Hall of Shadows [The Celestial Chronicles #2]

Chapter Twenty-One: Tidings From Afar

"And' mid this tumult Kubla heard from far

Ancestral voices prophesying war!"

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Limbo"

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Soundtrack of the chapter: Unite the Stars by Leonidas

Media: Beautiful THoS movie poster by RosyKun

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Chapter Twenty-One: Tidings from Afar

Eli couldn't stop the whimper of pain escaping his lips as he tried to stand. Jasper grabbed his arm as he stumbled, his diseased left leg buckling under him.

Jasper pursed his lips. "That does not look good."

"Well thank you for the information, captain obvious," he managed to ground out between gritted teeth. "It seems that I don't know."

The other boy released his hold on Eli's arm and he fell forward, tasting the cold, asphalt floor.

Cady, who was standing next to his wheelchair, screeched.

"Jasper! What was that for?" Shooting toward his side, she looked up at Jasper, her flaming hair falling backwards in loose curls. Her eyes gleamed with a ferocity that challenged even the sun.

He had his arms folded, so tight the elaborate sleeves of his robes were pulled taut.

"Master Sanguinis, I was only trying to help. If you don't appreciate my help, I think you can get out of my chambers."

Jasper's words shot through his heart, skewing a deep hole in it. He started to retaliate, but Cady shushed him by closing a hand over his mouth.

"You know he doesn't mean it," said she. "It is the pain talking."

Another jolt of pain speared his leg. The searing pain wrenched his mouth open, rendering his mind into numb mush as a scream tore its way out of his throat.

Without a word, Jasper knelt down next to him. With a deft flick of his hand, a drawn rune hovered in the air before it sank down onto the blackened skin on Eli's leg. The rune crept outwards, flimsy strands of brilliant blue stretching the entire length of the skin and knitting the disease in so it wouldn't continue wreaking damage.

Eli felt the sizzling pain in his foot drop a notch. Cady helped him sit up. With his head cleared, he nodded an apology to Jasper.

"Don't mention it," Jasper grunted and hoisted Eli into his wheelchair, slowly and carefully, so he wouldn't bump his foot against anything.

Cady went over to Jasper's side. Her fingers threaded themselves through the mounds of messy herbs Jasper had piled up on the table. If it was down to Eli, he would had catalogued and organized them.

"I heard that the Grand Stellium is coming, is that true?"

Eli jerked his head toward Cady, answering her question. "Yes, Amueh the wise reaches the Hall this evening."

"And he brings his little apprentice along with him, so I've heard," Jasper threw in. "That kid is lot of trouble."

"He's not a kid, he's a Stellium," Eli corrected Jasper. "Daeguar is known for making the worst mistakes known in Esvanira, but he has a heart of gold."

Jasper shrugged an I-don't-really-care type of shrug and continued pounding the herbs in the mortar.

"Why is he here? As far as I know, a Stellium doesn't come willingly from Star Isle unless there is something serious going on."