Communion

"Father! There she is!" Damien rode hard towards the battle in front of him and jumped down from his horse just in time to see the arrow send Gretchen crashing into a tree. He exhaled a pained groan as he felt the arrow tear through his mates' flesh and stood breathless while the scene played out in front of him in slow motion. "Oh, no! No don't do this, please." Daniel grabbed Damien's arm and broke him from his living nightmare as he pulled him towards it. They ran to Eason and Gretchen's side as the flames barreled towards them.

Daniel stood tall against the approaching inferno then put his hand up to command it to stop. With a haunting wail, the fires halted and knelt before the Master of the Flames as he willed it so.

While Eason struggled to lift himself off Gretchen's blood-soaked coat, Damien dropped to his knees beside him when he saw the brown wolf laying on the ground struggling to breath. A naked Jason put his arm around Eason's chest and pulled him up to his feet. With trembling hands, Damien took off his cloak and laid it over Gretchen then scooped her up in his arms and pulled her close to his chest as he stood.

"We have to go now, Damien, "Jason said as he put Eason's arm around him to help him stand. Damien nodded and Jason grabbed his arm then Damien misted them to the castle foyer.



When they reappeared, Gretchen's eyes slowly closed, and she started to shift in Damien's arms as her blood spurt from her wounds and splashed to the floor in big drops. Damien's lips quivered as he realized what he'd done, how he drove her to this with his dishonesty and selfish desires. He may as well have been the monster who shot the bow that landed the arrows sticking out from her body right now.

"Can you stand?" Jason asked Eason as Rhett brought him pants.

As the beads of sweat dripped from his grey face, he panted, "Aye." He looked to Gretchen's body dripping blood all over the stone floor as he shivered, and his teeth clattered against each other. "Is she alive?"

Rhett put his hand on Eason's shoulder. He could tell from Eason's state that he didn't have long. "Yeah, man. Don't worry. She's going to be just fine. You did good, soldier." As tears rolled down his cheek, Eason swallowed and nodded his head. "It was my honor to serve this family. My very great honor."

Damien shifted his grip and struggled against the changing form in his grasp when suddenly a thump was heard. He looked up to see Eason on his knees, he stared off into the distance as his wheezy breaths started to slow. While he slowly fell to the floor, Rhett caught him in his arms. "Jason, grab his legs."

Damien looked over Gretchen's pale face as her eyes fluttered open. A drunken smile curled up on her lips briefly before her head fell back as sleep took her over. A surge of warm fear rushed through Damien, snapping him from the haze he was under. He turned quickly and stalked down the hall. "You can't leave me now. I won't let you leave me again. Never."



"Mother! Hazel! Get the bed ready!"

Waiting outside the infirmary door for him to arrive, Hazel put her hands over her mouth as her eyes widened in fear. "Oh, no!"

As he rounded the corner and entered the room, Damien went to the nearest bed and gently laid Gretchen down then wiped the blood from her mouth with his sleeve. "We're here, Gretchen. I'll get you all fixed up now."

"Hey Hazel, get that other one open," Rhett said to Hazel as he and Jason carried Eason's unconscious body through the door. Hazel took the blankets off the bed, then they laid Eason down on his side.

Rosemary came to Damien's side as he pulled back the cloak then stopped and looked up at Jason and Rhett. Rhett put up his hands then grabbed Jason's shoulder and turned around to face Eason. Damien pulled back the cloak from her chest and with trembling hands he put his fingers over the wound then hesitated. Gretchen was gasping for air and he knew that the arrow was in her lung. He'd have to be quick or she'd drown in her own blood before he could stop it. Damien looked up to Rosemary and she curled her lips under then nodded.

As Rosemary waited with a stack of bandages, Damien put his hand over Gretchen's wound and wiggled his fingers. "Aaah!" Gretchen screamed as the pain woke her from her slumber. Her face contorted into an agonized grimace as she gritted her teeth and groaned while Damien pulled the arrow out with his mind. As soon as the arrow tip cleared her skin, Rosemary slapped the bandages on the wound and pushed hard to stop the bleeding as Gretchen collapsed back into the bed, shivering in terror and torment.

Damien put his hand over Rosemary's and whispered words in the old language quickly over and over again as he commanded the wound to heal itself. Slowly Gretchen's labored breathing eased, and she inhaled deeply though her nose as her skin slowly pinked again. Rosemary pulled the bandages off the wound and backed away to allow Damien to work. Gretchen opened her eyes and looked at Damien as he continued to concentrate on the wound. She glanced at her chest and saw the skin start to close as the blood pulled back inside her. As the last sliver of skin healed itself. Damien closed his eyes and placed his forehead against Gretchen's chest then sobbed into the bed sheets.

As he sucked back his tears, he looked to Gretchen's face and moved up until he was hovering over her, eye to eye. He licked his lips and traced the tracks of her tears with his fingers. "I still need to get the one from your leg, my love. Are you ready?" Gretchen nodded and closed her eyes while she sucked in a ragged breath and clenched her jaw as she braced for the pain.

Damien slid down to the bottom of the bed and closed his eyes then swallowed hard as he gathered his courage. While Rosemary waited, Damien quickly pulled the arrow as Gretchen grunted and thrashed in the bed. Damien put his hand on Gretchen's leg and spoke the words. As the wound closed, Damien returned to Gretchen and wiped the tears from her face.

"Go help him, Damien. Please." Damien closed his eyes and pushed the hair off his face with his bloodied hand, then he stood and walked to Eason's bed where Hazel and Rosemary were preparing their supplies.

"Which should we remove first, mother?"

Rosemary closed her eyes and shook her head as she spoke to Damien in his mind. It didn't matter, she told him, he wouldn't make it anyway. The arrow had torn through the main artery and there was nothing that could be done to repair it. Damien blew out through his mouth, then clenched his jaw as he nodded. "The back then." He looked up to Jason and Rhett. "Be ready. The pain may wake him, and he needs to be still." Rhett went to the other side of the bed and helped Jason brace Eason's body against the bed while Damien quickly pulled the arrow without even a flinch of pain from Eason. Rosemary quickly covered the wound and looked up at Damien as he started the incantation. After the wound closed, Jason and Rhett carefully rolled Eason to his back.

Damien closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, old friend." He quickly pulled the arrow from the chest wound and the last breath escaped Eason's mouth as his heart ceased to beat.

Damien closed Eason's eyelids then pushed himself off the bed and went to Gretchen. He sat down on the bedside and took Gretchen's hand. She searched his contrite face for answers. "Is he going to be alright?" Damien closed his eyes and shook his head no slowly.

Gretchen's eyes filled with tears as her hand shivered inside Damien's grasp. "Help him," Gretchen pleaded between pained gasps while her mending wound tugged at her as she retched with anger and regret.

Damien scooted to the edge of his seat and leaned in to look her in the eyes. As he pushed her sticky hair off her sweat drenched face, he said, "I can't. There are some things no amount of magic can take back. His spirit is already starting its new journey. It is Fate and it cannot be undone."

"No!" Gretchen cried as she tried to sit up. "No goddamn it you fix him!" Damien pushed her back into the bed as she struggled against him. "Damien save him!"

Daniel came through the infirmary door to see Gretchen trying to fight her way out of bed. He looked over at Eason' s motionless corpse in the bed across from them and sighed before looking back to Gretchen. "He can't. No one can. Once the spirit decides to leave, it can't be forced back. No magic exists that can will the soul to return to its body, only the Fates have such discretion."

Gretchen gritted her teeth as she pushed herself out of Damien's grip. "Get off of me!" As she grunted and gasped against the pain, she pushed herself to her side and propped herself on her elbow as Damien covered her body. "Those arrows were meant for me. They had my name on them and he took them to save me. I wouldn't have even been out there if it wasn't for you assholes and your lies, so you fix him. You're supposed to be the most powerful fucking sorcerer in the universe so prove it goddamn it."

Daniel clenched his jaw and cracked his neck. In over two hundred years, no one had ever dared to speak to him like that and never in his kingdom, but he knew she was right. Eason's blood was on his family's hands.

He wiped his hand across his mouth and sniffed in quickly then walked to Eason's bedside. Daniel closed his eyes and raised his hand above Eason's lifeless body. As he spoke an ancient spell, he cleared his mind and concentrated on his words while he tried to make communion with the fleeting soul of Eason as it traveled in the space between the Realm and the Underworld towards its new destination.

Daniel had dabbled in influencing spirits a few times in the past, but he could never convince them to stay for long without a new vessel. Daniel knew it was a longshot that Eason's soul would return to its former tattered and cooling shell.

As blood started to drip from Daniel's eyes and nostrils, a soft gasp fell from Eason's lips as his lungs filled once again with the breath of life. Daniel's eyes opened as he sucked back a ragged breath when he realized what he had done. He stumbled backwards and laughed aloud. "I did it!" he raised his hands in front of his face then with teary eyes looked at Rosemary. "I did it! It's just like my visions." His trembling hands balled into fists as he dropped to his knees and looked to the ceiling. "This changes everything. Thank you, mother Fates, for blessing me."

Daniel collapsed to the ground as relief overwhelmed him and he sobbed into the floor. "I can save them all now! Thank you"

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