by SunnyJustice » Tue Dec 27, 2016 4:51 pm
Tacet couldn't afford to think right now. He needed to search for wounded people, or they would start losing the battle even worse. They were already outnumbered and at a disadvantage. Almost all the remaining fighters were teenagers, while the opponents were trained adults. Also, these soldiers had nothing to lose. Windwoods had a dying village to defend, although there wasn't much left at this point. The mansion was still standing, but the fountain was nearly destroyed, and the other buildings were in ruins. Would there be enough citizens left to rebuild afterwards?
And it wouldn't be the same. Cadence wouldn't be there to help. As much as Tacet loved the sun, being a photosynthesizing person, he loved his wife more. She was his light. Even Solara herself couldn't hold a candle to her, literally. And now she was gone. No, Tacet couldn't think about Cadence right now... he had to focus.
He realized he was farther from the village than he intended to go. Tacet was about to turn back, when he heard somebody scream in agony. Tacet flinched, and then he heard the voice say Rowan's name. He didn't recognize Lily's voice at first. Tacet had to search for her in the darkness, since he had almost no night vision. His eyes saw things in bright, vivid colors during the day. He lacked most of the finer receptors that allowed other people to see during darker conditions. It was one of the side effects from Solara's blessing, but he usually considered it a good thing. It made him more suited for the daylight. But right now, it was just a hindrance.
"Lily?" Tacet called out, searching the area on hands and knees. Eventually he found the girl lying on the ground. Something was sticking out of her... no, through her.
"Hang on," Tacet murmured calmly, placing a hand on Lily's wrist. This was too severe for any normal healer, and he knew it. Only a prodigy healer born from the fire element could undo this. All Tacet could do was alleviate her pain right now, and even that was draining him.
"Rowan!" Tacet shouted. There was no response, even though this area was much quieter than the rest of the battlefield. If the healer boy wasn't in earshot by now, he wouldn't reach Lily fast enough. Tacet sensed she didn't have much time left. But, he remembered Solara explaining something to him. The memory was rather blurry, because he was in one of his photosynthesis trances after making eye contact with her. But she said something about how the blessing would affect his healing power. She mentioned tree sap, no, amber... right. Tacet knew what he had to do.
"I have to freeze you until he gets here," Tacet explained, not showing any sign of panic. He had to remain completely calm. "I cannot heal this, only Rowan can. You won't bleed out, nor will you be aware of anything until you're awake."
As he spoke, the healer gradually put her in a state of suspended animation. Like a fly in amber. By the time he said the word 'awake', she was completely petrified. In fact, she looked dead. No heartbeat, no breathing, no movement at all. But she couldn't die right now. She was in the perfect condition to be saved by Rowan, like the Sleeping Beauty and the Prince.
Tacet considered his other options. He could have let Guinevere revive her after she died, but that always carried a risk. Tacet didn't know Lily's history. In the past, maybe she was revived by somebody with the same power. That would mean she would be dead for good, since revival could only be done once on the same person.
Right now, Lily wasn't fully dead, so Gwen couldn't revive her if she tried. And Tacet wasn't about to kill her completely (what was he, a murderer?) Rowan was the only failsafe option. Hopefully he could already heal mortal injuries, but even if he couldn't, he would gain the ability eventually.
Lily wouldn't remain like this for too long.
Cadence was getting angry as she felt Guinevere shiver. In fact, she wanted to bash in somebody's head right now. Or rip off their head. Good thing she was still relatively sane (by her standards) so she fortunately didn't rip off her own daughter's head. She needed to get her a healer immediately. Of course, she had forced her husband to get the hell out of here. Meaning that Adamson boy was the only choice. He was helping Gavotte and Cilan fight some stupid guards.
"Healer boy, you get in here immediately!" Cadence shouted at the tall kid.
Cilan could easily take care of himself in that fight. He wasn't even considering his own safety. The little phoenix twerp just kept fighting, but it was Cadence's son Gavotte who helped clear a path for Rowan. The exhausted-looking healer boy managed to stagger towards the house and stumble into the doorway. His eyes were wild like something was wrong, and there was an expression of pain on his face. Cadence didn't care. The Adamsons deserved to suffer a little after Solara died and left this village alone.
"Fix my daughter right now." Cadence ordered, getting in Rowan's face.
"Yes ma'am." Rowan clutched Guinevere's hand with both of his. At this point, Cadence couldn't tell who was shivering more, Rowan or Gwen. But that idiotic boy was using his power too much. Rowan's healing gift was the opposite of what the Tenuto family was used to. Unlike Tacet's refreshing coolness, this was some kind of warmth... it was comforting, but after a while it started to enrage Cadence, because she knew the dangers of his power. An Adamson healer wasn't just any healer.
"You be careful there, boy," Cadence scolded sharply. "If I see either of us start glowing a little bit, I'm going to wrench your neck until it's not even attached to your body. Hold back a little or you could kill someone with your power."
She instantly felt Rowan back off with his power. It was much less intense now, and he was only holding Guinevere's hand with one of his. The other was behind his back. He wasn't making eye contact.
"Let me guess. You already have," Cadence accused.
Rowan whispered something Cadence couldn't hear. He seemed to be finished healing Guinevere. As he took his hand away, he backed up a few steps, moving towards the door.
"Speak up, boy!" Cadence ordered.
"I'm sorry," Rowan whimpered as he turned and fled. Like he was following something.
Cadence scowled. These evil teenagers... I want them gone.
"Good job, Switch," Timpani said calmly as she whirled around. Unfortunately, one of the tiger-shifters decided to attack in his human form. Fortunately, he was just a regular human. Timpani had no fancy powers, but her athletic abilities were downright ridiculous from abusing her power during training. Even if Silas took away her super-endurance, she would still have the strength, speed, and natural stamina she trained for.
So she 'casually' attacked the brothers with one hand, while having a conversation with Silas. "I was debating on bringing a weapon. I could fight with one, but eh. I'm gonna be Solara just for today."
The fight noticeably got easier. Timpani had probably knocked out one of the brothers with a punch. She loudly and deliberately yawned to enrage the other one, before kicking out aimlessly in that general direction.
Timpani tried to make her voice sound deeper to imitate Solara. She already had a very deep voice for a girl, but Solara had a very deep voice for any gender. "Puny mortals," she said dramatically. "Wait. That's more Alastair than Solara. I can't imagine her saying that."
As soon as Cyprian noticed Jaai (he was trying to look out for her), his blood ran cold. He felt like Alastair's curse had just spread to his veins. "Rowan!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, charging after the stupid boy. Cyprian was more suited for running on ice than the fiery Adamson. He slammed into Rowan from behind with a flying tackle and grabbed him.
"Lily," Rowan whimpered. "I have to..."
"You have to heal Jaai," Cyprian growled, "now."
"Please!" With surprising strength, Rowan wrenched himself free of Cyprian's grasp and fell to his knees. Cyprian couldn't tell if he was crying. There was too much rain. Besides, it was dark, even for someone like him with excellent night vision.
Cyprian grabbed him by the collar roughly, and pulled him to his feet. He dragged Rowan over to Jaai forcefully. "Do it! You're wasting time."
Cyprian grabbed Rowan by the wrist. He forcibly put the healer's hand on Jaai's forehead, but he watched with worry the whole time. He refused to trust Rowan ever again after what he did with that redheaded soldier. After Rowan had healed Jaai, Cyprian found it was easier to see... was she glowing? Cyprian didn't wait to check. He wrenched Rowan's hand away. The healer staggered back, wincing and clutching his wrist.
"Are you trying to kill her?" Cyprian shouted, not caring how hurt Rowan looked. "Like you murdered that soldier on the hill!"
"No, no," Rowan stammered before running quickly in the other direction. The direction he was heading towards earlier. Cyprian was pleased to see that creep go. He was secretly hoping Rowan would get himself killed, so everyone wouldn't need to worry anymore. Rowan's way of murdering people scared Cyprian more than anything else. He would rather get eaten alive by a nest of maggots, leeches, and centipedes.
Cyprian knelt down beside Jaai. "Sorry," he muttered. "Uh. Want me to carry you back to the mansion?"
The pain and horror he felt coming from this direction had faded. That terrified Rowan, since there were only two explanations. Tacet had saved Lily, or... no... he couldn't even consider the other option.
Rowan quickly arrived upon the scene, but not quickly enough. Tacet was on his knees beside Lily, but now Rowan could sense she was alive. She was alive, and she was here. It was like a dam broke. Sobbing uncontrollably, Rowan took his old friend's limp body into his arms.
"Lily, I'm so glad you're alive," Rowan cried. Blood was tainting the front of his clothes, and a sharp branch was sticking out somewhere, but he didn't care. Lily was alive. But how come his power wasn't working?
And how come her heart wasn't beating?
"Tacet...?" Rowan whispered. Something was stirring in the mild-mannered boy. It was a fire that burned him from inside, but never offered any warmth.
"Lily was dying, so I 'froze' her. She's still alive, but your power should undo this," Tacet explained. "Of course, I took into consideration you might not be powerful enough yet. Lily will be like this until you are ready, but I had to take the chance."
Gently, Rowan set Lily down on the ground. The fire inside him was gradually burning hotter. Tacet flinched away from him, and Rowan didn't realize how much heat he was giving off. He would have rivaled Solara right now.
He gazed into those green eyes. Even Tacet, whose primary source of sustenance involved staring into direct sunlight, flinched away under Rowan's scalding russet gaze. The healer boy took deep breaths, trying to calm the fire inside him, but it only stoked the flames. This had never happened before.
It was the first time Rowan Adamson had experienced anger.
"You did what?"
