Chapter 38
The remaining days blended into one. I spent my nights sitting with Collum, who, despite my best efforts, was only marginally better—her fever unwilling to break. During the day, I got what sleep I could, but Leif was often there, telling me all about his research.
We’d kissed some more, but as far as I could tell, my feelings hadn’t changed. Rather, I found myself more worried with watching the moons, nervous for Otho’s return, over what Leif would or wouldn’t find out about our weighted relationship.
But now, it was time.
The moons were near their peak, and it was all I could do to pace my room, waiting for the shout that indicated Otho and his men had breached the wall.
Something in me felt comforted knowing that I would be returning back to the front lines, while something else twisted at the thought that I would be leaving a part of myself here.
The silence of the night broke in an instant, chaos reigning outside my bedroom as guards rushed past, some not quite dressed, pulling on their pants or jackets on the run.
I debated looking out the window to see just how close the Ralheim soldiers were, but then a guard who had probably been stationed nearby, was pulling on my arm, trying to yank me from the room.
“Wait!” I shouted at him, my heart pounding.
“There isn’t time! We have to get you to the safe zone!” His eyes were wide and my empathy gift revealed that he was afraid, likely because he hadn’t ever been in battle before. But there was no time for cowardice in war.
“I know where it is! Save the others!” I demanded, waiting for his nod of acknowledgement. He appeared to debate it for a moment, probably wondering if Leif would have his head for not saving me, but then he must have come to his own conclusion, as he released my arm and turned away.
The moment his back was facing me, I was off.
I’d spent enough time with Collum to know I would need help, thus, instead of heading directly for my cousin’s door, I dashed to the servant’s quarters, preparing to count the doors, but there was no need, because Ena was ready, a pack tossed over her shoulder.
I didn’t know how we would carry both the pack and my cousin, but there wasn’t time to figure it out now. Instead, I waved my hand at her before turning my back and sprinting back to the courtyard.
I couldn’t have been in the servant’s hall for longer than a few seconds, but in that time, all hell had broken loose.
There were many of Otho’s men in direct hand-to-hand combat with Hansen’s men.
In the dark, despite the light the two moons provided, it was difficult to tell the dark blue uniforms of Ralheim from the dark green of Malheim.
Which was how a knife ended up in my back.
One moment I was running, the next, there was a searing pain in my shoulder. I turned to face the soldier, only for his face to whiten as he recognized me, his blue uniform revealing he already knew his mistake.
His mouth opened and closed.
There wasn’t time for a discussion.
He knew it too, spinning to leave before speaking a single word. I reached over my shoulder, my hand coming back covered in blood.
I really didn’t have time for this.
“I thought you said you had immunity.” Ena’s gaze was fixed on what I was sure was a gnarly wound.
“I do; he made a mistake.” Grabbing Ena’s hand, I led her toward Collum’s door. I would worry about the injury later.
“What are we doing?” Her hiss was nearly lost in the sounds of the struggle behind us.
“My cousin.” It was the only explanation I could choke out before pushing open the unguarded door and ducking into the room.
Collum was exactly where she had been the nights prior, sweat still beading on her brow. Ena just shook her head.
“We can’t take her.”
“We have to try,” I argued, already pulling the blanket aside.
“No.” Ena’s hand landed on my forearm. “She is too sick. If we try to move her, she will certainly die. Her best chance is here.”
It was logical, I knew it was, but my heart still didn’t want to accept it.
“But she’s my family.”
“And she still will be, once we are out of here, and they heal her. They won’t kill someone this badly wounded.”
I knew what she wasn’t saying. They wouldn’t kill her, but they may not help her either.
But a shooting pain in my shoulder reminded me that we didn’t have time to debate what Malheim would and would not do for my cousin. I was wounded.
“You’re right,” I agreed with Ena, running for the door, her footsteps ringing out on the floor behind me. “Let’s go.”
The courtyard was a blood bath, and making our way to the door which led to the exterior was full of obstacles. From falling men to swinging weapons, and arrows flying over the wall, many of them landing indiscriminately in friends and foe alike.
Ena was faster than I was, likely because my left arm was already burning and tingling, but she stuck with me, dragging me along by my right hand when I lagged behind. I was her ticket out of here and she knew it.
We finally managed to break through the outside door, the only thing between us and freedom was the large field and a climb of the outer stone wall. I took a deep breath to settle my resolve.
Digging deep into my battered body, I called up the last dregs of my energy, taking off at a sprint through the tall grass.
The wall was visible, but that was the least of our problems as arrows continued to whizz overhead.
I attempted to direct my magic to keep the arrows away from us, but I hadn’t ever attempted to use my magic while moving before, and it was difficult to focus on both that and my feet.
Ena tried to guide me, her knowledge of the area surrounding the keep superior to my own, but we still found ourselves facing the lake, which was the only path to the wall that was free from arrows.
“Come on, we can swim. It goes beneath the exterior wall even,” Ena explained between gasps.
“I can’t swim,” I admitted, wondering how many times that small fact would come back to bite me. “And my wound . . .” I could feel the blood, sticky, on my back.
Ena cringed, she had forgotten about the knife protruding from my shoulder apparently. “We can stay in the shallows, and then I’ll help you beneath the wall.”
“Okay,” I agreed, letting Ena take the lead once more as we splashed through the water at ankle height. It was easy at first, but then the water entered my boots, weighing them down.
“Take off your shoes,” Ena demanded, already reaching down to unlace her own.
I did so, tossing them on the shore. The mud between my toes made me feel uneasy, but at least we weren’t dodging arrows.
Then water was to my knees.
Our pace slowed significantly, having to lift our knees high to run, something that was difficult in the long dresses we both wore.
Ena held what she could of her dress in the hand that wasn’t carrying the pack, and I did the same with the arm that wasn’t burning in pain.
I wished I had the breeches I’d arrived in, but they’d been taken to be laundered and not returned.
The wall came into view, just as my vision began to blur.
I was losing too much blood.
“Ena,” I gasped just as I started to collapse.
“I got you!” she called, releasing her dress in favor of grabbing me around the midsection as I lost my footing. “I’ve got to go deeper so the water can help carry your weight.”
I had no idea what she was saying, but I nodded my consent as she waded deeper, the sound of rushing water intensifying. We must be close to where it ventured beneath the wall.
I don’t know when I shut my eyes, or how long it took to get to that point. But suddenly, Ena was nudging me. “Hold your breath, and don’t breathe until I say so.”
I nodded again. Then I was enveloped by the water. And fear.
Cold seeped through my clothing and skin, and though I’d captured what little air I could in my lungs, it became clear that it wasn’t enough. I was going to drown.
My lungs burned, right along with the wound on my shoulder, but Ena’s grip didn’t release. I wanted to open my eyes, to make sure she was okay, but I knew the water would probably burn.
Suddenly, it didn’t matter anymore.
I was going to die if I didn’t get air soon.
I snapped open my eyelids, only to be met by darkness, the water feeling like tiny needles as the oppressive liquid came in contact with my eyeballs. I couldn’t see Ena.
I felt for her arm, which was still around my midsection. I tapped it, trying to indicate we needed to surface.
Nothing changed.
I opened my mouth, not sure what I was intending to do, and suddenly water was rushing in.
My throat burned, then my lungs. I tried to cough, but more water simply rushed in.
I was going to die.
That was my last thought before everything went dark.
Adis was kicking me, directly in the chest. I opened my mouth to yell.
“Come on, Runa, come on.”
The voice didn’t sound like Adis. But he was kicking me again.
Then I was coughing—no, vomiting—liquid rushing from my mouth.
“Come back to me, Runa. You can’t leave yet.”
I cracked open my eyes to find a dark shadow leaning over me. I could just see the glint of his black hair in the moonlight. It was Otho. I couldn’t stop the smile that spread over my lips. We had made it. I wasn’t dead.
“We need to keep moving,” a female voice hissed. It took me a moment to find her name in my memory. Was it Friar? No, we were running from Malheim, it was Ena.
“Did you know she couldn’t swim?” Otho snapped.
“She told me,” Ena snapped back with just as much malice. “There isn’t time to argue this now, they’re coming.”
I didn’t bother to ask who was coming as I was lifted from the ground. Though I had almost drowned, and we weren’t out of danger yet, I felt instant comfort in Otho’s arms. I knew I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t remember why at that exact moment.
The ride was anything but smooth though, the jostling increasing with every step.
“How bad is your leg?” That was Ena.
“It’s fine,” Otho replied, but I could tell he was lying. “Just a scratch.”
“Well, that scratch is making you limp an awful lot.”
I knew I should walk myself, but I couldn’t find the energy to even open my mouth to argue, though the motion of Otho’s uneven gait was upsetting my empty stomach.
I don’t know how much longer we continued like that, but soon we were stopping and I was being laid on the cool ground.
“I need a moment,” Otho panted. “Here, take my horse, ride straight along the trees, my captain, Askel, will be there. Tell him that Otho sent you. We will be right behind you, on foot.”
“But you both are injured,” Ena tried to argue, and I wondered suddenly what I had done to earn such care from a woman I had only spoken to once.
“Askel can come back and help,” Otho insisted.
I don’t know if it was the knowledge that both Otho and I were going to die there, somewhere in the barren land outside of Malheim, or the fact that I was entering the delirious stage that came just before death, but suddenly I was able to speak.
“Just leave me here to die. Save yourself.” The words were barely a whisper, but I hoped Otho would hear them.
The sound of hoofbeats reached my ears. Had he mounted and left with Ena that rapidly?
“I can’t do that I’m afraid,” Otho replied, his voice strained. There was some shuffling.
“You can. I was supposed to die the day I was born. It was all borrowed time anyway.” I was already planning what I would say to my mom and dad when I saw them in the afterlife. After I told them how dumb it was to try to hide me my entire life, and how they had effectively wasted it for me.
“I can’t leave you, Runa.” Otho pulled me into his chest. I thought maybe it was a hug goodbye, but then I felt him doing something with the wound on my shoulder. It was numb at this point.
“You can. Please, Otho. It is my dying wish is for you save yourself,” I begged, my voice hoarse, something pulling in my chest. Hopefully the afterlife was more comfortable than this.
“You don’t understand, Runa.” There was an edge to his voice I couldn’t seem to place.
“I do—” I started but he cut me off.
“You’re my weighted. Leaving you would kill me too.”