Daniel barely heard the sound of the door as he sat staring down off the edge of the cot in Aurora’s former quarters. The wrong room, he knew, but at first it seemed like the right place to go. That had changed, however, and the longer he sat there, the more he realized how wrong most everything felt.

            He swallowed, unable to look up at her as the door closed. “I know.”

            “Do you know what I’m going to tell you?”

            A nod.

            “You are lucky I appreciated you as an officer. I would have shot you too had that not been true.”

            Her voice was always cold but the way she spoke it, so simple as if the words weren’t a threat and were simply a factual statement that should have been obvious was intimidating to say the least. Daniel only nodded again as she came to sit beside him on the opposite side of the bed. “Why did you defend him? You should have let him face the consequences of his actions. It’s what he deserves, isn’t it?”

            “I don’t know.”

            “Excuse me?”

            He quickly corrected himself. “I don’t know why I defended him.”

            Rowena straightened herself, hand tapping impatiently on the bed beside her. “He will live, thanks to you. But that is, of course, only for the time being until he can stand for a trial. Will you be staying for that?”

            He shook his head. “I can’t.”

            “Why not?”

            “I made a promise I’d come back as soon as you got Aurora back. I can’t leave Sarafina anymore. I’m the only family she has left.”

            “She has a mother, does she not?”

            Bitterness clung to her words, something that Daniel would have mistaken for jealousy had he not known her better. He swallowed harshly then. “Anna didn’t make it. A fever…a few months ago. Sarafina is staying with a friend of hers but I really need to get back to her.”

            “I’m sorry to hear that. Poor child, I lost my father when I was younger. My mother too for that matter but I was older by that time.”

            Daniel only nodded.

            She had been ill before the two met up again. Anna was crippled by sickness, unable to fight off the bouts of fever despite the best efforts of the town’s physician. Others had fallen before her but he had prayed, mostly for Sarafina’s sake, things would be different with Anna. He wasn’t even sure she understood and he didn’t have the heart to explain to a child that her mother wasn’t coming back.

            Then again, who would?

            Did he even have a choice?

            “Were you close to her?”

            “Anna? No, I wasn’t. It was a coincidence we met again at all. We met as kids a few times but her family lived in the south,” he answered with a shrug.

            “I won’t say we don’t need you here but I respect your decision to go. I assume you are leaving us soon again,” Rowena answered simply.

            “Two days at most,” he answered, eyes still glued to his boots.

            “Very well but know that you are always welcome here. My previous offer to restore you to chief officer is still in effect.”

            He smiled slightly. “Is my replacement not working out?”

            “She is dealing with the position well enough. I will speak with you more later, Norton. I have other things to attend to.”

            Daniel looked up only to nod his head but then stood as soon as her hand closed over the door handle. “Before you go, there was something else. About a month ago, someone came to my door. They asked if I knew where Aurora was.”

            She froze then, hand still hovering above the doorknob.

            “Are you alright?”

            “Yes.”

            Daniel reached up to rub at the back of his neck. “I acted clueless.”

            “You didn’t happen to catch his name, did you?”

            A name had been given but he was apprehensive about saying more because of the change in her, the distinct snapping he recognized after years of watching it happen. Her fists came to clench at her sides as she turned, smiling.

            “Well, did he give a name?”

            “Allikeo,” Daniel answered with a shrug. “Does it mean anything to you?”

            The smile fell away. “Are you sure that was his name?”

            “Yes…do you know him?”

            It returned then and her eyes flashed. “No. If you will excuse me, I should be going now. Good day, Norton.”

            Daniel grabbed for her wrist before she could go and she turned, twisting away a moment later. “If you were still under my command, you know I wouldn’t have allowed-“

            “I didn’t say it was a man.”

            A pause.

            “Excuse me?”

            He swallowed, stepping back out of reflex and not wanting to receive another warning. “Earlier, when you asked for the name. You knew it was a man before I said anything. Who is Allikeo?”

            Rowena sighed, arms crossing in front of her chest. “Did you really think Aurora was the first? Just like Aurora, he was dealt with.”

            “Did you let him go?”

            She shook her head. “The answer depends on who you ask. Most who knew about him would say he was dead, killed in battle. But he survived what happened then. As soon as he swore not to speak of the faeloren or what happened, he was set free. He disappeared and I was certain he would end up dead once released. I didn’t expect much from him.”

            “You’re telling me that Aurora is following in the footsteps of someone else? You let Allikeo go and didn’t expect him to come back?”

            Rowena glared then, lips tightening. “I didn’t have a choice.”

            “He escaped, didn’t he?”

            “I’m not taking any chances of it happening again. Which is why Aurora will be executed, not jailed. Allikeo isn’t a threat to any of us. He’s a thing of the past, Norton.”

            Daniel swallowed. “E-executed?”

            She only hummed.

            “Why didn’t you send anyone after Allikeo?”

            “He’s not a threat,” she hissed. “Drop it.”

            He nodded his head in understanding, sitting back down again as she turned to leave. Rowena wouldn’t speak about anything once the conversation was declared over and he knew there was absolutely no point in trying to pry.

            “Can I go see him again?” he asked, glancing up at her.

            “He’s unconscious.”

            Daniel shook his head. “I know. I still want to see him.”

            She waved her hand dismissively, still facing away from him. “Why should I care? He isn’t my concern and he shouldn’t be yours either, now should he?”

            “No.”

            A smile as flashed back at him. Daniel only stared back at the ground once more, unable to meet her eyes.

            “Thank you, Norton. Don’t worry, things will be back to normal soon enough.”

            “It’s Daniel, you know? My name is-“

            “You know I never liked calling you that, Norton. Oh, and by the way, you’re in the wrong room.”

            The door closed and he was left alone. He sighed, leaning back until he rested atop an unfamiliar pillow in a somewhat familiar room. Countless nights he’d been there while Aurora paced or talked himself down from the frenzy of another nightmare. The bed had seen more sleepless nights than restful ones. His eyes closed, thoughts running together into something he couldn’t decipher. A lump formed in his throat as he stared up at the ceiling once more.

            Had he not known any better, he would have believed it to be guilt.

~ ~ ~ ~

            Cold.

            But it was a different sort of cold than the snow or the wind, soaking through his clothing and leaving a chill adhering to his skin. Water, he realized faintly when he was sputtering it from his mouth and attempting to shake his head as best he could. His eyes darted, slipping closed a moment later when the effort became too much again.

            Everything hurt.

            He cried out, not bothering to muffle the sound and having no strength in his limbs to even try. But it was cut off, smothered by the hand that was clamped over his mouth. Aurora pried his eyes open again, groaning in protest at the weight pressing down on his jaw. Truly, it was the least of his worries and the agony still pulsing through his veins was far worse.

            Breathing was difficult enough even when he had the use of his mouth but with the hand there, he felt like he was suffocating. Terror bloomed into his mind. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move beyond a faint struggle against the hand that just left him in an even greater state of pain. He stopped then, eyes widening as best he could as he fell still.

            “Hush, you need to be quiet. I don’t have much time.”

            The voice was soft, gruff and reminding him of something so distant it was hard to grasp at whatever thoughts flashed into his mind. His breathing was quick and heavy, body burning and head falling back against the bed. Aurora couldn’t focus on the image of them, only their voice, and bit his lip the moment the hand was taken away.

            It wasn’t Daniel and that was the one thing he knew.

            “Can you hear me?”

            The voice was wrong and they were much too tall, hands too rough and shoulders much too square. Even if the room hadn’t been dark, he doubted he would have been able to identify the figure. Simply the fact it was a man and it wasn’t Daniel wasn’t enough to draw any conclusions, leaving too many gaps in his mind, but the thought faded the moment it appeared.

The hood thrown over the man’s head wasn’t helping.

“Aurora, can you hear me?”

“Y-yes.”

He flinched as the hand came down again, brushing back the hair from his eyes.

“It’s about time you woke up. I was worried you weren’t going to,” the figure grumbled down to him, shifting his weight from side to side. “You’re alright, everything is going to be just fine. Does it hurt?”

“Who are you?” Aurora hissed through gritted teeth. “Yes…It hurts.”

“That’s good,” he replied. “It might not seem all that good but you’re alive.”

“I’d…rather be dead.”

The figure’s weight shifted again as he crouched, kneeling down on the ground beside the bed. “Don’t say that. That’s a terrible thing to say.”

“It’s…not a,” he paused, groaning, “lie.”

“You’re not dying, not anymore.”

Aurora couldn’t answer, eyes slipping closed again.

“Look at me, please, keep your eyes open. I need you to do that for me,” the figure called gently. “I saw what happened.”

“Why didn’t you…stop it?” Aurora hissed.

The figure cleared his throat, head dropping forward against the bed while he mumbled something Aurora couldn’t understand. It was difficult to focus at all but the muffling of the blankets didn’t make things any easier.

“Wha-“

“I couldn’t.”

Aurora bit at his tongue as he tried shifting his position, unable to move beyond rolling his head slightly one side. The figure was still too difficult to focus on, too obscured by his hood and too unfamiliar for Aurora to identify by his voice alone.

“Why?”

“She would have killed me too. That would have gotten us nowhere, Aurora.”

He swallowed an outcry. “How do you know…it?”

“Your name?” the man asked.

“Yes.”

“Plenty know your name now.”

“Why?” Aurora whispered.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt like screaming again. It was difficult to keep himself silent but it was much easier said than done with the sharpness cutting through his body every time he dared to breathe. Aurora looked up as the figure stood then, the hand coming down to move his hair again.

“I know a whole lot of things but that doesn’t matter know. I don’t have much time. She is going to take you in front of the Dravara. They will want you dead, Aurora. Don’t-“

His words were cut off by the sound of voices outside and his head snapped up, a curse slipping from him as he looked towards the door. Aurora didn’t have the strength to turn his head again, eyes slipping closed. The figure turned to him again, putting a finger too his lips as his eyes flashed with something that resembled concern.

“They…coming.”

“Hush, everything is alright. I’ll see you very soon.”

Without saying anything else, the hand came back down again but instead of brushing his hair back, it pressed harshly against the bullet wound. Aurora’s breath was snatched away before he could scream, a whine escaping from between his teeth. However, it didn’t take long to overwhelm once more.

He was once again lost.

Next Chapter: Chapter 32