CHAPTER 11
The Talons of a Dark Heart
She could hardly feel the air entering her body; it felt as though her lungs were filled with muslin. Bells clamored constantly in her head and only worsened when she pried her eyes open. The daggers of light were like needles shooting into her very pupil. She could only hazily see where she was.
A red and gold tapestry hung near the bed. It was her mother's, showing a maiden with a unicorn. Her blankets were the finest in all the castle, trimmed with gold filled with goose down. It was so soft under red velvet, it felt so much like home to her. It was all a dream, everything had been a dream she couldn't awaken from until now. She snuggled deeper into her mother’s personally hand-woven blankets, too weak to run and find her, but she knew her mother was close by, kissing her forehead so tenderly while she slept
***
"I need more wood!" Novak growled at the servants who had brought him small bundles of twigs. "This is not enough, you idiots!" He yelled, tossing the bits of kindling at them, chasing them away.
"Novak," Gareth tried to calm the tempest raging in his friend. "All the wood is still too wet. You can't put any of that on it, it will only kill what flame you have."
"She's freezing, Gareth," Novak nearly pleaded, filled with fear now and teetering on the edge of hopeless desperation.
Gareth sighed. His prince had been like a mad man since they found the princess nearly drowned a week ago. She would freeze and then burn up; it was a constant battle to bring body to a normal temperature. Novak hadn’t left the room the whole time, rarely allowing people to enter, he was so paranoid about more harm and sickness coming to her. Talyis laid in bed her body deeply rising and falling with a noisy wheeze.
Delia tiptoed reverently into the room to visit to her gravely ill friend unafraid of Novak's fury. She carried a tray of food for everyone to share. "I want to have me dinner near me friend, and I won’t hear a word of against it from you." She wagged a red freckled finger at Novak. She handed Gareth a chalice of the healing drink, another insult to Novak’s attempts to nurse Talyis himself.
Gareth's jaw dropped. He hated being in the eye of a brewing typhoon between his wife and Novak. Novak was beside himself with grief, so he hadn’t yet lashed out against Delia's constant charging and admonishment for Talyis's demise. However, Gareth feared it was only a matter of time that this turn of events would add more acid to Novak's vulture-like heart.
Gareth handed the chalice to Novak, knowing that he wanted to heal his love and heard his wife grumble behind him.
Novak had been grasping onto slivers of hope, but they were slipping through his fingers every day. Novak had the spoils of the war opened and hung her mother's tapestry on the wall near the bed and covered her freezing body with her mother's blanket on which the Queen had sewn intricate designs of the white twisted trunks of Onor's trees. He hoped that being surrounded by her mother’s things would help her to feel comfortable and strengthen her will to get well.
***
Novak held Talyis closely, staring off into the dark room with only the slight glow of what remained of the fire casting dancing shadows across the walls. Talyis moaned slightly, hugged him closer to her unconsciously; her dewy lips opened slightly giving way to her gentle snores.
Novak tucked her in and pulled her himself from her embrace to build up the fire. He carefully added new logs to coax a larger flame to burn. Soon the fire was roaring again. Sweat slid down his brow, and he could taste the salt on his lips. It was warming up outside with the rainy season behind them, but he didn't care as long as Talyis was getting well.
The red glowing wood was soft as he stabbed it with his poker. He opened his robe to cool himself and continued to tend to the fire. Orange and black figures, like ghosts in the wood, beckoned him. He set the poker aside and placed a new log on the fire. He quickly stuffed fabric into his mouth and waited. Waited until it was time to begin to prepare for the future with the woman in his bed. She snored and whimpered slightly in her sleep; and he groaned. On she snored ever so delicately and an muffled, desperate cry escaped into the night air. He wept around the fabric gag in his mouth, the incredible pain could never match the scar under the velvet blankets, and tears continued to fall as he rocked himself to sooth the penetrating fire. He coughed violent tears and she slept on, unknowing.
***
A warm morning breeze whispered through the planks covering the windows. Birds happily twittered outside her window and brought a smile to her face. She peeked her eyes open in hopes of seeing her mother’s shadow, feeling that hand smoothing her hair back gently. Her tapestry hung perfectly behind her mother, she felt so at home. Her cloudy vision grew clearer with each moment; there was no more pain., As her vision cleared, so did the shadow become clearer. It was not her mother. She clenched her eyes closed and moaned loudly, a guttural cry from the depths of her soul. Quickly a drink was brought to her lips; she remembered the smell from before. The drink was flooding her mouth and she had no choice but to drink. Sleep came upon her like she was being dragged to the bottom of a river. The voices above were muffled. Muffled concern, and tears, pleading tears.
The River!
Her mind screamed. Then her chest was being beaten as if to break the very bones covering her heart.
Breathe, Talyis, you must breathe.
She was drowning. She had drowned.
Tears fell from her face, her mother wasn’t the shadow.
***
"Please, find out what is wrong with her! She came to but she's been sleeping for two days," Novak begged the healer.
The healer placed his ear to her heart and shook his head. There wasn’t much more that he could say. She had to fight to live. It was going to be a hard fight.
"She needs to eat, so that the infant doesn’t take everything from the mother. Her body will sacrifice to make sure the child survives."
Novak broke down in tears and held Talyis gently, rocking her as the night fell.
She didn’t understand it. She wanted him to just go away so she pretended to sleep. Seeing him was like salt in her stinging broken heart. She had hoped she would never return to this room, this land, this face.
She opened her eyes again. Novak was grey with sorrow, his face deeply furrowed as he rocked her back and forth. The green eyes that had so enchanted her as a child were dull .
"Water," she croaked. Novak took in a sharp breath and looked down at her. Everything within him stopped. "Water, please."
Novak unfroze and ran to the table near the fireplace and poured a glass of water. He brought it to her, holding it to her lips, ignoring her attempts to take the glass herself. When she had finished drinking, she gazed up into his eyes. They had turned a rich emerald, the grey cloud had dissipated as if the sun was shinning on his countenance.
"Talyis, my love, speak again. What can I do for you, princess?"
"Leave," she said in a whisper her body already shuddering in growing sobs. "Leave!" She finally broke through in a growl.
Novak looked at her in horror and backed away from the bed. "If you wish."
Delia immediately moved into the room as Novak left. She stopped and glared at him.
“Yer lucky she’s well,” she said to remind him that the entire ordeal was his fault. Novak simply nodded, his eyes downcast as he removed himself from Talyis’s presence.
Delia loudly moved about the room, idly fussing to keep her temper in check. "What were you thinking? Or you trying to get yourself killed?!" Talyis frowned deeply. She was tired and turned to her side to avoid Delia. "Well, you need to eat. You are too thin. Let me get you something quickly. You know that it was Novak that brought you back." Talyis again burrowed deeper into the bed. "Pounded your dead heart to a beat again."
