Page 42 of Glass and Bone
I kick out again and hit his face, fighting against the weakness spreading through my veins with each breath. He lets go and I scramble to my knees, running towards the darkness. The hooves get louder, but I can’t see. My eyes are clouding over, my limbs growing heavy, my blood burning with every heartbeat. It’s too dark. I don’t know where I am. I look back at Sybil being held back, whining, and trying to break free.I can’t leave her.
I slow to a stop, begging my limbs to cooperate. The men aren’t chasing me, they just stand there, frozen, watching.
“Who are you?” I call out. My pulse is pounding in my ears, drowning out any sounds from around me. An arm wraps around my waist from behind and pulls me against them. I scream and start digging my nails into their flesh, but another set of hands grabs my face, forcing me to look at him. Blue eyes.
“Nora, stop it.” Theo yells and I drop my arms with a whimper.He’s here.
“Theo.” I cry as his fingers lightly brush my cheek before he lets go.
“You’re okay, Ela.” Tobias whispers behind me, his arms loosening around my waist.
“Tobias.” I whisper as my legs grow too heavy to hold up. I relax into his chest, and he bends down to scoop up my legs. “Where am I?” I whisper. I rest my head on his shoulder and look at him. He has blood on his forehead, sweat dripping from his hairline. What happened? It feels like it’s been five minutes, but something is telling me that isn’t true.
“You are in Rakushia. I don’t know how you got here so fast, it’s like Sybil damn near teleported.” His voice is clipped, angry.
“I don’t understand.” I barely have the energy to hold my head up against his shoulder. I relax it, and it falls back.
“Why did you run, Elaenor?” He’s angry, but I am too tired. I can’t listen to it. I can’t deal with it right now. I just want to sleep.
“She was making me.” I whisper, my eyes closing.
“Who? Who was making you?” He shakes me, trying to wake me up. Why can’t he just let me sleep?
“Me.” I feel my limbs tighten with some sort of spasm and then go numb. My arm slides off my stomach, dangling next to me.
“I think they drugged her.” Theo’s voice is so loud next to my ear I flinch. “She has a puncture wound on her neck.” I can feel cold fingers prodding at the side of my throat.
“Grab the wisteria from the med kit.” Tobias responds and I try to tell him no, I try to tell him I don’t want it, but the words don’t come out. Nothing comes out. It is almost as if my brain is no longer connected to my body. “Fill the syringe.” He instructs. I groan, trying to tell them to stop, but they don’t listen. “No, not that much, only a little. Good. Put it right where they stuck her the first time.” Cold fingers return to my skin, but I can barely register it.
I can feel something stabbing into my neck and I want to scream as it pierces my skin, but nothing comes out, not even a whimper. Icy waves spread through my veins the same way the fire did before, but this time it takes the burning with it. I can feel it moving from limb to limb before settling in my brain, burning my eyes. I gasp as my legs tingle and my eyes open. I see stars and sparks in my vision before it fades into the night sky. My legs and arms twitch and Tobias struggles to hold me still.
“Stay still, Nora. Let it take effect.” Theo whispers and then the iciness is gone. The cloudiness dissipates and I can feel my body waking up.
“Take a deep breath,” Tobias’s breath fans across my face as I inhale as deeply as I can. The air is thick and warm, and I almost choke on it. I test my voice with a whimper, and it comes out as a croak instead.
“Tobias. She was there.” I whisper.
“Who, Ela?” He murmurs back.
“I sawme. I was dead. She was chasing me, water pouring from her mouth.” I take another deep breath, trying to regain as much control over my body as I can. “She was covered in blood. And she only stopped chasing me after I crossed the border. I think she was leading me here.” I look over at Theo whose lips are pressed into a thin line. My head painfully turns back to Tobias, and he is mimicking the same face. “It was real. I’m not crazy.”
“Elaenor, I was the one in bed next to you.” His eyes soften and his lips curl up slightly, almost in amusement.
“No.” I snap before squirming in his arms. He sets me down and I only vaguely see Laris, Tano, and some other guards standing around dead bodies with black cloaks. They are all dead. Tobias spins me around to look at him, making me dizzy. I stumble a second before pushing his hands away.
“Elaenor, you woke me up by pulling the blanket off of me and pushing me. When I sat up, you screamed and fell off the bed. I tried to follow you, but that only made you run faster. Then you jumped off the balcony like a madwoman.” He shakes his head. “I don’t know how you didn’t break your legs.” He chuckles softly and I glare at him.
“It was real, Tobias.” I turn towards Theo who is looking at me like I am crazy. “Theo?” Someone needs to believe me. I reach for him, and he opens his mouth to speak. “I’m not insane.”
“Don’t turn to him just because you are going crazy.” Tobias grabs my arm and pulls me away before Theo can say anything.
“Let go of me.” He brings me up to his horse, the russet brown stallion pulling at the grass.
“Elaenor, let’s go home and then we can talk about this. I think you need to see the master.” I rip my arm out of his grip and step back.
“I’m not crazy, Tobias. I need you to believe me.” I plead and he tilts his head.
“I think you are under a great deal of stress, and you are not handling it well. Regardless, we need to get out of herebeforesomeone in Rakushia notices us. We are here illegally, Elaenor, and we just killed nine of their subjects.” I look around at the guards mounted on their horses looking back and forth between the wall and the darkness. I reluctantly nod and he helps me onto Wyclif. He grabs Sybil’s reins before jumping behind me in the saddle.
