I didn’t even want to look at Dahr, couldn’t face whatever expression would be waiting for me on his face. I half-expected him to vanish and just dump me in my bed, with absolutely no intention to see me ever again.
“There’s bread and hard cheese for your stomach,” Dahr announced with a soft voice as he leaned into me for another small kiss, this time on my cheek. “I recommend sleeping until you feel better, I’ll come find you before dinner.”
I wanted nothing more than to hug him and apologise, to tell him how stupid I was to get involved in things that were out of my control and how untrained with alcohol I had let myself become in the past years. Instead, I let myself drift off, soothed by his deep voice and the slow caresses he kept placing on my cheek.
“...has no one else to protect his ass,” Markos’ laugh appeared through the fog of my drunken memories.
“Lucky I didn’t stab you when you were eleven, this silly one got himself impaled in the iron fence…” Dahr’s eyes were sharp, lovingly looking at me, as Karisha’s laughter echoed from somewhere behind. “I had to hold him up for a couple of hours until his mother came home. And he was a chubby boy back then.”
“I was not!” Markos started defending himself, but both Karisha and Dahr howled with laughter.
“... unfortunate events. Raakim is an absolute miserable bastard,” it was Karisha who said it and I don’t think I ever heard her swear like this.
“I tried to run away…” Dahr’s explanation protruded through my mind. “My power manifested early… too early, almost a decade before my coming of age. I didn’t want to put my family in danger, so I ran.”
“...when they caught him, they brought him back to town and made him watch as every member of our family was slaughtered,” it was Markos’ turn to say. “They left me alive as an incentive. A reminder to follow the rules.”
“After that, we both transferred from camp to camp, fighting and killing when we were told to,” Dahr’s adamant eyes pierced my heart, shattering the pieces his story hadn’t cracked just yet. “We’re lucky to have stayed alive this long,” he confessed.
“Not when we have such a brave leader,” Karisha reached for Dahr’s hand over the table and squeezed it slightly. “You are saving thousands of souls every month.”
“And killing thousands more,” Dahr’s broken voice forced my eyes open.
Last night slowly pieced itself together, memories still faded at the edges, like a round block of marble that broke against the chisel.
Dahr’s power had been so great that he ran away, too scared to face what he had to do. And his entire family paid the price. I seemed to remember that the boys’ mothers were half-sisters, both of them defeated in that slaughter. A slaughter they had to watch. A slaughter that forced them into compliance. That broke their spirits.
I had absolutely no right to interfere, and I had completely misjudged the two of them. Markos was doing nothing but protect his only family member left alive. What I still didn’t understand was, why did he feel the need to protect him from me?
My stomach groaned and I barely pushed my head out of the tent, where I whirled my guts on the hard rocky terrain. I wasn’ta big fan of sickness, so this entire action bothered me more than it should have. By the end of it, my body was shaking as though I had seen a ghost or had a full-on panic attack.
“Rough night?” a glass of water appeared in front of me, a strong hand holding it near my face but not right under my mouth, should I decide to go for a second round of vomiting. I barely lifted my head to see Sylam, crouching over me, his shadow covering my face from the harsh midday sun.
“You have no idea,” I groaned and forced my feet into a stand while grabbing his hand for extra support.
“Drink slowly, the first absinthe coma is no joke,” I heard Sylam chuckle for the very first time as he handed me the glass of water.
“You seem cheerful today,” I observed while tilting my head away from the sun and taking a step back towards the tent, doing my best to cover the light against Sylam’s tall frame.
“I like solstice celebrations,” he smiled again, with even more excitement. “Which by the way, you need to get ready for. The tribe lady sent me to fetch you.”
I immediately shook my head, the only thing I wanted was to fall back into that bed and pass out.
“She also said that if you refuse, I should wrap you up like a fish and dump you in her bed. That she’ll have to deal with you anyway, so you might as well not put up a fight,” he smirked, giving me a full view of his straight teeth.
“She did not say that!” I frowned at him before I took another sip of water. It’s fall into my stomach was heavy and slightly painful, but soothing, nonetheless.
“Would you like to find out?” Sylam challenged.
I released a deep sigh then followed the warrior to Karisha’s tent.
“Finally! I was starting to think we need to burn that tent to get you out!” Karisha giggled at the sight of me.
“Ha. Ha,” I said with no amount of joy as I entered her ‘room’ and launched myself into bed, letting my head fall over her soft pillows. “I feel like I’m dying…” I groaned as the room started spinning around me, making Karisha’s sweet voice sound like a clap of thunder booming into my ears.
“Here,” the woman stepped towards me and offered me a steaming mug, jiggling it a bit to draw my attention to her movement. I did not react and only blinked at her, too tired to move again. Walking from my tent to hers already took most of my energy and my body begged to rest yet again.
“Sylam already gave me a glass of water. I think it made me more drunk than I already was,” I groaned into her pillow again, cursing my life choices and swearing to myself that, no matter how tasty the drink, I would never have more than one. Ever again.
