Jess blinked, turning from her familiar to gaze into Josie’s haunted eyes. Jess felt her heart pound with dread upon seeing her friend's expression, before shuddering with sudden relief. It was her blood-spattered countenance that scared Josie so, not Malek’s imminent death. Or so Jess fervently hoped.
“Josie?” Her soft plea was almost a sob.
Only then did she recognize the solemn gazes of all her friends. Only then did she make out Jacobs quiet sobs.
“We need to transport him immediately,” Josie declared, lips pressed together with determination, the normally docile and gentle Josie was suddenly gazing at them all with the authority of a captain.
“Alex, Jacob, Raphael, gather spears and several capes! We need to make a stretcher and bring Malek back to the chateau right away, if we are to have any hope of saving him! Jess? Keep your hands pressed right there. Very good. You do that, apply pressure, and allow me to concentrate for as long as I need to.”
With that, Josie closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and gently rested her hands on top of Jess's own. Jess gasped, humbled, as she sensed the tremendous wave of gentle healing energies trickle from Josie's hands into Malek's gravely wounded form. She could feel Josie waging the equivalent of a war, fighting off tides of death slowly overtaking her shieldbrother, like a taught bladder suddenly ruptured, hemorrhaging its contents away, even as Josie worked madly to staunch the leak, erecting the equivalent of a dozen emergency ducts and barricades, the soft white magics pouring into the source of Josie's fierce concentration, working madly to fix a near infinite number of tiny damaged structures within Malek's body.
Josie, Jess realized, was fighting as desperately for Malek’s life as Jess herself had.
Jess felt her own breath slowing as she sensed the true depth and complexity of Josie's work, as awed by her friend's incredible talent as she ever had been by the most devastating of Alex's spells. Only then did Jess realize how truly powerful her dear friend was in the arena of life and death, as Josie fought desperately to save Malek.
Jess closed her eyes, strangely certain that she could somehow help to save her friend. A gentle paw caused her to shudder and she gasped, pulling back. She flashed Twilight a hurt look. Her familiar didn’t look at all humbled, calmly shaking his head. “No, Jess. It isn’t time for that. Josie must do what she can, and we must bring Malek back to the chateau, much as she said.”
Jess grimaced, took a deep breath and nodded. She looked up to see her other companions return with spears and cloaks alike.
“Jess?" Jess nodded to Alex's unspoken question. Seemingly of their own accord, the spearheads dropped off the hardwood poles, and per Alex's raised eyebrows and Jessica's solemn nod, they quickly placed the cloaks upon the pair of poles.
Raphael gave an impressed nod, trying to pull off the cloaks, and unable to do so. "Well done, Jess," he quietly commended, even as he gently laid a hand on Josie's shoulder.
Without even opening her eyes, Josie spoke in a whisper-soft voice. “Place him in the stretcher. Carry him down safely to the chateau below. Jess? Stay beside me.”
Jess gave a tight nod though her friend could not see it, and as a group they began a trek that felt like ages, for all that it had rushed by in moments on horseback; Alex, Jacob, and Raphael alternating carrying the stretcher. And for all that she knew she was the strongest, Jess intuitively understood that her place was by Josie's side. Even when she felt slightly dizzy, succumbing to an odd weariness, she only smiled, taking grim comfort in her close fall.
“You do know that she is draining you directly, right, Jess?" Twilight quietly counseled. "Using the furious cauldron of your untapped potential, together with the deep connection of the bond you and Malek share, in order to channel and fortify her arts. So tread carefully, my mistress. Right now she rides a wave of power not even the mightiest of Erovering's healers could match. But she could topple with the slightest misstep. You dare not break the connection now."
“Of course, Twilight,” Jess whispered. Her face a mask of grim concentration, even as she gently bade the tightly sealed chateau to ease its guard and allow them entry.
Raphael gave another impressed nod, even as he hurried to open the door.
Twilight had the moxie to look smug. “Good. What she is doing is, of course, extremely dangerous and utterly forbidden for any student who is not themselves a certified master healer, placing both your lives at risk. Knowing you, of course, I’m sure she judged that you wouldn’t be unduly bothered by arbitrary notions of arcane propriety, safety, or other such balderdash.”
Jess tried to smile at her familiar's quip, even as she squeezed shut desperate tears. "You are absolutely correct, as always, and good on Josie. Frankly, I doubt master healer Jevons himself could do any better."
Josie seemed to smile slightly through closed eyes, but otherwise gave no sign she heard Jess quietly conversing with her familiar as the carefully led Malek to a well appointed bedroom, gently easing Malek down upon silken sheets and down filled mattress, stained glass windows catching the sunset to marvelous effect.
“Raphael, could I get some water?” Jess whispered. “I’m suddenly feeling quite thirsty.”
“Of course,” her friend murmured softly, everyone oddly hushed around the intensely focused Josie. And soon thereafter, Jess drank down no less than a full flask’s worth, feeling considerably better, though still tired. Far worse than thirst was the roiling sense of anxious dread rippling through her, not made any better by Josie’s unrelenting frown of concentration.
Jess grimaced, heart pounding in a skittery burst of panic. She was terrified to hear the words even as Josie slowly opened her eyes, gazing sadly at Jess.
“Oh gods, don’t say it. Please don’t say it!” Jacob, eyes swollen and red, was openly weeping.
“I’m sorry.” Josie’s exhausted words made Jessica’s heart lurch.
"I think, I know I bought him some time." Her smile was tender as she gently squeezed Jess's hand, before reaching out to gently wipe away Jacob's freely flowing tears. "We bought him some time, my Jess. I just don't know how much." Josie gave a sad, weary sigh. "We gave him what potions we had, and honestly, Jess, were it not for your gifts with medicinal plants, the potions would have been futile against a wound as grievous as this. Yet that, combined with you anchoring my healing, has at least blessed him with a painless final few hours. I would do even more if I could, but I need to rest, and so must you, my Jess."
Jess looked down, surprised to see her blood-spattered hands shaking, startled by the odd keening wail she heard echoing through the massive bedroom, shocked to find that the voice was none other than her own.
She clenched her eyes shut and imagined she could feel the ground shake beneath her feet.
“Stop that, Jess. You’re scaring your friends. You must focus!” Jess gasped and opened her eyes, suddenly aware of the startled looks her friends were casting her way, expressions an odd mixture of compassion and fear, even as Jacob sobbed over Malek’s deathly still form.
The shaking stopped, and as Twilight’s brilliant sapphire eyes locked upon her own she felt strangely calm. Falling into the endless night sky, stars blazing fiercely in the cold void of space. She felt oddly soothed at the thought of surrendering herself to oblivion, allowing the great sleep to envelop her once more.
“Do you remember when I told you that you must wait for Josie to provide what aid she could, before we embraced darker arts?"
Numbly, Jess nodded, knowing at that moment that she would do anything, anything at all, if it would save her brother-in-arms.
“My Jess, it is time.”
18
Furiously blinking away tears, Jess gently stroked the soft curls of the man she loved most in all the world, her closest friend, even as he lay dying in her arms.
She looked up and met the gentle brown eyes of an agonized Josie, tears streaming down her face, still trembling with exhaustion even as she sunk into Raphael's protective embrace, having
done everything in her power to buy their beloved friend just a few hours, before he finally passed on.
Jess braved a bittersweet smile, and for some reason this caused Josie to sob openly, even as Raphael, the son of one of the wealthiest and most influential dukes in all of Erovering gently held his lover close. For all the wealth and influence in the world could do little now to save their dying friend. And arguably, it was that very wealth; most specifically, a special artifact owned by Raphael's father that their enemies coveted, along with the wand they had stolen, that had served as the catalyst for the ambush that had nearly spelled Raphael and Josie's doom. And perish they certainly would have, had Jess and Malek not sensed the ambush, using every ounce of skill and ruthless savagery at their disposal to eliminate the threat.
But at terrible cost, Jess thought, herself weeping openly over a gravely wounded Malek, his labored breathing weakening even as she sat there, stupefied with horror and regret.
And Malek, poor, beautiful Malek, lay slowly dying in her arms.
“By all the gods above, Jacob, Jess. I am so sorry this has happened,” Raphael sobbed.
Malek's lover shook, sobbing at the foot of the bed, inconsolable.
“It's not your fault, Raphael,” Jess gently soothed. “There was no way we could have known about that ambush, that your father possessed an artifact desired by these monsters, that our attempt to rescue you from false imprisonment had simply led us all to yet another trap.”
Raphael, eyes red with unshed tears, smiled bitterly. “It is dear of you to say that, Jessica, but you and I both know that if it weren't for me being who I am, our enemies would never have been so eager to capture me at the school, or ambush us here.”
“And if we had just let them capture you, we would be in an even worse position than we are in now, with two artifacts falling into those diabolists' hands, and you know damn well they would have likely killed you and Josie both, perhaps your entire family to clean up loose ends, once they had gotten what they wanted out of your father,” Alex said even as Jera squeezed his slender frame tightly, as if to assure herself that her Alex was safe and sound in her arms.
Raphael nodded, taking a deep, shuddering breath, gazing at Jess with a look of such pained adoration that she was forced to look away, even as hot diamond hard tears trickled upon her dying friend.
“Jessica de Calenbry, my most loyal, stalwart friend. Please know that I will never forget Malek's sacrifice. Never. Neither his, nor your own. You will always be welcome within our duchy, no matter the tides of fortune or fate lapping upon your shores. We will always be there for you, should you have need of us, and I swear to you, Jess, as I live and breathe I will see you knighted, you and Malek both. No matter his cursed father, Malek will be blessed as a Knight of our House, welcomed within my family's very crypt, when it is his time to pass on. This, I swear to you, my dearest friend Jess. You and Malek, both Knights of Virtue. Forever beloved by my clan.”
Jess sobbed at her friend's declaration, shaken and overwhelmed, honored and horrified. Her greatest wish, to be a knight, her beloved shieldbrother, expunged of his family's awful castigation and smearing of his character. But at such a terrible price.
Flashes of memory over the past handful of days flooded through Jess as she gazed at her dying shieldbrother, no longer registering the hushed murmurs of her closest friends. It was her familiar's words that resonated loudest in her mind, their import finally registering upon her.
“My Jess, it is time,” Twilight solemnly repeated, His brilliant sapphire eyes locking upon her own once more.
Part of her was exhilarated. Part of her was terrified. She felt as if a door were quietly opening, revealing a room filled with terrible secrets locked within the musty tomes therein, the fluttering pages sounding oddly like screams in the far off distance. Jess shuddered, breaking off a cry, even as that imposing door slammed shut once more, buried deep within her psyche.
A sudden burst of panic welled up inside her, as she sensed a precious piece of her innocence wilt under the burden of terrible knowledge. Knowledge that upon its eventual mastery would send her shrieking with madness, unable to bear the weight of countless horrors she had striven so long to forget.
She clenched her eyes tightly shut against bitter tears, willing to endure it, willing to endure it all, if it gave her even a sliver of a chance of saving Malek.
She locked gazes with those of her friends. “I need you all to leave the room,” she said quietly.
“Leave? There is no way I’m leaving my man’s side!” Jacob’s plaintive gaze tore at Jess’s heart.
Grimly, she shook her head. “I am sorry, Jacob. But this I must do alone.”
She looked up once more, even as she slowly began to strip herself bare of all attire.
“Trust me,” she said softly, solemnly unsheathing her dagger even as the shutters upon all the elegant stained glass windows within the bedroom simultaneously burst open to surprised gasps all around, filling the room with the light of a brilliant silver moon sparkling against Jess's blade, her gaze unwavering as she slowly began to carve ancient sigils upon her flesh.
“Jess, what are you doing?” Josie cried, staring anxiously at her friend.
“That is not our moon,” Alex softly declared, gazing at Jess with a look she couldn’t quite fathom, needing no further encouragement to hurry his friends outside the chamber. Even Jacob, sobbing protests, was led away by a gently clucking Raphael.
Alex turned to Jess then, his gentle gaze free of all judgment. “Will you be all right, Jess?”
Jess smiled, genuinely touched, and assured her friend that all was well.
Raphael looked back, strangely puzzled. “I’m sorry, Jess, what did you say?”
“She speaks in the old tongue,” Alex whispered, gently pulling an awestruck Raphael back from the door as it slowly closed behind them, leaving Jess alone to embrace secrets dark and terrible, all in a desperate gamble to save her dying friend.
19
Jess breathed deep and focused, preparing herself for the ordeal to come. The bloody sigils she had inscribed into her flesh glistened like rubies under the brilliant light of the moon. Curiously, she felt no pain. Only a fierce resolve to come to the aid of her shieldbrother and companion, her heart pierced with endless recollections of her beloved Malek; bemused smiles and wry laughter that had always soothed and comforted her, offbeat humor that had jangled the sensibilities of so many of their peers and professors, yet always a perfect match for her own.
Malek and Jess, united in the fiercest of friendships, willing to take on the world. Together.
She felt tears glisten anew as she gazed upon the stillness of his features, her fingers softly touching his pale lips. For before her was a man whom she loved with every fiber of her being, as a boon companion and so much more, for all that he would never know just how much she adored him.
Twilight’s eyes locked once more with her own. “Do you know what you must do, my mistress?”
Jessica’s gaze was bleak. “I do, beloved one. Malek and I will join as one. Hunt as one. Feed as one.”
Twilight gave a satisfied nod. “Good. Go to sleep now, Jess. And awaken within the dream. Together, we shall hunt within the woodlands, where our prey has foolishly fled.
Jess nodded. “I feel him. Like a festering boil within my Domain.”
Twilight laughed softly. “Then let us lance this boil together, my queen.”
Jess lay beside her shieldbrother, gently pressing her flesh against his own, at once feeling as if they were somehow connected, the crimson sigils carved within her flesh resonating with the bond they shared, as deep and powerful as the river of life itself. A bond as old as time. A connection so vast and profound she could barely comprehend it.
Allowing her breath to slow, Jess eased herself into an anxious sleep.
And with the gentle pat of her familiar’s paw, she awoke once more, oddly energized by the caress of the brilliant full moon upon her n
aked flesh. Jess looked down in faint amazement as the sigils upon her skin caught the moonlight, sparkling with a silvery brilliance every time she moved.
She gazed upon Malek, her chest suddenly filled with a tight, unbearable ache. She could feel him slowly slipping away, even as she dreamed.
“Well done, my Jess,” Twilight softly commended as they both gazed down upon her shieldbrother’s sleeping form.
“Malek is dying!” Jess futilely strove to fight back the hot flush of tears blurring her familiar’s shape, feeling them trickle like warm drops of regret as they fell from her cheeks, jewel-like glimmers flashing in the moonlight as they bounced upon the marble tiles.
Brilliant sapphire eyes locked upon her own. “Then let’s save him.”
Still gazing at her, Twilight leaped from the bedding to the tiled floor, padding softly towards the doorway. “Tears never won you any wars, my Jess. Now come.”
Jess nodded even as she strode forth, the door to Raphael’s bedchamber opening of its own accord. She quickly walked through, pace picking up to a run, even as she headed for the exit, paying no mind to her friends' gasps of surprise as she raced past them.
“By the gods, that door just opened and closed of its own accord,” Jacob whispered.
“Did you feel that? Breeze cold as winter.” Jera shivered even as she snuggled against her Alex before the fire.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Alex soothed, his solemn gaze alone locking upon Jess as she raced through the chateau, Alex gently moving Jera away from Jess's path to the front door, springing open even as Jess passed through, then slamming shut once more with an icy blast of winter.
“Perceptive, that one,” Twilight noted, and Jess knew exactly what he meant, having felt the weight of Alex’s knowing gaze, wondering just how insightful he had become in his search to understand the true nature of things as he strove to uncover the very words of creation that defined their reality.
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