Chapter 21 - Y
I guess I was more exhausted than I thought. I was still sitting in the chair with my head resting on Zael's stomach. I raised my head enough to turn it the other way to see his face. He was still incredibly pale, but he felt slightly warmer than the night before. OH CRAP! I took my hand out from under the blanket and looked at his chest. There was a red hand print that stood out boldly against his icy skin. It wasn't swollen so it wouldn't scar at least. I've got to be more careful.
"You'll have to give him time," a soft voice came from behind me. I hadn't even heard her come in. Mirania was sitting on my bed behind me. "If I'm right, he should be at least conscious by tomorrow, but I can't guarantee that he'll be well enough to move," she looked just as worried as I was. I gave her what I thought was an understanding look, but I guess it came out more as a saddened expression because she walked over and hugged me.
As soon as I felt the warmth of her face on my neck, I couldn't stop myself. Silent tears started flowing against my will. "He's never been this bad before and Lowell and Syrenne keep saying he'll be fine and I want to believe them, but it's so hard to see him like this," I wrapped my arms around her tightly. She smelled like flowers. It was calming.
"I know," was all she said. She let me cry for what seemed like an hour, but it was probably only about ten or twenty minutes. Mirania was amazing. She saw through everyone's façades and I honestly think she doesn't have the ability to hate anyone, even if that person was really evil. Unless, of course, she finds whoever is killing the forests. I don't want to see what she'd do to that person.
I finally stopped and decided that I should get something to eat. I hadn't eaten since the morning before and I had stayed by Zael's side all day. I followed Mirania slowly down the stairs, not really finding much motivation to do anything. Lowell was at the bar flirting with the bar maiden again and Dagran was nowhere to be seen. Syrenne was still sleeping from her night of alcohol poisoning. She didn't usually get up until closer to noon, if she had slept at all. The tavern itself was pretty empty as well, but it was still early so that made sense.
"Yurick, you're awake. Great, that means I can get some well-deserved rest," he smiled at me.
"You haven't slept?" I asked. "Why?"
He put a gentle hand on my head, but it irritated me so I shoved it off. "You were so worried about him, when I saw you sleeping I figured I wouldn't wake you, so I stayed up until you decided to get up."
Oh wow. He actually can be genuine. "Thanks, I guess."
He walked passed me and yawned as he headed up the stairs. Mirania sat down at the table under the stairs and sipped on a glass of water. I sat next to her, but ended up not eating anything.
"You really should eat something. It's not good for you to go for so long without anything," she put her hand on mine. I sighed. When I didn't say anything to her or show any effort of getting up to eat something she added, "Don't make me force you." Oh God. I had made the mistake once of not doing what she told me to do and it ended up in disaster. She has this scary way of lovingly forcing you to do things…
"Fine. I'll eat something," I got up and started towards the door, "but I don't want anything from here." I waved to the bar maiden. "No offence, Ariella." She smiled at me pleasantly as I walked out the door. I headed towards the market. A walk should help. As I was about to turn the corner I heard someone call after me.
"Get some muffins while you're gone!"
I laughed. "Not a chance," I yelled back. "That's between you and the Dragon."
I walked slowly down the main road to the market. I could see what he meant when Zael said that this town was peaceful. I loved it. A cat came over to me and rubbed in between my legs.
"Hello there," I bent down and scratched behind its ears.
"Mari, come out!" I kid yelled. I looked around and didn't see anyone. I kept looking and found a boy on top of a building. "Mari!"
"Kid, why are you on a roof?" I yelled to him.
"I'm looking for Mari, my cat," he yelled back.
I looked down at the cat that was now hiding behind the wheel of a cart. "What does she look like?"
"She's grey with lovely brown spots," he described.
I looked back down at the cat. "Why are you hiding, little one?" I picked her up and held her to my shoulder. Then I looked back at the boy. "Kid, is this her?"
"MARI!" he turned around and, a few seconds later, he ran around the corner and up to me. "You found her! Thanks, Mister," he stretched a hand out and I passed her gently back over to him.
I looked at Mari and pointed my finger strictly, "Now you stop running away, little one."
The boy smiled then ran off holding his cat. It was nice, this town. I kept walking towards the market. When I got there, it was strangely empty. There were only a few people walking around and only a few of the little stalls were open. I went over to one of them and asked, "Is there something going on? It's rather empty here."
The man shrugged. "It could be anything," he said with a gruff voice. "Just last week there was a fight that everyone wanted to see and a few days before that was the knight's parade."
I shrugged. "Oh well then." I picked up a few rolls of bread from his table. "Just this," I handed him the few coins he wanted then I waved goodbye. The walk back to the tavern was quiet. The only real noise, other than the wind through the allies, was the birds chirping. I remembered this one place we had been to almost a year ago, it was shortly after I had joined the group, that was almost swarming with mocking birds. It was really fun because I could whistle when I was bored and end up making a pretty cool song. It was almost like having a choir. I gave a small laugh at the thought. Then frowned when I remembered Zael there. He was training with Dagran, but he would flash me these looks and every now and again I would catch him staring.
After my sluggish walk back to the tavern, I opened to doors to find Lisa, or Lady Calista, talking frantically at a drunken Syrenne who was barely keeping up with the help of Mirania.
"Calista? What are you doing here?" I meant to sound more disgruntled than I was, but I think it almost came out in a friendly way. Either that or she's just stupid and I'm more inclined to accept the latter. Mirania gave me a look as to why I was being rude, but I just stared back at her blankly. She knew why.
"I heard about Zael and came to see how he was doing," she fidgeted with her fingers. "Is he alright?"
"Heard about him from whom? How did it get to the castle?" I asked almost aggressively.
She took a small step backwards and replied timidly, "Dagran spoke to me of it."
"Dagran? What's he doing at the castle?" Syrenne added in after slamming her mug on the table.
Calista nodded and asked again about Zael's well-being.
Not that it should matter to you, I thought. "He looks dead," I said bluntly even though it made me want to cry on the inside. She gasped and tears started flowing. I knew it made me a terrible person, but all I could think about was how much I hated her and how well she was faking this, or if she wasn't faking it, how much I hated her trying to steal him away from me, but then again, we'd never actually come out as a couple to her, which made me more angry at myself. "Does the Count know you're here?"
"Yurick," Mirania gave me a stern look.
I shrugged. "What? It's just a question."
"May I see him?" she mumbled with her hands over her mouth, avoiding my question, but answering it in full.
"That's not up to me. I can't stop you. Do what you want," I took a bite of a piece of bread and stared blankly at the stairs. "Come on," I sighed.
She followed me up and into the room where the love of my life lay cold and stiff. I stood in the corner and watched as she began to obsess over how bad he looked. I might have growled a few time, I'm not sure, but I definitely glared like a watch dog. I looked down for a split second to take another bite when I heard her almost squeak. I looked up and saw her freaking out and Zael shaking. I threw my food on my bed and pushed her out of the way.
"Move," I sat in the chair that was beside his bed and felt his forehead. He was warmer, but still cold. I brushed some of the hair out of his face.
"What's going on? Is he alright?" Lisa started pacing.
"Mum," Zael muttered as his brow twitched and his shoulders began to shake a little more.
I held his hand. "Zael, wake up. You're alright now. Look at me," I brushed his hair with my fingers then looked over my shoulder at the girl who had stopped completely in her tracks to stare at us. "He's having a nightmare."
He'd had nightmares before so I knew how to handle it. Mirania and Syrenne used to watch over him when this happened, but they left it to me when they found out we were together. After a little bit of calming he was fine and peaceful again, even if he still looked like a corpse.
Then the door swung open.
"I heard heavy footsteps. Is he alright?" Mirania rushed to the other side of his bed.
"He's fine. Just a dream," I squeezed his hand lightly and he almost seemed to smile.
Mirania took a deep breath and put a hand to her chest. "Oh good. You've gotten really good at that, you know," she smiled at me and looked down at our hands. I blushed a little. "I remember a while ago when it was just Syrenne trying to calm him down. She threatened him," she giggled. I smiled and rolled my eyes.
"So he's alright?" I had almost forgotten that Calista was even there. It felt strange having her there and I wanted her to leave, but I wasn't going to be any more of a jerk to her then because she was genuinely worried.
"Like I said, he's fine," I stared at his sleeping face. "Wake up would you?" I whispered.
Calista went home shortly after saying that she just wanted to make sure he was alright. Mirania and I were sitting at one of the tables nearest the bar. I had decided to drink that night because of how hectic the past two days had been.
"I swear, if he keeps getting hurt like this I might just kill him myself," I grunted angrily.
"You should take it easy on him. One of those times was saving you. If I were in his position I wouldn't have done it any differently," she smiled.
I slurred my words after my third glass of ale. "It's like, the more he gets hurt, the more I hurt and it's not fair. Do you think they're going to get married?" I switched topics so quickly it threw both of us off. I didn't mean to say that… I look at the empty glass in front of me. "How many of these have I had?"
"You've only 'ad three, ya bloody light weight," Syrenne laughed and kept downing all of poor Ariella's stock.
Mirania giggled then looked at me seriously, holding my hand softly. "I think it's going to take a lot more than a girl to break you two apart."
I hiccupped. "Oh, you mean like a Count ordering them to love each other?" I thought about them 'loving each other' and almost vomited, which could have also been the booze.
"Yurick, listen to me," she said softly. "Stop it. You need to have more faith in him. He loves you." She smiled then stood slowly. "I'm going to turn in for the night. Goodnight," she yawned and tried to hide it then slowly yet gracefully walked up the stairs and disappeared.
I looked out of the window above the main door and realised that it was already sunset. "Bed. That sounds good," I mumbled then stood up, wobbling slightly. I somehow found my way to the bottom of the stairs.
"Do you need help, Yurick?" Lowell asked, obviously finding this amusing.
"Not from you," it was my best insult yet, I was sure of it. Until the next morning when I would regret doing everything that night. I almost crawled up the stairs and went to the guy's room where only one other person was currently sleeping. "Shhhh," I put a finger to my lips. "He's sleeping," I whispered to no-one. I closed the door 'softly' behind me and was about to flop onto my bed when I found myself on his. I stared at his face and couldn't help it any longer. I kissed him sloppily and lost my balance a little, trying to regain it by leaning on my arm, but I sort of just laid down facing him. I wrapped my arm around him and kissed his face a few more times before I fell asleep.