Greetings Fellow Readers
What a week! I ended up losing two of the mice I was hand-rearing. I was unable to figure out what caused it and ended up burying them with Princess. The other three seem to be doing well, as they have all opened their eyes and started on solids at 4 a.m. today.
I also work ComiCon Cape Town yesterday and I am so tired. It was an amazing experience and I loved every minute. However, my feet at painful now, and I need time to recover from going. If there are any South Africans reading this, I hope you got your tickets early, because it was a heck of an experience!
That's all I have to add about my week. Please enjoy this longer-than-usual update. Again, just a trigger warning to those of you that are sensitive to injuries and trauma.
Sash was not happy with what Jethron was planning. It was dangerous, irresponsible, and it terrified her. Once more she listened as he explained to her what she needed to do. She digested it and once more said. “You want me to keep her conscious, with a splayed chest so that you can place a piece of metal into the cavity in hopes that the system inside of her already will use it to repair itself? Are you insane? Where do I even begin with what is wrong with this? I am a doctor, not a torturer.”
Only way.
Sash looked at Saita. The girl was not doing well. Most of the marks that had littered her skin were almost gone, in less than 24 hours, and she was starting to look gaunt and pale. There was already a severe strain on her internal organs. If the two of them wanted to do this there was a significant chance that it was going to fail.
“We can wait until you are stronger.” Said Sash.
“She isn’t going to get stronger, and her courage is already failing her.” Said Jethron as he laid a sheathed blade on a table close by. “I am not a doctor, Sash. I need someone I can trust to do this.”
“Can she not sleep through this?”
“No, I need to communicate with her. It doesn’t need to be verbal, but she must remain conscious while I do this, and it is going to hurt. I’m sorry, Saita, but it is going to be worse than the last time. The machine is going to try and fight all the chemicals that are in your blood. It is going to make your filter organs work hard at breaking down the pain and paralytic medications. You will feel everything. I will do what I can to help you, but your physical body is going to have to be restrained.”
Sash ground her teeth. “I will need to stand ready in case she chokes on the ventilator.”
“You will also need to put restraints on her now before we start because once the pain is at its worse the body will fight, whether she tries to stop it or not.” Jethron smiled at her and said. “You are you’re your father’s daughter and the Queen’s granddaughter, you have the strength to do this.”
“It is not my strength I am worried about.”
Saita closed her eyes as Sash started restraining all the loose limbs. Jethron lightly touched her forehead and said. “You do not need to be conscious while we open you. I will wake you when we need to work together.”
Are you sure?
“That doesn’t matter. I have made my choice, and you are not going to change my mind. Now sleep. We will both need our strength to do this.”
How will we know it works?
“We both live.”
Saita allowed the Dekai to call sleep to her. She knew what was coming and how much it was going to hurt. She remembered this procedure. It always carried across to her in dreams and nagged at the back of her mind when she was awake. She remembered the bindings that dug into her wrists and ankles. She remembered the feel of hands gripping her head and holding it back. Then the feeling of choking as her body violently tried to reject the pipe which was giving her lungs the oxygen, they needed to keep her alive. She remembered all of that and so much more. The mad doctor spoke over her as if she was a thing while Edzeeker tried to convince him of finding another way to implement the plan. He had always been shot down. Edzeeker had always tried to find alternatives. Always.
That wasn’t a thought she had had before. She remembered him standing to her right and digging his claws into her upper arm. Their pinpricks of pain were nothing compared to the pain in her chest, but they had always been a distraction. He never looked happy, but from what she remembered he was there.
Then the pain started to build in her chest. She thought for a time she wouldn’t be able to move, but soon she would wake, and she will want to scream, and she would not be able to do it. She would have to be held down and she didn’t want to see the look on Sash’s face as she was forced to do that. She wanted to cry, and she was sure that she was.
“You can open your eyes here.”
This voice she had heard before. She opened her left eye first and was confused by the swirling colours around her. This was the mental room Jethron had taken her to once before. She was lying on her back looking up at the ‘sky.’
“Thought I had to be conscious.” She mumbled as she opened her right eye.
“Your body needs to be, your mind can be here with me as Jethron must do what he is insisting on.”
She sat up and looked over to where the voice had come from. There was a desk, and at the desk, there was an old Dekai. His hair was a light grey colour, his wrinkled skin a pale purple though his massive wings were black. He seemed to be sitting and writing at the desk.
“Do you feel pain?” the voice asked again.
“My chest hurts.” She said as she got to her feet.
The Dekai waved his hand, and an armchair appeared on the other side of his table. “Sit. Now that Jethron is distracted we can have a chat.”
“You are Sedeath?”
“I am indeed.” The Dekai grinned, then scratched at a notched left ear. “I am no longer part of the physical world, which is why you were not able to see me before. Jethron and I can switch between his body, but my time is long past, and all I do is guide. Come, sit.”
Saita thought that she would be fearful here, but she wasn’t. She walked up to the chair and sat down. It was comfortable for the most part but the pain in her chest was growing worse.
“He’ll call for you soon, and you will need to have made up your mind.” Sedeath returned to his writing.
“I did make up my mind. That is why we are doing this.”
“You agreed to have this done yes but you will need to decide to live like you did all those times that Edzeeker put you through this hell. Do you want to live, Your Majesty?”
“I am not…”
“Yet.” He said softly with a dry chuckle. “Look here.”
He held up his drawing which match the patterns she had grown accustomed to. She checked her arms to see if he had somehow taken notice of them, but her arms were bare. It had been a long time since she had seen her own natural skin, she almost had to restrain herself from peeking down her shirt.
“This is the pattern of your energy lattice, yes?”
“Yeah. I’m usually quite good at hiding it.”
“It is Dekai, old but still Dekai in origin. These were very popular among the men when I was King. Makes me think that you were taught to grow them in this fashion.”
“They grow of their own accord. I do nothing.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure. You see, Jethron has had a look inside your head, and there is a lot for you to still process with what has happened to you. What Edzeeker did wasn’t aimed to be torture, not all of it. I am not defending what he did, but you lived with his help.”
“I wish I could believe that.” Muttered Saita.
“You are alive when so many others are dead. Not just other children but other Saitas. I believe you were chosen for a reason. You were chosen and then hunted across space and time. Now you will be the last. You will have to make a stand with us if we are to ever defeat the Fell Dragon. However, in order to do that Jethron needs to be able to complete this ceremony. Should be interesting if he manages it.”
“You don’t seem hopeful.”
“You are still here. He should have called for you by now unless you are fighting him.”
She rubbed at her aching chest. It was true. She didn’t want to go through this again. Knowing that if she was called back all that awaited her was pain. Sedeath leaned forward and tapped her head. “I think there are many reasons that Edzeeker chose you. Whether they are good reasons or not that I cannot tell you, but he can. He may be mad with age and saw an experiment that worked and developed a theory to go with it, or he saw something else in you. In the past, he saw that a Saita could be used, and he felt that if he could get one more chance, he could reach his goal with you and your son. But all that aside, you need to show the strength you showed when you were little. Jethron needs to do this with your support, he cannot do it alone.”
“Do any of you have any idea how terrified I am?” she said as she fought against the pain in her chest.
“Time to wake up, Your Majesty.” Said Sedeath sadly.
“No!” she half sobbed. “I don’t want to.”
“Saita!”
The mental room dissolved around her, and she was surrounded by pain. Every piece of her body ached, but she couldn’t scream. Someone held the underside of her jaw, forcing her to look up. She could see nothing but dark hair as a forehead was pressed against hers. Her own breath was coming out in short painful gasps. She was surprised she had control of her breathing at all. She then became aware of the pressure of the restraints all over her body. However, none of that mattered as the pain radiated from her chest. Everything in her screamed that she was dying, and there was nothing she could do.
“That took a lot longer than I expected.” She heard Jethron say. “Keep holding her like that.”
She felt a nail at the edge of her neck that seemed to be following a vein until agony lanced her chest. She wanted to scream and arch her back but clearly more restraints had been placed over her body, and she couldn’t.
“It’s okay.” Said a voice close to her head. “It’s okay.”
“Hurts.” She moaned as tears ran from her face.
“I don’t even know how she is able to talk.” That was Sash’s voice.
“Don’t try to understand what I am doing, just keep her alive.” The nail travelled to her left arm until came to rest in her palm. “This is where it gets tricky.”
She heard a language she didn’t know then pain lanced her hand, similar to the distraction pain Edzeeker had granted her. Then a hand gripped the palm while the pain worsened. Saita was sure that she was on the edge of passing out again, she was lightheaded, and the urge to vomit was extreme.
“Do you join me in this battle, Saita?” he heard Jethron say.
He sounded tired as if he had been fighting all this time. Saita struggled with her consciousness but managed to say. “Yes.”
“Will you join me before the elders of my kind and yours?”
“Are you asking her to marry you?” asked the voice above her.
There was a growl and Saita couldn’t help but grin before wheezing. “Yes.”
“Will you fight with me?”
She swallowed hard before whispering. “Yes.”
Then there was pain, similar to what she had felt when the large wolf had pinned her and driven his claw into her. She felt blood at the back of her throat, and she hissed between her clenched teeth.
“Then Human, we are joined in all. This seals it.” The hand gripped her left tighter, and Jethron added. “It’s done.”
And she was done. She couldn’t bear the pain any more as her consciousness faded from her. The last thing she heard was a hard thump and someone calling for more doctors.
Well now. What has Jethron done and will the Saith and Dekai survive this twisted form of surgery and magic? I guess you'll have to continue to read to see what happens next!
For those of you who have never heard of Fell Dragon you can find Book 1 here, Book 2 here and the start of Book 3 here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I love discussing my books!
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Races Explained
Banishment
Royal Guard
Saasha’s Direct Family
Saith Characters Recap
Human Characters Recap
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Haven't read the other parts yet? Follow these handy links:
Part 5>>You are Here>>Part 7
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