Angels Blood (52 page)

“
That bitch!” She exclaimed. “She’s killed me too.”

Now her eyes widened as she felt her legs go wobbly and she collapsed to the ground watching Borlund.

Borlund immediately scooped her up and lifted himself up onto the horse then cradling her, raced back into town. He knew they had about twenty minutes before it would be too late. Reaching the outskirts of town he made his way to the infirmary, which was well established months ago by the Kingdom’s supplies. Sliding off the horse with his burden in his arms, he walked to the entrance and kicked the doors in crying out for a physician. Borlund found a table to lay her on and a nurse ran up to them. 

“
She has a knife wound to the kidney, she needs surgery immediately!”

She nodded and instructed Borlund. 

“
Take her into that room there and lay her out on the table and start removing her clothes.”

The nurse turned and ran back down a hallway fetching the surgeon in attendance.  Now four of them came back at a rush into the room where Borland had removed Loranda’s heavy coat. The surgeon addressed Borland while inspecting Loranda. 

“
You may wait outside, we will deal with it as necessary.”

Borland went outside and sat down.  After a few short moments he decided it would be best to report back to Night at their quarters so he left the building.

Lord Raz stood in the woman’s quarters in shock.  He had only been speaking to Dark a couple of hours before and here she lay dead on her cot.  Night was still sitting by her side. Raz felt a rush of memories of when he had lost his wife and had spent a day in vigil by her side. Many folk were in the same room crowded around and murmuring amongst themselves, they all knew Dark and were paying their respects. Night looked up at Raz. 

“
I have to contact Wollfen somehow, he needs to know.”

Lord Raz understood perfectly and nodded, but what could they do? Wollfen was a captor in Isogorr. Night stood and motioned for a chair, she sat down and again spoke to Raz. 

“
I am going to sent out a blast of energy via mind touch.  I don’t know if he will hear me but I have to try. It will take a few minutes of my time and I will probably collapse from the effort.  If you could be so kind as to take care of me until I awake again?” Raz didn’t hesitate. 

“
But of course, whatever you need.”

The others around the room looked on as Night closed her eyes and went into a seeming trance. Her face screwed up a little in concentration and effort, a grim look set upon her features.

Wollfen hung in the darkness without any sense of his surroundings.  He didn’t know how long he had been there and now he was losing touch of why. His mind was slowly unraveling in the nothingness, but he knew it wouldn’t end.  It would never end.

He once again reached out with his mind in all directions for something, anything he could latch onto. How many times had he tried? He had lost count and still there was no hope to be found. Then he sensed it, the tiniest white light far, far away.  He focused and directed his energies to it.  It was a beacon, someone was getting through.  Who knew he was stuck there? It took a little while longer to feel it and bring it closer.  It happened very slowly at first, but he gained momentum with time. Quicker and quicker he was traveling toward it and it became clearer with every passing moment.

It was Nightwing! She was sending it out! His heart filled with hope, he didn’t hesitate in accelerating even more.  If the light went out, he would be lost again and he had no intention of missing this time. Wollfen just hoped there was plenty of room where he would land, he would be coming in on a huge magical wave. 

For a couple of minutes the group watched as Night quietly sat.  They all were holding their breath willing her success.  The onlookers knew she was  sending out a message, all felt for Dark and wished the best.  They had no idea their energies were feeding Night’s efforts and boosting her ability. Then all of a sudden the room trembled and there was a rumble of sound.  They all looked about, there was no storm coming?

A piercing white light filled the room and they shut their eyes at the brightness.  Some cried out as the noise rose until there was a thunderclap that went off in that confined space shattering the windows as the building shook.  Then all of a sudden it went dark and silent. There in the stillness stood a tall man dressed in furs, a hood covering his head. Many people were bowled over by the force that had blown through and taken out the windows, leaving them gasping and some even whimpering. Lord Raz was on his butt and picked himself up as the man standing there threw his hood back.  Night let out a cry of recognition. 

“
Wollfen!”

Night was sitting there in awe. Wollfen looked at her and smiled. In a low full tone that filled the hushed room he spoke. 

“
Hello Night, I heard your call and came.”

Night picked herself up and flew into his open arms and hugged him tight. 

“
By the gods Wollfen! It is so good to see you!”

This was Wollfen? Lord Raz was dumbstruck. The man had materialized out of nowhere at Night’s call, this was incredible! Now all the others in the room began babbling to each other at what they had just seen.  This was no mere man to them. It was simply astounding! Raz looked about.  This was the grand entrance of all grand entrances.  He would not have believed it for a second if he hadn’t seen it for himself.

“
Never in my days have I seen such a powerful magic user such as yourself Wollfen.”

Wollfen looked up at the stranger addressing him. 

“
Thank you sir, but I must apologize for entering as I did.  I would normally have arrived very quietly except I came in as quick as I dared. Tell me, what is your name?”

Raz had forgotten himself in the ruckus. 

“
Please forgive me, my name is Lord Raz. I am supreme commander of the southern forces of the Kingdom. May I welcome you to Port Volarus.”

He wasn’t sure if he should bow or something.

“
Thank you Lord Raz for your welcome, it is much appreciated.” He turned back to Night,  “Where is Dark?”

Night looked up at him and tears welled in her eyes. She couldn’t speak but simply turned and held out her arm. The crowd parted and Dark was revealed on the cot. Wollfen moved to it and looked down at his beloved.  She looked serene and at rest.  He sat down on the edge of the cot looking at her.  He reached out and touched her cheek, it was cool. There was a commotion at the door and Borlund entered.  He didn’t know most of them, but recognized Lord Raz and Night.  He turned and addressed them. 

“
Loranda is seriously injured and is now as we speak in surgery. More than that I cannot say.”

Night turned to Wollfen who nodded his head.  She turned and motioned for Borlund to lead and they left. Lord Raz decided to stay.  Wollfen was alone and right now Raz was the only one there that Wollfen sort of knew.

Wollfen went back to looking at Dark. There were tears in his eyes but he would not let himself cry.  He leaned down and lightly kissed her on the forehead.  He placed his hand on her chest and feeling with his magic inspected the damage.  He could see in his mind’s eye the cut of the blade that went in, pierced her heart through.  It hadn’t been a big cut but it was enough. She would have died quickly. 

It was a small mercy. Wollfen couldn’t stand it. The pain was too much.  He wanted her back more than anything else, more than having friends, more than saving these people, more than releasing Lord Vincent.  A voice came into his head, ‘Do it.’ He hesitated, ‘Do it.’ He looked around the room.  Right now he wasn’t thinking beyond his immediate circumstances and he didn’t care for anything else. Taking out the imbued crystal of energy that was meant for releasing Lord Vincent, he addressed all that were there. 

“
I want you all to leave me now. I would like some time alone with my woman.”

Many nodded and a lot bowed their heads as they moved off. Lord Raz was moving to be the last to leave. 

“
Lord Raz, I want you to stay, I will need your help.”

Lord Raz was a little confused.

“
What is it you wish me to do?”

“
I intend to bring Dark back and I will need you to watch over me, it will be very taxing.”

Lord Raz stood there stunned.  What had he just said? A couple of the stragglers overheard Wollfen’s words and when they got outside they started spreading the word.  It wouldn’t be long before words of  his grand arrival and talk of bringing back the dead spread throughout the entire Port.

Wollfen motioned for Raz to shut the door. He turned, picked up the chair and sat it down beside Dark looking down at her.  He whispered,

“
I would sacrifice everything for you my love.”

He closed his eyes and began focusing on the damage in Dark’s heart.  Using the energy of the crystal, he started manipulating the tissue within, repairing it on a cellular level.  It would take a long time but Wollfen had all the time in the world for it. It took a couple of hours to feel his way through doing the repairs, eventually she lay there without a mark on her.

He then took the crystal and held it to her chest and began opening its energies even more. He used his own magical forces of his mind to channel the crystal’s energies into her body, imbuing it with a soft warm glow.  Then after another minute Dark took in a sharp breath and her eyes opened wide.  She settled again and began breathing normally. Lord Raz who was watching everything all this time couldn’t believe his eyes.

“
My god man! She is alive!”

Wollfen sighed, 

“
Well to a point, her body lives but she is not here.”

In demonstration he waved his hand over her face and there was no reaction at all. Her eyes stared vacantly up. Lord Raz was terribly confused, 

“
I don’t understand?”

“
Her body is repaired and it lives, but her soul is still in the land of the dead. I have to go get her back.”

Lord Raz could only shake his head, he had never even heard of such a thing before, 

“
I can’t pretend that I know anything of what you are speaking, but I will do what I can.”

Raz wasn’t really sure he could do anything, this Wollfen’s capabilities were far beyond anything he knew, far beyond anything he had ever come across before in his life. The room was getting decidedly cold now. The broken windows offered no protection against the breeze that had picked up. Wollfen addressed Raz. 

“
If you could arrange for the windows to be boarded up immediately and also have the fire stoked, these are simple things but very important. Also I will need Nightwing in attendance and Keera too before I can begin.  They will be able to supplement my magic needs.”

Lord Raz realized that Wollfen knew nothing of the circumstances of Dark’s death. 

“
I’m afraid I have bad news for you.  It was Keera who killed Dark.” Now it was Wollfen’s turn to be in shock.  How could this be? Why would Keera do such a thing? It didn’t make sense at all.  Dark and Keera normally got along very well. Maybe Justin would be able to shed some light on the subject. 

“
Is Justin available? I would at least like to speak to him.”

Again Raz had to be the bearer of bad news. 

“
I am afraid he fell in battle quite a few months ago near here.”

Raz watched on.  He could see Wollfen was taking all this news badly and he couldn’t offer the man any positives at all at the moment.  There was a silence between them as Wollfen quietly digested all this information.  Then he finally spoke. 

“
I have been away too long and I have let my friends down. I wish I could have been back earlier.  Even one day would have made a huge difference.”

Wollfen shook his head. No matter what decisions he took, someone always suffered and after so many years of watching that happen he was getting tired of it. He turned back to the task at hand.

“
Could you send for Night for me please?”

Raz bowed and moved outside.  The cool wind of the winter night struck his face and he realized he had bowed to another man of no rank, but it had felt so natural and right. He nodded to himself. Yes it was right, this man was a leader amongst men. Finding his adjutant tucked in the corner out of the wind, he ordered that Night be returned here forthwith and the man hurried off.

It was less than ten minutes later that Night arrived back mounted on a horse and Raz approached as she dismounted.  He couldn’t contain himself. 

“
For so long I have doubted you and your friends’ dedication to this Wollfen,  I doubt it no longer. I understand why you follow him.” Night listened and was a little confused; she nodded but couldn’t really understand what brought it on.  Raz continued,  “He needs your help, it is best you go in.”

“
Thank you Raz.”

She really didn’t know what else to say, she turned and entered her quarters.