Page 5 of The Erion Triad

All three of them caught her at the same time. Juliran held her legs, Kyel caught her midsection, and Zaen banded an enormous arm about her shoulders. They all tumbled to the floor. The crystal fell from her hand, rolling across the floor with melodic tinkles.

Kyel came to his knees, grasping Lucie’s shoulders. Her eyes closed. Her skin was pale, her body unmoving.

He gave her shoulders a little shake. “Lucie? Lucie!”

Her head rolled, but she was unresponsive. His heart pounded and a slick wash of sweat coated his skin. An ear-splitting screech filled the room. The face above them merged back into a mass of swirling black clouds. An opening emerged from within the center and the clouds fed inwards, sucked back through the hole.

Above them, the ceiling disintegrated, obliterating the top of the tower, opening to the night sky. The clouds expanded over the tower, growing so large that it wiped out the light from the stars and moons.

They hovered, writhing and billowing. Shards of lightning sparked within the mass like an ominous storm yet to descend. Whatever it was, it couldn’t possibly be good.

“Gods. Her palm.” Zaen opened the hand she’d used to grab the crystal. The skin was charred and blistered, the layers burnt away.

Juliran tapped her cheek, his palm swallowed the whole curve of her face. “Lucie, wake up.”

Kyel cradled her unresponsive form into his lap. Her breathing was shallow and erratic, her pulse flittering like a small bird. “We have to get her to the healer.”

“What has happened?” Juliran looked to the sky.

A darkness pressed within Kyel’s chest and dread was like a rock in the pit of his stomach. The clouds above circled ominously, as if they waited for a chance to descend on Lucie as though she was at the center of them.

“Nothing good,” he said. “I think that thing above us was inside our Lucie all this time.”

That would explain the torment in her face, the dark circles beneath her eyes through lack of sleep, the weight her frail body didn’t put on. What she must have endured. And she bore it all on her own. If only she’d reached out to them. They would have done anything to help her through this.

“We have failed her,” Zaen said.

“We’ll fail her now if we don’t get her the help she needs,” Kyel said, rising to his feet as he picked her up. Her body was too light, like holding a child. She might have lost even more weight from when they’d rescued her from the cages. Intolerable. He hadn’t known, because she barely let them, or anyone else, touch her.

He bolted down the steps, meeting their guards halfway down. The strained face of his Captain of the Guard, Tann, was barely visible in the gloom.

“Call Erix,” Kyel said. “Our mate is in mortal danger.”

With a clipped word, Tann had his men hurried down the stairs without delay. Behind him, Tann’s tense voice alerted Erix, their healer, using his wrist comm.

“I’ll be in the medi-bay. Bring her in as fast as you can. I’ll have everything ready.” Erix’s voice sounded from Tann’s wrist-comm, panting in his haste.

“Make no delay, Erix. This is an emergency,” Kyel yelled loud enough for Tann’s wrist comm.

“Understood.” Erix’s voice was grim. Kyel could trust Erix to understand the gravity of the situation.

The guards followed Kyel as he held Lucie tightly against his chest, Zaen, and Juliran to the palace making their way directly to the medi-bay. Servants and guards silently lined the walls as Kyel broke into the room. Erix indicated the open and ready medi-bed.

Kyel laid Lucie on the bed and cupped her cold cheek with his palm. She was so precious, yet she didn’t have a clue as to how much she meant to them.

“Please, Kyel. Let me get to her,” Erix said.

Kyel nodded and forced himself to step away as Erix shut the transparent panel around the medi-bed. The chamber filled with mist that would deliver the nutrients and medications Lucie needed.

“What’s happened?” Kira burst into the room, a gown hastily thrown over her nightdress. She ran to the medi-bed and gasped, her hand hovering over her mouth. “What happened to Lucie?”

Juliran put an arm around her shoulder. Kira turned into him, silent tears falling. “We’re trying to work that out, sister.”

“Is she… She isn’t… Oh, it’s too awful.” Kira’s voice caught. She shook her head and buried it in Juliran’s chest. Juliran wrapped his arms about their sister, his face drawn and tight.

Zaen rubbed Kira’s shoulders. “Erix is the best. He’ll know what to do.”

Erix frowned, tapping on the hand-held device. Although Kyel wanted to ask questions, he knew to let the man work. He was the best healer in their Homeland. If anyone could work out exactly what was wrong with Lucie, it would be him.

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