Prisoner

Chapter 24

Adaryn

By the next morning, things had begun to look bad for Clev.

I slowly tiptoed towards the door to his room, careful not to wake the sleeping children that lay huddled in one corner of the small main room. The sun was just beginning to peak over the hills outside, sending a pale orange glow that would be swallowed by gray clouds within the hour, like every morning.

I always liked to wake during these early hours. They were the only time that I could catch a glimpse of beauty on Malor before it disappeared. I always felt...joyful, when I saw the sunrise. It almost gave me hope. Hope that today may not be quiet as dreary as the last one, the one before, and the one before that. That hope was what kept me going, especially since Venia.

Malor needed more sunrises.

Outside the door, I stopped cold. Ari, who had gone to bed only an hour or two ago, had told me that his condition was not improving. What would I see when I walked through that door? In my mind, I unwillingly saw Jarve as he lay quickly dying.

With a deep breath to calm my nerves, I opened the door and stepped inside.

With the color of the quickly graying sunset filtering in through the gaps in the roof, the room looked a little more inviting than the previous night. Almost immediately, my eyes fell upon my friend. The heart in my chest skipped a beat.

Clev was sleeping, his grayish skin soaked in sweat that glistened in the leaked sun. His shirt was still off, exposing the bandages where the red-brown blood had soaked all the way through. The veins under his skin surrounding the bandage had turned a purpleish-black color, not much different than had happened to Jarve.

Stunned, I quietly closed the door behind me and knelt at the soldier's side. I felt his pulse. It was fluttering fast and unevenly. Another bad sign.

"I guess I should have suspected that something like this may happen when I
took the assignment." I whispered. "How foolish of me to think that all would go in our favor. To think that killing Nekros would be an easy task. I guess I just was not thinking clearly. Maybe it would have been better if I just stayed in prison to be executed. None of this would have happened."

My heart felt heavy, and a new feeling dawned over me. Guilt. I sighed again.

"All this is truely my fault," I determined, "If I had not been so eager to escape, you would not have been involved. All I was thinking about was finding Venia. Little did I know that joining up with you, Adonis, and Jarve would lead to her eventual death. Adonis would not even go near her if we had not set out on the quest in the first place. You would not be hurt. Jarve would not be dead..."

I stood quickly. Anger replacing my guilt and building rapidly within me. I grabbed the empty bowl that had held water the night before and threw it hard against the wall, causing it to shatter into hundreds of fragments.

"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!" I shouted, my face growing red. The anger subsided as quickly as it had come, leaving me with a feeling of helplessness. I sunk down to my knees, holding my head in my hands. Suddenly, in front of me, Clev stirred and his eyes opened partway. I looked up and stared at him.

"Clevius?" I asked, hopeful that he was recovering. He blinked a few times, as if to clear his head, then looked around with a confused look on his face.

"Where...are we?" He managed. I smiled a little and moved closer. I put a hand on his arm.

"We are in a kind woman's home in Bar. We needed to get you well again, friend." I explained. Clev swallowed hard and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. When he opened them once more, I could see the pain that was there.