Bird of a Nest (bow 3)

Chapter 27

Feeling lost, Ryraso walked back to the royal quarters. The dirt under his fingernails was beginning to itch. The flowers and herbs were already starting to dim around him, his awareness of his surroundings shrinking to just what he needed to see to walk safely. The desire to cry, scream and break his hand again all rolled through him and he stopped at the wall, leaning against it and glaring up at the blue sky. 

He kicked the wall and walked off again, this time in a different direction. He could feel eyes on him. He exhaled. "1, 2 ..." he breathed, rolling his shoulders to try to shake the stiff feeling. As he reached 10, it was like a gunshot went off. He ran.

He ran. And ran. And ran some more, jumping over obstacles and flat out dodging when someone tried to stop him. He ran through his muscles screaming at him to stop. He ran through his panting. He ran through Dyn'ad and Tai'ray calling to him through the link concerned. He ran until he could not run anymore and fell to knees on the ground panting. Hunched over and letting his hands sink into more mud.  He was trembling. 

Fuck. Not again. 

"Ryraso, my love,"  Dyn'ad whispered over the link as Ryraso was coming to the realisation of what had just occurred.

"I'm here," Ryraso breathed, still trying to get his breath back. He shifted, looking around and relieved to see that he didn't have any watchers. He crawled over to a nearby tree and collapsed, sitting so he was leaning against the tree and continuing just to try to breathe. Breathe and ignore the tears starting to roll down his face. He pushed his back against the tree until it hurt slightly, needing to feel something solid while the rest of his senses were floaty. "Still a little fuzzy but here."

"I'm glad," Dyn'ad replied, relief flowing through the link closely followed by warm bubbly feelings that didn't help Ryraso feel better in the slightest. Tai'ray and Nel'os were also nearby, blatantly listening in. If Ryraso had the energy, he would have been embarrassed but he was in the numb phase of this. "Are you hurt?" 

"Can't tell at the moment. Probably won't be happy tomorrow. My legs are burning. Nothing serious, I think, physically," Ryraso catalogued, doing a brief once over of just what he was feeling in that moment. His chest burned. His throat burned. Every breath was cold and he could almost taste blood in it. His eyes itched, his hands ached and his legs were on fire. Not just burning but screaming. From his muscles to his ankles and knees. But nothing to suggest he'd broken bones or anything particularly important. 

Looking up, Ryraso realised he wasn't exactly sure where he was. Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet, still leaning heavily against the tree. Dyn'ad was talking to him again, or trying to but it was starting to sound underwater. Quite possibly because it wasn't a true bond and as much as the Royals like to take advantage of the fact they could use the link with him anyway, there were limitations. 

Slowly, Ryraso did some stretches. His muscles making their complaints painfully known but he knew better. They needed to be cooled down. He'd already risked too much damage in that display of lack of control. He needed to stop any more complications. 

Stretches down, and still trembling, Ryraso slowly began walking. Not towards the palace. He was outside. He knew it. He could feel it in his stomach and being outside meant one thing.