Sword and Shield (GxG)

Chapter Twenty-Six : The True Colors : Evangaline

"Morning" A gentle voice stirred me from my sleep. Even with my eyes open, the world was too hard to understand. It was just murky colors swirling in an endless vortex and no matter how hard I tried my eyes wondered around dizzily without being capable of staying still. "Slowly, you don't have to get up. You're safe" it was a hazed recollection, but I knew the voice was my mother's.

The only acknowledgment I could give her was a prolonged animalesque sound from the front of my throat, between a whine and a groan. 

"Can you-" she took a long pause, deciding what to tell me, most likely "...talk?" I pursed my lips to hum some form of conveying my thoughts. "Then I will wait. Don't rush yourself. Take as long as you need" then it was silent again and my eyes rolled to the insides of their sockets, summoning the darkness that consumed me once again. 

It was not a comfortable embrace, the black surrounding me; it was ignorant, and a wall between me and what I was looking for. Worst was that I had not a clue as to what was bothering me. What I wanted was a mystery, and why the hairs on my neck were on end, there was a lump in my throat, my eyes were burning, and a icy snake was winding around in my abdomen. Dread, fear, terrified anticipation, call it what you like. I knew it was there and I knew I desperately needed to know why. I was missing a piece in a puzzle I had not yet begun. 

I gave up on trying to sleep and surrendered to the tempest of my mind. Nothing made any sense. The memories that came to me when I tried to understand the reason I was here were unrelated, or too generic to connect. Just flashes of fire or rage. A glimpse of something I forgot as soon as it left my sight. The flashes lit up the darkness around me, intensifying until I could literally feel the burning on my skin. Burning. The sensation was new. Why was it only here now? Why did it only come when my mind failed me?

Witch.

The word made me shiver and the snake writhe inside me. As it echoed through the void a single epiphany exploded into the world with a sensation spread outward from my heart to the tips of my fingers in an instant. I could feel every vein in my body come alive with the lightning in my blood. I felt if I could look down at my hand I'd be able to see each and every little tendril, every branch of my heart's tree, would glow gold in contrast to my skin. It was a strange feeling, needless to say, almost surreal. 

It brought me back to conciousness with a shock. My sore eyes burst open, now subject to the light that assaulted them. The drunken haze from before was shattered like my calm spell. Now my eyes were wide, chest heaving, trembling from the terror that posessed me. My skin was damp with cold sweat.

My mother was staring at me from the seat across the room, frozen with her arms raised, a white porcelain teacup barely a hair away from touching her lips. The candle that gave the room it's only light sat beside her, nearly burned out.

"Are you alright?" she put the drink down and slowly approached me. She was anxious and worried, but was almost sucessful at showing only a calm, gentle exterior for sake of my comfort... Or lack thereof. 

"Where is Rikhata?" I demanded. She wasn't here and by the look on my mother's face there was bad news to tell. 

"She is fine. She is in the courtyard" my mother gave me a smile that came short of reaching her eyes. I struggled to escape the sheets of the bed I was in but my mother pushed me back down. "She'll come when she is ready. There is a lot on her mind and she needs some time alone to think" she kept her hands firmly on my shoulders, pinning me so I could not escape. Instead I opened my mouth to protest, but she -again- would not give me the chance to speak. "I already tried. I know you have a lot of questions, and I believe it is her place to answer most of them" I gave up reluctantly. Settling back into the mattress I became aware of the ache in my muscles.