Rooms of Ruin by Erik Henry Vick

Author:Erik Henry Vick [Vick, Erik Henry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Blood of the Isir - Book 2
Publisher: Ratatoskr Publishing
Published: 2018-07-13T04:00:00+00:00

Thirty-five

When I awoke, it felt more like being thrown out of unconsciousness than waking. My eyes snapped open, and I lurched, my mind sure I was falling from a great height.

The cave was quiet, peaceful—at least until Keri and Fretyi, who lay pressed to my left side at two points, noticed I was awake. They jumped up, crooning like proud papas, running in circles, licking my face. They’d grown while I was out of it and both looked an easy ten pounds heavier. “Living up to your names, I bet,” I said, ruffling the fur behind two sets of ears.

My side ached, but it was a minor ache. What hurt worse was the hole in my belly where my stomach had once lived. I sat up and glanced around.

The remains of a fire glowed in the center of a large circle defined by the sleeping bodies of my companions. I stretched with care, wary of pulling stitches or tearing open my wound. A nagging, uncomfortable tightness lingered under my right arm, but nothing compared to what I had expected. I ran my hand over my ribs, but instead of a sutured wound, my fingers scrabbled across scar tissue. It was tender, but it didn’t hurt.

I shook my head, marveling at how fast I’d healed under Sif’s expert care. Images came flooding into my mind. More than images, memories, but of events I didn’t remember happening. I still remembered the battle with Kuthbyuhrn, but now I also remembered an alternate series of events—things I hadn’t lived through, and yet I had.

“Finally,” grunted Althyof from across the circle. He got to his feet and stirred the coals, then added fresh wood. He walked toward me, keen eyes traveling over my face, my right side. “You’ve lain in the grip of a high fever for more than a week, Tyeldnir.”

“A week?” I parroted, stunned.

“Sif refused to let us move you. Your spear wound became infected—something the damn Svartalf cooked up and gave to the attackers, no doubt.” That was from the new set of memories—dark forms swarming at Veethar out of the darkness. “What do you remember? I’ll fill in the gaps,” said the Tverkr.

“Well, that’s an interesting question, but I remember an ambush. When they swarmed at us out of the darkness, Veethar was out in front, and…I guess I had dreamed about a spear thrust arcing from the darkness because my mind showed me his death. I grabbed him and twisted him out of the way. When I turned back to the attackers, I…held something in my hands…”

“A spear,” said Althyof. “A spear you’d conjured.”

“Yes! I held a spear. The… Who was it that attacked us?”

“A small band of trolls.”

“Trolls? I can’t remember them.”

Althyof shrugged. “It’s no matter. I remember them enough for both of us.”

“Yeah. Anyway, the trolls who were planning to kill Veethar grew angry when I moved him. I… Were there two of them?”

“Three.”

“Okay, three of them came at me. I had the spear, and I tried to ward them off.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.