Chapter XXV
It had only been several hours since Berdine opened her eyes for the first time in three days and she was already back in her leathers.
"Berdine, the Wizard said you should take it easy for a few days." Raina persisted as she watched the taller woman scurry around the room. "Your stitches are still fragile. They could tear if you-"
"I don't care!" Berdine shouted, rage being the only emotion she had emitted since awakening. "I'm going to find the bastards that did this to Lord Rahl and I'm going to make them wish they had never been born."
"I understand your anger, believe me I-"
"You understand?" Berdine spun on her heel, facing her lover with a red face. "I don't care if you understand, Raina! I want him dead and if I have to do it myself then so be it!" Just as she was about to yank the door to their bedchamber open, Raina swiftly blocked her path.
"You're not thinking straight." Raina tried to reason with the woman. "We've all lost things because of Torren but going up against him alone is not the answer."
"And you'd know all about thinking straight, wouldn't you?" Berdine spat, her once clear blue eyes shrouded with hatred. Raina ignored the jab meant to hurt her.
"Berdine," She reached out to take the woman's hands only to pushed away. "I thought I'd lost you and I can't…I can't do that again. Please, just calm down. I-I love you." Although the two knew their feelings for the other were strong, this had only been the second time the words had been spoken. Berdine's heart skipped several beats at the memory of the first time. Swallowing her every emotion, she forced herself past her lover and out the door.
"Just do your job and make sure he doesn't die again." She regretted the words the moment they left her lips but continued to walk down the hallway and out the side door of the Palace, leaving Raina behind. Stunned at the heights Berdine's anger could take her, Raina leaned against the doorway and stared blankly at the ground. The same feeling as when they'd lost Lord Rahl welled deep in her belly as a sudden sense of loneliness crept up on her. She looked up, sensing another's presence and saw Aria standing in front of her. Wordlessly, she turned around and slammed the door in the girl's face. She didn't want to see or speak to anyone. As her heart thumped loudly in her chest, Raina laid in the middle of their bed and huddled herself into a ball. Closing her eyes, she was brought back to the caves she had been forced to live in as a child- where the rats would nibble on her ears and fingers and even the water tasted like blood. She tried hard to force back the onslaught of tears as they rose in the back of her throat. Just like her days in the caves, Raina failed.
"Berdine!" the brunette went to slam the door behind her but didn't hear the satisfying boom. Instead, she heard footsteps rapidly approaching her and knew who they belonged to.
"Not now, Confessor." She waved a hand without turning to look at her sister. Aria seemed to growl in response and grabbed the woman's hand, turning her around to face her. Berdine was surprised at the girl's strength but her expression remained placid.
"Don't 'Confessor' me." Aria pointed an accusatory finger in the woman's face. "I know exactly what you're feeling, Berdine, but that doesn't give you the right to hurt the people who love you."
"What do you know about how I feel?" the brunette shot back. "You're a Confessor not a Mord'Sith! The sooner you start acting like it, the sooner you can fix this damned city and get rid of the man causing this whole mess!" Aria's eyes flared, the insult doing the damage it was meant to.
"I'm just as much of a Mord'Sith as you are!" Aria retorted. "And right now the only person causing a mess is you!" Aria knew what would be headed her way when she spoke and wasn't disappointed as blood started to collect in her mouth from the punch Berdine had delivered.
"Aria!" they heard Aria's constant shadow, Dahlia, rushing towards them. The girl raised a hand, ordering her to stop. The older Mord'Sith abided, lingering behind the two on the balls of her feet. Aria spit the blood out, narrowly missing Berdine's boot.
"You think you can take him on alone?!" Aria shouted, her own anger at the situation flaring. "Get your head on straight, Berdine! You're not that good. No one is! Why do you think we're in this mess, for fun? We need help and if you can't come to terms with that, fine, but don't expect the rest of us to follow you! Raina sat by your side for three days completely still, barely eating and speaking to us once! She loves you and your response is 'do your job'?! How dare you?!"
"Don't lecture me on my relationship, Aria! You're no master at the topic yourself." Berdine narrowed her icy blue gaze as Aria heaved a deep breath.
"You're right. Because of that man, I no longer remember what it feels like to be loved." The sudden twist caught Berdine- and Dahlia- off guard. The emotion in the Confessor's voice was unmistakable. "You have a chance at real love, Berdine. True happiness with someone who would die for you and seeing you throw it away kills me. The man I loved was ripped away from me but you still have a future with the woman of your dreams! How can you possibly want to give it all up for a suicide mission in a fit of rage?"
"I…don't." the fire in Berdine's eyes seemed to flicker and die as she took in Aria's words. "I love her too."
"Then go tell her." Aria sighed in relief as Berdine nodded. Suddenly, the older woman reached out and embraced her. Momentarily stunned, Aria cleared her throat awkwardly before patting the woman on the back and watching her rush back inside. Dahlia approached her from behind and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. The brunette was surprised when the younger woman didn't flinch.
"Thank you for saving our sister." Dahlia said, her eyes lowered in deep respect. Aria turned and offered the woman a thin smile before squeezing her hand and making her way inside as well. She needed to hold her daughters- that always made days like this more bearable.
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Thousands of leagues to the south, Kahlan and Ben knelt by an unconscious Cara in the middle of the road, desperately trying to get the woman to regain consciousness.
"Cara, please wake up!" Kahlan shouted in the woman's face. She was approximately four seconds away from slapping the blonde across the face in an effort to wake her.
"Kahlan." Ben's wary voice drew her attention and as she looked up, she saw what he was concerned about. A dust cloud was approaching rapidly from the direction of the canyon and the faint sound of horse hooves could be heard.
"Get her. I'll free the horse." Kahlan sprinted to Cara's horse which had obediently waited for his rider to return and pulled the bit from his mouth. Shoving his neck in the direction of the forest, Kahlan urged him to leave them and eventually, he obeyed. Ben was already saddled with Cara secured in his arms when she mounted up.
"Into the trees. We'll lose them in the dark." Ben's face was hardened, showing the D'Haran general he was instead of the joyful man she had seen recently. Kahlan didn't even have time to nod as she kicked her horse hard and rode into the thick forest. She could hear Ben's horse's footfalls merely inches behind her and continued pressing into the forest until they came to a clearing.
"We can't stay here. Which way?" she reined in her horse who whined in disapproval as Ben quickly scanned the outline of the trees.
"We'll go north. They'd expect us to continue towards Renwold." He was right of course, but the delay would cost them valuable time. Kahlan shook her head, her concern for Cara overwhelming their initial plan. The two rode for over an hour before coming to a small, abandoned farm house. Glancing at each other, they decided that it was as good a place as any to check on Cara. They took the horses inside with them and Kahlan helped them get comfortable as Ben laid Cara on a bale of hay. The blonde had paled noticeably in the hour it had taken them to arrive and as Ben placed the back of his hand to her forehead, the heat radiating from it forced him to withdraw.
"Her wound must be infected." Kahlan knelt on the other side, supplies already in hand. "Lift her up." Ben did so and Kahlan began removing Cara's leathers. When she was bare from the waist up, the two got to work on undoing the bandage Kahlan had placed over her left shoulder. When they saw what was underneath, they gasped. This was no infection.
"What-what's happening to her?" Ben's sapphire eyes widened in fear as he took in the sight before them. The initial wound was black and throbbing, seemingly pumping black blood through Cara's now noticeable veins. The surrounding area varied in colors from black to yellow and ended just above her heart. It reached all the way around to her back where the entry wound looked identical to the exit.
"Poison." Kahlan informed him as her eyes remained fixed on Cara's face. The blonde was grimacing as if suffering from a nightmare and sweat had begun to pour down her face. When Kahlan reached out and touched the furthest point of the infection, she groaned in pain.
"What-what kind?" Ben refused to look away from the blonde. "Where can we get the cure? Kahlan!" the brunette jumped. "Answer me!"
"I-I don't know." She looked down, her hair obscuring the tears that leaked from her eyes. This wasn't supposed to happen; not to Cara. This should've been her. As Kahlan's shoulders slumped in defeat she realized one thing: Cara was dying and it was all her fault.
Happy New Year everyone!