Chapter 11 Sightless

Sothe's hand trembled in mine. It was hot, wet, and sticky from the blood. Panic churned in the pit of my stomach as I lifted his hand away from his face. I gasped loud enough for the entire army to hear when I fixed my gaze on Sothe's uncovered eye. Hot red liquid flowed out of it like tears. The white of his eye was stained crimson. I couldn't even tell where his pupil was in all of the blood. "Sothe…who did this to you!" I screamed. He struggled to release his hand from my grip but was unable.

"Doesn't matter…just go," he muttered. I dropped his hand and he immediately pulled it back to his injured eye.

"It matters to me and stop telling me to leave because I won't! We're friends remember? I'm always here for you," I shouted back. My lower lip began to tremble. Another tear slid out of his unwounded eye.

"What use am I if I can't even see?" he cried.

"Stop it! Don't say things like that! Rhys can heal you…there's gotta be something we can do! So tell me right now who did this so I can kick their sorry…" Suddenly I could hear the flapping of wings resonate.

"That would be me." I turned around and nearly jumped out of my skin. King Kilvas himself stood before me and admitted to hurting Sothe. I didn't know what was going through my mind all I knew was that he was the one causing my friend pain and he was going to pay. I didn't care that he was in a league of his own, it didn't matter because now things were personal.

"You…WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" I yelled. Naesala chuckled deviously to himself and smiled.

"Sorry…he was in the way," he said. I stood up and fiercely clutched my tome.

"You're not getting away with this…you mess with my friend you mess with me! Got it?" I shouted. My blood boiled and my heart raced from adrenaline.

"Fair enough. Come at me then," he said simply. A bead of sweat rolled off my forehead. My hands shook with anger as I hastily flipped the pages of my elfire tome. I rested my finger under the spell I was going to use and parted my chapped lips. Before I could mumble any words I saw something brown fly through my peripheral vision. Naesala turned his attention away from me and narrowed his eyes.

"You…" he said scornfully. I heard another set of wings flapping so I picked my head up out of my tome.

"King Kilvas! You egg-stealing snake!" shouted a familiar voice.

"One of Tibarn's flock, eh? You are his "eyes" if I'm not mistaken," Naesala replied. I recognized the seemingly young hawk as Janaff. I thanked the Goddess I wouldn't have to fight alone, although I was ready too.

"It's not enough that you sold the White Prince to humans? Now you're fighting against laguz?" reprimanded the hawk. He flew closer to Naesala. The raven king laughed sardonically.

"You hawks rescued Reyson, didn't you? So everything worked out in the end! What's the problem?" he replied insensitively. Janaff folded his arms and scrunched his face in disgust.

"I'd like you to repeat those words to the prince's face," Janaff countered. Naesala furrowed his brows and turned his head to the side.

"Reyson is here? HERE! WHY?" he screamed enquiringly Janaff rolled his eyes.

"He supports the Crimean army! The beorc leading this army helped him to escape to Serenes Forest," he replied in an obvious tone of voice. Naesala's eyes widened.

"Helped him? Are you saying a human came to the aid of Reyson? A laguz?" he confirmed, still not believing what he was hearing.

"Yes! And he rescued Princess Leanne, too!" Janaff added. Suddenly Naesala's face softened and didn't appear quite as tough and heartless.

"Leanne…is alive?" he asked almost breathlessly. Janaff scoffed disdainfully.

"Don't play the fool! You know the life of the forest has returned. That was their power at work," he said. Naesala closed his eyes and exhaled deeply in relief.

"I see….that's how the forest…of course." The raven king ran a hand through his hair. His sudden change in mood was intriguing. I continued to watch their conversation from curiosity.

"Listen up, crow! You need to fly over there and talk to the prince, instead of fighting a couple of kids. If you don't do it, I'm gonna know that you really are the enemy and report that back to King Tibarn. Think it over!" Naesala was silent for a moment.

"Yes…hmmm…what to do," he whispered. Afterwards, he took wing elsewhere and left me in the dust. I was relieved that I wouldn't have to fight someone with such strength, but now that he was gone all I could think about was Sothe. He didn't move an inch from where he was before nor had he opened his mouth. I scurried to his side and kneeled next to him.

"All taken care of!" I said proudly, even though I didn't even have to fight. Sothe responded with a low moan. I had no idea where Rhys was but Sothe needed him badly. So, I did what I could on my own by untying the green band wrapped around my forehead. I carefully tied it vertically around his head so his wounded eye was shielded like an eye patch. It wasn't much, but it would have to do for now. "There! That should hold it for a little while, at least until I can find Rhys." Sothe didn't say anything, but I knew he was listening. "Sorry I'm no healer…I know…" I apologized. My amateur patchwork would have to do for now. I scanned the battlefield for any sign of Rhys. Suddenly a figure in a white robe came into view, things were finally starting to go my way.

I hoisted Sothe up and let him lean on me while I hurried to Rhys. I prayed that an enemy wouldn't attempt to attack since I was now vulnerable. "Dammit," mumbled Sothe in a voice that was thick with tears.

"What is it?" I asked. I scoped the area one more time to make sure an enemy soldier wasn't heading our way.

"Shouldn't have let my guard down," he muttered. I didn't know how to respond, there were so many things I wanted to ask but it would have to wait until we got to Rhys.

After walking a decent length with Sothe leaning all of his weight on me I began to feel its results. My shoulder throbbed and my back began to ache. Eventually, I broke down and lightly dropped Sothe to the ground. "When'd you get so heavy?" I asked breathlessly. He didn't respond again and I began to get worried. "Sothe?" I nudged him on his side and he didn't even stir. "Sothe?" I yelled nervously. I shook him from his shoulders but he still didn't acknowledge me. He must have passed out from the blood loss. His face was smeared red and so were his hands and lips. His face began to lose color more and more by the second. I couldn't stand to see my friend in such a state so I stood and waved my arms in the air wildly shouting "RHYS!" at the top of my lungs. I could see him off in the distance turning his head towards me; I waved again to reassure him that I needed his help. He instantly took off and was at my side after a few minutes.

"Oh my…what happened here?" the healer asked softly. I sat down next to Sothe and put his warm head on my lap.

"It was Naesala," I said coldly. Rhys readied his heal staff and kneeled next to Sothe. He studied his face that was drenched in blood. Then, he put his palm on top of the band I tied around his eye.

"Mind if I take this off?" he asked carefully. In truth, I did mind, what was under it was disturbing to me. But, Rhys was the healer and he could fix it…he had to. I hesitantly nodded my head. The healer began to slowly peal the band away from his eye making sure he was careful enough not to hurt him. I breathed a sigh of relief when Rhys had only revealed a closed eye underneath. His eyelid was bruised, however, with blood rushing down his cheek from the inside of his eye.

The healer lightly pressed his middle and index finger against Sothe's wrist. My heartbeat sped up. "Hmm…his heart is slowing down," he said. Then he moved his hand from Sothe's wrist back to his eye and pulled it open. The healer drew back a sharp breath. The eye was just as red as before with not a hint of white left in it. His pupil was still lost in all of the blood. I turned my head away for a moment. "Oh dear…" he muttered softly. There was something hopeless about the look on Rhys's face. My stomach dropped.

"Please…you have to help him…I…" my voice got lost in an awkward choking sound but somehow Rhys knew what I was trying to convey. He tightly gripped his healing staff and muttered a few words of the ancient language under his breath. The staff glowed with life and nearly blinded me with its light. I reflexively squinted my eyes and held my hand up to my face. When the light had disappeared Sothe's wounds slowly began to fade away. It was incredible.

"Amazing…" I said excitedly. I almost smiled when I saw my friend's face heal before my eyes. But, Rhys still seemed uneasy. He pulled out a roll of white medical tape and gently wrapped it around his eye. He remained completely silent.

"Thank you…" I said graciously. Rhys frowned and dropped his eyes to the ground. Something was wrong, I could tell.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered sorrowfully. He peeled open Sothe's eye and shook his head. My muscles stiffened and I felt like my heart stopped beating just for a second.

"Sorry? Sorry for what? You healed him…didn't you?" I asked anxiously. I held on tighter to Sothe's head that was resting on my lap.

"I…yes…his wounds are sealed but…" he began.

"But?" I raised my voice.

"But…he'll never see out of his left eye again…I'm so sorry, I did all I could." Sothe was blind in one eye, just as he had feared. I wanted to cry for him but I held it together. I was speechless. "Take him back to camp. You should be the one to tell him." I dreadfully nodded my head and began to pick up Sothe's limp body when I felt something soft rub up against me. It was Muarim in his beast form. I wasn't sure if he knew everything that was going on but he seemed like he wanted to help. He laid down so I could put Sothe on his back. After I safely fastened my friend Muarim looked at me with sympathy in his eyes. I didn't want to talk so I silently kept up with Muarim as he sprinted towards camp.

As we ran an enemy fighter clad in red approached us. He held an axe over his shoulder and snarled. I quickly disposed of him with an elfire spell while Muarim continued ahead with Sothe on his back. The whole way back I tried to come up with a way to tell Sothe. Well, he probably would already know without me telling him as soon as he woke up and opened his eyes. Then it occurred to me that he would wake up with a bandage over his blind eye, so he in fact wouldn't know right off the bat. He already seemed to expect the worst the last time he was conscious so I hoped it wouldn't come as too much of a shock.

Back at camp, we made our way to the medical tent, where I had been staying since the incident. Muarim gently laid down so I could pick Sothe up off his back. Across the tent I saw my cozy sleeping bag. A shiver went down my spine. I hadn't realized how cold I was until I was inside a tent. Instinctively, I went to go grab the sleeping bag and wrap it around myself. Before I grabbed it, I hesitated. Sothe needed it more, he was hurt after all, and so I pulled it over him to keep him warm, since the temperature seemed to drop by the second. Once I was sure Sothe was comfortable enough I sat cross legged by his side and stared at him intently in case he were to wake up.

Suddenly I felt a squeezing pressure on my shoulder. I turned around to see Muarim in his human form. "He's very lucky to have you as a friend," he said sincerely. My stomach felt like it was in knots. I couldn't help but to think maybe Sothe was unlucky to have me as a friend. What if him losing half of his eyesight was just my curse rubbing off on him? The thought made me want to hit myself over the head a thousand times. Maybe…just maybe this was my fault. "Little one, are you okay?" he asked gently. I didn't realize until Muarim spoke that my lip was trembling and my nose was running.
"Huh? Oh…I'm okay," I replied half-heartedly. Muarim lightly rubbed me on my back. I wasn't sure why but it calmed me just a little. One thing about Muarim was that he always knew how to comfort me. I slowly tilted my back so I was leaning against his chest. He wrapped his arm around me tightly. A single tear outlined the contours of my nose and then slid down the rest of my cheek.

"Sothe will be okay…he is strong." My heart pounded thunderously. Muarim would never be able to understand what I was feeling. I could never tell him that this all could be potentially my fault.

Suddenly, Sothe's fingers began to twitch. I hopped closer towards him to see if he was waking up. Slowly, his golden brown eye fluttered open. "Sothe!" I exclaimed cheerfully. He moaned softly.

"Ugh...how long was I out for?" he asked tiredly.

"Two weeks" I replied nonchalantly. Sothe dropped his jaw and stared at me in utter shock.

"TWO WEEKS?" he shouted back. I tried to hold in my laughter but the lid popped off the jar.

"Haha nah probably about an hour," I responded truthfully. I nearly fell over laughing from Sothe's reaction. I clutched my stomach that was beginning to hurt from laughing so hard.

"And to think I expected you to make sense," he replied. "Well…at least I can see now." My laughter instantly stopped and my stomach did somersaults. My lips turned downward to a frown. He didn't know. "What? What's that look for?" he asked curiously. I could feel Muarim tense up behind me.

"Uh…well…ya see…" I began nervously.

"I'm taking these stupid bandages off," said Sothe as he hastily unraveled the medical tape. I swore under my breath and shouted in objection.

"Wait! Don't!" I yelled. By the time I spit the words out of my mouth he had already unraveled his bandage. I drew in a sharp breath and held it in. Sothe's blind eye was incredible looking. His pupil seemed to be in tact but his iris was silver.

"What the…I can't…I still can't see!" he said in frustration. I couldn't stop staring at his blind eye, it was unreal.

"Sothe…I need to tell you something." He glanced at me worriedly.

"What? Tell me! What's going on?" I dropped my gaze to the floor. I didn't want to say what I needed to but what choice was there?

"Rhys did everything he could but…he said you'll never be able to see out of your left eye again…" Sothe was silent. He was so quiet to the point where it was scaring me. I wanted to fill the silence but I didn't know what to say. Finally Sothe spoke.

"I guess I should start packing my things."