48. Aemon
48
I can’t lift my head, can hardly see with the black nothingness encroaching on my vision. My legs have completely given out, and now my toes scrape across the rough floor as two prisoners drag me through the tunnels. Every fucking movement is excruciating, like getting my back sliced open again and again. I can feel myself sinking closer to unconsciousness with every labored breath. If I pass out, that’s it, I’m dead. I try to shift, to heal myself, but it’s useless. Between the wolfsbane that’s most likely still working its way through my system and the pain stealing every ounce of my attention, it’s impossible.
“Let me down. Let me down,” I say, panting.
“Just a little farther,” a female says. Mave.
“Let me down,” I say, more forcefully this time. Someone sighs, and our forward motion stops, then some scuffling as I’m moved to the side and lowered to the ground. They’ve set me down in a seated position, but the moment they remove their hands from under my arms, I continue to sink until my cheek rests against the cool stone floor. “Leave me. Get Katya,” I say. “Get her out of here.”
“Aemon—”
“Go,” I shout, pain shooting through my back from the effort. I squeeze my eyes shut and grit my teeth and wait for it to pass.
When I open my eyes, they’re gone.
Did I pass out? If I did, it was brief, because the sounds of stampeding feet and shouting haven’t dimmed in the slightest.
Smooth skin, I think to myself, picturing my whole unmarked back in my mind, but the image is fuzzy, my thoughts sluggish. Whether it’s due to the pain or if I’ve simply lost too much blood, I can’t say.
Muscle and tissue fused back together. Smooth, unmarred skin. My back whole. I focus on the words, pushing the pain to the back of my mind. I can’t die. Not like this. But nothing is happening and as the moments pass, my resolve begins to falter. I just need to close my eyes, for only a moment. Just a moment of rest, and I’ll try again.
“Aemon. Where are you?”
My eyes snap open as the familiar voice fills my head. Katya. Dammit.
“Aemon, please. Answer me.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Stupid, fucking bullshit life. The minute I find something worth living for, it tries to take it away. No. I refuse. I fucking refuse to die here.
Skin and tissue pulling back together. Skin and tissue pulling back together. Skin and tissue—
My back begins to tingle.