Chapter 9 Morco
MORCO
Consciousness interrupted the fever dream.
I’d ripped off Krull’s head and taken a bite out of his face—like a monster.
I inhaled a sharp breath and then felt the hand in mine. Felt the thin fingertips that belonged to a woman.
My eyes flickered open, and then I was hit with pain, pain that burned everywhere, from my arm to my stomach to my head. When I looked down, I saw flames engulfing me, felt the fire burn the flesh straight off the bone.
“My son.” Her hand squeezed mine, like she could tell I was awake just by the way I breathed. Her voice was tearful, mourning my passing before I’d gone.
I blinked, and the flames disappeared.
I searched the room, seeing my mother sitting at my side, her face eyeless—and that wasn’t a hallucination like everything else. My eyes went to the empty chair where I expected Hanne to sit, but she wasn’t there.
“Rest.” Her hand went to my chest. “Stay asleep, Morco. Let your body fight for as long as it can.”
“Caius…”
“Rest.”
“Get…Caius.”
My mother remained, her hand still tight in mine.
I waited for her to call for someone to retrieve Caius, but she refused.
I noticed the wet towel secured around my arm.
Then the maid appeared out of nowhere…or perhaps she was always there.
She pulled the towel away then strained it into a pail before she doused it in wet herbs that burned my nose when I breathed them in.
“I’m still living…bring Caius to me.” It hurt to speak every single word, ached with every syllable.
My mother finally cooperated. “Bring Liam.”
“Caius…”
The maid left.
My mother continued to grip my hand just the way she had when I was a frightened boy, afraid of the monsters that wanted to wipe our existence from history.
A moment later, the maid returned and resumed her care, trying to suck the sickness out of the wound, even though she knew it wouldn’t work. Even on a minor cut, it wouldn’t work, not without the medicine that had been taken from us.
Liam came into the room. “Morco, you’re awake.”
“Caius.” I’d said the correct name…or did I hallucinate that?
Liam pulled up a chair and came closer to my side, and as if I had years to live, he took his time giving me the information I sought. “Caius left with Hanne.”
“No.” It was exactly what I’d feared when I didn’t see her at my bedside.
“She said she knows what will save you.”
“I told Caius…” I didn’t have the energy to fight this. They were already gone. It was done. Even if I could get out of bed right now, I couldn’t change what had already come to pass. “How long have they been gone?”
“A day,” Liam answered.
I inhaled a painful breath, hoping they would come back empty-handed, as long they came back at all.
My mother pressed her hand to my chest. “Sleep, Morco. We need you to stay alive long enough for them to return.”