Erinne still felt lightheaded and awful when she opened her eyes. The ache in her head had lessened, at least, as she tried to focus her blurring vision and looked around. She wasn't in familiar quarters. She frowned and tried to sit up, but ropes snapped taut on her wrists. "What the...?"
"Shh," she turned her head and saw Khash rising from a chair a few feet from the bed she was in. He looked tired as he dragged it closer and sat down, setting his hand on her wrist, "Don't tug at them."
"Khash?"
"I'm sorry, my friend, I had to."
"Why am I tied to the bed?"
"You were thrashing. You went still and silent. Your eyes closed, and then you started shaking all at once." He stared down at the ropes, "They cut you into your skin, I'm so sorry, we didn't know what else to do."
"Well, I'm not seizing now."
"No," he shook his head, "but I'd like to keep you like this, for a while longer, in case it starts again."
She didn't like that. At all. "Let me up." He shook his head again, more adamant this time.
"It is known to happen when the body is poisoned. When I'm certain you won't seize again, I'll take them off."
He wasn't going to take them off? She tugged at them in dismay. She understood his reasoning, but her mind was rebelling at the thought of being tied down, of having her freedom stripped away. She lifted her eyes from the ropes, her head throbbing and her bones aching. Her vision was trying to clear and for the first time, she was able to see the floor more clearly. She lifted her eyes to the walls.
Gray. All gray and bland.
Hard.
Stone.
Her heartbeat quickened. She felt the constrains on her wrists more keenly as she felt the room closing in. "Khash."
"You know we'd never hurt you, Erinne."
"Why am I in the dungeon?" She snapped and tried sitting up, maneuvering into an odd position of sitting up but mostly slouched and hunched because of her tied wrists. Her throat felt raw and her words came out raspy and hoarse, but she was still able to convey her displeasure.
"We didn't know what to do. We don't have spare rooms in the castle with refugees filling them. Wren was scared someone would see you."
"So it was his idea to bring me down here?"
"We decided it together. Down here we could tie you down so you didn't hurt yourself in your sleep. And I can watch you, without interruption. Everyone thinks we're out gathering herbs except for Myre. We told her you were sick and I thought it best if you stayed away from Anyse."
She stared at him, as he admitted he'd had a hand in bringing her down here. "To the dungeon?!" She raised her voice. He gave her a harsh glare and she tried to calm herself. "You locked me...in a cage?"
"Erinne," he set his hand on her wrist and she tried to snatch it away, "please don't think of it that way. You were thrashing. You almost died. What else am I supposed to do? Any healer would do the same."
"Let me free," it was a quiet plea.
"You're still very weak." She tugged at the rope as he said it and his hand squeezed her wrist, "Don't. I'm not untying you."
"I don't remember what you say."
He scoffed, "It's no wonder. Wren decided to let you stand and you nearly smacked your head into the stone floor. You cannot go near that flower again."
"I'm sorry, Khash," she lowered her voice this time, trying to sound more amicable, "but I didn't try to kill myself with the Loostqa flower."
She wasn't sure he'd ever been truly mad at her, but he looked angry now. His jaw was ticking, his brow furrowed, and he wouldn't meet her eyes. He drug a hand down his face, scratching at his beard for a long moment before he spoke again, "Because of what you've done Wren is restricting you to the castle. You will not be allowed to leave, even with an escort. You're not allowed in the city."
"What?" She leaned towards him, "You don't believe I tried to take my own life, Khash. That's not what I was doing."
He lifted his hands in the air, "All I know is that my best friend ran out of a tent crying and then left the city. Then Wren and a guard found me and said you had burned some sort of flower and inhaled it. It was only a matter of time before this nightmare you live in broke you—"
"Khash!" She cut him off. "I'm not broken. I'm more alive than I've been in six months! Cold Hammer is alive, Andol could be alive!"
"Stop it!" He shot to his feet so abruptly that the chair tipped over backwards. "They're not alive, Erinne. I thought you would give that hallucination up when your head cleared... You...you're breaking my heart." He grabbed at his chest, tears filling his eyes.
He didn't believe her. Not a word of it. He thought she had finally snapped, that she'd lost her mind, that the Loostqa flower had caused her to hallucinate the Ancestors. He couldn't see it. Her own heart was crushing.
Her mate was alive, her son surely must be alive, too. And Wren was restricting her movements. She was in the one place she was terrified of the most—a cage. Locked in, her hands bound to the bed. Erinne swallowed, staring at Khash, realizing she had nothing. She had no power here at all. For the first time in her life, she couldn't fight, she couldn't run.
When her silence stretched, Khash gave her his back and walked across the room, leaning his back against the wall and sliding down until he sat. His head rested in his palms and she didn't know what to do.
"I'm sorry, Khash." She wept softly and laid down, turning her head to face the wall.
. . . .
Erinne drew her arms around her knees as she sat up in bed, her eyes staring at the rope burn marring her left wrist. The skin was bright red and raw and it stung if she breathed on it. She didn't need to look towards the door to know that it was Wren walking in, she'd heard the guard outside greeting him. She'd listened as he asked the guard if she'd done or said anything, if she'd eaten. He was concerned and she might've appreciated it but they thought she was crazy. They thought she'd lost her mind.
She caught sight of him in her peripheral vision kneeling next to the empty bowl of soup Khash had brought her. "You ate?" If he expected an answer for an obvious question, she wasn't giving him one. He straightened up, studying her and she tried to ignore his intense gaze before he sat in the chair Khash usually occupied.
"Can I come out?" She asked hesitantly.
She heard his deep inhale before he loosed it and said, "How are you feeling?"
"Like I want to see my daughter. Please, I've been in here for days."
"You've been in here little more than one. Erinne, this—"
"Please, I don't need or want another lecture." Her voice was strained this time and he sighed and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. She finally turned to look at him, meeting his gaze. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it would poison me." She tried to sound as calm as possible, she wanted him and Khash to both see that she was no longer ailing.
She didn't quite remember what happened in the forest when they found her. It was blurred and foggy bits in her head. She did remember they'd been upset that she kept insisting Cold Hammer and Andol were alive. They didn't believe her.
She hadn't forgotten what happened with the Ancestors. Khash and Wren might not believe in the power of the Loostqa flowers, but she knew it to be true. Everything they'd said was true, even if it didn't always happen the way she expected it to.
"Why did you take it? If you weren't poisoning yourself, tell me something that makes sense."
She already had, she'd told them the flowers were magical. They hadn't believed her. They thought she was hallucinating from the toxin. "The orcs used a flowery concoction to commune with their Ancestors. Maybe it was a different flower, maybe I did it wrong, I thought I could speak to the Ancestors, too. I just wanted to see them again, I didn't want to die though!"
"You almost did."
"I know...and I'm sorry." She licked her lips to moisten them but they still felt dry. She was ravenously thirsty. He had to let her out. She wasn't seizing anymore. She was fine. Being in here was going to drive her insane. She could feel the walls closing in.
"I'll bring Khash back and have him—" he stopped speaking as a strange noise left her throat. She wasn't even sure how that noise came from her. The walls were suddenly closer.
"Please, Wren, don't leave me in here alone anymore. Please!" She stumbled to her feet, clutching her chest. "Don't lock me in!"
He gave her a strange look before he slowly said, "I'm not locking you away, Erinne, we just had to keep you from hurting yourself."
"This room is so small!" Her voice was still ragged. She could hear Nukbrik's voice in her head. It'd been years since she'd felt his memory seep inside her the way it was now, but she felt him. Each time the walls shrank in against her, she felt him, heard him slamming the door on her every night, leaving her in a cold barn.
His head tilted and he lifted his nose higher into the air. Her eyes filled with water, her heart was pounding. She'd thought the walls of the castle were small. Down here, she could feel them pressing in on her with every passing second. "Please..."
"I'll get Khash." He affirmed and left her alone.
Erinne thought the world was going to collapse onto her. She felt fear strike her chest and swoop down her spine. She thought she might scream.
Then the door opened and one of the guards stepped inside, "The king bade me to keep you company, milady. How are you feeling?" It was one of the guards that had gone with her into the forest and she wanted to cry tears of relief as he entered the room. He sat in the chair, seemingly in a good mood as he looked across the room at her. "Milady?"
"I..." her throat was dry and she sat down on the bed so hard that it groaned in protest. "Do you have any more water?"
"Aye," he reached for a canteen. He even brought it to her without complaint.
She didn't know how much time passed, but she could focus on nothing but every singular beat of her heart. Before they arrived, she'd returned to her curled up position that she'd been in when Wren had come to her. This time, as he entered, he wasn't alone, the warlock was with him. He had a coat draped over one arm as he followed Wren inside and held it up.
"I brought this for you. The air is cooler this evening."
Evening. She'd been in here an entire day by this point, surely. She unwrapped her arms from her knees slowly and crept his way, trying not to shake or give any indication that she wasn't well, "You're letting me out?"
"I think you are well again." His voice was soft, his head bowed slightly as she accepted the coat and shrugged it on. "Will you forgive me?"
As he asked the words, she wanted to be mad. She wanted to lash out...but she couldn't. Not to either of them. She'd poisoned herself with the flower, unintentionally, but they'd been right to fear for her life. Even the Ancestors had asked her if she had a death wish. She hadn't known the flower was poisonous. Khash had saved her life.
She vaguely recalled his anger in the woods and the way he'd screamed at the sky. At the time she'd been in and out of consciousness but she remembered Wren pushing bitter herbs into her throat. They'd both saved her life. And now she had so much more to live for again.
Erinne set her hand on Khash's shoulder and kissed his cheek before doing the same to Wren and walking towards the door. She needed out of this confining space and she needed to see her baby girl. Then she would plan.
She had to find Cold Hammer.
If her son was alive, he would know where he was.
And he had some explaining to do. Like why he hadn't come back for her and Anyse.
***Author's Note: Thanks so much for reading! There will be a new chapter posted every Monday! Stay tuned for more Rise of the Warrior of Everfen***