Ch 18: The Healing Ward

The moment Astasha had lost consciousness, the pain ceased in Calder's chest and the panic rose.

"Tasha!" He shook her hand and reached out for her face. It was pale and fragile. "Is she...?" He couldn't bring himself to say the word. If she was dead... He couldn’t even fathom the things he might do.

Errant focused his energy over her heart. "She has a pulse of life within her still, though it is light. Come, hurry. I cannot help her like this."

Zephyr was using his power to help lift her and push her through the palace, while the older fire witch and Errant used theirs to try to hold back the bleeding, and no doubt, the demon.

Calder refused to let go of her hand.

Finally, they reached the Healing Ward and demanded servants bring fresh linens and warm water.

Astasha was placed gently on a bed. The sight of the still open wound running down her chest made Calder sick to his stomach. He didn't care what pain it caused him, she needed to be healed.

“For fuck’s sake, why haven't you sealed her wound?" He demanded.

Helia was examining Astasha while Errant ordered the other sorcerers to prepare herbs and seal the room as a precaution if the demon escaped. The High Sorcerer had forbidden the King from coming in until they knew the demon could be contained, his position be damned.

"Sealing a wound such as this can be extremely painful your highness. Usually, the pain is worth it to the person who is injured, but..." Helia shook her head as she looked at the mark on the Prince's chest. “without knowing what it is that binds you to her, we can't risk the potential harm it could cause you.”

"I don't care what happens to me, fix her damnit.” It was eating Calder alive that the only reason she was still suffering was to spare him.

Errant returned to the bed and examined Astasha, his eyes occasionally flickering to Calder’s chest. Finally he sighed and shook his head. "Until we understand this bond, we shouldn’t use magic to aid her. There is no knowing what consequences that could have."

Calder blanched. “And what about the consequences of the demon escaping? It knew it could be freed if she cut open my chest. You had to extract it by cutting her open. Don’t you think leaving her like that is the easiest way for it to escape? For all we know it’s already trying. I lived with that thing in my head for long enough to know it isn’t going to sit around and wait if it senses an opportunity. But you want to risk everything because of me? Isn’t that the exact opposite of what you told Tasha in the woods? The needs of the many right Errant?”

The High Sorcerer held Calder’s stare for a moment, jaw clenched, before taking a deep breath and turning to exchange a glance with Helia.

She shook her head slightly. “Your highness--"

"Please, just, do it." He couldn't stand to see Tasha like that anymore. They had covered her with a sheet at least, but blood was soaking through it and she was pale and covered in sweat.

Helia looked into his eyes for a moment and then nodded, turning back to Errant. “Perhaps there is a way we can counter the effects for the Prince. I doubt it will do much, but, we can at least try to soothe the pain."

Errant nodded in agreement. “Perhaps.” He turned his gaze to find his water witch. “Cordelia, we’re going to need you to keep a frost spell going on the Prince without it getting so cold it does damage. Just enough to ease the burn while we cauterize the wound.”

Cordelia hadn't said a word since she had spoken up in the garden, but she nodded and approached Calder, head down. “Of course Grand Sorcerer.”

There was a collective pause, like the deep breath before leaping off a cliff.

Calder didn't take his eyes off Astasha as Helia pulled the sheet down and held her hands over the wound on her chest. Cordelia lifted her palms over his own chest and Errant placed his on either side of Astasha’s head. The High Sorcerer nodded the the three began muttering odd words under the breath. Fire began to burn in Calder's chest. He grunted and wanted to yell out and close his eyes against the pain, but set his will against it. He refused to look away from his love, refused to cry out no matter how much it hurt.

There was a slight cooling sensation, no doubt from the frost spell. But the true relief came from seeing the wound on his love's chest cauterize and the bleeding cease. Astasha moaned slightly and her head and hands twitched, but she remained unconscious.

At last the sorcerers finished their work and Calder felt the pain subside. An audible sigh left his lungs in relief.

Errant's brow furrowed as he looked over Calder and then shook his head, his gaze turning to Astasha who he began to examine.

Calder wanted to shake the old man. It was his fault Astasha was here, like this. If he had just been reasonable, had just tried to find another way...

The High Sorcerer turned to face Calder. "I don't need to read you to know you hold me responsible your highness, the anger flowing through your energy towards me is enough. But if you wish to help her, please, either leave or focus your energy on something productive, like saving her life. I don't need any distractions such as feeling I'm being hit by a tidal wave of fury."

Calder felt the heat of his hatred dissipate. The old man was right. Placing blame wouldn't help the woman he loved right now.

"What can I do?"

Errant took a deep breath. “Focus on sending her peace, and… your love. Send it out to her so that maybe she’ll feel it and want to come back to it.”

Calder shook his head. "I'm not a sorcerer Errant, I don't have those abilities."

Errant sighed, frustration clear in his breath. He grabbed the Prince by the arm and pulled him closer to Astasha's side. "Everything in this world has energy. It passes from one thing to another. We as sorcerers may have the ability to channel it, but that doesn't mean you can't share it with her still. Just focus on the feelings you want her to have. Focus on her. She'll feel it. Goddess knows how much stronger it could be with whatever this connection is you share.”

As Errant returned to his examination, Calder reached out and took Astasha's hand. It felt like fire. "Why are you helping her?"
Errant froze.

Calder tore his eyes away from Astasha to bore into the High Sorcerer. “You were willing to let her die to destroy the demon, and since you were willing to sacrifice me to do so as well, what does it matter now if she and I both died if it accomplished your goal?" The question had been at the back of his mind but he had been afraid to ask it.

Errant wouldn't look at him as he answered, only at the mark on his chest. "As old as I may be, and as much as I have studied all there is to know of the ways of magic, there are some magics in the world that have been forgotten or are not yet known. What I saw, or more, what I felt, coming from the mark on your chest, was something unknown to me, and something I feel needs to be further explored before decisions are made that could have immense implications. Nothing I do is without reason your highness.”

With that, he walked away to go get the herbs Bryn had been preparing into a paste.

Calder watched after him for a moment before turning back to Astasha.

There was no point in dwelling on Errant and his bullshit reasons at the moment, not when Tasha needed him.

*Focus* He told himself. He took a deep breath and leaned forward, his free hand brushing deep red locks drenched in sweat from Astasha's face. What he would give to see those eyes of gold looking back at him, to see a smile upon those beautiful lips. "Tasha."

Something seemed to pull from inside him towards her. The mark on her chest began to glow like dying embers. Her lips parted and he could have sworn he heard her breath his name.

"Come back to me my love. Please." He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it, closing his eyes, feeling her skin upon his lips.

Calder barely registered the sound of Helia's voice calling for Errant. Something was happening.

He opened his eyes, silently begging his Tasha to feel him, to come back to him, to know he was there, to know that he loved her.

Suddenly, Astasha’s eyes shot open and she inhaled deeply.

Calder's breath caught as he moved closer to her. The golden fire of her eyes turned to meet his gaze. "Cal." Her voice was raspy and soft.

"I'm here." He whispered back to her, his hand moving to her cheek. She closed her eyes, feeling his hand with her own.

The two lovers’ moment was broken, however, as Errant stepped beside them. "Sorceress Astasha. You have much healing to do, and much more to discuss once it is done."

Tasha’s eyes opened and moved to look at the man who had just put her through hell, yet much to Calder’s surprise, there was no animosity in them, no resentment. She seemed to be worried, and determined, but not regarding Errant. Calder’s excitement at her waking up turned to confusion.

“Yes Grand Sorcerer, there is indeed much to discuss." She took a deep breath and turned back to look at Calder. "The demon, it isn't working alone."