Title: Snake Singer
Disclaimer: Characters and poem belong to Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, but the plot belongs to me.
My eyes opened fiercely and my eyelashes brushed against the thick leather of the cover over my eyes. I gasped for breath, amazed that I was still breathing at all. My throat and lips felt so dry that with each breath that I took I felt a stronger pinch of pain. I could smell dry blood all around me and I could taste it as I tried to wet my lips with my tongue. I opened my mouth wide to speak, but no words flowed past my mind, just the stressed rattle of my voice.
I took another breath, but with each breath that I took the pain from the beating that I had just received got stronger and stronger. I wanted to scream out, I wanted to plead, cry, or die, anything but this. I felt completely helpless, and the only image that I could get into my mind was Adelina hunting Zane down and killing him.
Suddenly I felt a warm hand slid underneath my head and pull it up slightly. The hand was gentle, loving almost, completely different from Adelina's touch, even when she was being nice to me. I felt warm fingers pull back my flowing golden hair and place a warm wet rag against my skin. The moisture felt magnificent and I could feel the blood being wiped away from my skin. Small drips of water trickled down from the rag and I let them fall past my lips and into my mouth and they helped to ease my thirst.
After the stranger with the kind touch wiped my face completely clean he took the rag away, and then held up a hard object to my skin. I only realized that it was a cup after water began to flow into my mouth like a river, filling my throat with much needed liquids. "Whhh ar yoo!" I choked out, trying to form words, but quickly realizing that my lips were swollen. I did not hear the stranger answer, but I felt warm lips brush against my forehead in a delicate kiss. Who was this? The hands on my face felt so familiar yet strange and unnatural at the same time. "Whhh!" I tried to say again but I felt fingers against my lips, stopping me from continuing.
"I wish to you sunshine, my dear one,
my dear one. And treetops for you to soar past."
I recognized the stranger's words; they were the old "Hawksong" lullaby that my mother had sung to me as a child. A lullaby that I had sung to my younger brother Xavier when he was a child, and to Gregory Cobriana; Zane's brother, before he had died on the battlefield. The stranger's voice was muffled, and I couldn't make out if the tone was from a male or a female. The words were soothing though, and as my eyes closed, ready from dreams I listened to the kindness that I felt from the voice and felt at ease.
"I wish to you innocence, my child, my child. I pray you don't give up to fast.
Never know pain, my dear one, my dear one. Nor hunger nor fear nor sorrow. Never know war, my child, my child. Remember your hope for tomorrow."