Fractured Soul

Chapter 40: Voices

Curses were tricky things. The wrong counter curse and things became even more complicated than they already were. Thankfully, they managed to figure out the prince's in minutes. Per Drake's request, once all was said and done, someone was there to see when they would wake up. The waiting game dragged out, and Gareth was running out of patience.

"Maura, heal him, please? Just in case we missed anything." Gareth asked. There was no reason for them to still be like this.

"Gareth, you had me do that yesterday and the day before that. I don't think they need any more magic."

"But this doesn't seem right at all. Why are they like this? Mella I'd understand, but they would've woken by now."

Maura sighed and looked at Mella. The spells they had tried didn't work on the curse she had. "Has it occurred to you that they're exhausted? Under normal circumstances, yeah, they'd be awake by now, but nothing is normal about this. Mella almost passed out five seconds before we got to them, and Roxas was already unconscious. They need time."

"Or just someone talking loudly in their ear." A voice muttered tiredly. Maura and Gareth turned to see Roxas staring at them. "Where am I? Where is she?"

"By 'she,' if you mean Mella, she's in the bed next to you. As to where you are, welcome to Koa, Highness."

Roxas slowly sat up. "Thank you. But no 'Highness,' or 'Roxas.' It's just Wesley now. Doesn't freak people out that way."

"Why are you here, Wesley, is it now?" Maura was skeptical about Roxas's-scratch that, Wesley's-intentions. Gareth shot her a look.

"For one who just said they needed time, you're quick off the mark to start questioning."

"It's alright. You're Gareth, aren't you?" Gareth stiffened and nodded. He didn't expect the prince to know who he was. "Nice to meet you. Well, there's nothing happy about me being here, I'm afraid to say."

"When is it ever a happy thing for you to show up?" Maura muttered under her breath. Gareth heard.

"Maura, knock it off or you can wait outside. You're as bad as Hal and Eron."

Wesley chuckled. "Okay then. And I thought Mella's friends in Ryn were bad. Anyways, Mella and I need to leave Rhydona. Not sure if Ulma has spread the word to here yet, but my parents are persecuting us."

"We've heard. They want you bad. There's a thousand shael price on each of your heads."

Roxas didn't really care about the money. Gareth only confirmed what he'd wondered. What was more important to him right now was Mella. She had shifted, and her sleeping face looked to be in pain, or fear. "What happened to her? She wasn't hurt along the way, just exhausted." She had mentioned something about nightmares on at least one occasion, but nightmares wore off.

"We don't know." Gareth said tiredly. "She woke up before you did a few days ago and talked for a few minutes. It's how I know her name, but when I started looking for your counter curse, she started yelling and passed out. It freaked out the others to say the least."

"Others? What others?" Wesley asked before falling silent. Someone scuffed their foot outside the door. "I can hear you, you know."

Sheepishly, four people walked into the room. Wesley was surprised all of them fit. Maura sighed. "You guys don't give up, do you?"

"We heard voices. Not yours. We wanted to see him." The girl pointed at Wesley. Her speech was odd. Her "s" hissed on. A small red snake was wrapped around her wrist.

"Well, I guess you've seen me. But that's not all, isn't it? Who are you people?"

The girl straightened up slightly. She was taller than most of the others. "I'm Enki of Koa."