20: Mistakenly Secured
1185 Words
We couldn’t move fast enough.
Even as the blacksmith’s apprentice met us outside the walls with a set of tin-snips, the Fae-King’s skin was starting to look a sickly blue. He met us at a run, scrambling to get the snips notched under the Fae Armor before the Fae King had even made it to the ground. The boy released a sharp cry when the snips broke on the armor, the blades merely twisting and the handle shearing in two.
“Fae Armor. It’s not meant to be destroyed so easily.” My father’s voice rumbled from behind us. I hadn’t realized he had followed us so closely.
“Then how do we get rid of it?” I asked desperately, patting the Fae King’s face in a hopeless attempt to rouse him.
“He should be able to will it away, but perhaps he was too injured, or it’s too damaged.” My father crouched beside me and gave the Fae King a careless nudge. “Either way, he’s as good as dead now. You should just leave him, pup.”
“No!” I banged a fist on the Fae King’s dented chest piece, earning a slight wheezing sound from him. Meanwhile, the blacksmith’s apprentice had raced off only to return with a handsaw.
“Move please, everyone. Move! Uh.. My lady, you.. Too?” He sounded less sure when demanding it of me, but I backed off, allowing the boy to leverage the saw against the metal. The saw teeth dulled almost immediately, some bending and breaking before our eyes.
“Gods damn it!” I slammed my fistagainst his armor again. This time I didn’t miss the little spark as my hand impacted with the strange metal, nor the small ‘oomph’ of air escaping the Fae King.
“Do that again, MiLady.” The Blacksmith’s Apprentice whispered, watching the Fae King’s face carefully. I knew he had seen the sparks, and perhaps had seen something more of the Fae King’s breathing than I, but I was more interested in which action of mine had temporarily caused the Fae King to breathe. And how I could keep him breathing. Was it the action of impacting his chest? Or the literal sparks of my anger? Either way, there was no time to test it.
Lifting both arms above my head and gritting my teeth, I yelled, bringing all the lightning I had at my disposal to bear with the thump of my fists upon the Fae King’s chest. Electricity arced between us both, slamming through my body into his, not even waiting to trace along my arms in some instances, but merely jumping from all points towards him. Men scattered with shouted protests. For a brief moment, the Fae King exhaled under my palms and color seemed to return to his face, but as the lightning faded, so too did the color.
“He needs air, little Fox. You’ll never save him that way.” The Healer’s voice floated to me as I collapsed forward over the Fae King’s chest, breathing hard.
“And how.. Do you propose.. I get it to him?” I snarled up at the Centaur. He pawed at the ground with a front hoof, arms crossed, sightless eyes looking vaguely in my direction.
“Are you a god?” He retorted with a snort as my father flicked my ear hard enough to sting. “Unless you can find a way to force air in his lungs and keep his blood flowing, it is useless. Besides, it may already be too late.” I rubbed the sting from my ear as I glared at the Healer.
“We use a bellows.” The Blacksmith’s apprentice mentioned quietly. We all turned to stare and he blushed. “For air, I mean. A bellows..” He trailed off, ducking his head, but he had a point. Maybe I could force air into the Fae King. Like a bellows.
Crawling up his body. I knelt by his head and smoothed the dark hair out of the way. My first breath was wasted, coming right back out of his nose. So I pinched his delicate nostrils closed with a snarl and slammed my face back over his, hoping for the best. I blew air into his mouth until I was dizzy.
It was impossible, his chest refused to move, and I was feeling quite lightheaded. And with that lightheadedness came frustration. There was arguing all around me, and hands tried to pull me off the Fae King. I growled and pulled the lightning from the sky in my frustration to clear the area around us. Electricity jumped and crackled. Forks of lightning leaping from the bolts striking the ground to surge through me and into the Fae King.
“Breathe, damn you!” I screamed, and covered his mouth with my own again, pinching his nostrils closed and trying to force my air into him.
Suddenly he inhaled.
Just as suddenly, the breath was stolen from my lungs.
Not in the way that I had been offering it to him to help him breathe. Instead, it felt as though he was abruptly absorbing my air, pulling the lightning from me, somehow soaking up my very life. Like he was breathing me in. Every bit of me. My arms lost their strength and I fell forward, but that didn’t matter, because he caught me as he sat up, keeping me pressed to him, his lips never leaving mine. The inhale continued until I was very tired all at once, and then he opened his eyes.
Blues and greens swirled around each other in a strange dance, the pupil completely obliterated by the shimmering color change as they settled into a brilliant starburst. He gently pulled back from me enough to meet my gaze, but was still so close that our breath mingled. I could feel his warmth as his armor melted away. His scent was inviting and comforting all at once, and he cradled the back of my head like I was the most precious thing he’d ever seen.
“My Laoina.” He murmured softly. “I knew I was not wrong about you. Look what you have done, bringing an old King back to life.” My energy was slowly returning, but I felt like something had shifted between us. Like some indefinable link had been forged or solidified, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
“I am truly glad you are ok, Laoina.” The Fae King whispered. Then a grimace crossed his face, and once more a clamor went up around us as his hand slipped from my hair and he fell back to the ground, unconscious again.
“Malina? Pup? Are you alright?” Papa placed a gentle hand on my head. I tried to speak, but was forced to clear my throat several times.
“I might have made a very big mistake.” I muttered hoarsely as I watched the men cart the Fae King’s body off to the Healer’s.
- Writer
