Nitthum's Bane

Eleazar scrambles to find a way to save the dying Aurei

 

43.

Nitthum’s Bane

 

Eleazar fell to the ground, his face riddled with tiny shards of the swords.   The light from his sword was gone, reducing the scene to that of a dark snowy night, but he could see crystal clear.   In front of him lay Aurei, her innards gone, unconscious and quickly fading; her heat signature cooling as he scrambled over to her.

“Be healed!”  He screamed, laying hands on her, but it was far from enough and he knew she only had seconds left.   Wildly, he looked around, hysterical at his complete helplessness, facing his worse nightmare the second time in one night.

As his eyes zipped back and forth in desperation, a glimmer of something metal in the snow caught his eye.   Without thinking he grabbed at it.   It was a ring, but not just any ring, it was the Ring of Nitthum; identical in design to the one Aurei wore.   Clawing at her gauntleted hand, he began to place the ring on her finger when sense returned to him and he remembered the vision of his mother.  

 

Releasing her hand, he hurriedly fumbled with the ring, slipping it on his finger as he watched with wide eyes, Aurei’s breathing cease.  

“You can’t die!   Live!   Aurei!  No! Please, Yesh, I don’t want to lose her!  Help me, Lord!”

He looked up, startled to see someone standing before him.   At first he thought it had to be an angel of Yesh, but when he knelt down, he was absolutely dumbfounded to see Sir Alvis - hollow eyed and pale, but clearly alive and in his right mind- take Aurei’s hand and in rasping voice chant, “In the name of Yesh the Merciful, the Holy One, be healed!”

Blue light danced around her stomach wound and it greatly improved, though she still had not taken a breath.

“Breathe, Aurei!   Come on, Breathe!”  Eleazar was wild with terror and he leaned over, opened her mouth and breathed into her.   Once, twice, then all at once she took a ragged breath and kept breathing, though she was unconscious.   Eleazar fell back on his knees, looking again at her wound.   Already it seemed to be regenerating, due to the Rings they both wore.  

“She’ll live.”  Sir Alvis said wearily, and Eleazar leaned over and embraced him.

“My dear brother, thank Yesh you are alive!”

“Barely, but thanks to this brave girl, I am.” He said; his voice a whisper, “I endured horrible things, Eleazar, horrible things.   It was as if I were frozen in a nightmare, watching myself do things which I could not control.  They placed this yoke on me…”  He trailed off, shivering at the thought.  

 

Eleazar looked around.   They were on a snow-covered hilltop, out in the middle of nowhere, probably 10 or 15 miles further west then when they’d taken off on the airship.   The Autumn Maid was no-where to be seen, and Eleazar wondered how the crew could not have noticed that something was going on onboard the Emperor’s airship that they towed? 

“We’ve got to get a fire going to stay warm.”   Eleazar told Alvis, “There is debris everywhere; I’ll gather the wood.”

“I can help.”   Alvis said, shakily getting to his feet.

“No, stay here and rest; it’s a simple task.   I’ll bring you up to date on what has happened.”

Eleazar quickly scooped up the scattered remains of the destroyed crates and placed them on an intact side of a crate, which he pushed over to where Alvis sat with the still unconscious Aurei.   As he worked, he told the Knight Commander all that had transpired since Alvis had been taken captive by the Necromancer’s Guild.   By the time he’d finished updating Sir Alvis, they had a nice fire blazing.

The two men sat around the fire, wrapped in cloaks and robes found in the Emperor’s collection of enchanted treasures. 

“What can you tell me about the plans of the Guild?”  Eleazar asked as he lifted Aurei onto his lap, where he placed a robe and cloak around her and then wrapped his arms around her in an embrace. 

“Eleazar, I know terrible things, I have seen the inside of the Guild’s structure, and it is horrifying.   The Emperor is under their control now and they will utilize what legions remain loyal to him, supplemented by undead.  But they are deceiving the people of the world into believing an invasion will come through the use of an army of zombies, ghouls and ghasts.   They have larger, much more sinister plans, but I don’t want to speak of them out here in the open.   We must get to Westmark and warn King Haroldris and the others.   I will explain it all, but not here.   There will be an invasion, but much different then how it appears and it will begin soon.”

“That’s what we suspected and feared.   Haroldris has made plans for just such an invasion.”  

“They won’t be prepared for what is coming, believe me.”

“Well, we can’t do anything tonight, but wait for dawn.”

Alvis nodded, “Aurei needs sleep and warmth; you are right, my friend, we’ll wait.   I am very glad to find both of you well.   Let us rest for now.”

Eleazar was stroking the unconscious girl’s hair and cheeks as he spoke, which surprised the older Knight.   The half-Drow didn’t even seem to realize how intimate his actions were toward her, but Sir Alvis was too weak and unsure of everything to say anything to him right then.  

 

Reviews

[Elina]

"...in rasping voice chat..." I believe chat ought to be chant.
"...she took a ragged breath and keep breathing..." Keep should be kept.
"...shakingly getting to his feet." Perhaps shakily, rather than shakingly?

Another great chapter...