Fugitive of the Sky

Chapter Nineteen: What Was Not Said

His legs buckled without him meaning to, so that Maru took most of his weight. She stumbled back and barely kept them both from falling over. "Natan! How badly are you hurt?" she exclaimed.

"Only a little," he muttered. "I thought it'd be better to save money and let Enek patch me up." He tried to get his legs under him again.

"When I said we needed to cut corners, I didn't mean you should kill yourself because you didn't have your wounds tended!" Maru half helped, half dragged Natan to their bedroom. He gladly slumped onto their pallets, wincing as his shoulder moved. That didn't make sense. Notir hadn't injured his shoulder, so why did it hurt? Perhaps the lack of air was making him miss something.

Maru called for Enek and some hot rags and water. Natan made to sit straighter, but she was at his side in a moment, scolding and almost pushing him to the floor. There was no arguing with her when she was like this. Besides, what was the point? Perhaps the arrow wound was worse than he'd thought.

Adonai, please don't let me die. It was so strange, having to pray to two gods at once all the time. It was simply not done. Once you were outside a god's dominion, there was no longer any need to pray to him, at least, until you returned. And until now, there were never two gods with dominion in the same location. That was contrary to their very nature. The gods had broken the world in ages past in their fight to establish their dominions. Then Adonai, the Larkwing god, how did He fit in? The Larkwing girl had said His dominion was everywhere...

No matter. Enek was here and was starting to tend to his wounds. Maru was fussing over his cheek. He was in good hands. Natan sighed one last time and murmured an explanation to Maru, then let himself relax and fall asleep.

He woke up as if something had startled him. Natan blinked in confusion for several moments at the blackness. Was he dead? No, Maru's breath lay on his ears and her form was sleeping nearby. He must've slept the entire day.

Natan cautiously took a deep breath. Whatever Enek had done, it had worked. Maru had made a good choice buying him, even at almost double the price. His shoulder didn't hurt any more, either, but his chest ached. That made sense. Natan felt the bandages over the arrow wound and the slash on his chest. He frowned as one piece seemed loose, but he left it. Enek wouldn't be so careless.

The cut on his cheek was tended, too. Nothing ached too much. What had woken him so suddenly? He listened, but nothing sounded out of the ordinary. Silence passed by, only broken by faint voices and Maru's breathing. Natan sighed and tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn't settle. Something was wrong, but he couldn't figure out what it was. There weren't any footsteps approaching, and Maru seemed content enough. Why had he woken up?

Was the Larkwing girl escaping? No, she wouldn't be strong enough to stand. Had he had a nightmare?

Perhaps it was remembering Notir's last words and the look on his face as he'd cut through his spine. Natan winced at the memory and closed his eyes, trying to shake it away. He wasn't sure he could touch his sword again. Not when the thought put the curse and phantom blood on his hands.

Natan turned on his side without thinking and hissed. Clenching his teeth, he fought back the moan and swiftly lay flat again. He shouldn't wake Maru up.

Natan stared up into the darkness. If that was any indication, he wouldn't be able to get up tomorrow, maybe not for many days. He wouldn't be able to trade anything to help Maru with their debts. She would insist he stayed out of sight until he was recovered. He would be stuck here with his thoughts day after day. Natan sighed. At least he was alive. Unlike Notir.

He chased his thoughts in circles for a while, trying to avoid his deeper problems and settle on something that would let him fall asleep. The night watch came and went, but still he remained awake. A few times, he dozed, but far too soon he jerked awake. Finally, while fighting off nightmares of Notir stabbing his chest, Natan realized what was wrong. He reached out with a grunt and shook Maru's shoulder. "Maru."