Divided (87 page)

Insensitive, as always.  Aela’s mind exploded with pain at
the possibility, at the casual way with which Ryo pronounced the words.  “NO!” 
She didn’t know, but she shouted the answer.  She couldn’t bear to check Leif’s
breathing—if he was dead, no.  No. 

Abandoning his insensitivity, Ryo leapt off his horse and
placed his head against Leif’s bloody chest.  After a moment, Ryo’s head moved
up to just a hairsbreadth from Leif’s lips.  Aela’s heart twitched, shuddering
in her chest as though it were going to shatter.  Her teeth gritted, and
eventually, her head began to ache.  “Ryo!  Ryo!  Say something!  Tell me! 
Ryo!”  Her mind finally snapped and she began to shout.

The brown eyes of her brother were sympathetic, and Aela’s
entire form began to tremble for a long moment.  “He is breathing, Aela, but…”

Her hand instinctively moved to grab her brother by the
shirt underneath his metal armor.  “No!  Help him!”

The dismayed expression in Ryo’s eyes made Aela’s heart sink
lower.  Still, if Leif was still alive now, then surely they could save him. 
Ryo’s eyes softened at her outburst, which proved that he had enough to worry
him.  He glanced down warily at Leif.  “Alright, help me get him into shelter.”

With some effort, they were able to lift Leif’s body and
pull him into one of the now-abandoned shacks.  Most of the residents had
retreated to the taverns of the city, and Aela knew they dare not risk hauling
Leif there in his current state.  Once they were inside, Ryo began the work of
tearing off Leif’s armor.  Aela tore scraps from her underclothes to press and
hold against Leif’s still bleeding wounds.

They worked in silence, and she could see from the paleness
of Leif’s face that Ryo’s dismay had been merited.  But no, she couldn’t think
like that!  She would not think like that.  Leif would live through this.  At
last, once Leif’s injuries had all been tended the best they could be, Ryo
spoke.  “Aela, you should not have come here.”

An inclination to disagree flitted across her mind, until
she realized that had she not been here—Leif may well have not had to endure
the blow from that monster.  Her body shook, and she nodded her head in
agreement.  Falling in love with Leif was certainly not worth his life, after
all, she’d always been in love with him—even back in Cathalar.  She merely
needed to allow herself to believe it.  “I know,” she whispered to her brother.

This seemed to surprise her eldest brother.  His brown eyes
widened with uncertainty, but he nodded his head, as if to confirm what he’d
said.  “This isn’t your fault, though,” he finally said.  Oh, Ryo.  He had
always been rather bad at emotions.  The exact opposite of his younger
brother.  He was able to hold a political debate like no other, but when it
came to reassuring his little sister, he was like a lost child.  “I… I will do
what I can to help him, but it isn’t…”  His words were unsure.

Her eyes moved to him, and she watched her brother for a
long moment.  She had missed Ryo, and though his absence had not scarred her
life as Taeru’s had—nor would it given time—he loved her, and she loved him. 
“It is my fault,” she answered.  “I was a fool, and Leif had to protect me.” 
She spoke without bothering to explain.  Ryo would surely assume she meant the
entire situation, rather than just the moment in the alleyway.

Perhaps the entire situation was accurate.  Leif had been
trying to protect Aela this entire time, of that, she was certain.  Ryo’s mouth
pressed into a hard line, but rather than continuing with their conversation,
he remained silent.  As time passed, and Aela continued to treat the wounds
that she could see on Leif’s body—a body whose temperature was dropping far too
quickly—she spoke.  “Taeru isn’t here, in the city, I mean,” she whispered.

The rain grabbed her whisper, attempting to throw it out
into the streets with those creatures.  Her body quivered at the thought of
them.  Those monsters—created by a Magister that wanted her brother’s life.  “I
know,” was Ryo’s surprising reply.  “I saw him.”  Her eyebrows lifted, and
suddenly, new thoughts entered to her mind.  Taeru!  Taeru had been here?  That
must mean that he was well.

“You saw him?” she asked incredulously.  Why would Taeru
have been in the city?  Surely, Calis ought to be with him if he were here. 
And why was he no longer here?  Taeru wasn’t the sort to abandon a place like
this, in such peril.  “Where was he—where is he?” she asked, and her voice rose
in octave.

This left Ryo with a rather tentative look on his face.  He
was frowning, though his eyes were trying to mask what was on his lips. 
Surely, it would be more sensible to work the other way, but Ryo had always
been a little off in that manner.  “He came into the city.  Those creatures
were looking for him.  When he realized…”  There was a strained note in Ryo’s
voice, as though he were being possessed by something as he spoke.  “…when he
realized that they were.  He seemed to reach some conclusion, he told me to
find you, but that he needed to go.  I think he wanted to lead them away.  Only
some of them followed him, the others seemed to find it a fruitless endeavor,
I…”  His teeth gritted, and anger flashed across his face.  “Why didn’t I go
with him?”

Despite her misgivings, and despite the fact that she agreed
with her eldest brother’s foolishness, she shook her head.  Though, Ryo may not
have been skilled at handling emotions, Aela had always excelled at it.  “No,
brother.  If you had gone with Taeru, then I would be dead.”  Ryo’s eyes
registered this fact dismally.  “But—where was he going?  Was anyone with him?”
 From Ryo’s speech, Aela could already deduce the second question’s answer.

A shake of his head confirmed it, and Aela felt an odd knot
forming in the base of her abdomen.  Where was Calis then?  Surely, he wouldn’t
have let Taeru leave him—not such a short time after being in the state he’d
been in at the failed hanging.  The memory still made Aela wince.  “He didn’t
say.  He said he had to do something—that he needed to stop the creatures.”

Aela was unsure where Taeru would have run off to, after
all, the most certain place to stop the war would have been in Telandus.  Why
would Taeru leave?  Perhaps, if Aela were to check the book...  All at once,
Leif’s body shook with pain, and she lowered her body to try and comfort him. 
Ryo continued speaking, with eyebrows furrowed in concern.  “Taeru… he said not
to continue with the war.”  Ryo struggled with another bout of emotions.  “Not
that I would… I mean, the creatures are monstrous.  But—he told me to stop, and
I didn’t entirely understand his reasoning.  You know that I trust him, and
that I always have, but I find myself worried—very worried.”

Her teeth snapped over her lower lip.  She had an odd
feeling that Ryo would not respond to this in the appropriate manner.  After
all, she certainly hadn’t.  Ryo had always had a misplaced need to protect
Taeru, honestly, despite Taeru’s refusal to allow it.  Calis seemed to be the
only one to breach that barrier, but Ryo had always wanted to.  Her face
twisted into a grimace.  “Taeru is correct, Brother.  I need not explain it
yet, for we are still in the middle of an entirely different war, but Telandus
will no longer burden Cathalar, of that I am sure.”

“I told you that I trusted Taeru’s judgment, Sister, but he
abandoned me without much explanation.  He mentioned… Lavus’s death?” Ryo asked
warily.  He said the words as though they would bring down a wrath upon his
head.  Perhaps Taeru had explained the nature of Lavus’s death—though Ryo would
never have to see it as Aela had.  Even for a man so heartless, that death had
been gruesome.

Squirming a little where she sat, and working to ensure that
Leif possessed as much comfort as someone in his position could, she breathed. 
“Lavus is dead,” she confirmed.  “Killed by his own son.”

Ryo’s eyes flashed, which said that Taeru had indeed
mentioned this.  Aela had to smile at the thought of their middle brother
speaking quickly, probably hardly realizing how odd his words would sound to
Ryo.  He must have been desperate to stop this, though, if he had not thought
about that.  She stopped smiling, at once.  “Yes, his son—ah, that, and well…
the eldest Tsrali has developed a… closeness, ah—rather, a fondness for
Taeru.”  Her words were a failed attempt at nonchalance. 

There was that expected neutral expression on Ryo’s face, which
told of so many more emotions that were haunting beneath the surface. 
“Fondness?” he asked, and his words rang just a little bit hollow.  Fondness
was such an ambiguous word, and Aela had hoped to leave it at that.  Kneeling
over the injured man with whom she was in love, she had not wanted to be
burdened with this task. 

“Yes, he…”

Before she could be burdened to continue her explanation,
there was a rustling outside.  At once, Ryo picked up his sword, motioning for
Aela to stay where she was.  She had no qualms with that, as leaving Leif
seemed painful.  The intruder was likely another creature—though she had seen
very few of them enter establishments, perhaps they were running out of
stragglers. 

Though, the form that graced the doorway instantly put
Aela’s mind at ease.  That was, until Ryo threw up his sword so that it was
just before the man’s throat.  The man’s reaction was expected, and he drew his
own dagger.  Aela’s composure vanished, and she shrieked her disapproval. 
“Stop!  Ryo!  Stop!  It’s alright.”

The green eyes flashed with agitation as they observed Ryo,
clearly considering the murder of this Lassau a possibility.  Lee Keiichi stood
before them, but Calis was, once again, absent.  She couldn’t help being
worried.  “Identify yourself,” Ryo snapped.

Before Lee had the chance to respond, Aela identified him. 
“This is Lee Keiichi,” she answered quickly.  “He is advisor to Calis Tsrali,
the man who saved our brother’s life.”  Her words were harsh, and she could see
Ryo waver in his stance.

Lee’s face was neutral, as it always was.  “It may need
saving again, and your sword at my throat is quite hindering my desire to
help,” he said dryly. 

Ryo dropped his weapon at the words, though his anger seemed
to spark from them.  Lee had not meant offense, though.  She had gathered in
her brief time with the advisor that Lee was worse at emotions than Ryo was. 
“Calis Tsrali?  The one with the
fondness
for my little brother?” Ryo
asked, speaking just as dryly as Lee had. 

“Yes,” Aela answered dismally, “that one.”  Her eyes
returned to Lee, and worry enveloped them when she saw the blood spattered
across his face.  Though, that ought to be expected, as he had just fought
through those creatures if he had reached this point in the city.  “Lee,” she
spoke gingerly, wondering if he recognized her.  “Where is Calis?”

As he looked at her, there was just a trace of amusement in
his eyes.  He seemed to regard it as annoying for the time being, as amusement
had no place in this current situation.  That was all she could tell from his
flickering green eyes.  Quite a lot—if, in fact, she was accurate.  “You always
were an effeminate young boy, Aela Lassau.  I give you acclaim for fooling me
for so long, however. Though, I do think I would have noticed had I not been so
preoccupied.” 

Ryo dropped his sword completely, obviously affronted at how
spectacularly he had been ignored, once the time had passed.  Lee’s eyes
dropped to Leif, and there was only a drop of sympathy before he spoke.  “Where
is Taeru?” he asked harshly.

“We don’t know,” Aela answered at once.  Bothering with the
fact that the harsh speech was unearned was not a qualm she had time to make. 
“I expected he would be with you or Calis, and yet, Calis is not even with
you.”

There was a flash of irritation on Lee’s face, though Aela
speculated it had very little to do with her or Calis.  “What do you mean?  He
came to the city, did he not?” Lee asked, again, and his voice was a beat
softer.

This time, Ryo was the one to speak—the first words that he
managed to grace upon Lee since the initial identification demand.  “He did,”
Ryo answered flatly.  “Then, he left.  He said he had somewhere else to go. 
Somewhere that would stop these creatures.”

Lee’s eyes widened in disbelief.  His jaw clenched, and his
eyes moved to Aela without a proper response to Ryo.  Once again, Aela’s eldest
brother looked indignant.  The situation should have been comical, but as it was,
comedy could not enter it.  “Imbecile!” Lee snapped, clearly not referring to
either present.  “Your brother is a fool and may well get himself killed. 
Aela, you have a book, don’t you?  A scroll, or something, that addresses this
situation?  May I see it?”

The book—Aela remembered that she had failed to look at it once
Leif had shown signs of discomfort.  Now, though, she reached behind her and
yanked the book from its perch.  She did not oblige Lee, however, in giving it
over.  Rather, she turned to the final pages and was not surprised to find the
words that dotted them.  She narrowed her eyes, trying to focus despite the
panic that was beginning to tear at her.

But it only built.  The panic worsened, tightening in her
chest as the words escaped her again and again.  Her hands shook as she stared
at the odd manuscript, the printed words that ought to be understandable.  But
her anguish, her desperation, seemed to be keeping her from reading it.  It was
slowly and slowly building until every piece of her body felt as though it were
burning.  No, that wasn’t preventing her from reading the book.

She was reading the book.  The book had caused her the
panic.  She dropped it, and her mouth dropped open.  Her eyes stared at the
book for a long moment before her mind slowly began spinning, and denial crept
up her spine as she turned to Lee.  “We have to go there, now!” she shouted.

He seemed taken aback at her sudden fury, but she didn’t
have time to worry about his thoughts—or anything.  Her mind was pounding with
unrelenting agony, and she had to get to her brother—now.  “Lee!” she cried,
when he didn’t respond immediately.