Heart of Darkness

Chapter 16

Once more awareness stole into Zelgadis, creeping in on cat-like paws, unhindered, unnoticed until suddenly there was the cold and certain Knowledge that an even colder cloth was being pressed lightly against his lips. Parched stone drew the dampness out of the fibers, the cool wetness of it an almost blissful sensation. His lips twitched, and the cloth was lifted away. He cracked open one eye, then opened both fully when he saw a brunette woman next to him.

“Welcome back,” she said, a light smile on her lips, dropping the cloth into a small bowl that was filled with water. “You’ve been out for so long that I was beginning to worry. It’s hard to tell if your heart is beating under all that stone.” She picked up her flask and held it for him to take a sip from.

“I don’t have one,” he said out of reflex, those long years of being the ‘Heartless Mystical Swordsman’ hard to overcome. But then, after he swallowed his water, he saw her odd expression, and amended with a slight grimace. “At least, that’s what I tell people. It’s easier than trying to explain what I am.” Which was in serious question at this point. Wasn’t he Chimera, evolved? Something… it tingled just out of mental reach.

“You look like you’ve taken one hell of a beating,” she commented, distracting him from, her fingers lightly touching a knee that he couldn’t feel. “What happened to you, anyway? Who were you fighting with?” She hadn’t given her name yet, but then, neither had he.

“I…” He began, but found that memory wasn’t inclined to cooperate, and he sighed in defeat. “I don’t know. I don’t remember how I got here, or what I was doing. Right now, the only thing that I am certain of is that my name is Zelgadis, and I’m injured more than I’d like to admit.”

The look on her face did nothing to allay his concerns. “I’m sorry. You must have hit your head somewhere in with the rest of this.” She waved a hand to indicate his legs, and he was glad that he couldn’t lift his head to see how bad it was. “You’re hurt pretty badly, and I don’t have the ability to help beyond the basics. I’ve sent word by carrier bird to a friend of mine, though it could be some time before she manages to get here. In the meantime, I’ll do what I can. I have some herbs to dull your pain, and I can bring you food and water.”

“I don’t need herbs for pain. There isn’t much. I’ve probably broken my back.” Zelgadis replied, a quiet sort of resignation in his voice. It wasn’t a very promising outlook… unless one enjoyed being largely stationary and bound to a chair for the rest of one’s existence. To someone like Zelgadis, that may as well have been the end of everything. Something nudged at his brain, a fuzzy sort of query as to why he was so injured when normally he would heal within hours, but it faded into the background almost as quickly as it formed.

Quiet amber eyes regarded Zelgadis for a moment, and then the brunette shook her head. “I saw you moving before, your back is probably just stunned or something. Maybe you landed hard and bruised yourself?” To him, it sounded like a pathetic refusal to accept fact, and Zelgadis wasn’t known for refusing to see things as they truly were. If anything, he was inclined to view them as worse than they actually were. Mister Doom and Gloom himself, as… who had said that? Someone called him that, someone he knew… he couldn’t remember. It made him even more likely to see things for the worse. But, given his situation, it was easier to simply press his lips together and give her the benefit of a doubt. “Maybe. We’ll just have to see. But in the meantime,” he struggled to put weight on his good arm. “We need to get out of the open. If someone or something was chasing me…”

“We should be okay. I’m not completely pathetic and without defenses… I was, after all, hunting.” the brunette said, putting her hand gently on his shoulder. “You need to stop moving and rest, I’ll put up my tent, and then we can talk a little more.” She smiled lightly and he noticed a bow and arrows next to a pack on the ground nearby.

When she rose to walk over to it, he flopped back onto the ground and stared up at the sky. “Thank you,” he said quietly, a thought occurring. “You’re helping me, and I don’t even know your name.” He’d given her his, but she hadn’t returned in kind, or even acknowledged him by name.

“I’m Cassandra. You can call me Cassie for short, though I refuse to answer to ‘Cass’.” She said softly as she rummaged through the pack for the fabric that made her tent. “Let me get this started, and then we’ll come up with a way to make you more comfortable.”

Comfortable? Zelgadis thought. It’s hard to be uncomfortable when you can’t feel anything from the waist down. He concentrated, closing his eyes and focusing his will on one singular desire to heal himself. He even held his breath, pushing with whatever inner strength he could dredge up.

There was a tingle, a magical flare, and it hurt. It hurt so sharply and so suddenly that he couldn’t control his cry of anguish and she dropped the tent stakes to rush back to his side. “What happened?”

His answer was incoherent, a grunt of pain escaping again before he managed to release the magic and let it and the near soul piercing pain fade away. At last, he managed to steady his breathing enough to answer. “I’m… okay. I’ll manage.” He certainly wasn’t going to do that again anytime soon.

She looked at him doubtfully, but nodded and released his hand. He didn’t recall her taking it, but it was a minor detail. As she collected the tent stakes, he considered. His magic came to him if he focused… but would he ever be able to focus enough with that much pain? Maybe it was best to wait. He closed his eyes and waited. It was all he could do.