Darkness in Eloria

Shiny

The night passed in a haze of waking and dreaming for Mallory, the bumpiness of the ride woke her periodically, but even then she was only partially awake at best.

Eugene held her softly, still feeling the sting of his forgetfulness. She could have been pulled into the wisp, it happens all the time. Why hadn’t he warned her? He sighed grumpily, while running a quick check over Mallory’s arm. The black goo seems to continue to grow, even when I think I’ve got it all, it still comes back. It’s relentless.

Aiden looked to the sky, silently thankful for a clear night, wondering if it would last seeing as this trip seems only to get more complicated by the moment, he looked towards the mountains, trying to judge if they could make it to the pass by morning.

“How is she doing?”

“Good for now, she just fell back asleep. She’s so cute when she sleeps.” Eugene grinned.

“I meant the arm, how is her arm doing. Stop ogling her, you creep.” Aiden countered jovially.

“Oh, I have to cleanse it every few hours, stupid goo.”

“It isn’t wearing you out too much, is it?”

“Wearing me out?” Eugene guffawed. “I never tire. I am the ever flowing river, the mighty mountain peak, I am tireless.”

“Whatever you say.” Aiden turned back, pushing his horse to a faster pace as the light of false dawn seeped over the hills,

They rode for hours, pausing only to eat. Mallory fell into a feverish sleep, Eugene had to spend a good deal of effort to keep her from flopping out of the saddle onto the rocky outcrops the landscape was starting to offer. They had finally reached the mountain path that Aiden was seeking. After a quick pause to examine Mallory’s condition, they decided on a rest while the sister moons rise.

“How long has she been like this?” Aiden was leaning over her sleeping form trying desperately to hear the words she was trying to speak.

“The talking for about the past two hours, I can’t make any sense of it. She keeps saying ‘yer doin’ it wroooooooong’” he mimicked in a low moaning girl voice. “She’s had the fever since before dawn, but I’ve kept it in check, just can’t get it to go away.”

“I can make out ‘you gotta shiny the arm’ and ‘with the light and stuff’ what does that even MEAN?” Aiden exclaimed, exasperated at trying to translate from Mallory’s feverish slumber speech.

“Aaaargh. First she’s all ‘yer doin’ it wrong’ making me think she know something that might help, then she rambles about shiny things! You are one infuriating woman you know that?” He glared at her as she let out a tiny snore and a cry of “Shiny!”

“I don’t think glaring helps, Eugene. Do you think she’s actually trying to tell us something or are these feverish ravings?”

“How am I supposed to know? She just mumbles, then tosses and turns. I’m just glad we stopped, I was kind of close to letting her fall off the horse. Do you know how hard it is to keep such a small, slippery woman in the saddle when she obviously wants to be laying down? ‘Cause it is hard!”

“Well, I don’t want to bother Koren, she has enough on her hands. Do you think you could burn out enough of the fever to get her to talk to us? Then we can see if it’s important or if she’s just mumbling?”

“I could but it might drain me too much to keep going tonight, too.”

“Alright, you do that, we’ll talk to her, then you can sleep and I’ll keep an eye on her arm and wake you if it needs to be cleaned, Mr. Mighty Mountain Peak. Then we switch and I get some sleep and we’ll set out at dawn again.”