[Arthdal Chronicles] Fight for freedom

CHAPTER 34: A worrying dream and a deal.

Yangcha had noticed the woman he loved, though still unconscious, had taken back some colors. Her skin wasn't as cold as it was a few days ago and her pulse seemed to beat at a more regular rhythm. He had hope she would wake up soon. He squeezed her hand he still had in his and for a moment he thought he had felt her responding by a slight squeeze as well.

When he saw her eyelids moving, he tightened the grip he had on her hand.

Her awakening wasn't as peaceful as he wished it was. When she opened her eyes, she seemed to be lacking of air and her first reaction was to crawl back on the bed as if she was trying to escape something.

"It's okay, you are fine," Yangcha tried to reassure as he approached and cupped her face in his two hands. It seemed to him she had difficulty focusing but when her eyes met his, she immediately calmed down. "You're okay, it's over," he repeated before she threw her arms around his neck and brought him closer to her in a hug she needed. While caressing her head, he repeated once again that she was ok and he felt her body slowly relaxing.

"I- I thought I wasn't going to see you again," she mumbled in a low voice.

"It's over now, you are safe," he reassured.

"I felt like life was being dragged out of me, like I was going to be swallowed by the ground. My eyes were opened but I couldn't see anything. I wasn't physically hurt and yet, I couldn't move. It was as if I was being held by a strength I couldn't beat. Everything was so dark and cold. I was so scared. I wouldn't have been able to free myself from that state without her."

"Her? Who?" he asked as he pulled out from their embrace to look at her.

"Eiko," Enoria replied, "she appeared in front of me. She told me it wasn't time yet and that I had to go back to your side."

Yangcha frowned, he didn't like the "yet" part and he hoped her time would be in a very very long time. "What else did she say?"

"She told me to help the descendant of the Great White Wolf until peace comes back to Arthdal and that the two lineages had to reconnect. Then, I took the hand she was extending to me and the darkness disappeared," she replied, "for how long was I unconscious?"

"Five days! Is it the life in Arthdal that is making you that tired?" Whan asked, "you overdid it! Don't ever do that again."

Enoria had turned her head to look at him. She had been so focused on Yangcha that she hadn't even noticed his presence. She smiled. Whan wasn't scolding her, he was just expressing how worried she had made him be. "I am sorry for having made you worried," she told Whan before she looked at Yangcha, "I am sorry to you too, and thank you both for having stayed by my side."

"I'll always be by your side," the two men surprisingly said in unison.

Enoria laughed lightly and the two men exchanged an awkward look before Whan smiled and Yangcha looked away, embarrassed. "Wait, why do you talk in front of Whan?" she asked Yangcha with a surprised tone.

"Because it would have been boring to spend five days in total silence," Whan replied before he had time to.

"You trust him so I trust him too, I guess," Yangcha simply said. It still felt weird to him to truly speak in front of someone else than Enoria.

"I basically did all the talking though," Whan said, to his leader, "your man is far from being a chatterbox. I've never seen someone so hesitant to speak, as if every word coming out from his mouth was hurting him," he gently mocked.

"Hey, be nice, won't you?" Enoria scolded, "except the six words he exchanged with Sana, you are the first person he truly talks to, after me of course but I am a privileged person."