Essentia (10 page)

    Thegan then sighs and begins to speak. "It has happened to me. I have been hurt in my dreams before as well." Looking down at his hands. "I am sorry I did not tell you the truth when it happened." It's happened to him? I think back about the past few months and the only time he has been hurt was the cut on his arm. Could that be it or did he hide a different injury of his from me? The cut on his arm that has to be it. He was acting oddly that night when he was telling me about it.

    I ask him just to know if I am right in my assumptions. "Your arm?" I say to him, motioning to his injured arm.

    "Yes, but there have been other injuries you did not now about. Mostly bruises and soreness. This cut is the first time blood had been drawn." Thegan says, looking ashamed. How have I not noticed.

    "I am not mad at you for not telling me brother, you had your reasons. What's important right now is, we need to know how to make this stop before you both end up dead. I cannot lose you or her" I say to him. Something has to be done.

    While we sit and talk about what can be done, I have an idea. I run it past my brother to hear his thoughts on it, "What if we could find a Haruspex, do you think one could help?"       The Haruspex is considered to have oracle abilities, surely if we can find one they could help us. "It is possible that they may know more about what's going on, but I'm not sure where to find one," Thegan says.

    "We could ask Aiden if he knows of one. There has to be at least a couple that has traveled here to this realm over the years." I suggest to him. He nods his head and then takes out his phone and calls Aiden. While he is on the phone, I decide to go check on Terra. I enter the room and walk up to the bed. She is sleeping soundly. I really hope she is not dreaming. If she were to get injured again, she would not survive. Her blood loss was too great the last time.

    Going back into the living room I can hear Thegan on the phone, so I sit down and wait for him to finish. A few seconds later, he turns to me and says "Aiden said he will see what he can do on his end."

    "That is good" I reply somewhat short. I can't help but think about her, my mind clouded with the possibility of me losing them both.

    "There is still more that I must tell you Brother," Thegan says. Once he has sat back down he looks at me and continues "I think our dreams are connected" He tells me about what happens in his dream. About how he had heard a voice a few times, and that just tonight, the woman's voice finally had a name, Terra. She was in his dream? What if the shadow in my dream is her?

    "I believe we are all connected brother. I have the same dream night after night as well. Except I am searching for you in mine. There is also a big tree in the center of a field with a shadow of a person standing by it. It makes me wonder if it is her that is standing there?" I tell him.     

    "We will have to wait till she wakes to ask her what she dreamed about, but the likely hood of it being the same dream is very high," Thegan says. I do not understand what the meaning of all this is. Or why it is happening to us.

    "That medicine we gave her should keep her asleep for quite a while. So one of us should go buy some food and more bindings for when she wakes up. Her dressing will need to be changed and she will need her energy to heal." Thegan expressed. I didn't think about that. We do not keep much food here because we usually order out.

    "Would you mind going brother? I want to stay with her" I ask him, pleaded with him rather. Not wanting to leave her side. Just in case something else happens.

    "Yes brother, I will. I will be back shortly." Thegan states with a hint of a smile on his face. With that, he left the loft. I locked the door behind him to be on the safe side. Heading to the bedroom to sit with my wounded Princess.

    As I sit there on the side of the bed stroking her hair, I notice how fragile she is. Her hands are delicate and soft, her skin is like smooth cream and her lips... her lips are as plump as a new day berry. The perfect ripe shade of pink. Only Bohyne herself could create such a perfect creature. My Heart longs to be by her side forever. To have the love of this beautiful woman, to feel her warmth and to hear her lovely voice for eternity. I remember back to something our mother had told us before she passed away. "My Handsome sons, one day Bohyne will send to you a beautiful, priceless jewel. A woman that will be the other half of yourself. She will be the missing piece of your heart. When that day comes, treasure her. For she will be your savior in love and in life." I cannot help but feel that this beautiful creature is my jewel, my missing piece. I believe in this with my entire heart and soul.

    I Whisper a prayer to our Goddess, "Bohyne, I beg of you to please send me an answer to how to save her, and my brother, from this dream that is harming them. I-I cannot lose them, I have lost so much already". An hour or so later my brother returns. I walk in the living room and see a mountain of paper bags full of food and supplies. I look at him and laugh, "Did you buy enough Brother?"

    "I thought it would be better to have everything we needed, to keep from having to go out too much" He says. He had every food imaginable sitting there. Two bags being nothing but medical supplies. The guards must have helped him carry it all.

    "Good thinking, with everything going on it would be safer to stay in," I tell him. While we put everything away I find a couple of long nightgowns, I look at Thegan with a smirk and say "Brother I don't think these are your color." holding the green gown up to him. We both laugh.

    He says, "I thought she would be more comfortable in these, plus it will make it easier to change her dressing." Always the one to take care of other’s needs.

    "That's very thoughtful brother, I'm sure she will be grateful as well," I say to him. He always thinks of every detail.

    When we finish storing away the supplies, I go back to check on her again. She has tiny beads of sweat on her brow and her face if flushed. I lay the back of my hand on her forehead to check for a fever. Startled, I yell to Thegan "She is burning up, bring me a cold cloth brother."  He brings a bowl of ice water and some cloths and sets them down on the nightstand. 

    He says to me "I am going to call Aiden and see if he can get some vaxen leaves." I know there are medicines in this realm that would work, but the plants and herbs from our realm seem to be more potent and act much quicker than the ones found here.

    "Alright brother, I am going to stay with her," I say to him as I place a cold rag on her forehead. He walks out of the room to call Aiden. Looking at her in this state makes my heart ache, is there nothing I can do to help her. I soak the cloth in the ice water again and ring it out. Then I gently wipe the sweat off of her face and neck. After a few minutes, she starts to shake slightly. The fever has given her the chills. I climb in beside her and lay her head against my chest.  Running my hand over her hair. After a while had passed, she started to stir. She to begin to mumble little no coherent sounds. Please Bohyne, don't let her be dreaming. "Enre" I hear her say in a weak voice.

    "I am here My Lady," I say to her in a soft tone. She sighs and went silent once again, falling back into a peaceful sleep. That is very odd. She should not be able to speak yet. That medicine should have kept her sound asleep for at least two days. People from this realm cannot tolerate the potency of our realms herbs. I must tell this to Thegan.

      Chapter Eleven

         Thegan

    "Aiden, do you happen to have any herbs from our realm?" I ask him over the phone. Praying that he does.

     He replies to me "Yes My Lord, I brought many plants and seeds with me when I came here. Is there something you are in need of?" That is great. Thank the heavens that he has some.

    "Yes Aiden, I need all of your healing herbs, as well as the ones for infection and fever. As quick as possible." I tell him, I know he brought those from Aelmere for personal use, but we are in desperate need of them at the moment. I will have to find a way to pay him back for his help when this is all over.

    "I will gather what I have My Lord and will bring them straight over to you," Aiden says. After telling him thank you, we hung up, and I go back to my room where Enre and Terra is. Standing at the door looking at them, you can tell that he is already lost in her. The caring touches of her hair and him gently wiping the cold cloth across her skin. It makes my heart warm to watch him being so caring to another.

    Enre then looks up at me and says "Brother, she woke up a few minutes ago. It was only for a moment, but she spoke to me." I looked at him with a shocked expression.

    "How can that be? She shouldn't be awake for at least another whole day." I say to him. The only explanation for this would be that she is not from this realm. Or maybe her parents are not from here.

    Enre then asks "She is not from here, is she?". Almost reading my mind. That would explain a lot if she weren't.

    "I am not sure brother; we won't know for sure until we find out about her past. Either way, though, we have to get her well before we can really think about that at the moment. Aiden is on his way over with some herbs from back home" I say to him. "Hopefully, he will have something to help her." I trail off and then say. "We need to get her into a clean gown. The night clothes she has on are soaked in sweat and blood". I will have to change the bedding as well.

    Enre looks down at her, wiping her face again, then without looking at me he says "Alright, but I will need your help to keep from hurting her."

    I nod at him and say "I will go get some clean cloths and some water to sponge her off with." I leave the room to get the washcloths and water and more bandages just in case. Once back in the room, I help hold her while Enre gently wipes her skin down with the washcloth. There is no way to remove the clothes she has on, not without hurting her anyways. So enre takes out his knife and cuts them away, just leaving her underclothes. Then he softly wipes the newly exposed skin down. After he has washed her up, we switch places so I can re-bind her wound. He is holding her so gently. Like she was a fragile, precious treasure. One day I hope to have someone like that. I think to myself. I unwrap the bindings on her wound and am shocked by what I see, "her- her wound, it's almost healed. How is that possible?" I say astonished at the speed that she is healing.

    "Maybe the medicine we gave her earlier has a different effect on people like her," Enre says, trying to stay calm. That could be the only explanation at this point in time.

    "Could be Brother." Was all I could say to him. This is highly abnormal. I have never seen anyone heal that quickly. At this rate, she will be completely healed in a day or two. I finish re-wrapping the fast healing wound, and we put a clean gown on her. It's a soft wintergreen color that suits her well. The one Enre held up to me earlier joking around.

    Once Enre gets her settled back in and places another cold cloth on her forehead. He says to me "Thank you, Brother, for helping me." I will always be here to help him. He is all I have left.

    "You are welcome brother. One thing though, I think it would embarrass her if she knew that both of us stripped her down, cleaned and changed her. So when she asks, don't say anything about me helping ok." Both of our faces are flushed. I do not want her to feel violated or anything of the sort.

    "I agree with you. I don't think she would take that too well" Enre says.

    Just then there is a knock at the door. Aiden must be here already. I go to answer the door. When I open it, Aiden stood there with a bag in his hand. Looking past him I see two of his guards both with their arms full of bags. I step aside and let them enter. The guards put the bags on the sofa in the living room and leave to stand watch outside. "You brought enough for an army Aiden" I smile at him.

    "With everything going on, I thought it wise to bring everything I had, you never know when we are going to need it, My Lord." Aiden states. Looking over at the couch full of bags.

    "Thank you, if you have some vaxen leaves I will go make a tea for our Terra. Her fever is really high, and when I get done, I will explain what happened alright." I say to him. He goes over to one of the bags and looking through it for the leaves. He pulls out a brown paper packet and hands it to me. "Thank you, no more formalities alright, you can call me Thegan," I say to him. His eyebrows shot up, but he doesn't say anything. He just nods his head. I motion for him to come with me to the kitchen to make the tea. While it is boiling, I ask him "have you had any luck on finding a Haruspex?"

    "Not yet my lord, I mean Thegan. My men are searching as we speak. It shouldn't be long, though, we have a few good leads on a couple of them." he says.

    "Good, the sooner, the better." I finish the tea and put an ice cube in it to cool it down. Then we both head to my room.

Chapter Twelve

                                            Enre

    Continuing to wipe the sweat from her, I notice that Thegan and Aiden have just entered the room. Aiden noticed the pile of blood-soaked clothes laying in a pile and gasped. "That's a lot of blood, is it all hers?" He asked I just nod at him. The thought of all of that blood makes me almost sick to my stomach knowing it all came from her.