34. Thirty-One

Thirty-One

Family Reunion

" L ily? Lily, stay awake," Trayden urged. They had just entered the bedroom, and he hadn't even had a chance to put her in the bed yet.

Asher let go of Savarian and quickly limped to Trayden's side. Lily was unconscious again. "How far away is the healer?" Asher asked urgently. Lily was pale and cold to the touch. "She's lost a lot of blood," he muttered and tried to rearrange the blanket on the bed to cover her and keep her warm.

"You made it back. And with Asher!"

Asher looked to the doorway as Trayden's mother, Arilla, entered with Nina, the healer, close behind. Arilla kissed her son on the forehead and pulled him into a tight hug. Asher felt the ache in his chest rise upward. He'd been suppressing it for the last several days.

He cleared his throat, willing the lump away. But it stuck.

He had barely had time to cry over his mother's death, let alone properly mourn her.

"I'll leave you to take care of her," Asher stated as he got to his feet. "I need to see my father." He looked at Nina. "Please take good care of her. And let me know if anything happens."

Nina caught him by the arm before he could escape. "You have a head wound that we need to assess. And that leg of yours. Don't think I didn't notice your limp and the way you're moving. You're hurt too."

Asher shook his head, which made his vision swim. "I can wait. She's in a far more dire circumstance. I'll be with my father. When you're ready to leave Lily, you can tend to me there."

Nina frowned, not satisfied with his answer, but let go and turned her attention to the young woman on the bed.

Asher exited the room and drew a big breath to steady himself.

"You don't want to stay while they take care of her?" Trayden said, following behind.

Asher licked his lips and rubbed his hands on his legs. "I'm afraid. I...don't want to lose her. And I feel foolish for thinking that way because only a few days ago, I despised her. She was a human, her people had attacked and murdered my mother, and then...and then she freed me. She sacrificed her own safety for someone who hated her. Now I feel obligated to keep her safe, and I didn't." He steadied himself with a hand on the wall. "In truth? As the prince, I need to be worried about everyone in my kingdom. We have important things that need to be put in place, and I can't do that while I'm sitting and worrying over Lily. As much as I would like to, my father is unable to run the kingdom right now. So I must."

Trayden rested his hand on Asher's shoulder. "You don't have to do any of it alone, you know. The kingdom managed while you were gone. It can manage while you recover."

The corner of Asher's lip raised in a little bit of a smile. "I know you've got my back no matter what."

"Let me help get you to your father's room."

Asher let Trayden guide him through the open hallway to the opposite side of the palace, where the bedrooms of the royal family were located. Trayden left him, in spite of his protests, and he knocked before walking into his father's room. But he wasn't prepared for the sorrow that hit him in the chest like a fist.

His father lay in the bed, asleep. But His mother wasn't in there. She didn't sit on the edge of the bed stroking his graying hair, nor did she sit in her worn green chair working on her needlework under the light of the low candlestick. She didn't greet him. She wasn't there to give him a hug and welcome him home.

Asher didn't expect the tears to hit.

It was his first time seeing that his mother was gone. She was dead, and wasn't coming home.

His chin trembled, and he closed the door quickly before his father could hear him. He slumped with his shoulder against the wall outside of their bedroom and slid to the ground, burying his face in his hands to muffle his sobs.

Arms suddenly enveloped him, and he jumped.

It was Falu and Tara. He sat up enough to embrace his sisters, and they squeezed him, as relieved as he was to be home.

"Bashton told us you were back," Falu said softly. "We came as fast as we could."

Asher looked past them to see Zeb standing a couple of paces away. Asher sniffled and wiped his eyes, let go of Tara and Falu, and reached his arms out to Zeb.

Zeb walked forward and hugged him too.

"Did you have a funeral for mom?" Asher asked with a broken voice.

"We buried her, but we wanted to wait for you and Dad to be home before we held a proper funeral," Zeb replied. He let go.

Asher noticed Falu's eyes glistening, and Tara hugged her again.

He wiped at his eyes that didn't seem capable of stopping. "I missed all of you. Did you take care of Father?"

"Of course we did," Bashton said from behind him. Bashton pushed his way past Zeb and leaned against Asher's side as he squeezed around his neck.

"Maybe tonight we can have dinner as a family?" Asher asked softly.

Zeb rolled his eyes. "We have so much food. Everyone in the village keeps making meals and bringing them over, even though we've told them to stop."

"Good." Asher patted Bashton's leg, hinting to him to let go, which he did. Asher used the wall to support himself, but Bashton tugged on his arm to try to help him stand. "I brought someone back with me. Her name is Lily. She got hurt when we went through Demon's Pass and needs lots of rest, so please be courteous."

All of their eyes widened and Zeb's mouth hung open.

Falu was the first to speak. "Are you insane?"

Asher smiled a little at her response. "It was the fastest way home, and we were desperate. I had hoped we wouldn't be noticed, but..." He shook his head. "I'm going to visit with Dad."

"I'll keep them away," Tara offered, pointing her thumb at their siblings.

"Thank you." He gave her a grateful smile and re-entered their parents' bedroom.

This time, his father was awake, and relief washed over his face, bringing color back into it. "I had feared you wouldn't make it," the king said.

Asher sat on the bed and took his father's hand. "It's really good to see you. I was worried you wouldn't make it back before the venom took hold."

He sighed and looked down at his body. "Nina said she thought my leg might need to be cut off, but they saved it for now."

"Lily is really good at healing potions. She used one on my shoulder when I was a prisoner. When she's feeling better, maybe she would be willing to help you," Asher offered.

"Feeling better?" His father's brows dipped low. "What happened after we were separated?"

Asher caught him up on everything: Lily using her magic to fight Yoresh, his uncertainty whether Yoresh had survived or not, being captured by the barbarians, and escaping Demon's Pass. He spared no details with the injuries and even included his concern over Lily's use of the horse to support her magic.

His father listened intently the entire time.

"I think what we need to focus on from this point forward is preparing Vasha for the humans," Asher continued.

"Asher, you just returned home. You're wet and injured. You need time to rest."

Asher shook his head. "Do you think the humans are?"

His father sighed heavily. "No. But you can't help if you aren't one hundred percent. Even if you're...seventy percent. Right now, you're barely at what? Fifty percent, if that?" He reached up and put his hand on Asher's cheek. "Please just rest at least for the remainder of the day? Our world will still be here tomorrow, and you can help then."

Asher reluctantly nodded. But he had no intention of doing so. "I'm going to check on Lily." He climbed off the bed. "Maybe...maybe we should do Mom's funeral tomorrow," he said softly, not lifting his gaze to look at his father. If he did, he knew another wave of grief would engulf him, and if he did that, his splitting headache might cause him to pass out, and there was just too much to get done.

"I think we would all like that," his father replied.

Asher walked out of the room, but stopped at his own bedroom before he would visit Lily. He needed to bind his leg and put new clothes on, check on Lily, and then get to work preparing the kingdom for the humans. Scouts needed to be scheduled, traps created, weapons made...

Asher had managed to bind his leg with some bandages he'd found in a cupboard, but it was difficult getting pants on over them. As soon as they were on, he went to Lily's room. The door was still open and he could see Arilla set a blood-soaked rag into a basket. Nina's fingers tugged on a needle, the thread clearly closing Lily's wounds. He couldn't see how far along they were, but Lily was in good hands.

He licked his lips before leaving the palace altogether. Going down the stairs to get to the marketplace proved difficult and excruciatingly painful. All of the booths in the market had been closed up, likely due to the rainstorm, and only a few adults lingered. They chatted with one another while watching their young children splash in the puddles on the cobblestone ground.

"Your Grace," one greeted as he approached.

Asher nodded his head to them. He recognized one of them as Sally, one of the fliers. "Sally, who flew with you to look for my father? Trayden told me about what you did."

"Henry was with us, and Ramile, Vaer, Xander, and Hanna. I am happy to see you have returned as well." She smiled graciously.

"I am concerned the humans will return soon." He kept his voice low, so as to not disturb the children, but he didn't care if the other adults overheard him. "I believe when they do, it will be with a much larger army. We need to prepare our land. We need to have people willing to be scouts, and I want to have a few spotter's nests built near the mountains. Who are the fastest? Fliers or runners?"

Sally exchanged a worried glance with her friends. "I...um. I am the fastest flier. Vaer and Ramile are quick too. But there are others. You want us to scout?"

He nodded, only to reach up and touch his temple. The simple movement had caused his head to hurt horribly. "We need to station the fastest of us as scouts. We will take turns being positioned in these hidden locations. I'm thinking half a day at a time? That way we stay fresh and alert should the humans return." He realized by the looks on their faces he'd ruined their happy summer evening and grimaced. "I know this isn't what any of us want, but we need a warning before the humans arrive."

"You can't possibly believe they'll return," said a woman with blonde hair tied back in two buns that looked rather like antlers.

"I know they will," he said firmly. "And we need to be prepared when they do. You can spread the word that I would like to have everyone meet here tomorrow morning. I'll address everyone at once so we can set a plan into motion."

"Shouldn't your father be the one planning this?" Sally cut in.

Asher raised his eyebrow, a bit surprised she would challenge him. Not because it wasn't her right, but because he couldn't see why she would be concerned with his ideas. "Do you not trust me?"

"Perhaps you're more concerned than you need to be?" the other woman offered.

The third woman, Ramile, who had remained silent up to that point, slipped between her two friends. "We're all concerned about the humans. They caused havoc with the handful they brought last time. I'm more than happy to be one of those scouts."

Asher smiled gratefully. "Thank you. And again, let everyone know to meet tomorrow. I'll see you here." He turned and began to limp away.

The pain and unsteadiness grew worse.

"Ramile, did you see his head wound?" Asher heard in hushed tones behind him. "He could have an injury to the brain making him paranoid."

"He just returned from the humans. Do you not think he would know what their plans might be?" Ramile replied in a hushed tone.

"Why would they share their evil ideas with him?"

Asher probably should have corrected their gossip, but he was leaning heavily on the railing and just needed to get back inside. All of his strength was gone, and he wanted nothing more than to collapse right in the hallway.

"There you are!" Nina said behind him.

Asher looked slowly over his shoulder.

She stormed over to him and pulled his arm over her shoulders. "You foolish boy."

"How is Lily?" he asked as he was half-dragged into his bedroom.

"She will recover. It will take some time, however."

Asher swallowed. "Good."

He fell down heavily on his bed, his limbs feeling like stone. He tried to help get his legs onto his bed, but Nina had to lift them. He was so exhausted. His head hurt, his limbs hurt, and his heart hurt.

"You're going to be okay too, Asher. I'll take care of that. You get some sleep."

Asher wanted to open his eyes and acknowledge her. He wanted to ask more questions about Lily. But his lips wouldn't move, and all his lungs wanted to do was breathe. He felt Nina press a warm rag to his head to begin washing it off.

Her soothing motions reminded him of when he had a fever as a child and his mother had stayed by his bedside all night.

Her sweet melody came into his mind, and he was swept away into dreams.