The Threads of Life: Chapter 14

Life's Too Short

A/N: First I have to apologize, because I'm usually a stickler for grammatical stuff. In the author's note in the last paragraph where I was apologizing for any grammatical errors I said right instead of write. Told you I wasn't feeling good! I don't know what came into me. Anyway I'm sorry, most of you probably don't care about that kind of stuff, so you can just totally disregard any of the prior paragraph and read the story coming up! And thanks for the reviews; they were so great that I decided not to make you wait another month! Aren't I kind?


Kel woke up with a crick in her neck and she rubbed the painful spot sleepily before she opened her eyes. Looking around her, she was horrified to find that she had fallen asleep outside on the rock that she had cried on last night. Remembering her lapse of control then made her remember the reason for the lapse of control and she groaned. She had broken the heart of a man that she could be in love with. 'Am I crazy?' she thought, but then shook her head to clear it and stood up.

"Men?" she called, looking around. They all poked their heads out of their tents rubbing their eyes sleepily and she wondered what time it was. Looking at the sky – or as much of it as she could see through the trees – she sighed. It was just false dawn. And she had been planning to let the men have a day of rest. She looked at the men and almost laughed when she saw how alert they were trying to be.

"Well, if any of you can get back to sleep, do so, and sleep as long as you want. If not, come with me. We need to hunt." Owen and Kaven got out of their tents, but the other two went back inside. She sighed in resentment at the two men who could go back to sleep. If she was woken up, she could never get back to sleep.

"Milady?" asked Owen.

"Yes?" she said shortly, ignoring his choice of title. It really was much too early to be getting up, but she reasoned that there might be more game at this hour.

"D'you think we should split up? We might cover more ground that way." Kel nodded her agreement.

"And milady?" asked Kaven. "I have to report to you from the other camp." Kel looked up, startled. She had forgotten about that. Although, mentions of the other camp did bring on memories of blue eyes filled with pain. She felt her eyes filling with tears and she looked away.

"Go on," she said, and he reported. Nothing much had happened, seeing as Kel had been with members of the other camp only the previous afternoon, and anything big would have been reported already.

They finally set out after getting their gear out and set out in different directions. Although she didn't know why, Kel went east, towards THE camp.


On the way over, she found nothing, but reveled in the calm that the long walk gave her. After about an hour and a half, she saw some people through the trees and frowned. They were disturbing the game! But as she got closer, she saw it was Neal and Merric.

"Neal! Merric!" she called softly, and they looked up, surprise showing on their faces.

"So you heard, Kel?" asked Neal worriedly.

"No. What was I supposed to hear? What's happened?" Kel felt worried. Neal wouldn't be this serious for just any old reason. Something must have happened.

"Dom never came back last night," said Merric.

"What?" asked Kel, shocked. Her head filled a maelstrom of emotions, but she was determined not to let them show.

"He said he was going to report over at your camp, to talk to you. But he never came back." Kel shook her head. It was all her fault! Nothing would have happened if Dom hadn't been heartbroken.

"That's my fault. Last night, he—," Kel faltered. She wasn't used to talking to people about things like this. "Well, he told you about what happened...the—the other night?" Both Neal and Merric nodded, grave. "I—I said that we shouldn't—well, we couldn't have a relationship in this kind of—of situation." Then Neal said something that made Kel wonder why she ever thought he was stupid in any way.

"But you love him, don't you?" Kel nodded. She was so surprised at his remark that she agreed. And when she did, she realized the truth of it. She did, but she didn't want him to get hurt. Look at all of the other people she had loved—they were all dead.

"Well, let's go then. We must find him before the end of today, otherwise it might be too late." Kel and Neal both nodded in agreement, and they set off.


Hours later, there was still no sign of him, but suddenly Kel remembered something that Dom had told her last night.

"Wait! Neal, Merric!" The two men turned around, questioning looks in their eyes. "Last night, Dom said something about big traps being found. Do you know where they are? He could have stumbled into one last night." At Neal's horrified look, she realized that she was probably right.

"Let's go. We've no time to waste. Those things spread infections like wildfire!" Neal ran off back in the direction of his camp, Kel and Merric following. It was about twenty minutes before they got back, and Kel was surprised they had searched that far, as they had been searching pretty thoroughly.

Through the trees, in the opposite direction from where they had been searching, about a mile from camp, they could see a figure. It was covered by a black cloak and lying prostrate on the ground, but Kel could tell who it was—Dom. She ran over and fell to her knees in the snow, carefully turning him over. 'Please let him not be dead!' she prayed. She looked at his face, white with cold, and thought the worse. Behind her, she heard Neal say something.

"Move Kel, we need to get him back to camp." She moved to the side and Neal hefted his cousin up onto his shoulder. Kel and Merric both rushed to assist him. They understood that Neal didn't want to waste his gift on levitating Dom, but as they walked back, he did pour warmth into him.


Finally they arrived at camp and put Dom in his tent. Kel and Merric were sent outside while Neal worked on Healing Dom. Kel paced restlessly until Merric told her to stop. Then she just twiddled her fingers. She was so worried. What if he died without ever knowing how she felt? Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Neal ducked out, and Kel looked up at him, worry straining her face.

"He's alive," he said, sighing. Obviously, he had been totally drained.

"Neal, go lie down, I'll watch Dom." Neal started to protest.

"We will come get you if anything happens," said Merric helpfully, and Neal gave in. Not able to wait anymore, Kel ran into the tent and dropped to her knees by Dom's bedroll. She looked at his handsome body, and her heart clenched. Suddenly, his eyes flickered open and a smile came to his mouth.

"Dom! You're alive!" she said ecstatically.

"Kel?" he said weakly, "You came?"

"Of course I came you big buffoon. How could I not?" Dom and Kel looked at each other, their eyes locked. Kel's heart felt like it was on a racecourse, it was beating so fast.

"Look, Kel—," Dom began, but Kel cut him off.

"Don't say anything," she said, and swiftly leaned down to kiss him. Passion flared up between them and Kel felt weak. Her hands leant on his shoulders, and his were holding her waist. They broke apart and stared at each other breathlessly. Kel took a deep breath.

"I just—Dom, seeing you like this, almost dying today—it made me realize that life's too short for love." Dom suddenly smiled brightly, his whole face lighting up. "And I'm sorry about what I said, I—," but this time it was Dom who cut her off with a kiss.


A/N: Yay! Happy ending! And I don't have much else to say but please review!

Crystaltambaia