Frayed Ties (Ties, Book 1) | ✓

Chapter 28

Danya wanted to defend Yore, but he found himself unable to move again as Yore made horrible, guttural choking sounds as though his lungs were being torn out through his mouth. He gagged and spluttered and coughed and retched. Danya wanted to scream, but he couldn't even open his mouth.

And then there was silence except for the sounds of Yore's breathing, still laboured but smoother and far less phlegmy than before. Tiny, cold fingers wiped away a tear that had streaked down Danya's cheek and Danya found he could move again.

"Good puppy," the voice whispered and then the energy was gone and Danya found he could open his eyes again.

The sight of fleshy looking blood on Yore's bedsheets and smeared across his face made Danya's heart skip a beat, but after a moment he realised it was just bloody phlegm — and a lot of it.

Danya barely had time to process what had happened before the room was suddenly full of people. Simon and Hamish and Wyke and Yore's mums and... Slone? Slone was back?

"What happened?" Danya asked.

"Might ask you the same," Slone retorted.

"Some strange being came in here. I think it was the fae children you described, Zunda. And I... I think they helped Yore? I think they made him cough up all the phlegm that was in his lungs."

"Ugh," Hamish said. "Yeah, I'd say so."

"They brought us back here," Slone said. "All of us, an' the cart with all the medical stuff too. Was kinda hard to understand what they were tryin' to say, so we kinda just gave up and trusted them. Walked right into that military camp and not one person even looked our way. Got on the cart and held on tight like they said and then we were here."

"Why did they help us?" Zunda asked. "Did you offer them something in return?"

"Nope," Slone said. "Not even sure what something like that would want."

"Do you think you can save him now?" Zunda asked Wyke, who had left the room and then returned with his arms full of medical supplies.

Wyke shrugged, set the supplies down on a chair, and then made eye contact with Danya and pointed at the phlegm.

"Right!" Danya said, and quickly got to work cleaning up while Wyke set up a drip using the fresh supplies.

After that, there wasn't much to do besides wait. Slone, Zunda, and Emity claimed the two beds nearest the door so that they could be close to Yore while minimising contamination. Danya and Lucas settled into the bed next to Yore's together so that they could remain close at hand and keep one another balanced while they rested.

Wyke stayed awake and monitored Yore's condition. Danya wasn't sure when he'd last slept.

Danya slept lightly, waking frequently and dreaming he awoke to find Yore in conditions varying from completely recovered to dead when he did sleep. Yore's breathing started to get worse again and then slowly, surely, better.

There was no longer anything Danya could do to heal Yore. Yore's own body had taken care of that as best it could. There was still blood under his skin that Yore's body hadn't cleared out that left his skin a mottled yellow-brown like an old bruise, but the damage itself had mostly been healed.

It was around lunchtime the next day when Yore finally started stirring. At first it was just his eyebrows pulling together and him wetting his dry lips, but over the next few hours he started to turn his head and twist his shoulders. His mothers sat next to his bedside and spoke to him in soft tones, Emity holding his hand and gently stroking the back of it with her thumb the whole time.

It was late afternoon when Danya heard a deep, gravely voice say, "Mum?"

Wyke and Slone immediately rushed over to his bedside and his mums leant in closer to him. Danya stayed on the next bed over to give them some space, but he could see and hear what was going on from where he sat. Yore's eyes were open and blinking slowly.

"We're here." Zunda let out a quiet, relieved laugh. "We're here, Yore. Do you remember what happened?"

Yore turned his head to look at her. "Mmmm?"

"Do you remember being with the vampires and then being rescued?" Zunda asked.

"Mm," Yore said, more confidently this time, then cleared his throat against the roughness of it.

"You had an opportunity to save the girl they'd been looking for, but only if you shifted," Emity explained. "You made that choice and it nearly killed you."

"Ah," Yore said and then let out a weak cough.

"Do you remember?" Zunda asked.

"Mm." Yore turned his head to look at Wyke and was silent for a long moment. "Wyke...?"

"We went an' got him so he could do some human doctoring stuff," Slone explained. "Saved your life."

Yore offered Wyke a smile. "Thanks, buddy."

Wyke nodded.

"How's your vision?" Emity asked, and Danya leant forward to listen to Yore's response.

Yore blinked a few times. "Actually... not bad."

"That was Danya's work," Emity told him. "He has a minor healing ability."

"He worked on your hearing as well, which also seems to be functioning well enough," Zunda added.

"And his sense of smell a tiny bit, but I'm not sure I made much difference," Danya said. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more."

Yore turned his head to look at Danya. "You gave me—" he cleared his throat "—a life worth living. Thank you." He turned back to his mothers. "We must—" he started to say, but he was interrupted by a coughing fit. "They helped—"

"We know," Zunda interrupted before he could get too worked up. "We owe them a great debt. There are things they want and ways in which we can help them. And, clearly, ways in which they can help us. Once you've recovered enough to participate, we'll all sit down and discuss what our relationship will look like going forward."

Yore nodded, his eyes falling shut as he let out a long sigh.

Danya stood from the bed. "I'll go and tell the others he's awake."

"Thank you, Danya," Emity said. "And just... thank you, again. You'll always have our gratitude."

"Yes, of course," Zunda said. "There will be discussions regarding relations between our two peoples, but if there is anything you need on a more personal level please don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you, but I have everything I need," Danya told her.

Emity smiled at him. "After you're done spreading the word about Yore, I think Simon has something he wants to speak to you about."

His partner wanting to talk to him about something instinctively made Danya nervous, but Emity was smiling so surely it wasn't anything bad.

Danya nodded. "I will talk to him." Before he left, Danya approached Yore's beside. "I'm so glad you made it."

Yore's eyes were shut and Danya hadn't even been sure he was still awake until his lips curved into a smile. "Me too."