loved by our community, so we thought it was best to lay them to rest; instead of just letting scavengers eat them.”

“And you didn’t tell me,” Stanya demands.

“No because that was the last thing on my mind.” Gedric replies defensively.

“Would you two stop trying to go for the other’s throat?” Halthin hisses. “We nearly lost Nat because she had to save our asses, as usual. Gedric did something kind for her. That is the last thing you should be mad at Stanya.”

“You know you three are acting like a bunch of preteen girls, right?” I call, burying my face into my pillow. I just want to go back to sleep.

“Natasha,” Stanya yells, racing into the room. I lift my head as she curls around my body carefully to give me a hug. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“You started it,” I say, mostly to the pillow. “Why in the name of insanity were you anywhere near Ari?” I ask when she lets me go. I sit up and notice the black eye she’s sporting. “What happened to you?”

She grimaces and sits next to me. “I thought you were still in the bath, and I was coming to save you. Ari didn’t know that I had magic by the way. He was just assaulting who he thought was a normal girl. I accidentally ran into him.”

“I thought he was about to kill you,” I tell her, breathing in relief. “I got out of the building…somehow.”

Stanya raises her eyebrow. “Somehow?”

“Oh, Nat has some memory gaps,” Gedric says, walking into the room. He heads straight for the chair and plops right into it. He looks worse than I feel.

“When were you going to tell me that?” Stanya demands, giving him a dirty look.

“When you stopped yelling at me for falling asleep.” Gedric yawns.

“You know that’s not why I’m angry-”

“Her memory is mostly missing events from after Ari left her, after failing to spot her, and after I drained her.” Gedric says quickly. “We’re under strict orders not to try to force her memory.” He leans in to give Stanya a devastating look. “It can mentally harm her.”

Her body tenses, but then somber understanding hits her. “She doesn’t remember anything after leaving the inn.”

Gedric shakes his head. “She remembers your scream, and being wet. That’s it.”

“So she doesn’t…”

Gedric shakes his head. “Not a thing. Some things are foggy to her though. She remembers trying to get to Macy.”

Stanya looks at me, “Is this true?”

I nod. “I remember hiding from Ari in the changing room. He found one of my stones and drained it of its magic, and the rest of my stones since they’re all technically linked. After that, that’s when it starts blanking.”

Stanya pales, almost as much as Halthin. “He stole the magic in your stones?”

I grimace, “Yes. Stylus found my pack, which had that really small stone that was made when I had that pathetic overload when I was twelve.”

Stanya groans. “We all forgot about that. You had a second one that required two healers to drain you almost right after that.”

“Yep,” I sigh. “I remember how much stronger he was after that. It was almost deafening. Stylus had to take a step away from him.”

Halthin cocks his head, his mind deep in thought. “That might be what caused your memory loss. Having that happen to you is stressful on your magic core. Since your body was already so physically weak, that must have put too much of a toll on your body.”

Stanya gives him a surprised look, “That makes way too much sense to be coming from you.”

He shoots her a hard look before speaking. “Just count your blessings that her biggest stones were used up, or nearly gone.”

“Again, are you sure you’re Halthin?”

“Stanya,” Gedric warns. “He makes sense, so let him speak.”

I swear those two are more hot and cold towards each other than ice on a stove. I wonder if they’ve come close to working out their differences.

Stanya flips her hair. “What is the last thing you remember before waking up?”

I shake my head; trying my hardest to remember. “Our conversation while Gedric drained me. I think my last words were: “I’m going to pass out.” Gedric said we talked on the way here, but I can’t remember that for the life of me.”

She shoots Gedric a look before looking back at me. “Okay…is there anything else we need to know?”

I try to think, “Ari knows my nickname? I can’t remember if we talked about that.”

“What!” Stanya shrieks, jumping to her feet. “When?”

I grimace. “When I tried to kill him. He got a sense of who I am, which is mostly just my nickname.”

“I told you that was a stupid move.” She moans, sitting back down. “As long as he doesn’t know your face, or full name, we might be okay.”

I rub my face. “Hiding from Ari is a lot harder than it was last year.”

“He didn’t even know you were still alive until this year.”

“Well he can just go back to forgetting about me, now that he knows I’m still around.”

“There is a bright side to all of this,” Stanya tells me, grabbing my hand. “At least Ari thinks you have your magic back. Who else could have teleported him and his men; especially after he had stolen your magic.”

I laugh. “I wish I could have seen his face.”

“It was a furious thing of beauty.” Stanya tells me. “Also, he left your pack behind, so I got it back for you. I had saw him carrying it, so that’s why I thought you were still in the bathhouse. Where did you send them anyway?”

I smirk, “I sent him and his wet ass men to the Icy Rock Mountains.”

She bursts out laughing. “That’s the tallest mountain known. It’s taller than the sky.”

“I was hoping it’d get him far enough to stall the bastard. Plus he really needed to cool off.”

Gedric straightens. “You remembered where you sent them?”

I smile. “I did!”

“That’s good,” Drew says, entering the room. He looks at me, “Glad to see you’re awake, Elder Natasha.”

“Natasha, please.” I tell him with a sincere smile on my face. “I usually have someone who saved my life call me by my name. Thank you for that, by the way.”

He chuckles, “I can accept that, and thanks is not necessary. It’s what I do.” He looks at everyone in the room. “Alright, everyone out. I need to examine her shoulder. I prefer not to do it with an audience.”