Chapter 6 Darkness #2
“Some of them are innocent,” Valerius said, but he wasn’t sure if he cared if they had been at that moment. But then he reminded himself that in the Horde were Landry’s body and her brothers as well. They deserved to be saved.
“It wasn’t until some of them shifted into that--that thing that she was taken down,” Ngoye said with great bitterness. “It cut her with its filthy claws. She didn’t back away though. She stayed and fought until the end.”
“Yes,” he swallowed.
“King Valerius!” Rose cried when she saw them approaching. Tears were streaming down her face and her lower lip quivered. “She’s… Chione… She's really hurt, but says we shouldn’t move her. We’ve called for a doctor, but--”
“It’s no good. These wounds can’t be helped that way,” Wally said, an unnatural frown on that usually comically humorous round head.
Valerius quickened his step. Wally’s bare fuzzy butt moved to the side as he approached.
Marban’s wizened form was revealed. The old Swarm Shifter was holding one of Chione’s hands and stroking it.
Valerius’ heart lodged in his throat. Chione’s naked golden body was covered in wounds.
Deep gouges. Slashes across her throat, her abdomen and her legs.
Hydra claws. No...
“Chione. It’s me. I’m here,” Valerius said.
He dropped down to his haunches by her side and took her other hand.
She gripped it back weakly for just a moment before the strength seemed to just run out of her and her hand went limp in his.
He could see how deep the gouges went across her throat and chest. He could see white bone and the glistening outsides of organs.
The wounds were healing, but not as they should and not near fast enough to save her.
Valerius felt sick and helpless with grief.
“Some--some kind of poison in the c-claws,” Chione gasped out in explanation, knowing what he was thinking before he said anything as she always did.
“Where is that Claw with the doctor and a blanket?!” Rose cried. “She’s going into shock. She’s freezing.”
All of them were shifted so they had no clothes to offer.
“I will go! Fast as the wind!” Ngoye promised, turned on her heel and headed back to the castle.
Valerius closed his eyes. That grief made him want to shriek. But he had to be strong for her. Find a way forward for her. He forced his eyelids open and made his voice calm and soft, “That’s why you’re not healing? The poison? Yes, yes, I see. We need to flush your wounds and perhaps--”
“No,” she whispered and blood bubbled on her lips. “Can’t fix it that way. Wally’s right.”
Valerius wanted to scream that Wally wasn’t right. That he was Rat Shifter and what the Hell did he know about the Behemoth or Sphinx Shifters for that matter? Nothing! Less than nothing! And yet Chione was agreeing with him.
He wiped the blood away from her lips, keeping that calm tone that was so unnatural for him, “How can we fix it then?”
There must be a way. I am not giving up.
“The s-sun. I need the sun,” she whispered. Her eyes were unfocused. She was staring up at the night sky as if she didn’t see, or more like, saw beyond it. He did not like that at all. “In the sun, I am reborn, but not at night. Not in the d-dark.”
“Like a phoenix,” Marban said, the first words he’d said. His voice was thick with emotions that Valerius would have thought him incapable of just last month.
She gave a bloody smile that threatened to wrench Valerius’ heart out of his chest. “Yes, something like that. Only the sun will fix this. How long before--before morning?”
Valerius looked up at the sky. It was midnight black and studded with stars. The sun was ages away. He looked back down at her wounds then up into Marban’s suddenly very old eyes.
She will not last until morning, Valerius realized.
They all knew it.
Rose covered her mouth with both hands to stop the involuntary cry of grief that wanted to escape her lips and turned toward the edge of the bridge so that Chione would not glimpse her crying. Wally’s shoulders curled further inwards until he more resembled a ball than ever.
Marban patted Chione’s hand. “Not long now, Chione. You just need to hold on a little longer. Imagine the sun’s warmth. It’s coming.”
Her lips twitched into something that was between a smile and a grimace. “You used to be such a better liar, Marban. Are we making you soft?”
The old Swarm Shifter let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like a surprise laugh. “Soft? Me? Never!”
“Good,” she said softly and coughed. More blood frothed on her lips. “We can’t--can’t have that. Valerius n-needs a strong hand.”
Valerius jerked at her words. She was saying goodbye. She was handing over the baton to Marban as sole Councillor.
“You are the strong hand, Chione,” Valerius said. “Marban is the one that plies me with wine and Ambrosia and very bad ideas. You need to save us from ourselves.”
“No,” she said gently. “No, I think--I know--you will be fine.”
“Not without you.” Tears were falling so thick and fast he couldn’t blink them back.
“The Wheel turns, Valerius. I will be back,” she said and another fit of coughing had her body practically convulsing.
The wounds opened further and more of her life’s blood spilled out on the cobbles.
Rose’s shoulders shook. Wally swiped tears from his cheeks.
Marban trembled as he fought to hold in his grief.
Valerius held his hands over those wounds as if he could close them, but he couldn’t. Only the sun could. Only daylight.
Daylight… It is always daylight somewhere. On the East Coast it will rise…
“Of course!” Valerius jumped to his feet and raced to the side of the bridge.
“Valerius? What are you looking for?” Rose asked.
“Not what, but who. Caden and Iolaire.” Valerius spun around to look at Marban and Wally. “If we cannot have the sun come to Chione then we must bring--”
“Chione to the sun! Of course, Iolaire will fly her! That is the only way!” Marban nodded furiously. “That is the only chance…”
Her wounds were terrible. Valerius knew that it would be a rough ride for Chione in Iolaire’s claws or on the White Dragon’s back, even if it was done carefully. But Marban was right. This was the only chance she had.
He turned back to the edge of the bridge and craned his neck as far as he could.
He had to see the square. He had to get Caden’s attention.
But the White Dragon was nowhere in sight and he could not reach Caden’s mind.
Maybe a car could get him there in time to reach Caden.
But there was no time for that. No time! No time!
He spun back around and looked between Rose and Marban. “Can one of you fly to Caden? Let him know? There’s no time to get there on foot or by car and I don’t know when he will return.”
“I can do better than that,” Marban said. “While he might not notice us, he will notice you.”
“Ah, I cannot fly right now, Marban, and I can’t ride on a wasp’s back,” Valerius reminded him dryly.
“Ah, don’t be so hasty! You very well can,” the old Swarm Shifter said with a way of his finger that was stained red with Chione’s blood.
“Marban, we have no time to debate--”
“Do you trust me?” Marban asked and then as if realizing how insane that question was, he grimaced. “Of course, you don’t--”
“I do,” Valerius interrupted. “I trust you, Marban.”
The old Swarm Shifter blinked. Those words seemed to shock him into silence. Valerius was about to speak to rouse him when Marban shook himself and said, “I’ll need your help, Rose. Between the two of us, he can fly on the backs of insects.”
“Fly him?! I’m with Valerius here. You’re Swarm Shifters not Dragons!” Wally cried.
“Our swarms are as big as Dragons,” Rose said, evidently understanding what Marban intended. “I’ll do it. Of course, I’ll do it.”
“Caden and Iolaire are in the square,” Valerius said, wondering exactly what they had in mind.
“We will get you there,” Marban said.
Valerius went over and tenderly kissed the back of Chione’s hand. It was cold. So cold. But her eyes were open, though glassy, and she stared up at him as if memorizing his face. But she would see it again. She would survive.
“I need you to hold on, Chione,” Valerius begged her. “Iolaire is going to fly you to daylight. You just need to hold on.”
“I want to see the sun rise once more,” she said and then closed her eyes.
For one horrific moment he thought she’d died, but he realized she was just sleeping. Would she wake again though?
Ngoye returned at that moment with a doctor who ran a critical eye over Chione. He directed that she be covered with a light silver blanket that would keep her as warm as a parka. It was clear that the physician thought this was a lost cause but he was professional and kind.
“Go! Go! Get Caden! Don’t worry. Ngoye and I will stay with her and the doc,” Wally assured him.
“Good. Thank you,” Valerius said, wrenching himself from Chione’s side as he, internally, begged and prayed that it would not be for the last time. “All right, I’m ready, Marban, Rose.”
Both Rose and Marban tipped their heads back to the sky and closed their eyes. In a second, they disappeared in a haze of insects taking their places. Wasps and bees in the thousands. Insects that could sting. Insects that were feared. But not this time. He blessed every single one of them.
They surrounded Valerius. He could feel their bodies bumping against his own. Every single inch of him. The air heated, becoming almost hot, and then his feet were leaving the bridge, as if he was floating on a warm cloud.
Valerius nearly opened his mouth in awe, but he kept his lips tightly shut as he didn’t want to swallow any of the insects. He chuckled though--internally--as the thick cloud of insects carried him off the bridge and started to fly him to the square.
Hold on, Chione! He prayed. I will make sure you see the sun again in this life, not the next.