Accounts of Starlight and Dust by L.A. Effinger

Author:L.A. Effinger [L. A. Effinger]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: L.A. Effinger
Published: 2023-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

Tristan wakes Arran up again and again. He has to. Arran wouldn’t wake up on his own if he didn’t.

Tristan shakes Arran until his eyes open, then makes him eat and drink. It’s like taking care of a sleepwalker. Arran will do what Tristan tells him to and fall back asleep as soon as Tristan no longer keeps him awake.

Neither of them is in any condition to travel, so Tristan has set up camp in the abandoned husk of the building they were being held in. He spends two days dragging out the corpses of Gruna and his followers. Tristan throws up when he has to move Gruna’s corpse. It’s barely recognisable as something that once used to be human. There are bones and skin at all the wrong angles, all the wrong places. It’s burned without being charred, the blood crystallised in places forming horribly beautiful crystals that clump meat and bones and skin together.

He buries them behind the house. He leaves Gruna’s grave unmarked.

He’s already recovered Jorah’s body, immediately after Arran fell. He has him wrapped in a blanket, the hideous wound hidden with a bandage that does absolutely nothing. At first, it was easy to trick himself into thinking that he just looked like he was sleeping. His unseeing eyes closed and his face relaxed. But it was dark then and the more days pass, the more Tristan has to force himself to look at him.

He’s almost glad that between all the grave digging, keeping Arran alive and taking care of his own wounds, he barely has time to sleep. Like that, he can’t think. He’s taking care of his own wounds as best as he can, but he knows damn well that he needs Jorah for this. He stops that thought right there. He’s in nowhere near the state Arran is in, Gruna was way too excited to watch him die to take the time to torture him the way he did with Arran, but he’s still hurt. His collarbone is broken, and he’s pretty sure the wounds where Gruna stabbed him to keep him in place are infected.

After a few days, the fever sets in. Definitely infected. Damn. Tristan tries to wake Arran.

Arran forces himself to open his eyes. He has no idea how many times he’s already had to do this, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he’s becoming aware that it’s getting easier. This isn’t over by a long shot, but it’s getting easier to keep his eyes open, force himself to swallow and move.

He does, guided by Tristan’s touch. Sits up in front of the fire. It’s the first time he’s awake and recovered enough to be aware of his surroundings. The warmth of the fire crashes down on him, the way the air tastes is overwhelming and the constant humming of the world around him, the ebb and flow of energy through his veins, or is that a river beneath him, he can sense everything again and it’s blinding. It almost makes whatever pain he feels around him fade away.

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