CHAPTER XII #9
Keane’s summoning suddenly grips my chest so hard that I fall head first in the woods.
I land straight on a large root that tears at my arm, the bark cutting me open as Stormfall glides into the air, hovering above me.
I have to bring both my hands up to my chest to soothe the pressure from Keane’s summoning, needing it to go away before I can pull myself back up.
But Arens’ voice is crying out again, the sound steeped in so much pain that it makes me forget about my own.
“I’m coming!” I yell, watching as five argents circle in front of me, their hum vibrating against my skin and urging me to follow them.
I push up from the ground and head their way, feeling Stormfall’s talons sinking into my back.
“Storm! What?”
What is he doing? Why are his talons pulling on my shirt?
“Alexis…” Arens’ voice is faint now, but oh so near.
“Arens!”
I tear myself out of Stormfall’s grip, running frantically with the argents as I dip through the trees. I swear I can hear his breathing, the sound so ragged that it stops me dead in my tracks.
“No,” I exhale, my eyes going wide in disbelief.
“Arens!” I groan.
His body lies just up ahead, farther down the path as he clutches his chest in pain. Stormfall flies to the Discerni as I stumble towards him, my heavy heart thudding hard in my chest.
“No, no, no. I’m here, Arens. Don’t move.”
His eyes barely lift at the sound of my voice. He’s hunched on the ground, laying so still that I nearly think the worst. He catches my gaze as I take a hesitant step forward, and it’s then that I spot three thick arrows piercing his chest.
“I… I don’t understand…”
My hands are trembling as I lean down, my fingers moving around his as they hold on tight to one of the shafts. It’s too close to his heart, the arrow shoving its way through his chest without any exit wound in the back.
“Arens, it’s me,” I whisper down to the beautiful young man.
I move around his hunched shoulders to look more closely at his back. Only two of the three arrows have pierced him straight through, but the third… the third that he has a grip on, it’s still lodged in his chest.
“Keep holding onto this,” I console.
Stormfall flies down to my shoulder, gripping me hard as I kneel next the blonde man.
“Who did this to you? What’s going on Arens? Why are you in Alston?”
“Don’t trust them, Lady Alexis,” his green eyes hold mine.
“Who?”
Arens looks at the woods around us, prompting me to turn around in a new nervousness.
Is the person who did this to him still here?
Watch my back, Storm, I tell the Bird of Ash silently, feeling him spread his wings wide in response.
“The argents,” Arens whispers on an exhale.
“No, Arens, stay with me!” I plead.
I place my hands around his that are still holding the arrow close to his heart. I lean over again, spotting the two green agate tips that protrude from his back, wondering how best to handle the one lodged deep within his chest.
“This is going to hurt,” I whisper to my friend, watching him drift into unconsciousness.
I grip my hand fully around the green arrow at his back and snap it violently in two. The gesture has the intended pain I hoped for, bringing the Discerni out of his near sleep as he screams into the woods, hands gripping the arrow at his heart even harder.
“There’s nothing to be done,” he coughs below me. “They found out, Lady Alexis. They knew that I shared their secrets-”
“-No, Arens,” I stop his words quickly and reach for the second arrow, “don’t talk, not until I break this one off as well, okay? Once I’m done, I need you to lay on your back and apply all of the pressure from your body to the ground.”
A soft woosh in the air causes us both to turn our heads around quickly, the ground rattling with a soft thud before Holis steps out of the woods, his eyes finding mine.
“Holis!” I nearly cry in relief, “help me!”
The Discerni looks at Arens below me, his eyes assessing the blood flowing from his chest and back onto my hands.
“Holis!” I yell at him heatedly, “help me! I’m going to break the second arrow loose and then turn him on his back.”
My quiet Discerni friend lifts his glance to me with deathly solemn eyes.
“No,” I glare, turning away with a scowl as I snap the next arrow in two. “No.”
I push Arens’ shoulders aggressively into the ground as he screams again, but I truly don’t care.
The pain will keep him awake and the weight from his body will stall the heavy blood flow.
I just need him to bear through it a little while longer.
Need him to work through the pain until I can figure out what to do with this last arrow.
Stormfall caws at a group of argents flying above us, his wings spreading in the air in a heavy warning as their hum continues to vibrate under my skin. The ground below us starts to rumble at the same time, the earth shaking at my knees as Arens’ eyes widen in even more pain.
“Don’t trust them,” he glances up at the small white birds above us.
There’s a harrowing look in his eyes, one that’s offset by the blood that’s now spilling out of his mouth.