Chapter 18
The warmth surrounding her body was surprising. It was not the first impression that reached her. The pain in her side was still there, but it seemed to be muffled. She could feel it, but it did not seem to be coming from her body. Carefully she ran her hand down her side to the wound only to feel Valen's hand covering it.
"I didn't know you were awake," she heard Valen say from somewhere behind her, but still close.
Donnia then realized that the warmth she felt was from him. "How do you stay so warm?" she asked as she pressed closer to him, not wanting to feel the cold again.
Valen was unsure what to say to this. It was partly due to his demon blood, but the rest was due to the fact that they were so close to the Blood Wars. He had been doing well so far in keeping himself under control, but he knew that his strength would only last so long. "It's just how I am. I feel the cold, but I don't become cold."
"Whatever it is works for me." For the first time she opened her eyes. She had not seen much of the room when they had come in the night before, and she was glad of it. The walls were dark and stained with various colors from sources she did not want to guess. The floor was covered with bits of trash, cloth, and crumbs of food. A small mouse was in the opposite corner gnawing on a larger chunk of that food. Donnia just glanced over him; he was too small to cause too much trouble. The room was small so her survey did not take long. However, she did notice something was missing. "Valen, where is Nathyrra? And how are you doing that?" The pain in her side felt further from her body.
"Doing what? And Nathyrra went to find more velox nettles for the day."
"I can still feel it, but it's like the pain isn't part of my body, like it's not even there. And I know that it's you doing that for there isn't anyone else in here except for that mouse in the corner." She laid her hand on top of his softly covering her old wound.
"It's just something I learned how to do. I can't really explain it other than I learned how to focus in on something and pull it into myself, like your pain for instance."
"But, Valen, you can't do that! I can't ask you to do that." Donnia started to rise, but Valen's arms were tight around her keeping her still.
"No, you didn't ask me to do it, but I had to. I couldn't stand seeing you like that. I can't do it for very long or completely rid you of that pain while I am doing it, but if I can take some of it from you, it's enough, if even for a short time." Valen grimaced slightly as the pain from her intensified as she moved.
Donnia felt the pain too and lay still again. "Then I suppose I should say thank you."
Valen lightly kissed the top of her head, "You're welcome, Donnia. Is it usually this bad?"
"No, for some reason it's been almost unbearable since we entered Cania. I don't know if it's from the cold or for some other reason. But we really must get going. I don't know where we're going to go, but at least we'll be moving in some direction."
This time when she started to rise, Valen let her and the tie between them was broken. The pain rushed back into her body causing her to suck in her breath between her teeth, but she knew she had to get going or she would lie back down in the warmth of Valen's arms again.
She walked over to the metal pile that was her armor. She picked it up and just looked at it for a moment, taken back to the first time she ever put on real armor. Grot'yah's armor had fit her perfectly. It hardly weighed a thing on her body yet protected her until Aribeth. She had found this Red Dragon armor in a shop not long after defeating Morag. Its magical abilities had protected and saved her countless times since then and would hopefully continue to do so now.
Remembering back to her first armor made her realize that this was the first time she could remember when she did not know where she was going. And it panicked her. Before she had only been risking her life, now there were two others that were depending on her and her abilities to keep them all alive.
She closed her eyes for a brief moment gathering whatever strength she could find and put her armor on.
* * * * * * * * * Nathyrra had returned shortly after Donnia had gotten ready with hopefully enough velox nettles to last them a long time. The three of them had left the tavern and set off to find the Scrivener.
The cold no longer seemed to be coming from outside of her body, but almost like it was originating from within her body. The fires' warmth only lasted a short amount of time before the harsh bitter wind won.
Donnia knew they were walking in circles again. The area was not that large, and yet she could not find the cave. She had heard that the Scrivener was standing guard in front of this old cave holding the remains of the woman who had stood against Mephistopheles.
The feeling helplessness was growing stronger as time went on. It had been hours since they had left the tavern and they never seemed to get anywhere. She no longer knew why she was in charge of Valen and Nathyrra. It would be better if she hadn't asked the Reaper to summon them back to her. She did not know what she was doing any better than she knew where she was going. Mephistopheles was going to win. The world as she knew it would be destroyed and it would be her fault.
A tear escaped her eyes and froze quickly to her cheek.
The warmth surrounding her body was surprising. It was not the first impression that reached her. The pain in her side was still there, but it seemed to be muffled. She could feel it, but it did not seem to be coming from her body. Carefully she ran her hand down her side to the wound only to feel Valen's hand covering it.
"I didn't know you were awake," she heard Valen say from somewhere behind her, but still close.
Donnia then realized that the warmth she felt was from him. "How do you stay so warm?" she asked as she pressed closer to him, not wanting to feel the cold again.
Valen was unsure what to say to this. It was partly due to his demon blood, but the rest was due to the fact that they were so close to the Blood Wars. He had been doing well so far in keeping himself under control, but he knew that his strength would only last so long. "It's just how I am. I feel the cold, but I don't become cold."
"Whatever it is works for me." For the first time she opened her eyes. She had not seen much of the room when they had come in the night before, and she was glad of it. The walls were dark and stained with various colors from sources she did not want to guess. The floor was covered with bits of trash, cloth, and crumbs of food. A small mouse was in the opposite corner gnawing on a larger chunk of that food. Donnia just glanced over him; he was too small to cause too much trouble. The room was small so her survey did not take long. However, she did notice something was missing. "Valen, where is Nathyrra? And how are you doing that?" The pain in her side felt further from her body.
"Doing what? And Nathyrra went to find more velox nettles for the day."
"I can still feel it, but it's like the pain isn't part of my body, like it's not even there. And I know that it's you doing that for there isn't anyone else in here except for that mouse in the corner." She laid her hand on top of his softly covering her old wound.
"It's just something I learned how to do. I can't really explain it other than I learned how to focus in on something and pull it into myself, like your pain for instance."
"But, Valen, you can't do that! I can't ask you to do that." Donnia started to rise, but Valen's arms were tight around her keeping her still.
"No, you didn't ask me to do it, but I had to. I couldn't stand seeing you like that. I can't do it for very long or completely rid you of that pain while I am doing it, but if I can take some of it from you, it's enough, if even for a short time." Valen grimaced slightly as the pain from her intensified as she moved.
Donnia felt the pain too and lay still again. "Then I suppose I should say thank you."
Valen lightly kissed the top of her head, "You're welcome, Donnia. Is it usually this bad?"
"No, for some reason it's been almost unbearable since we entered Cania. I don't know if it's from the cold or for some other reason. But we really must get going. I don't know where we're going to go, but at least we'll be moving in some direction."
This time when she started to rise, Valen let her and the tie between them was broken. The pain rushed back into her body causing her to suck in her breath between her teeth, but she knew she had to get going or she would lie back down in the warmth of Valen's arms again.
She walked over to the metal pile that was her armor. She picked it up and just looked at it for a moment, taken back to the first time she ever put on real armor. Grot'yah's armor had fit her perfectly. It hardly weighed a thing on her body yet protected her until Aribeth. She had found this Red Dragon armor in a shop not long after defeating Morag. Its magical abilities had protected and saved her countless times since then and would hopefully continue to do so now.
Remembering back to her first armor made her realize that this was the first time she could remember when she did not know where she was going. And it panicked her. Before she had only been risking her life, now there were two others that were depending on her and her abilities to keep them all alive.
She closed her eyes for a brief moment gathering whatever strength she could find and put her armor on.
* * * * * * * * * Nathyrra had returned shortly after Donnia had gotten ready with hopefully enough velox nettles to last them a long time. The three of them had left the tavern and set off to find the Scrivener.
The cold no longer seemed to be coming from outside of her body, but almost like it was originating from within her body. The fires' warmth only lasted a short amount of time before the harsh bitter wind won.
Donnia knew they were walking in circles again. The area was not that large, and yet she could not find the cave. She had heard that the Scrivener was standing guard in front of this old cave holding the remains of the woman who had stood against Mephistopheles.
The feeling helplessness was growing stronger as time went on. It had been hours since they had left the tavern and they never seemed to get anywhere. She no longer knew why she was in charge of Valen and Nathyrra. It would be better if she hadn't asked the Reaper to summon them back to her. She did not know what she was doing any better than she knew where she was going. Mephistopheles was going to win. The world as she knew it would be destroyed and it would be her fault.
A tear escaped her eyes and froze quickly to her cheek.