Snippet #2546615

Darren had spent the majority of his time positioning eucalyptus herbs in different corners of the temple and lighting them like incense, hoping it would help calm the injured and flustered as he recently discovered it did for him. The scent was heavy and intoxicating, but after breathing it in for a few moments, one could even taste it along the roof of their mouth, a slight menthol numbing effect tingling the tip of the tongue. Darren stood over the unconscious Indrani, tracing words with the smoke over her form as a matter of timing how long to let the scent linger before laying it upon the table beside the rest of the herbs and medical instruments. Once he had next finished preparing the fever tea, he made his rounds, administering it to the patients as he checked on them.

Kneeling down beside Andrew, making sure he was still conscious, he carefully brought the tea to the boy’s lips to sip. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sora dash past, back towards the entrance, a chorus of pants and yips as he quickly deduced a furry sibling had arrived. The two sisters dances around one another in greeting and then together they investigated the injured, almost as if Sora was showing Kaya her new ‘friends’. Kaya was not as subtle and a few patients startled and began to whimper.

“It’s ok, we are all family, the furry ones, I swear.” Darren smiled, whistling to get the wolves attention and then was almost knocked over by the two as they sniffed, licked and tried to steal some bread Kenya was in route of bringing over. “No. Kaya….” Darren clapped slipped off his gloves and clapped, the noise only settling the wolves for a second, but enough to distract them back towards the entrance once again. “Don’t yell or scream...it will only excite them…”

Andrew reached out a hand as Kaya passed, letting his fingertips graze the tips of her fur and smiled. “Should we be expecting anymore to show up and startle the camp? Why do you even have...HOW...I ...are they like pets?”

Darren cursed as he caught Kaya momentarily dropping her plushie companion when Kenya tossed a piece of bread away from herself as if to lead the wolf away. Kaya looked over in the direction the food was thrown and then she simply circled behind Kenya and snatched a larger piece of bread and bounded back to her stuffed dragon. “Lazy wolf...go get a mole or something..” Kenya simply laughed, and held the rest of the bread on a platter above her head, out of reach but Sora took that as an invited to play; a challenge and began jumping to reach the platter.

“Sora! Come here girl..” He smirked as the wolf trotted back to Darren’s side and laid down with her head on Andrew’s lap. “No...they are not pets...they come and go as they please...see my Mother had puppies..”

“Wait..your MOTHER had PUPPIES?” Andrew started to laugh, groaning in between chuckles.

“No...hey, no, no..She found a wolf as a cub and took care of it and it stayed with her for years. The wolf recently gave birth to a litter of wolf cubs and they all...found someone to latch onto.”
Andrew smiled, his eyes growing heavy as he stifled a yawn. Darren nudged at the boy. “Hey now...stay awake..stay with me..or else..” He snickered, waggling his eyebrows. “Sora likes giving kisses...don’t you Sora?”

The wolf perked up and started slowly inching towards Darren, her tongue lapping at the air playfully, her tail thumping in approval. Darren motioned towards the boy and Sora lept up and began to drown the boy’s face in wolf kisses.

“Ugh..no...wait...that’s so not fair!” Andrew laughed, unable to fight the wolf’s advances.

“It does the job quite well though..” Darren signaled Sora to stay, as he stood once again, his attention drawn towards an approaching figure he recognized instantly. “Jakey..so you’re the one letting Kaya run a muck, mhmm? Always letting children walk all over you, yea?” Absently, Darren slipped his gloves back on and glanced around the room. “Indrani is still unconscious...and there are survivors. Looks like the funeral is proceeding..” Darren whispered the last words, staring off into the night, fixated upon distant torchlight.. Sudden distant cries and pleas, pierced through the eerie silence, his heart sinking fast at the sorrow he could only imagine the families were feeling. It was hard to make out the words and at first, he only thought it was the grief, until he swore he caught the words, ‘ Not Dead.” He took a few steps forward to leave the temple to investigate when Sora started to whimper and bark, dragging Darren’s attention back to Andrew who was no longer sitting there with his eyes open smiling, now closed and slouched, the wolf frantically licking the boy’s face with no response. Again came the screams, even louder this time, the sound sending shivers down Darren’s spine.

“Andrew? Hey...kid...hey…” He poked the boy in the side, shook him some and began trying to force open his eyelids to see his eyes, but they were rolled up in his head. He couldn’t see the boy’s chest move and had to lean in close to catch a few shaky breaths, but it was almost impossible to detect.

“Jake...can you..go. see...would you?” Darren didn’t even look towards his Uncle before running off to fetch Annie, all the while yelling her name. “The kid’s out...can’t wake him...barely breathing...and something is going on outside…” He called up the tower, feeling momentarily torn and useless where he stood, his face going slightly pale.

Jake had barely stepped into view and he heard Darren call for him, a smile crossed his features as the guy mentioned Kaya’s antics. “Hey, Crys handles the discipline and I just spoil her with toys and treats, that’s the deal.” He smirked, calling the wolf to him with a gesture; Kaya obediently sitting beside him and nudging his hand as though deciding she deserved praise. “There, see? She’s a good girl.” Jake’s smile shut as he thought about the dead bodies outside, deciding that he would actually go check on Shadow and then help put the pyre together, the man silently petting Kaya as his thoughts seemed to wander away for a moment only brought back by the commotion coming from outside. He scratched behind Kaya’s ears in a more playful manner before agreeing to Darren’s request with a simple nod and leaving the temple towards the screaming; the wolf following him closely.

The screams that could be heard faintly from the temple became clearer and clearer until Jake finally spotted the woman clinging to her deceased husband; a knife waving in the direction of the two men trying to calm her down.

“Whoa, Raina, come on, that’s not necessary.” One of them tried to reason. “Someone’s going to get hurt if you don’t put that down.”

“No! You’re not listening to me! I saw it! He moved!”

“Raina, that’s not poss-...”

“YOU’RE NOT TAKING HIM.”

Jacob silently commanded Kaya to stay put and the wolf laid down a few steps behind him remaining perfectly still as he continued to move forward towards the commotion. He walked close enough to the woman that, had he chose to, he could have disarmed her by force. He didn’t think that was the best way to handle this, and it didn’t seem to him like it was actually necessary. “Excuse me.” He called, as softly as possible. “I don’t want to bother you, ma’am, but the screaming is upsetting the patients in the temple. Is there something I can do to help, maybe?”

The woman turned momentarily to look at Jake, but kept her attention on her fellow Crimson. “Are you a healer?”

“No, ma’am, but I’ve worked with them, maybe I can do something for you.” Jake offered. “Raina, isn’t it? Is this your husband?”

“I saw him move. He moved. He’s not dead. I won’t let them burn him.”

“Raina, he’s been dead for hours... There’s no way to save him, why would we lie to you?”

Jake sighed. “Alright, alright. May I suggest something? Raina, how about I tell these guys to go away and in turn you give that knife to me? Then we can talk about your husband’s... Condition. Can we do that?”

Raina agreed with a slow nod of her head and her two companions shook their heads in defeat as they turned to walk away. Only after there were a good distance away from her, the woman offered the knife to Jake, like they had agreed. Jake smiled kindly as he took the knife from the distressed woman. “There. That’s better. Now, what’s your husband’s name?”
“John.” The woman replied, eyes glancing towards the deceased man she had been guarding.
“John. Seems like John was a very good man.”
“He is a good man.” The woman corrected, stubbornly.
“Raina, John isn’t alive. What you saw was probably a spasm, dead bodies do that sometimes.”
“I’m not tossing my husband in a fire over a ‘probably’.” The woman declared, stroking the deceased man’s hair lovingly. “He’s alive. I know it. He’ll come back to me.” She whispered, almost as if she understood how crazy the words actually sounded.

Jacob sighed softly; he found no joy in this, but he understood it needed to be done. “Raina, listen, I want you to do something, just for a minute... Close your eyes and think about your husband, think about the last time you saw him, the last words he spoke to you. Remember him then.” He waited for the woman to close her eyes and gave her a few moments, he knew she had done what his asked when tears began to roll down her cheeks. “Now open your eyes and look at him. Can you honestly believe that the good man you knew and loved, is still here? Can you see anything of him still left?”

The woman hesitated, seemingly unwilling to open her eyes and face reality, but eventually she did open them to stare at her husband’s dead body. She looked straight into the man’s unblinking eyes, tears streaming down more intensely, but she didn’t answer Jake’s questions.

“I know this is difficult, Raina. Trust me, I understand that right now you don’t want to think this is real. You just rather believe he will wake up somehow, that you will wake up and discover all of this was just a nightmare, or that something, anything, will happen to change things back to what they were before; to what they should be, but deep down I know you know that this is your reality now. Look at him, he’s not here anymore. He can’t get hurt anymore, but you can. This denial is a knife through your heart.”

“What is your name?” She asked him suddenly. “I think I remember seeing you around here before, but I don’t think I know who you are.”
“Jacob.” He answered her. “I don’t think I’ve been here many times in the past few years. I don’t think we’ve met before.”

“Jacob.” The woman snorted in a mix between a laugh and a sob. “Are you married?”
“Not yet, no.” Jake mumbled, a bit startled by the question.
“You do have someone though, don’t you?”
Jake simply nodded his response, not sure how or why the subject had shifted to his personal life, but indulging the woman.
“Don’t do to her what my John did to me, do you understand? He was a good man; too good sometimes. Good men like him, like you, don’t know when to stop fighting.”
“I can’t promise that.” Jake smiled. “I promised her that I wouldn’t make any more promises.”
“Sensible girl.” Raina nodded her approval, suddenly patting Jake’s cheek playfully as though he was a misbehaved child. “You hold on to that one.”
“I take it it’s okay to give you this now.” Was Jake’s only response, returning the knife to Raina.
The woman nodded, returning it to her husband’s belt. “Would you be a dear and tell those two to come back now? I’m ready.”

Annie was already on her way out of Dastan’s room when she heard Darren calling for her. She quickened her step and practically jumped down to ground level, making her way to her medicine bag and finding a vial that seemed to be containing some sort of white smoke, staring at it in a brief moment of hesitation before kneeling beside Andrew, making sure the boy was laying comfortably on his back, checking his pulse and breath; that were considerably weak. “It’ll be alright.” She smiled at the unconscious boy for a moment before handing the vial to Darren. “This is in case I pass out; just hold it under my nose and open, should wake me right up. I haven’t done this in a while now, not sure what will happen exactly, but should be okay unless I go unconscious. It’s very important that I wake up right away. Otherwise I might... Not...” She mumbled the last few words in a softer tone and covering them with a little forced cough. It would be a lie if Annie told herself she wasn’t dreading this, even a little bit; that she wasn’t worried. Last time had been unpleasant and Alistair had wanted her to promise not to heal anyone until this whole illness thing was solved. She obviously couldn’t agree to that. If such a promise had been made, this is where she would have broken it; because there was no other means to save this boy’s life. It was not something Annie felt she could turn away from, even if it meant taking a risk.

Annie inhaled deeply, placing one hand over Andrew’s chest and the other over his abdomen, golden flecks of light could be seen spreading across her dark brown eyes for a just a moment before they closed, a slightly pained grimace marking the girl’s features as she concentrated. It took more effort now than it did a few months ago and Andrew’s internal injuries were severe so what would normally take no more than a minute stretched on for several.

The act of healing was always exhausting; that was not new, but it had only briefly been painful during Annie’s early years and never quite like this. She could feel her work was done when the after effects began to set in, her head was pounding, stomach turning, before she even managed to open her eyes she felt around and grabbed a small bucket that at one point contained water; it was empty now, but not for long. Annie threw up into the bucket, spitting out the taste of rusted iron, her stomach hurt and now she became very aware that she had not opened her eyes. “Ugh, fucking hell...” She muttered out, making an effort to stay awake, to open her eyes... Open her eyes... She needed to open her eyes now. Light stung, but gradually that feeling faded and she was able to see again, looking down she noted the red droplets staining her white robes and only then she realized the warm substance trailing down from her left nostril, raising her hand towards the bleed and leaning forward where she now sat on the stony ground. “Won’t be doing this again anytime soon, I hope.” She mumbled, her voice a bit weak. “Darren... Let’s not tell Alistair about this, okay?”

“Wait..is this ...really wise?” Darren was able to mutter between his instructions as a small vial was handed to him. He followed Annie close, and stood giving her enough space but close enough to catch her if she collapsed. His brows furrowed in a worried grimace, not liking the risk that was becoming unfortunately clear before him. “I don’t like this…but..whatever you need...” He whispered as Annie placed her hands on Andrew, twitching and reaching out towards her in a childish helplessness as he observed the transition of pain. He knew not to touch her though but all he wished to do in that moment was hold her in his arms, feeling slightly sick at the idea of her not waking up. His light, blue eyes flickered, the color appearing to swirl within his irises yet unmoving as the tension unnerved him.

Andrew’s breathing became more steady, noticeably, which was what hinted to Darren that whatever Annie had done, seemed to have worked. The minor wounds on his face and chest had faded almost completely away, disappearing before his eyes. Her balance seemed off and as she reached out for the bucket to expel a reddish liquid, he figured as a result of whatever pain he could only imagine she was feeling. Where she moved, he moved, holding the vial ready incase she passed out. As she lowered herself to the stone floor, Darren knelt behind her, gently rubbing her back in circular motions with his gloved fingertips. “..Is it odd, that I find it attractive when you curse?” He whispered half in amusement and half complimentary. “Don’t believe I’ve ever heard you curse at all during the few months I’ve known you.”

Once Darren saw Annie open her eyes, he set the vial aside, taking a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbing at the blood trail from her nose. He paused to lift her head, so he could see into her eyes, inspecting them carefully. Darren quirked a brow, shaking his head slowly, handing Annie the handkerchief to hold to her nostril. “I don’t wish to get on Alistair’s bad side...but...if you take it easy and let me take care of you and help more...then I could be persuaded to keep my mouth shut.” Darren’s smile was devilishly handsome, as if he were up to no good and trying to play innocent, while his eyes were gentle, sparkling wildly like firecrackers as he continued to stare at Annie. “White...is not a very convenient color for Healers..” He sighed, glancing down at the woman’s dress and the drops of blood staining the white cloth. “You..did a very..brave thing..you know.” He whispered, leaning into Annie a bit, encouraging the woman to use him as support, sneaking a flask of water onto her lap.

Annie couldn’t help but feel a bit of amusement at Darren’s worry. It made her want to shake her head and laugh as if he was just being foolish. However, actually doing it would make her headache worse and probably cause the room to spin faster. She knew he wasn’t worrying over nothing; this was really cause for concern, but she couldn’t help but be amused all the same. “Heey, are you trying to blackmail me, mister?” She questioned, holding the handkerchief to her bloody nose for a little while, but pulling it away when she felt the bleeding was starting to subside. “Because don’t think I won’t tell your mother about this when I see her.” She threatened, giving Darren a pretty convincing angry glare for a few moments before letting her expression melt into a warm smile. “Don’t worry, there’s little work left to do here, a good night’s sleep and I’ll recover. I’ve had worse. Well, maybe not worse, but I’ve had pretty bad before.” She shrugged calmly, letting her gaze fall to the blood stains on her robes and sighing at a thought. “I have a feeling that now is a bad time to start parading around dressed in red, so I’m afraid white will have to do. Besides, we’d have to change our name and Crimson Shadows is already taken, even if there’s only a dozen of them left... I see a lot of confusion, don’t you think? The whole land might fall into absolute chaos!” She exclaimed, faking shock at the thought. Sarcasm wasn’t something that showed very often in Annie’s personality and it was a part of her self that very few would expect to see; much like her occasional cursing. “I think the last person to hear me curse was Luckas, but then he’s more inclined than you to come find me in a bad day and bring me extra worries.” She noticed the flask of water sitting idly on her lap and drank from it slowly, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths in between sips until it felt like everything was a bit more steady. “Dastan should come down eventually if I managed to get through to him.” Annie opened her eyes and was glad that the walls seemed completely motionless now. “Better.” She mumbled under her breath. “The man is in a very bad place right now. I don’t blame him.”

“Blackmail? Not at all. I like to think of it as a mutual agreement between friends...but I would keep any secret you asked of me, so long as it does not endanger you. You seem like you’ll live...so no you don’t need to go tattle on me to Ess..er my Mother.” Darren smiled, rolling his eyes in fake exasperation. “Besides..she might just say I’m a resourceful man around stubborn women.”

Darren casually stood, extending his hand down to help Annie to her feet, just as Sora appeared from the other side of Annie to lick at her cheek in greeting. “Sleep? When was the last time any of us had a ‘good night sleep?’ Hmm? When was the last time you slept in general?” It was Darren’s turn to try to give a convincing scowl of concern but instead he looked more like a puckered fish, holding his breath. He chuckled at Annie, taking a moment to look over Andrew is quiet amazement. Darren thought he saw the boy begin to stir, but he waited for the kid to come to on his own and after a few moments the boy opened his eyes.

“Welcome back, Andrew. How you feeling?”

“Ugh...tired...and like I have to take the biggest piss ever..” Andrew mumbled, as he slowly got to his feet, leaning against a small table and chair. “The pain..it’s gone?”

“.That’s...probably a bit more information than I needed, but ok, just..take it slow..” Darren snorted, wondering to himself if that were a side effect from the rapid healing, but didn’t say anything. “Yep. Those cuts and bruises look to be gone too. You sir, are good to go.”

When Andrew had wandered off far enough, seemingly a bit disorientated still, Darren turned back to Annie. “So...did you figure out if Dastan is not to blame then? How should this be handled? Do we send word on what has happened or do we wait for Dastan?”

“Trust me, after this I’ll sleep whether I like it or not. I just have to hang in there and stay awake for an hour or so to make sure it’s safe.” Annie smiled, petting Sora cheerfully before accepting Darren’s offered hand to pull herself up on her feet. Her brown eyes followed Andrew as he wandered off; a bit groggy but otherwise fully recovered. It didn’t even look as though the kid was moments away from Death. “I don’t usually keep secrets from Alistair, none of my own at least, but there’s no need for him to worry over this when there’s nothing he can do about it. He knows that I’m sick, he knows that in situations like this I won’t turn my back regardless of risks; that’s just who I am, he doesn’t need to hear that this happened. Besides, if he worries about me any more he’ll push me right over the edge of sanity, and no one wants that.” Annie silenced for a few moments. She had theories upon theories concerning what had happened to Dastan, but there was very little that she could actually say at this point. “Dastan is not responsible. He presented symptoms of having suffered mental paralysis or manipulation. If my mom was still around she’d be able to know for sure how and what happened, but as it stands... The only telepath I know who might be able to do this... Well, I don’t want to say I don’t trust him, but basically: I don’t. And I’m not sure whether the eclipse was natural or caused by shadow manipulation; I can’t really speculate, could be either. What I can say is that Dastan was not responsible for what happened here. It doesn’t mean he won’t feel responsible, or that it won’t be difficult for him to face all of this. So maybe we should let Jackson, and Indrani when she’s better, handle him from here. Still, I want to talk to Crys and Jake about what happened here.”