Rise of Legends (The Kin of Kings Book 2) (8 page)

Based on how he was feeling, he believed it. “Then Reela, let’s try again.” Basen pushed himself up. She supported much of his weight as he got on one foot. “We can do this.”
We have to.

The four of them tried to hobble out of the room. Alabell and Annah made good progress, but Basen seemed to be too heavy for Reela. Their gait was awkward, making him feel as if he was about to fall again.

Somehow, they made it out the front door. But then a wave of dizziness crashed into Basen and turned the world sideways. Reela tried to catch him but fell with him.

“This is no good,” Alabell complained in an urgent tone. “You’re bleeding much more trying to walk.”

He looked down at the crimson sheets around his leg. His head was spinning so violently that he wasn’t sure he could get up even if it was the only way to reach the medical building.

“Help!” Reela yelled. “We need help!”

One of Reela’s roommates, Steffen, ran around the side of the house and crouched in front of Basen. “Get him on my back.”

Basen exerted what strength he had left to get his body in place. Steffen’s hands felt hot against Basen’s cold legs. Steffen ran against the wind, but it didn’t seem to slow him. Basen began to shiver and pressed his chest against Steffen’s shirt, which was damp with sweat.

“God’s mercy, you’re stronger than I first realized,” Basen murmured weakly as he couldn’t help but notice the bulging muscles on the chemist’s back and shoulders.

“Don’t speak,” Steffen ordered.

Reela and Alabell began to catch up as Steffen started to slow from the strain. The two women carried Annah between them as if she were a sack of potatoes.

“Did you see Cleve?” Reela asked her roommate.

“Yes, that’s why I’m here. He came in to get his bow and yelled at Effie and me to wake up. He tried to send us both here, but Effie couldn’t be convinced. She went with him after Sanya.”

“She could kill them both.” Annah’s voice shook from Reela and Alabell’s awkward gait.

“No.” Reela spoke firmly. “With his bow and Effie’s wand, Sanya won’t be able to get close enough.”

Steffen began to stumble. “I can’t take him all the way to the medical building.” He cleared his throat. “Help! Somebody help us!”

They stopped and waited. No lights came on. The wind whistled by.

“We need help!” Reela shouted, and Alabell and Steffen joined in.

A few doors came open. People stuck out their heads as if suspecting a trap. It reminded Basen that these were all first-year homes around them.

“Hurry over here,” Reela commanded. Two men who appeared to be warriors rushed out of the same house, both wearing only thin shirts and undershorts. “And you!” Reela pointed at another man, shirtless, watching from his door. “Help us carry them to the medical building.”

More came out by their own volition now that it was clearly safe, and soon they'd amassed a group of twenty people, many only scantily covered, all of them shivering from the cold wind.

However, Basen no longer shivered, and he worried it was a bad sign. He found it difficult to keep his eyes open. The group of men carrying him sounded distant as they grunted and mumbled instructions to each other.

He passed out.

There was a sharp pain in his leg. He hissed as he flinched.

“Sorry, Basen.” Alabell pressed both her hands on his wound. “Blood keeps coming through.”

The medical building was just ahead. The group carrying him had shrunk to five people: Steffen, Alabell, and two men Basen had seen before but never met. He didn’t know their names, only that they were first-year warriors.

“Where’s Annah?”

No one seemed to hear him.

His question was answered when they got him inside the warm medical building and laid him on a hard bed. Annah was beside him, close enough to reach if they both extended their arms. A swarm of people surrounded them, two in white chemist garb hovering over Annah.

“Is anyone a trained healer?” one asked after eyeing Basen.

Steffen and Alabell both said they were.

“We’ll take care of Basen,” Alabell added.

The pain in his leg was the only thing keeping him awake. He turned his head but could no longer see Annah. “How is she?” he asked. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth.

“Better than you,” Alabell answered in an annoyed tone. “Now stop speaking and try to relax.”

“Take this.” Steffen held a vial to Basen’s lips.

He only caught a glimpse of the argent liquid before Steffen had forced it into his mouth and pinched his lips shut. “I know it’s unpleasant, but swallow it.”

This must be the caregelow potion,
which was known to aid the recovery of almost any ailment. The flavor was pungent and sickening, like spoiled fruit.

“Your wound will need cleaning,” Alabell said as she did something to increase the pressure around his leg. “But first we have to stop the bleeding.”

He felt more pressure and some quick yet terrible moments of pain, but she finished whatever she was doing quickly, then propped his leg up on cushions.

“The caregelow will start working soon,” she said as she used a towel to wipe the blood off her hands. “It’s important that you sleep and ignore any urges you might have. You and Annah will feel no pain and want to do foolish things, but you must stay in bed.”

“We should just tie him to it,” Steffen suggested.

“That’s not necessary,” Basen said through his exhaustion.

“It might be,” Alabell said. “There have been cases of people worsening their wounds and dying while on caregelow. So if you can sleep, you’ll be fine.”

Now that he no longer needed to worry about dying, he could feel the anger burning within his chest. It was Sanya who’d killed Nick and Alex, and she’d almost killed him but changed her mind for reasons he didn’t yet understand. She did not deserve to go free.

“What happened to Sanya?” he asked.

“We haven’t heard anything yet,” Alabell said. “Except some people claimed they heard a trumpet coming from the south.” She glanced askance at Steffen.

“I did hear it.”

“You
think
you heard it.”

“Fine, I think I heard it.”

Basen’s pain quickly faded, no doubt an effect of the caregelow. His anger dissolved as well, replaced by curiosity. Sanya had been incredibly knowledgeable about portals as she’d discussed this spiritual world. He gasped as he realized something. She must’ve found a way to visit that world.

The akorell stone.
Suddenly he had so many questions for her. But the most important was whether she was telling the truth about any of it. Was Basen really killing spirits in this other world every time he opened a portal?
She sounded so certain.

“Sanya told me many things,” he said, his words slurred. An involuntary chuckle came out. “I sound drunk.”

“What did Sanya tell you?” Steffen asked.

“Steffen, he needs to rest.” Alabell put her warm hand on his head. Her touch was as blissful as slipping into bed after a long day. He put his hand on top of hers so she wouldn’t take it away.

“Don’t move,” he muttered.

She smiled. “You must rest before the effects get worse.”

He vaguely noticed the room was emptier by then. He glanced at Annah beside him. She was asleep while a chemist sat at her side with her wrist in his hand so he could feel her pulse.

Basen caught himself speaking without choosing to. “This caregelow is
strong
! Alabell, you’re beautiful. Let me touch your beautiful face.” He reached out for it, but she leaned away. He knew he was acting like a fool, but he didn’t care. He wanted to touch her.

Alabell shushed him as she looked embarrassed. “Just go to sleep,” she whispered.

He heard someone run into the room and sat up to find Reela out of breath.

“Where were you?” he asked.

Steffen forced him back down. “Rest, Basen.” But he fought to stay awake as Reela spoke.

“Cleve and Effie never saw Sanya. They alerted the wall guards, but it was too late. One of the southern guards saw her jump over the wall. He didn’t know what to make of it, so he blared his trumpet instead of shooting at her. She fled into Raywhite Forest.”

“She told me many things,” Basen said in excitement. “I know I should be mad at her, but you won’t believe what she told me!”

Reela lifted an eyebrow. “Caregelow?” she asked Steffen.

“Yes, can you put him to sleep?”

“No!” Basen yelled.

“I can’t if he resists it strongly enough.”

“Then I shall resist!”

Alabell leaned over him. “Basen,” she cooed, “just remember everything she told you and tell us when you wake up. I know you don’t want to sleep. No one ever does while on caregelow, but do it for me. Please.”

“All right. For you.” It took all of his willpower to let go of his urge to tell them about Sanya. But there was one last thing that came to mind that he had to say.

“With her gone, I no longer have to worry.” Prickles spread over his skin. Tears of joy welled in his eyes. “I can sleep.”

Reela put her hand on his head, and he fell asleep instantly.

CHAPTER EIGHT

It was Sanya’s first time in Raywhite Forest at night. Ghostly white fallen leaves were sprinkled on the black dirt, and short streams led to small pools of still water as dark as tar. She looked over her shoulder. The long southern wall of the Academy was finally out of sight. Unless Basen opened more portals, she wouldn’t go back. The thought saddened her. She let herself shed one tear before steeling her nerves.

It would be daylight before she reached Kyrro City, but it wasn’t as if sanctuary awaited her there. She needed to sleep at least a few hours before encountering Tauwin’s men and possibly being mistaken for an enemy.

Despite her vast skills, controlling sartious energy had always escaped her. Without it, fire was impossible. Fortunately, she could build her own.

She ventured deeper into the forest, grabbing sticks and brush along the way. She told herself she would keep the fire lit just long enough to chase the shivers away while she rested for a bit. She had to keep moving because foolish men and women from the Academy might be looking for her now that they knew who she was.

They only think they know.
I’m the only one who really knows.

The black night shrunk away as her fire came alive. She closed her eyes as she stepped close to the flames, the pleasure of warmth worth the pain.

When her shivers were gone, she sat on a nearby rock and opened her mind to the wildlife around her. The sight and sound of her fire must’ve scared most creatures off, for there was but one she could sense.

There was nothing in the forest that could overpower her, and she couldn’t think of a single animal she might encounter that she couldn’t eat, so she lured in the creature with a simple trick of psyche. The animal thought it sensed food in her direction, and it wasn’t smart enough to question the unbidden thought.

She was delighted to find a plump hare emerge. It came around a pair of saplings that were too close to each other for both to ever become full trees, reminding her of the neighboring territories, Kyrro and Tenred, and their constant competition for resources. The sight of her frightened the hare, but she soothed it easily with psyche.

Sanya patted her leg, attracting the creature to her hand. It scampered forward and climbed onto her lap. She broke its neck without delay.

She sensed another then, this one possessing an abundance of confidence. It was smarter than the hare and just as hungry. She stood and faced its direction, glancing back and forth between the dead hare in her hand and the sound of rummaging through shrubs. She gave a sigh as she came to her decision. Ensuring she was safe so she could sleep was more important than a small meal.

She whistled lightly as she twisted the BE of the hidden beast, beckoning it toward the light. As the bear emerged from the cloak of night, she took away its aggression. It made a curious grunt as drool caught around the fur of its jaw. The beast was enormous yet painfully hungry, too much so to sleep, most likely.

She set the hare at her feet. “This is for you.”

She shaped the beast’s energy to make it trust her as if she were its mother. It lumbered forward and tore apart the hare with its paws and teeth.

Sanya put her hand on the bear’s side as it gnawed at the small bones. She only needed a few moments to make the beast love her. Animals like bears didn’t have the intellect to wonder why they would want to protect her, so the psychic spell she cast upon it could be permanent.

She kicked dirt onto the fire until it was out. With the bear at her side, she walked the better part of a mile.

Feeling that she was a safe enough distance into the forest, she put the tired bear to sleep and then cuddled up against him. If someone chanced upon them during the night, the sight of the bear would deter him.

She wasn’t sure how long she slept before a chirping bird awoke her with its annoying and monotonous song. She sent out a wave of psyche as she brushed out her hand, and it flew away.