Chapter 32
Marley opened his eyes and closed them against the glare of the midday sun. His skin felt overcooked. His tongue, swollen and stuck to the top of his mouth, felt like a wad of fresh leather. He turned his head to the left and tried to raise his arm for shade, but the movement made darkness close in and his body screamed with pain.
The runesmith gasped, but no sound came out. Still, something must have alerted the dragon hatchling, Glyf. He felt her shadow block out the burning sun and silently thanked her for the shade as he opened his eyes once more and her bedraggled form came into view.
He blinked, trying to focus on her face. A red gash tore across her left brow, and she held her left arm carefully to her side. She smiled softly around her swollen lip and struggled to bend close to him.
“Thank Alh-wone you wake,” she lisped. “Thysl is here with us but Jayf, Chayse and Mek are still missing.”
She dribbled a little water onto Marley’s cracked lips, and he opened his mouth enough to allow the water to trickle down the back of his parched throat. He swallowed and waited for more. Finally, he signaled her to stop.
When he spoke, it was a soft growl. “How long?”
Glyf shook her head and winced when she shrugged. “Two days, maybe three.” With a groan, she sank onto the sand, sitting gingerly next to him.
Thankful the sun now hid behind a stray bit of gray, Marley slowly blinking his eyes. Everything hurt, including his eyelids. He could feel the brokenness in his body, but tried to focus outward.
“How is Thysl?” His question ended in a cough that left him gasping.
“He lays in a sleep I can not penetrate with touch or word or water and I can not reach him with mind-speech.”
With starts and stops, she told him how lucky they were to be alive as she described the wreckage on the beach and her finds from the shipwreck. Marley allowed the talk to lull him, too fatigued to form questions. He looked inward instead to assess his damage and resources.
He could feel the flows of Tavir around him, and the essence felt primal and unmarred. The runesmith reached out with what will he could muster and tried to shape his want. It was like reaching into a gossamer cloud and coming up with a handful of nothing, not even a wet hand.
Glyf poured water from one of the flagons she had stacked beside him onto a rag she spread out on a large rock. “Here, let me clear some of the blood and salt from your head,”
Marley shut his eyes and tried to turn his head for her. Pain ignited like a stick of dry tinder in his neck. He struggled against it, willing himself to stay conscious... There were so many questions. The runesmith groaned and the darkness overtook him.
Glyf sighed as she sank onto the large stone. To her left, Thysl still lay as if sleeping. She watched his shallow breaths, astounded at how much time she had spent caring for him in a wounded state since they had met, and she wondered if she could pull him through this time.
On the right, Marley Stonebender hovered close to death. Although he shifted in and out of consciousness, Glyf felt sure it was only by his tenacious will that he continued to speak when he could. As she watched him, she could but hope his spirit clung to this plane with the talons of a dragon.
She realized quickly her elemental abilities were untouchable. Although both elements of air and life were abundant, she could not connect to them. She tried her mind-speak but there was nothing and when she attempted to use the Paths; it was as if they did not exist here.
The day before, she walked the beach south of their location far enough to know there was no more wreckage within reach as things stood now. Today she planned on walking north as soon as the shadows from the treeline blocked the sun’s angry stare from her charges.
Suddenly Marley let out a long, shuddering breath and as he drew one back in, his eyes popped open. The next breath was Glyf’s sharp intake as it registered in her numbed mind that the runesmith had awakened. She flew off her stone perch, forgetting her injured arm, and with a groan and a cry of pain, landed at Marley’s side.
The dragonkin sat for a moment, steeling herself against the sharp pain in her arm. Her breathing calmed after a time and she dampened a rag she cut from Marley’s tunic sleeve, using it to wipe his fevered brow. She dribbled more water across his lips and waited for him to speak.
“Chayse? Or Mek and Jayf?” he asked, his voice a quiet croak.
“Not yet.” Glyf knew what his next question would be and continued, “Thysl still sleeps the deep sleep.”
Marley sighed, his eyes sliding closed as she dabbed at the sweat beaded on his brow and dribbled more water into his mouth.
“What can I do for you, Marley? I need you.” She tried to keep the quaver out of her voice, but only once in the past two hundred years had she felt so helpless… and the entire purpose behind this quest was because of that first time.
After a few moments, Marley said, “Hidden in my vest,” he paused, taking a shuddering breath.
Before he could speak again, Glyf reached into his vest, so stiff with the sea that the crusted hidden pocket was easy to find. She fumbled out a small pouch with her good hand. Marley nodded his assent as she held it up.
The dragonkin sat beside Marley and, covering her lap with her cloak, emptied the pouch onto it. Only three runic tokens and Ymarii’s scale and the key to the accursed collars fell from the bag. One she recognized as a Dragon-shield Rune. Another seemed to be a common seeking rune and the last, a token of cloudy jade, had to be the rune he sought.
Marley swallowed roughly and Glyf again held the flask for the runesmith to drink. When he finished, she showed the token to him and waited for him to find the strength to speak.
He finally said, “Speak the rune, Lappe Sammen, then crumble it over Thysl’s body.
The dragonkin held the stone in her palm and wondered how she could crumble it with just one hand. It felt as hard as, well… as hard as a stone. With a skeptical eye, she looked back to the runesmith. He still watched her, though his eyes again looked glassy.
“Speak the rune; you will be able to crush it.”
Glyf shook her head. Perhaps he did not realize the magnitude of his wounds or that they could not draw on the essence here. She slipped the stones back in the pouch, setting it aside while she wiped the Vortryl’s forehead with a dampened rag.
As she did, she said, “Listen, Marley Stonebender, if you are able. I can sense we are on an island, although I cannot tell where or how large. I only know somehow we are warded against touching the Tavir or drawing from the elemental essences and I can find no paths to run.”
She knew she talked more to herself than to her wounded friend. Still, it felt good to say it to someone, even if he could not give her an insightful response.
Before she could continue her ruminations, Marley groaned and closed his eyes. “The rune will work. You must try… for Thysl’s sake. The essence is self-contained.” He took another shallow breath and whispered, “It will work.”
Glyf looked down at her friend, considering. She worried that if it did not work and she crumbled the rune, the loss could be as significant as the loss of one of their allies in the future. “If you are so sure it will work, then I should use it on you. For although Thysl is still unconscious, I fear your wounds are more severe.”
At first, she was unsure if Marley was conscious enough to understand what she said, but he soon opened his eyes and the look in them gave her no pause that he knew exactly what he did. “Too much… too much damage... for the rune to heal,” he grimaced in pain, but continued. “Without more essence, I…” his voice trailed off.
“By Ymarii’s great snout, I hope I am not hearing defeat or resignation in that voice of yours.”
Startled, Glyf looked up from the runesmith and into the peculiar eyes of the young al’far.
“Chayse!” she exclaimed. Her grin, splitting her lip open again, causing it to bleed.
He knelt on one knee saying, “Here, let me.”
Then pulled a swatch of cloth out of his cloak pocket and wet it from his flask. She allowed him to clean her scraped and bruised face, surprised at how refreshing, almost tingling, the water felt on her skin.
“What is in the water?”
“It is from a spring I found about half a day’s to the north and west of here. I think it’s been blessed or something. The water bubbled up into a stone basin studded with blue crystals.”
Glyf pulled away from the cloth. She glanced at Marley, but the runesmith appeared to be once more in the deep sleep. “How do you know it is blessed and by who?” she asked as Chayse poured a little more of the water into the folds of the rag.
He handed the flask to the dragonkin. “There were flowers and fruit trees and bushes with berries all about and all in season. When I found the spring last night, I was covered in bruises and scratches. I think my ankle was broken and my shoulder out. I fell asleep beside the spring after filling my belly with fruit and spring water.” Chayse stood and walked to a canvas bag he’d left in the sand.
Glyf saw no sign of injury to the ankle or arm as her friend picked up the bag, bulging with his finds, and slung it over his shoulder. She glanced down at the flask in her hand and back at her approaching ally.
“Drink some.” He knelt on the other side of Marley, placing the wet rag on their friend’s forehead. “It will make you feel better. I have two more canteens.”
Glyf took a sip and asked the question she had avoided since Chayse came into the camp alone. “Did you see any signs of Jayf or Mek?”
He looked up from Marley, the pain in his eyes real and sharp. “No. Nor did I spy any survivors from the Academy.” With a grimace, he turned back to the runesmith and asked, “What was Marley talking about?”
Marley groaned, his eyes opening once again. “Just use the rune, Glyf. For Thysl’s sake, use the rune.”
He did not seem to register that Chayse was there at all and the dragonkin shook her head with a sigh. “I… I do not know what to do for him.” Glyf put the stopper in the flask and set it down and finally said, “help me.”
Chayse rose and stepped across the runesmith’s legs. He assisted her in regaining her feet and she said, “I am beginning to feel revived. My skin still tingles, but the tightness recedes and the sensation of stinging bugs no longer bites at my lips. Thank you, now, hold out your hands, please.” She upended Marley’s little pouch into Chayse’s awaiting hands.
The young al’far bent his tall frame forward, holding the stones out to Glyf. Still one-handed, her fingers danced across the small collection like butterflies searching for the right nectar. They soon settled on the cloudy jade piece Marley directed her to earlier.
“I only wish Ymarii returned his stone-eye upon him answering her summons. I fear the fates have not looked kindly on our friend,” Glyf said with a deep sigh. “The Vortryl is above all else, a child of the very bones of the world. Just as the Al’far are of the woodlands and grassy plains. Without his third eye, his spirit does not have a tether and that lack weakens his ability to heal.”
“He has a missing eye? Is the scar on his forehead…”
Glyf smiled and noted her lip no longer hurt. “He hasn’t told you much about himself or his people, has he?”
“I fear since our meeting, time has pressed us for more than conversation. But then again, I have never met a Vortryl and thus did not know what to ask.” Chayse looked at the remaining two tokens in his hand. “What should I do with these?”
“Hang on to the jade rune and put the other back in his pouch,” she said, handing him the small leather bag and the runestone. “And be careful you do not lose the key in the bag.”
With a quizzical look, He stowed the unneeded stones. “Is this the rune you were talking with him about, when I came up?” He held the gem up in the fading light.
“Indeed, it is. A healing rune that Marley thinks will work on Thysl.” Glyf limped over to the unconscious dragonkin. She knelt beside her friend and tried once more to wake him. When he did not respond to her touch or call, she looked up to Chayse for the runestone.
“Perhaps a rag soaked in the spring water will do the trick.” Chayse used his long dagger to slice a swatch of material from the bottom of his tunic and, picking up the flask, Glyf had sat down. He poured a healthy dose of the water onto the cloth and handed it and the runestone to the Glyf.
She dabbed Thysl’s lips and brow, but her ministrations provoked no response. Glyf shook her head and lay the cloth across his forehead. Holding the runic token over Thysl, she said, “Lappe Sammen,” and squeezed the stone in her good fist, willing it to release its power. The stone crumbled into a flaky powder and she let it drift from her hand the length of Thysl’s body. The particles, a sparkling fall of pale green, seeped into the unconscious dragonkin on contact.
“Those runes put on a bit of a show when they are being used,” Chayse said as he rocked forward a bit, a fascinated gleam in his eye.
“A lot of that depends on the rune crafter; it is an intensely personal use of essence because it draws so much on the crafter.” Glyf sat for a few more moments observing her patient, hoping that the shimmer in the powder indicated that the essence weave was still viable here.
The first sign that the rune or the water or both worked was the relaxing of the tension in Thysl’s form, as if the terrors that haunted his dreams retreated for the time being. Glyf nodded to herself and felt her tension across her shoulders ease a bit. Thysl took a deep cleansing breath and his pale skin began to pink up.
As his breaths continued to deepen, Glyf knew he was on the mend. Marley, on the other hand, she feared for desperately. She reached for a hand up from Chayse.
“Will you watch him while I take care of Marley?”
The al’far frowned, casting his gaze between Thysl, Glyf, and Marley. “I am sure he won’t get up and go anywhere.” He looked crestfallen as he spoke. “I take it you don’t require my help with the runesmith.”
“No.” Glyf sighed. “Unless you can think of a way to bolster Marley’s connection to this world, without his third eye to connect his spirit once more to En’Kur and his homeland.”
Chayse shook his head and with a half shrug, handed his last flask of the spring water to Glyf. “Have him drink as much as he can of the water and bathe his wounds once more. The water and a prayer and Marley’s tenacious spirit are all we have.
As Glyf knelt beside her friend, Marley’s breathing was so shallow she feared he had slipped into the spirit realm while they tended Thysl. But the shards of dread clustered about her heart scattered as his eyes fluttered open. She held a finger to his lips and shook her head. Then she dribbled a little of the spring water into his mouth. He soon signaled enough by turning his head slightly and, once more, his eyes closed.
Glyf watched him for a few more moments, then took the wet rag and draped it across his forehead and eyes. “Let the Creator’s guardians look kindly over you tonight, Marley Stonebender,” she breathed as she stepped away from him and over to, again, check on Thysl.
There was no perceptible change. She sighed, once again feeling defeated, even though she felt physically better with the blessed water and was glad to be reunited with Chayse. She glanced around for the young al’far and had to smile at the chair he fashioned for her from driftwood and leaf fronds. The sun no longer peeked through the treetops as together they scoured the beach close by for burnable wood. They soon walked back to their makeshift camp with Chayse’s arms filled with firewood and their minds filled with worry.