The Journey The Malevolent Curse

Chapter XXIII: All Apologies (Other 1/2)

I felt something cold on my forehead, and then heard a voice, which I couldn't quite make out, but knew who it belonged to. Something didn't make sense. Liam was dead. Why was he saying something that I couldn't understand? Was I dead, too, then? No, I wouldn't have that cold feeling on my head and the pain in my chest.

"Kyara," I heard, clearly this time.

Why couldn't I open my eyes? Why did nothing make sense?

The cold substance on my head moved and that's when I noticed it was a hand, for it started stroking my hair.

"Why isn't she waking up?" I heard from the voice that could only belong to Luke.

"She hit her head pretty hard," Dad said.

Hit my head? How? I don't remember anything, other than Liam's breath stopping and me. . . falling!

My eyes opened at once.

"Kyara!" Liam said, with a little more enthusiasm than I would have expected from someone who wasn't breathing just a few seconds ago.

"What-what happened?" I asked.

"When Liam lost consciousness, you fainted and hit your head on the bed frame," Dad began.

So, Liam had stopped breathing, then? But why was he okay now?

"How. . . How long have I been out?" I asked, and tried to move, but couldn't feel any part of my body. All I could do was stare at the ceiling and listen.

"Almost seven hours," Dad said and slowly the feeling in my lower body returned. I moved my legs a bit and noticed that I was under the covers. I felt the warmth of my lover by my side.

"Careful," said Liam. "My leg is propped up and I don't want it to get kicked out from under me."

I stopped moving my legs and turned my neck slightly to look at him. His dark brown eyes stared into mine and he smiled at me. I tried to smile back, but my head started pounding.

"Don't move your neck too much. You have a concussion," Mom said.

"What happened? Did you raid the castle?" I asked, urgently, wanting to know what happened.

"Yes, we did," Dad said. "But it didn't work. There were guards that we didn't see when we sent the lookout. Several townspeople died, but only a few guards were injured. We were able to steal a key from a guard, but we don't know which door it opens or even if it would open any. Hugo is trying to figure that out now. Because it's dark, he has more of a chance of figuring it out without being detected."

"Is he alone?" I asked, slightly confused.

"No, Bella is his lookout," Dad said. That's when I realized I hadn't heard Bella's voice.

"Liam was able to regain consciousness a few seconds after you fainted," said Mom. "He's been stable for about five hours. The flowers Hugo got have really helped the infection."

"But isn't he allergic to rosemary?" I asked, still confused.

"Yes, but Hugo was able to get it cleaned out and reapply the other anti-infection herbs to his cut. It looks much better now. We also re-stitched it and put some cloth around it so that it would stay enclosed," Dad said.

"So, if Hugo finds the way in, what's he going to do?" I said.

"He's going to come back and get us to help him search for the phone," Bryan said. Why hadn't he talked until now? "But you, Liam, and Luke are staying here."