Chapter 51. Hope in the Darkness

riel cowered in the far corner of the ox cart, too overwhelmed with grief and horror to do anything but shudder and stare.  Her time in Orr was a pleasant reverie compared to this and all the weeks of fear and helplessness had finally worn her down to a childlike state.  Morisedd was flung into the cart beside her.  Despite the welter of jagged scars that scored his flesh, she grasped him around his chest and pulled him clear of the fiends. He was unconscious again and cold as death.  

“I’m here, Murdi,” she whispered into his ear as she knelt in the cramped space beside him.  She released her sash and wriggled free of her outer robe with its elaborate patterns of embroidery and blossoms.  His blood already stained it for his wounds wept with every movement.  She released the buckles on the straps that still held his arms folded against his back, and once they were gone releasing the loop of cord around his ankles was a simple matter. With infinite care she drew her still warm robe over him and lifted his chill body onto her lap until they were pressed heart to heart.  His rugged face was lined with pain as she regarded him mere inches from her own.  Stroking his blood-encrusted hair, she rested his cheek against her shoulder and felt the reassuring warmth of his shallow breath curl against her throat.

“I’m sorry, Murdi,” she breathed, willing herself not to go once more into the darkness of despair.  For all that he had suffered, the least she could do was stay calm for him.

“I’m so unworthy of your love,” she thought to herself, biting her lip against a flood of unwelcome tears.  It pained her to know she was the reason he had come alone to Kiku’s hall.  Foolish.  And after all the hurt she had caused him.

“I love you,” she told his brow, sobbing once in spite of herself before she buried her eyes in his tangled mane and began to babble helplessly, “If I could have lived with Luitha, I would have stayed with you forever.  I wanted to say yes to you so many times.  I was so horrible to you and you never did a thing to harm me.”

“Don’t cry,” he whispered.  The sound of his voice so weak and strained with agony only made her grief worse.

“I wish they had just killed me,” she sobbed, “Seeing you like this is worse than dying.”

“Shhh,” he replied, “You don’t mean that.  We’re still alive and that means there is still hope.”

“I gave up on hope,” she moaned, “I’ll never be free.”

Morisedd closed his eyes, so weary it was an effort merely to breathe. 

“Put my arms around you,” he whispered, “Please.”

Obediently she uncurled the arm that lay pressed beneath his side and helped him find her waist.

“You’re bleeding,” she murmured.

He stubbornly curled his right arm around the small of her back and clung to her, smiling softly.

“The mists cannot be more fair than this,” he whispered, “Tell me about the curse.  Everything from Orr until now.”

“You need rest.”

“I can rest while I’m listening,” he replied, smiling through his pain.

Uriel flinched as a heavy cedar chest was pushed toward her.  She drew up her knees, cursing when it was shoved against her feet.  Panic surged through her as a long crate teetered over the edge of the chest and walled her in as it banged against the backboard of the cart that she now leaned upon. 

“Hiding us,” she murmured, her heart hammering in her breast as another big crate dropped beside that one and her little corner grew dark.  Before the light of the courtyard was stolen away, however, she saw a pair of guards leading Lemony calmly toward the cart.  The little monk gazed up at her and then at the blood-stained robe wrapped around Morisedd.  In an instant she uttered a prayer and his wounds closed.  Morisedd grew warm again and moaned softly in relief, his eyes flicking open. 

Mai Ling made a brutal swing of her staff and an ugly cracking sound sent Lemony face down on the cobbles of the yard.  Reflexively, she rolled to her feet and healed herself with a quick appeal to Dwayna even though she was still reeling in pain.  Then, eyes full of rage, she charged the necromancer, cursing bitterly as she kicked and pummeled the woman with her fists.  She was hauled backwards, screaming furiously in Canthan, by Twisted Lu and a warrior.

Only once before had Uriel seen her friend so insane with anger and that was when four of the Orrian guards had to pin her to the ground while Uriel was flogged in the city square.  Uriel buried her face in Morisedd’s nape, weeping softly and praying for them to leave her friend alone as Lemony cried out beneath their beating.   At last she was thrown unceremoniously into the cart.  Uriel dared to steal a glance at her friend.

Blood trailed from Lemony’s nose while her left eye was bruised and swelling shut.  To Uriel’s surprise, defiance burned in Lemony’s visage and the little monk managed to prop herself up and back into her corner of the cart where she sat gasping for breath, the rasp of her bloodied nose loud and painful in the dimness.

“Lem,” Uriel cried as the monk bucked uselessly against the walls of the cart when a crate pinned her in the corner.  Terror replaced the simmering rage in her brown eyes as they were sealed in by more leaning crates and canvas.  The close darkness of their prison resounded with Lemony’s maddened struggles and frightened cries.

“Please, Lem,” Uriel cried out, “Hold still.”

Silence and a loud thump indicated she had passed out and was now curled against the wall of the cart.  Morisedd fumbled toward her in the darkness.

“Lemony?” Uriel called.  She heard Morisedd lightly slap the monk’s face.

“Breathe!” he growled at her and Lemony obediently gasped and began sobbing.

“Murdi,” Lemony wept, “I knew you would come.”

It was nearly impossible to move in their tiny space and when Uriel tried to take to her knees, she banged her head on the slanted boxes.  Morisedd was folded nearly double between them but he dutifully grasped them both and pulled their heads against his breast so that Uriel’s brow brushed Lemony’s in his embrace.

“I’m scared,” Lemony murmured.

“I know,” Morisedd replied, squeezing her gently as she trembled, “but we’re together now and as long as we have each other, we’re safe.”

For once, Lemony grew calm in her most feared environment, pressing against Morisedd for comfort.

“Are you going to marry finally when we go home?” Lemony sniffled.

“Of course, Lem,” Uriel replied before Morisedd could fill the awkward silence.

“I know the rite,” Lemony wept, “I was a really awful priestess, but I learned that much.”

Uriel smiled in spite of the grimness of their situation.

“Of course you can lead the rite, Lem.”

“And can Pendaran sing the Invocation to Lyssa?  You know, the really pretty one about the gift of love?”

Now Morisedd chuckled.

“After I kick him in the head.  He and I have a little catching up to do.”

Lemony sighed.

“Thank you for healing me, Lem,” Morisedd murmured, “You really should not have defied them like that.”

“Someone needs to,” Lemony grumbled.

The three of them fell silent as the cart rocked into motion and the heavy crates around them groaned in protest.  For a moment, Uriel understood Lemony’s fear of cramped places for she was worried they were about to be crushed.  The monk shifted slightly until her head rested in Morisedd’s lap and her shins were pressed against the flank of the cart’s rough wall.

“Could be worse,” Lemony said after a time, “We could be walking.”

Uriel laughed, reaching out to stroke her friend’s brow even as she blinked away tears.