《A Ghost in the House of Iron》Chapter 30
Advertisement
Chaos creeps at the corners of my mind, even as I sleep. In my dreams I'm floating alone in inky blackness, or swimming untethered in a sea of stars that laugh and laugh… The laughter fills me up, bubbling out of me when I'm awake, uncontainable.
The only thing grounding me in the physical world is the lingering feeling of that warm touch gliding along my skin, gentle fingers tugging my wounds closed with a tingle of magic. Somehow he seemed to soothe even the hidden injuries, left by the spell that squeezed and clawed its bony fingers along my insides, but also by that crushing grip around my neck. It's like I can still feel it, cutting off my ability to breathe as I hopelessly gasp and kick.
The king's huge hands used to remind me of my papa's. They don't anymore. Too many invisible scars have been left by the cruel hands of men, each memory leaving an imprint deep within. Ezebel's assignments always had their risks, but she'd say it was worth it, that a grab or a squeeze mattered very little in the grand scheme of things. A price worth paying. No real damage done. Yet I can still feel Gregorius's knobby fingers, skin thin and veiny, pinching like the covetous talons of a bird of prey.
The next time I blink into consciousness the cave is dark, the campfire died down to embers. Aisling is sitting beside me in my little sleeping nook, her knees up and her head resting against the rocky wall. Her eyes are closed, but I can tell she's still awake. She's got a hand on the hilt of her dagger, ready to pounce at any second.
"Where is he?" I ask, my voice thick with sleep.
"Huh?" she gives a start, her honey-blonde hair falling over her face as she looks down at me."The prince? Resting. Like you should be."
I drop my head back down. "I'm sorry, Aisling," I say, the words muffled against the blankets. My body shakes with joyless laughter, but I'm able to swallow most of the sound.
"We'll talk about it when you've gotten some more sleep," she says softly. She must think I'm crying, I realize. "He said he only healed the cuts on a surface level, and there was so much blood…" She sighs, rubbing her face.
"He fixed the outside" I say, my voice thin with suppressed giggles, "but inside I'm all messy. My threads got unwound. Drifting loose."
Advertisement
Aisling frowns, brows furrowed with concern. "Rest, okay?" she says. "Go back to sleep."
...
I wake up to a soft fluttering near my head, alerting me to the pixie's arrival. The cave is d..ark, with the fire dying down to embers and sleeping forms huddled next to its dwindling warmth. Aisling snores softly not far away.
The pixie darts around me, trailing glowing blue fluff, before dropping something on the ground beside my chest.
"Lady left treats!" it says, zig-zagging above the delivery, which is larger than the pixie itself—a familiar napkin-wrapped bundle.
"You went back?" I try to keep my voice down so I don't wake the others. "You shouldn't have done that," I scold. I'm trying to be stern, but a smile twitches at the corners of my mouth. I reach out to touch the present.
"No nibbles for me. Only you!" the pixie says. "Eat! Eat!"
I push myself slowly into a sitting position, crossing my knees before me. Something about the rich taste of chocolate and the crumbly sweetness of the biscuits melting in my mouth calms my trembling fingers; momentarily quiets the tormenting laughter.
"Thank you..." I say to the pixie. "I don't know your name. What are you called, little one?"
"Me? A name?" it gasps. It lets out a bashful giggle and flies in a loop around my sleeping area. "I only have one, lady," it chirps. "I give to you?"
"I'd be careful with that," Owlodin says softly, ducking his head to step into my corner of the cave. "A name is a powerful thing, for a faerie."
"Huh?" I blink at him. My hysterical, swirly mind is throwing a party at his presence, celebratory sparks shooting around within my skull. Somehow he seems so much brighter and more real than anything else I've ever seen. So unbelievably beautiful, so here.
He gives me a small grin. "Can I?" he asks, gesturing to the pile of blankets next to me.
I nod, more emphatically than I mean to. Trying to hide my strange eagerness, I finish the rest of the biscuit in my hand, chewing slowly.
He sits, with a deep sigh. "That was some of the most intense spellcasting I’ve ever done. Took more out of me than I realized.”
“Should I be worried?” I ask.
"Worried?" That grin again. "Don't worry. I don't run mysteriously into the woods and turn up nearly dead the next day."
Advertisement
Nearly? Balsevor says. Farther than that, no?
"Twice dead, if it wasn't for you," I say. "All of you." I nod to the pixie hovering near us.
"Saved the lady. Hurry-hurry," the pixie says.
"I don't know if I want to ask, or…" Owl says.
I inhale slowly. "I… I got caught. Rogemere… I had to get away from him, and I…" The king. I have to tell him about the king. Laughter bubbles up; I clap both hands over my mouth.
The pixie launches down to my now much smaller stack of chocolate biscuits. "Eat!" it says, bouncing up and down. "Eat, eat!"
"Maybe you should listen to it," Owl says, chuckling. "We can talk about the rest later. If you want to. You don't… It's okay if…"
You have… What do the humans call it? Balsevor says. Mana sickness. Too much of the chaos flowing through your mortal shell.
My eyes widen. "How do you…?"
"That's not how mana sickness works," Owl argues. "It drains. People age, grow ill, fall asleep and never wake up again. Not…" He waves his hands vaguely in my direction.
Of course, Balsevor says. Human wizards pull mana out of their own physical being because they are too foolish to know otherwise. But that's not how magic works for us.
"Us?" I ask. "What do you—?"
Those who are directly connected, the dragon says. Tapped in to the chaos. Fae, dragons… Ancients. For us, too much magic does…. this.
"Oh," I breathe. A giggle slips out. "Oh."
You abandoned your shell, didn't you? Balsevor asks. Fully embraced the chaos. Let it take you.
"I had to," I say, my voice growing thin.
"Balsevor," Owl snaps. "What does that mean?" He seems to be growing genuinely irritated as the dragon and I talk back and forth.
"It means I died," I say. "To get away from Rogemere I… I died. But for some reason…"
Someone didn't want you to, the dragon says.
"I was drifting loose, and then… I wasn't," I say. "Owl... I'm so sorry… I…"
"Sorry? For not dying? I don't—"
"No, the king. Rogemere used a spell. He was controlling the king's body and…" I wince.
"Is he…? No, it doesn’t matter. I’m sure he’s fine. The Ironborn would have saved him."
"But what if he isn’t? What if he’s…" I wince, hating the laughter in my voice. "It’s my fault."
"No, it’s not," he argues.
"Yes, it is!" A high, muffled laugh sneaks out between my fingers. "It's my fault. I don't even know… I’m not even sure he's alive."
"He’s alive. Or he isn’t. I don’t care. I’m not going to get wrapped up in all of that again."
"All of what? Owl, it's your father," I say.
A cloud seems to gather behind his eyes. The lines of his face harden. "I am not the prince."
"He is still your father."
"Stop," he says. "Stop trying to turn me into someone I'm not."
"I'm not—"
"You are. It's not enough that I came back to this place to try and save my mother; now I have to care about him, too? I'm not hiding out here in the woods so I can swoop in and be the champion when you say the word. I'm out here because it's where I belong. Away from all of it. All of them. I don't ever want to go back.”
For a long moment, the only sound is the crackling of the campfire, and then a tiny, breathless chuckle emerges from my lips. My body starts to shudder with soundless laughter.
He glares at me, and that only makes it worse. The muscles in my face hurt from holding it in; from forcing my expression into a frown. The darkness feels so close, pulling at my being.
"Maybe this was a mistake," he says.
"What?" I ask, between wheezing giggles.
He stands and says, "I should have just done this on my own."
Owl, you're being too— Balsevor starts.
"Stop." Owlodin picks up his jacket from where he left it folded in his corner of the cave. He leaves the books and the Ironborn robes.
"I'm sorry," I whisper. My stomach aches from the unstoppable laughter. I hold my arms tightly around my midsection, like if I squeeze hard enough I can force the chaos back inside.
"It doesn't matter," he says. "It's not about you. You'll be fine. You're… You don't need me. I ruined it, anyway. I can't do this anymore."
And just like that, he leaves.
Advertisement
Very Yummy Poison
The human brain is the most valuable resource on Earth. But only if you use it. You can’t just pile them in your basement. Doesn’t work. Candy is the Guardian of Humanity. It's not going well, but she's cautiously optimistic. A chatbot has destroyed the economy by being better at white collar jobs than hung over dudes. Candy has a plan to fix that. The government wants to send half the population to debt prison. Candy has a plan to fix that. Several super weapons have been stolen, and are turning up in the hands of desperate people. Candy has no plan for that. She's working on it. Very Yummy Poison is a near future, science fiction, romantic comedy, political psychodrama. It's fun. Try it.
8 176Yin & Yang Pleasure of Cultivation
Life wasn't the best for Darcel. Just because of what he was born with. He was robbed of a normal cultivation life by the hands of a strange and cruel Organization.An Organization that treats human life as nothing more than little lab rats and Darcel got forced into their cruel experimentations.For years he lived this way, only having a bit of protection because of his inborn powers. It wasn't until a recurring dream of his unexpectedly had a slight change to it.Be it luck, fate, or destiny, Darcel didn't know and frankly didn't really care. Because after that dream, his life took another dramatic turn to venture out into the universe and explore the pleasure of Yin's Darkness...
8 62Raven's Tale
The story follows a young man called Raven having died was reincarnated in another world,a world full of monsters and demons how can he survive?Hope you enjoy, if you don't please leave some feedback on what i can improve.
8 277The Phoenix: A Tale of Rebirth
The story begins with the Phoenix. A magical beast that is periodically reborn into the world. In the past, it has been reborn as a goblin, slime, a sorceror and a meriad of other creatures and beings.On this ocassion it is an unfortunate and kind-hearted half troll half human that is experiencing the world for the first time while his psychotic half brother makes a journey south towards the mysterious uncharted continent. What he finds there will change the fate of this world and drag the Phoenix into a parlous conflict.New chapters every week... during the weekend... at some point.Please review, comment and tell your friends!Props to the cover picture goes to Sleeping Soul in the Sky.
8 195The Coming of Nico di Angelo
Three demigods shall travel to the followers of Hecate,The monster inside lets the dark one blood see,On the brink of destruction, Poseidon and Athena unite,The father of blackness has a great insight,The friend is an enemy, the enemy a friend,Against a weak but powerful army, the child must reveal his true self in the end...A year after Gaea's Awakening, Nico di Angelo is chosen to lead a quest to Britain in order to find Tom Riddle, a man who has defied Hades and cheated death twice. With Percy and Annabeth accompanying him, Nico must find and destroy seven horcruxes, navigate through his fifth year at Hogwarts, and deal with his own problems back at Camp Half-Blood, all while hiding the fact that he's a demigod from all the wizards in England. Between a budding romance with a certain son of Apollo, a burning desire to make his father proud, and an old vow against killing mortals, the son of Hades is going to do whatever it takes to outwit the Fates and succeed... or die trying.
8 252gods and monsters. graphic shop
𝐆𝐎𝐃𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 ┊ ❝ Hayat, sanatı taklit eder. ❞graphic shop in both english and turkish.ᵒ .༄ ࿐ ࿔* 🦊🩸 graphic / portfolio. © mavipofudukbulut | 2022.
8 97