The Line of Illeniel

Chapter 30

Our arrival was greeted with cheers by those waiting, but their rejoicing was short lived. James was badly wounded, and my father… my mind went blank as I thought of him. I gently eased him to the ground, shouting at the people around us to move back. I had to lay him on his side because of the arrows protruding from his back.

Penny gave out a cry of shock as she realized who I was holding, “Oh gods! It’s Royce!”

My mind was reeling as I tried to think. I struggled to focus, to cast my senses into my father’s failing body, to discover the extent of the damage. Someone started shouting in my ear, trying to get my attention. My temper snapped as my concentration broke, without looking I shouted, “Penny! Get everyone back so I can concentrate!” I took a quick look around, glaring at those watching. “If anyone else interrupts me they won’t live to regret their mistake,” I ground out between clenched teeth.

Starting again it took even longer to regain my inner balance. I fought to calm my heart and suppress the rage boiling up within. After a long minute I regained my focus and began examining my father’s wounds. What I found dismayed me. One arrow, the first, had lodged in his shoulder blade. I dismissed that one immediately; it was the second arrow that had done the worst damage.

That shaft had passed between his shoulder blade and spine, the head was lodged beside his heart. It had punctured his left lung and nicked the heart as well. One of the arteries that fed the heart was hemorrhaging badly. The injury was horrifying to my inner sight. I couldn’t repair the lung or the artery until I removed the arrow, and I only had minutes at the very most. He was bleeding to death and drowning in his own blood. It would be a race to see which killed him first.

“Someone find Marcus! I want him here immediately!” I screamed. Panic had given my voice an edge of hysteria. Then my father began trying to speak. His words were soft and wet with blood making it hard to hear him.

I leaned closer, putting my ear near his mouth. “Is there any hope?” he said in a quiet wheeze. Tears began running down my face at the words.

“Maybe… hang in there Dad, it’s not over yet,” I choked before I could say more. His injury was mortal, but the nature of it was something that I could fix… if I could do three things at once. I struggled to think clearly. If it had been my own body it would have been easier. I need absolute focus, I thought to myself. I needed to cast my spirit into him, like I had done with the horse a long year ago. Working from within would be far easier.

I whispered a few words and cast my mind out, staring into my father’s blue eyes. For a moment I felt our minds touch as I strove to enter, but then my thoughts snapped back, pulled inexorably back into my own head. I was anchored within my own body… by the bond. My heart cried out in anguish as I realized I couldn’t do what was needed. I struggled inwardly, seeking to free myself from the restraint created by the bond. Pain shot through me as I sought to snap it by force and Penny stumbled and fell beside me. I was killing both of us.

Despair washed over me and I gave up, then I heard my father trying to speak again. I held his head up and listened, but even with my ear close I couldn’t understand him. His eyes pierced me as he tried to speak. With a finger he traced a shape on the ground, but I failed to understand. He spoke again, but the only word I could make out was ‘chandelier’. That made no sense.

“I can’t understand… what are you trying to say?” I replied with eyes too blurred to see.

He pointed at James, who was reclining a few feet away, and mouthed the word ‘chandelier’ again. He seemed so urgent and I was desperate to understand him. “James! What does he mean… chandelier?”

James stared a moment before answering, “I think he means the new chandelier in the great hall, back at Lancaster. He made it for me after your battle.” Things had been so chaotic back then I had hardly noticed. I had never known.

Royce nodded at his words and pointed at my eyes, then back at James. A tear rolled down from his eye as he looked at me. “I think he wants you to see the chandelier Mort,” Penny said softly beside me.

I nodded in agreement. “Where is Marcus?” I asked her. My only hope now was that his goddess would do what I could not, but time was running out.

Dorian had come in and answered my question, “He’s in Lancaster Mordecai. He went yesterday, a child came down sick.”

A black wave rolled over me, but I pushed it back. Despair would help no one. I examined the wounds again; I would have to do the best I could from the outside. I began pulling at the shaft of the arrow, trying to seal the damaged lung as the head came out. My father jerked at the pain and the head of the arrow cut deeper against his heart. I was killing him. I felt his heart beating faster, too fast, as it struggled to force blood through his body.

Watching him struggle tore at my heart and I did the only thing left to me… I began damping the pain, suppressing the signals his nerves were sending. There were so many I couldn’t be sure of what I was doing, but his body began to relax. The heart slowed and his chest relaxed.

“Royce?” I heard my mother’s voice over my shoulder. Looking back I saw her standing there, her face was calm but I could see fear in her eyes, the fear of losing the one person most important to her. It was a look that ravaged my soul, for I knew I could do nothing to prevent it.

She sat down across from me and stroked the hair from his face. I saw their eyes meet, as they had a thousand times before, communicating feelings I had never fully understood. “It’s ok darling, I’ll be alright,” she told him. He tried to speak but his voice was gone. “Mordecai will take care of us, don’t worry. I know you love me. Relax, you need to rest.”

The words unmade me and I began to weep like a child, hopeless and uncontrolled. The sorrow of a man who knows he can never go home again. My life was changing, and the safety and security my father had given me would soon be gone forever. In a crowd of friends and loved ones I felt more alone than ever.

My father took a long time dying. He had been far stronger than I imagined, and his body struggled to breathe long after he lost consciousness. The pain of watching it was too great, and in the end I gently stilled his heart to speed his passing. Once it was done I sat staring blankly into space, numb and tired.

After some time Penny led me to our rooms. Along the way people spoke to me, expressing their sympathies at my loss, but I barely heard them. At long last I fell into bed, sinking into a deep slumber. One filled with sorrow and unsaid words.