9. Chapter Nine Rhowyn
Chapter Nine: Rhowyn
Yup. This was definitely getting old. Fast. I thought to myself as I slowly came to. My head was throbbing, and my entire body was sore, discouraging me from moving until I knew more. Attempting to open my eyes first, I cracked my lids, but the blinding light stabbed into my retinas and caused my brain to pound in time with my pulse. Squeezing my eyes closed again with a groan, I waited for the intense sensation to pass.
“Rhowyn?” Cyerra’s voice came to me, too loud in the silence that had been surrounding me, and I winced. “You awake?”
“There’s no need to yell,” I told her with my eyes squeezed shut against the pain, my hand raising to press against my forehead.
“Thank Avalonia!” The mattress I was on dipped slightly. “I was really beginning to worry about you. If you’d been out much longer, I would have had to contact the guys. They’d kill me if I didn’t!” she exclaimed, her nervous energy evident in the pitch and speed of her voice.
“Then I guess I’m glad I woke up when I did,” I told her, trying to open my eyes again. The stabbing pain increased, but it wasn’t nearly as intense as before. “Where are we?” I asked, taking in the stone walls in the bare room.
“Oh, after you passed out, I got us out of there. Figured it wouldn’t help us any if we were found, you know, in case they had any backup or something,” she rattled off, a hand waving almost dismissively.
“Smart,” I told her, still trying to slowly widen my eyes until they were fully open.
“Yeah, well, I had no idea where I was supposed to go, so I just picked a direction and went until I found this church. I remembered you said something about a church and thought I might as well stop here. That, and I was getting really worried about you. You lost a lot of blood.” Her voice sobered with that last statement, telling me just how close I’d been to death. Again.
“That doesn’t surprise me, based on the way I feel right now.” I spoke around my thick tongue, turning my head to see if there was water nearby.
“Well, when we got here, the head priest called for the village healer, and they did their best. You also had a concussion. The healer didn’t have enough magic to close your wound and heal your head, so I told her to start with the most life-threatening injury.”
“Thanks.” I pushed up to sitting, my hand going to my abdomen to hold off the pain.
“She did the best she could, but you’re still not fully healed. She was able to repair the internal damage. Apparently, the blade punctured your liver, and you would have bled out completely in just another hour. Thankfully, she was here and available.”
I reached for the glass of water as she rattled off the explanation of how I ended up here and just why I felt like shit. “That explains a lot.”
She punched my arm, jostling the glass of water and nearly spilling it all over me. I glared at her only to find her glaring back at me. “What was that for?” I questioned her.
“For scaring the shit out of me. For not letting me get us out of there sooner. For being a stubborn, pig-headed, b…”
I cut her off. “You can stop now. I get the gist.” I forced a smile on my face.
“Seriously, though. You almost died, Rhowyn. Maybe we should get the guys?” Her eyes watered at the thought of losing me.
“No.” I shut that line of thought down quickly but made a mental note that I needed to reach out to them and let them know that I was still alive. “How long was I out?”
“Honestly, not as long as I thought you would be,” she said. When I raised an eyebrow at her, she huffed, “It’s just after lunch, so maybe nine or ten hours.”
I nodded, drinking the water quickly. Goddess, it tasted like mana. After I finished, I looked down at my body, noting the plain white gown I was wearing. I should probably get dressed. The sooner I could figure out why Avalonia had wanted me here, alone, the sooner we could leave. And right now, I desperately wanted to be back with my men. “Where are my clothes?”
“Yeah, about that,” she started. “They weren’t salvageable. Between the blood and holes, I told them to just burn them.”
“So, what am I supposed to wear?” I asked, more annoyed than I should be, but I was blaming that on the fact that I almost died a few hours ago, and I totally had the right to be a bitch about it.
Cyerra stood then, moving to a wooden chair across the room that had some clothes folded and stacked. She brought them over to me. “These should do. I tried to get something similar, but way out here, our options were limited.” She grimaced.
“Anything’s better than this gown,” I admitted, plucking at the lacy front of it and scowling. “As long as there are pants that I can move in, I’ll be fine. What about my weapons?”
She turned and gestured to the table. “Over there.” Indeed, my rope and knives stood out in the light that was shining in from the window, reflecting back at me. She’d cleaned them up while I was out, and I was grateful she’d pushed me to bring her along. I’d probably be dead if she hadn’t been there, and then where would we all be.
I pushed up from my reclining position on the headboard, my muscles groaning and protesting the movement, but I wanted out of here as soon as possible. Swinging my legs to the side of the bed, I bit back a few choice curse words, not wanting to let them fly in a church. The least I could do was respect the holy house.
“You need any help?” Cyerra asked me, hovering nervously.
“I’m good,” I told her as I went to stand, but my legs protested the sudden exertion, collapsing and sending me back to the bed. “Shit.” Well, at least I’d tried , I thought. Intentions and all that junk, right?
She laughed at me. “Sure you are.” When I went to try again, she stopped me. “Stop being so stubborn, and let me help you. You do realize it’s okay to ask for help, right?”
“I know, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. I’m used to having to do everything on my own, so this whole needing other people thing isn’t sitting too well with me,” I explained as I stripped the gown from me, keeping my seat on the side of the bed.
“Really? You could have fooled me,” she said, her sarcasm shining through as she smiled to take the sting out of her words.
“Har, har,” I mocked back, and she just smiled. Twisting to grab the bra and shirt, I held the gown to my chest, my long green hair falling forward as I did so. A gasp sounded from her lips. I froze in place, closing my eyes and dreading the questions that were bound to follow. When none did, I slowly moved back to my previous position and met her gaze. There were the questions , I thought as I watched them swirl in her dark eyes.
She didn’t ask them though, and I finally sighed in relief, deciding to at least give her something. Even my guys hadn’t said anything about the scars that littered my back, and I knew there was no way they’d missed them. It wasn’t exactly my favorite memory. “You remember me telling you about my shitty childhood?” I asked her. When she nodded, I continued, “Yeah, let’s just say, I learned the hard way that the only person who could save me was me.”
“I’m sorry, Rho,” she said, her eyes watering at the thought of the abuse I had been subjected to.
I shrugged. “Eh. It was a long time ago. If anything, it made me stronger.” There was no way I could give my words more weight. If I did, I’d be inundated with the memories as they assaulted me.
“Still, you shouldn’t have had to grow up like that.” She sat down next to me and took my hand in hers. She didn’t say anything more, didn’t dig for more information. Instead, she just squeezed my hand as the memories did their damnedest to swallow me despite my efforts to keep my mood dismissive and nonchalant.
Taking a deep breath, I shoved all of that down, pulling my hand from hers to wipe my eyes. “Thanks,” I told her.
“You don’t have to thank me. That’s what friends do,” she said simply.
“Well, I’m glad that I found you then. I don’t know how I would have gotten through last night without you. You’re risking everything for me, and I have nothing but more danger to offer you.”
She grinned broadly at me. “Damn straight. You’re lucky a badass bitch like me is tagging along.”
I laughed at her; her teasing broke the tension of the moment. I shrugged into my bra and a loose tunic, growing tired already from the slight exertion. “I won’t argue with that,” I agreed with a wink.
She laughed back, taking the pants from me and helping me slide them on when bending over proved too much for my recent wound to tolerate. She pulled my boots into place and then tugged me up to standing, supporting me as I regained my bearings. I walked over to the table slowly and strapped a couple of knives to me, clipping the rope back into place. My figurative armor back in place, I felt ready to find out what was beyond this door. My instincts told me I was right where Avalonia wanted me to be.
“Come on, pokey, I’ll take you to the healer first and have her do some more healing on you. I take it your magic is still bottomed out?” she asked, teasing my slow speed. I’d take anything but her pity.
“Yeah,” I told her. “I guess everything I’ve been through hasn’t exactly given me a chance to recover as quickly as I should have.”
“It’s a shame we can’t break your glamor. I assume that’s also slowing your healing?” she asked, supporting me with an arm around the waist. My arm went around her shoulders as we slowly ambled down the plain stone hallway.
Come to think of it, I had yet to see any decorations of any kind. The room had been plain, the furniture and bedding perfunctory at best. “Yeah,” I answered Cyerra’s question. “Everyone’s tried, but it seems my dad did a great job of locking it down. Although, the barrier has been weakening the more I use my powers,” I told her.
“Hmm…” she said, pondering the issue. “Maybe there’s a way we can speed up that process.” She paused in front of another plain door, knocking.
The door swung open, and she helped me to another hospital type bed as a severe looking woman with her hair tied back into a smooth bun watched us. “ You shouldn’t be out of bed yet,” she chastised me.
Cyerra laughed. “Yeah, you try telling Her Majesty to do as the healer says.”
This earned me a hard scowl from the woman. “Queen or not, you’re still vulnerable.” She put her hands on her hips. “Lie back, and let me take a look at the damage you did to yourself.”
Cyerra helped me do as the woman instructed, and once I was in position, she said, “I’m going to head to the library here and see what I can find about glamors.” I widened my eyes at her pronouncement that she was going to leave me here with the harsh woman. In response, she just laughed. She waved her fingers at me as she left, calling out, “Have fun.”
I didn’t have much time to think about what was in store for me as the woman shoved my shirt up, her cold hands causing me to tense and hiss. “Don’t be such a baby,” she chided me.
“I just wasn’t expecting that,” I explained to her. “Your hands are like ice.”
“Hmmm…” She ignored my comment, her eyes closing as her magic entered my skin and warmed her icy touch somewhat. “Seems you didn’t hurt yourself too much.” Her magic focused on the stab wound, and from where I was lying, I could see the pink skin start to lessen.
She exhaled, wiping her brow after only a few minutes, not having left me much better off than I had been before. “You must take it easy over the next few days. Come to me every morning and I’ll heal more as I can, though my limits are not what you have access to, I’m sure,” she admitted.
The edges were puckered and still angry, but I wasn’t quite as sore as I’d been before, able to find my way to a sitting position on my own. The healer turned around and grabbed a wooden cup, thrusting it at me. “Here, drink this. It’ll help with magic replenishment.”
I took the cup from her as she turned back to her worktable, no longer concerned with me, picking up a pestle and grinding some kind of herb. I eyed the contents of the cup, sniffing it with instant regret. Yup, this shit smelled nasty.
Pinching my nose, I choked down the chunky liquid, fighting the urge to vomit, my mind calling up images of those game shows that made their contestants eat and drink the most disgusting concoctions. I shuddered as I forced the last bit down. Surprisingly enough, by the time I finished, I was already starting to feel better. A buzz under my skin made my fingers and toes tingle slightly.
Welp, no time like the present to go figure out why Avalonia dragged my ass all the way out to BFE , I thought, jumping down from the table. The nurse scowled as I did so, but I just smiled and offered her a thanks as I left the room in search of the library or a priest or anyone who could give me answers.