Chapter 14

A normal man would have panicked. Hank McCoy, however, did his best work under pressure. Checking to make sure her heart was beating and she was still breathing, he scooped Ororo up in his arms and began shouting orders to the men. "All of you on your guard! The king is in danger!" He ran across the camp to where he had seen Ororo gesture, the other three men only paces behind. He was stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of both of them under the tree.

Nathan lay still, mumbling words that Hank would've sworn were Elvin. The king's clothes were singed and he had burns on his side and on his right hand. Only feet away lay some kind of polearm weapon. Puzzled, he turned his attention to Jean. She was not doing so well. The red haired woman was thrashing in an unconscious fit, the irises of her eyes had disappeared and were glowing an intense, fiery orange.

"What is wrong with her?" DaCosta asked.

"Oh damn…" Hank had only read about this before. Thinking quickly, he practically shoved the sleeping Ororo into Benjamin's arms. "Make sure the queen keeps breathing. Something… some kind of unseen force rendered her unconscious. She said it originated from these two. Guthrie! Wrap the king's burn wounds!" Fumbling around in the moonlight he found what he'd been looking for. "Don't just stare, DaCosta. Hold her down!" The soldier complied, obviously unnerved at the sight of the convulsing woman. He struggled at first and finally got a grip on her shoulders.

At being held down, Jean arched her head backwards opening her mouth to say something and Hank took the opportunity to place the stick he had found between her teeth and she unknowingly clenched down on it. Firmly and as gently as he could, he followed the motions of her head to keep the stick from falling out. Through gritted teeth, he began to explain to the others what he felt was going on. "She's having what is called a seizure. It was once thought to be caused by curses and magic. However, I suspect, considering the nature of our lady, it is most definitely associated with the mind."

Several minutes prior…

Jean observed Nathan as he absorbed the war surrounding him. Even though she had told him she'd removed the mental shield around him, she had only weakened it for his sake. She was straining to keep the mental onslaught on his psyche to a minimum while at the same time, doing something she vowed never to do. It was taxing but it also allowed her to slip into his mind unnoticed since he would have felt no intrusion, considering the intrusion had already occurred with her shield. She had to see his memories.

She navigated through his mind searching through time to find what she needed. Each memory was a flash like a photograph, with Nathan getting progressively younger and the memories getting less complicated. It was at the moment she found what she had been looking for.

A red haired woman, she could've mistaken for herself. She was lying on a four poster bed, wrapped in blue silk sheets. Her face was pale and sweat soaked her body. "Nathan, do not linger in the doorway. Please come here." She brought a cloth to her lips and coughed.

Jean felt her body begin to move, walking across the room to the bedside. As she passed by a mirror, she glanced.at it; noting the face of a young boy looking back at her. He was no older than 8 or 9 with brown hair and blue eyes. A young, smooth face that had known no hardships to this point and no idea the man he would become: the future King of Ayden. She stopped several feet from the bed.

Madelyn's green eyes burned intensely into Jean's. "Nathan, I am getting weaker. Soon, mommy will have to leave you but I want you to know that it is not because I don't love you. I love you so very much, more than life itself." A tear slid down her cheek.

Nathan was melancholy. "Why can't I come with you?"

"I wish you could, baby, I really do. But, you must wait. I am being called to leave because I have done all I can here. You, however, have much to do. It will be many years before you understand but you are special. You will bring hope and light to the rest of the world when there is only darkness. Now, I know your father said not to but come closer. I want to hold my son one last time."

The child complied and climbed into bed, wrapping his arms around his mother's neck. Jean felt Nathan's struggle to not cry, a valiant effort even at his age. Madelyne pulled him away and set him on her lap. She pulled something out from her pillow and held it up for the boy to see. It was an amulet comprised of a gold crown with a silver sword pierced through the middle where the crown would rest upon a head. Silver vines were entwined around the sword, holding it steadfast. "Nathan, this is something I have saved for you since you were just a baby. It is very special however, I need you to hide it away until later so your father will not find it."

"Is it right to hide things from father?"

Madelyne couldn't help but smile down at her son's honesty. She cleared her throat before she continued. "This is the only thing I give you permission to hide from him. Never speak to anyone about it. Promise me?"

"Promise." Jean's hand stretched out to receive the amulet. As soon as the amulet touched her astral form, her powers went out of control. She had not anticipated on Nathan's memories of his power being awakened and his inexperience in the memory overwhelmed her as thoughts around her spiraled out of control and flooded her head. Her concentration broke, as did her hold on the adult Nathan on the Nymon field. She felt several surges of her magic trying to unleash and she fought to keep the power inside, the strain making her nauseous. Wings of fire shot out of her back and she screamed in pain and desperation. She was determined to keep herself in check, for the sake of King Dayspring but there was no fighting it. With a tremendous shriek, the Phoenix ripped itself from her body in a flaming fit, its body burning up everything of this memory around it before finally receding into Jean once more.

The Present…

Sound slowly floated to Ororo's ears. Drowsy, she tried to rouse herself out of her sleep. She heard shuffling and heard a heartbeat in her ears. "Remy?" she mumbled nuzzling in closer. No… Remy didn't have a heartbeat…

"Your majesty…" the inquiring voice brought Ororo to her senses. Whose voice was that? Opening her eyes she met the gaze of a concerned Benjamin Russel.

"Great Faerie!" she exclaimed, nearly falling out of his arms in her confusion. He nonchalantly set her feet on the ground, obviously not as embarrassed as she. Before she could ask what was going on, she knew as she watched Hank and Roberto DaCosta over her writhing friend. She dropped to her knees next to the men, desperate for answers.

She grabbed Jean's hand, holding it tight. "Hank, what is happening to her? I've… I've no idea why…" Jean's form went limp and Ororo's eyes widened. "is she.. no… no… no…"

Hank placed an ear to her chest, no heartbeat present. "Ororo, do you trust me?" Hank asked her, panting with perspiration running down his face.

"What!"

"I think I can save her but you have to trust me."

"Anything! Please!" Ororo wished more than anything that she could be held at that moment. She watched as Hank went to work. Placing a hand over Jean's nose, he opened her mouth with his other hand and put his mouth over hers. At first, Ororo was incensed thinking he was cruelly kissing her friend in this vulnerable state, just after asking for her trust! Then she saw his cheeks puff out as he blew air into Jean's mouth, the woman's chest rose with the breath. He then moved down and placed his hands just below her ribs and began pushing in with quick, successive thrusts, then going back to helping her breathe.

In his mind, Hank was getting frustrated. Jean was going to need more than oxygen and his compressions were doing nothing to help her heart. It needed shocked back… he had a generator he had been experimenting with back in Ayden but there was no way he could assemble something like that out here. He needed a shock.. shock… shock… an idea crossed his mind. Risky, but there was nothing else to do. "Ororo! You control the elements, correct? Do you use lightning as well?"

"I… I have but…"

"Do you think, you could create a minor static shock and concentrate it on her chest, right here?" Hank placed his hands over Jean's heart. The clock was ticking.

"My magik isn't that fined tuned! I could kill her!"

"She's lost either way, Ororo. This is desperation here. You're her only hope."

Panic enveloped her "I can't!"

"When I say go, do it!" Ororo snapped to attention and hovered over Jean, praying to the Great Faerie and whispering to summon her magic, as if the softer she talked, the softer her power would be. He breathed into Jean's mouth 3 times, "Go!"

Ororo winced and placed her hands on Jean's chest. A shock went through her friend and he body arched upwards. "Goddess!" Tears were streaming down Ororo's face. Hank ignored her, "Again!"

"No!"

"Do it!" he roared, not caring how he addressed the queen.

She complied and Jean's body arched upwards again. Hank placed an ear on the still woman's chest. Still no beat. "Again!"

"I won't!" she was adamant.

"Ororo, If you do not do this, you are responsible for her death! There is still hope-"

"This is barbaric!" she shrieked and regretted it almost as soon as it left her mouth. Hank brushed hair out of his eyes and held her gaze. The other men stared in disbelief, the air tense.

"Ororo, I will not ask you again."

Her eyes dropped and she placed her hands over Jean's body again. They began to glow a brilliant blue and she pushed down on her friend's chest which gave one last writhing arch. Hank listened to her heart one more time before looking up solemnly at Ororo. "She's back. DaCosta, will you please carry our lady to camp and wrap her in any available blankets while I tend to our king?" DaCosta nodded and picked up Jean, pulling her away from Ororo.

Hank rose slowly, obviously worn out. Ororo was painfully aware he was avoiding looking at her and he was aware of her shame. He knew the remark was unintentional but the bite was still there.

"Hank… I'm so-"

"Don't worry about it, my queen."

"Thank you."

"Just rest, my lady." He watched her follow his comrade carrying her friend. Gone was his jovial mood. Mechanically, he inspected the work Sam had done with the King's wounds.

With a moan, Nathan regained consciousness and brought a singed hand to his head, wincing. "Hank?"

"In the flesh, my king."

The king's eyes opened and focused in the darkness on his friend's face. "What happened?"

"I feel the need to ask you the same thing."

"I want to stand." Nathan began to stand up and lost his balance, Hank catching him in time. "No. I want to sit." He fumbled around and sat down on the rock he had been seated on 20 minutes earlier.

Benjamin Russell provided a canteen of water that the King consumed unabashedly. "Thank you. You're dismissed." The blonde soldier took his leave and Nathan turned to address Hank who was crouched on the ground, hand on his chin in thought. "Hank, they came back."

"Who?"

"No. They."

"Oh."

"Jean's magik is similar to what I've been experiencing. So, Ororo requested that she work with me to help me control it. She somehow was able to place me in one of her memories. She was trying to explain how difficult this upcoming battle was going to be with these new abilities. That hearing the dead and experiencing it were two different things."

Hank pondered it. "Continue."

"Something happened and Jean disappeared. I… I was attacked by some kind of demon. That's where these burns came from. I was able to create some kind of weapon to defend myself but when I attacked it, everything went crazy in there. I felt some kind of force push all of the air out of me and then… nothing."

Hank looked to the left or Nathan. "Your weapon, wouldn't happened to have been polearm would it?"

Nathan looked at Hank with suspicion and Hank nodded to the ground next to the king.

"By the gods…" The king picked it up with his good arm. "I… pulled this from my mind? Incredible!"

"Agreed. My king, I want you to keep a close eye on Ororo and her friend."

"Do you not trust them?"

"It is not that. Ororo is very honest and dedicated, albeit a bit juvenile. The woman needs to learn to think before she speaks."

"Don't I know it." The two men exchanged smiles.

"What is fascinating is her abilities are developed just a fraction of their potential. However, it is her friend that concerns me most. I don't feel that she was trying to hurt you but I think it is best to take these lessons slow, for both of you. This is speaking as a friend, not a medical adviser."

The King nodded. "Tonight has been hell."

"Don't I know it. I am too tired to ask questions of the queen." Hank didn't want to admit it was her comment that made him want to keep his distance.

"I'll take care of it tomorrow. I would like to wait for Jean to awaken. I have the most incredible headache."

"I would like for you to know why Ororo was affected."

"What happened to Ororo?" Concern invaded the king's voice.

"She was unconscious for a period of time. She said that the reason was from you and Jean. This was before we discovered you both under this tree. Strangely enough, the horses seemed to sense nothing, now that I think about it."

They both sat in silence for a minute before Hank stood and offered a hand to Nathan. The king took it and slowly rose to his feet, still a bit awkward on real land, and he hobbled to the others with the help of his friend.

Author's note: Please drop me a review, all comments (constructive) welcome. Thanks for the encouragement Kendrat199