Miras Last (7 page)

With the act of sitting up, Galena’s head
gave a particularly nasty throb. Fighting the urge to be sick,
Galena concentrated on the muscles that were causing the headache
and eased the tension there. Instantly, Galena felt relief as the
headache first eased and then faded altogether. “Okay,” she said
sighing deeply as she regarded Elenio, Tark, and Taura who were all
sitting in what appeared to be a tent, with her. “Now, can somebody
explain to me how I got here and what has happened since I’ve been
out?” Waves of anger that were not her feelings, washed over her.
Clearly, Elenio was not happy. She assumed it had something to do
with the fact she caused herself to blackout once more. Raising a
hand to stop Elenio before he even started, “I know what your
thoughts are, but wait to tell me off. Right now, I want to know if
the enemy did actually retreat and where I am.”

Elenio looked furious. Standing up, he
stormed out of the tent. Galena watched him go, feeling upset, but
knowing he would cool off in time. She turned to look at Tark and
Taura once more and found them both smiling at her.

“For your first question, Morgo brought you
here after you passed out. This is Elenio and your tent. Next, yes,
the enemy retreated thanks to your brilliant display of power. They
are currently camping within a mile of here. We imagine they plan
on heading back to Blackwell soon, versus going against you again,
but only time will tell. You slept through the night and most of
the morning, but you seem to be recovering well. Be easy on Elenio,
he’s had a rough night,” Tark finished, looking down at the ground
as he said this.

“I know, but I needed answers first. We don’t
have the time or the luxury of throwing fits every time I push
myself a little too hard.”

“How would you have felt if the roles had
been reversed?”

Galena flinched as the memory of Elenio
pushing a sword through himself flashed through her mind.

“Exactly.”

“You’re right. I’ll apologize to him.” Galena
stood, healing the tender muscles as she did so and walked over to
Tark. She bent down and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him
tightly before whispering, “I missed you something fierce, big
brother.” He returned the hug, standing as he did so. Letting go of
him, she turned to Taura. She went to hug her as well when she saw
the dark bruising around her neck and noted the way she seemed to
struggle to swallow properly. Galena thought of the broken blood
vessels healing themselves and the swollen muscles and tendons
returning to normal. She repaired the holes in her eardrums as
well.

Taura’s eyes widened as the pain eased and
disappeared. Taking a practice swallow, she smiled brightly at
Galena before jumping up and wrapping her arms around her
sister-in-law.

“Anything else hurting?” Galena
whispered.

Taura shook her head and hugged her even
tighter. “It’s been a long time, my sister.” She laid her head on
Galena’s shoulder and she smiled.

“How about you big brother, any major
problems?”

“Everyone has busted eardrums, and some elves
sustained some pretty serious injuries, but Nigora is dealing with
those along with some of the underground elves that didn’t pass out
from too much magic use. Taura, as you know, was in rough shape,
but she refused to be helped for fear of someone else coming in
with bigger wounds. Nigora can only do so much before she wears out
too, unlike some elves we know.” He reached over and messed
Galena’s hair to which she retreated.

“Just because I missed you, doesn’t mean I
won’t stick you in a tree for annoying me. Just ask Elenio. Plus, I
obviously can wear myself out too.” She smiled at him and taking a
moment, healed his ears as well.

He opened his mouth wide and rotated his jaw
when she had finished, causing his newly repaired eardrum to pop.
“Thanks and now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve already received several
messages requiring my attention that I’ve been putting off until I
was sure you were okay.” Wrapping his arms around her once more, he
hugged her briefly before he walked out of the tent. Taura smiled
at Galena and then followed Tark out, leaving Galena alone with her
thoughts.

She concentrated on the camp of elves as a
whole. Making a great effort for she had never attempted something
so big at once, she thought of every ear healing and sound
returning to normal. Instantly, she felt a huge drop in her energy
level and she swayed ominously where she stood.
That can’t be
good
, she thought as the weariness of overuse made her feel
light headed and sick. Putting her head in her hands again, she
fought to remain conscious, knowing Elenio would be back any moment
and the last thing she needed was to give him another reason to be
mad. Walking slowly back to her hammock, she sat, feeling extremely
disoriented when she did.
Oh great
, she thought when
everything went black once more.

* * * *

Galena opened her eyes to find herself
surrounded by darkness. She blinked a couple of times, but found
the darkness remained. Rubbing her eyes wearily, she sat up and
waited for her eyes to adjust to the night. Looking around, she
found herself still in the tent Tark assigned to Elenio and her.
She tried to stand, but stopped when she heard a rustling somewhere
across the room. She squinted hoping to make out something in the
dark, but all she saw was a large shape. Walking slowly over to the
dark mass, she found Elenio, his head in his hands, asleep in the
chair. Shaking him gently, he stirred and then sat up quickly,
looking quite alarmed at having fallen asleep in the first
place.

“What is it?” he asked, searching the
darkness for anything out of the ordinary.

“Come to bed, or the hammock, or whatever you
want to call it,” Galena whispered to him.

“You did it again, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,”
Galena said a little too innocently.

“Everyone’s ears healing.” He looked at her
dully, clearly trying to contain the anger Galena felt radiating
from him.

Galena sighed, knowing she’d been caught.
Crouching down, she looked up at him and placed a hand on the side
of his face. She tried to smooth the tightness around his eyes away
with her thumb, but to no avail. He placed his own hand on hers,
stilling her movements.

“I’m sorry.”

“That doesn’t help.”

“I know, but I don’t know what else to
say.”

“Try something like, you’ll never do
something that stupid again,” he said bitterly.

“Then I would be lying.”

He removed his hand from hers angrily and
looked away, but not before Galena saw the bitterness there.

“Elenio, you know I had to do something or we
would have lost. Everyone was wearing out.”

He continued to stare at the far wall,
refusing to acknowledge her.

“Elenio, nothing happened. I no longer have
the marks that would kill me if I use too much magic.”

“Then why did you black out again?” Elenio
shouted, finally deciding to look at her as he did.

“Remember what Morgo told us in the
underground world? Using magic is like exercising, you can only do
so much before your body shuts itself down to recuperate. My
blacking out was my body’s way of telling me it needed a break.
Other than tired, I’m fine.”

Understanding dawned on Elenio’s face as he
smiled weakly at her. “I forgot about that bit of information. Old
habits die hard, I guess.”

Galena returned the smile, glad that was
over. “Between all the fighting, my energizing wearing off, and the
amount of magic I used without holding my sword, I was more than
tired. Lucky for you, I’m extremely stubborn.” She raised up
slightly and kissed him gently.

“And incredibly powerful.”

“Has anything new happened?” she asked,
purposefully ignoring the last statement. She stood up and walked
back over to the hammock, her muscles stiff from crouching.

“Well, while you were sleeping the day away,
Rau’s army started packing up. We believe they are heading out in
the morning and Tark does not intend to let them get far. He wants
to give you a day to fully recover from all the exercise you have
attempted the last several days. As well as the underground elves,
who don’t possess quite as much magic as you, but are helpful none
the less.” Elenio got up and walked over to the other side of the
hammock where he gingerly sat down.

“I’ll be ready to go first thing
tomorrow.”

“Yes, but the other magical elves will not.
Don’t worry. We know which way they’re headed.” Elenio laid back
and pulled Galena down with him. “If it makes you feel better, we
can follow at a distance and pick them off along with Morak’s
group.”

“It would make me feel useful,” Galena said,
while staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.

“If you want to feel useful, I’m sure Nigora
could use your help. Many elves were seriously injured. Nigora has
already taken care of most of them, but there are several more in
need of assistance. Nothing life threatening mind you, but there
was still enough work to be done that Nigora couldn’t accomplish it
all in one day. She wore herself out and has been sleeping ever
since yesterday afternoon.”

Galena thought about this for a moment,
deciding that getting as many elves in the best condition as
possible made more sense. Plus, it would give her a chance to stay
with Tark and Taura for a bit longer before battling more of the
dark creatures.

“We should stay and do what we can for the
elves here,” she said yawning.

“I was hoping you would say that,” Elenio
said, a hint of a smile in his voice.

“Yeah, I kind of thought you would.” Galena
elbowed his side playfully, which almost sent both of them flying
off the hammock with the movement.

“Haven’t you done enough damage today?”
Elenio asked when they had gotten the hammock under control.

Galena smiled sheepishly into his shoulder,
but said nothing. Closing her eyes, she felt herself drifting off
into a dreamless sleep.

Galena awoke to find herself alone in the
hammock. Weak morning rays shone through the thin material walls of
the tent. Forgetting how flimsy a hammock was, she sat up quickly,
which resulted in her being flipped onto the floor in an
undignified position. It was in this position that Tark walked in
and saw her. Upon seeing her lying face up on the floor, legs
tangled in the makeshift bed, Tark burst into laughter, unable to
regain control for several minutes.

Realizing Tark would be absolutely no help,
Galena began the process of untangling her legs, but with little
success. Finally, taking pity on her, Tark assisted her, laughing
all the while.

“Have you seen Elenio?” Galena asked, hoping
to get Tark to think of anything else to stop him from laughing,
but her efforts were in vain.

Tark simply shook his head, but continued
laughing, wiping the tears from his eyes as he did so. Rolling her
eyes, Galena stormed out of the tent, grumbling all the while.

She stepped out into the bright light and
blinked a few times to keep her eyes from watering as she searched
the surrounding elves for any sign of Elenio. She saw several elves
she recognized, all who wanted to take a few minutes and chat with
her, but she didn’t stop for long. She could sense Elenio somewhere
nearby, but couldn’t be sure exactly where. Feeling frustrated, she
turned around, intent on heading back to their tent.
He can come
and find me,
she thought. Not paying a bit of attention to
where she was headed, she collided with another elf, sending them
both sprawling backward.
This is not my day for looking graceful
or like I know what I’m doing,
Galena thought, feeling even
more annoyed at herself than anything.

Sitting up, she groaned slightly, intending
to apologize to her unknown victim when she realized who it was.
“MORAK!” Quickly getting to her feet, she reached out a hand, which
he gratefully took, and pulled him to his feet.

“I was hoping to run into you, just not
literally,” he said grinning broadly.

Galena blushed profusely and looked at the
ground.

“Are you heading out to fend off another
horde of evil creatures?” he asked.

“No, I’m in search of Elenio. You haven’t
seen him have you?” she asked, still looking at the ground.

“Yeah, he stopped in to see Nigora while I
was with her. She told him where he could find Morgo.”

“Are you alright?” Galena asked, looking him
over for any signs of ailments that she could help with, especially
after their collision.

“Took a nasty fall out of a tree Tark put me
in after you sent Rau running. Guess I wasn’t prepared to be freed
so quickly and when I was, I wasn’t ready. Fell and broke my ankle.
Nigora did her best, but I get the impression I have some healing
to do on my own.” Morak looked at his ankle with the same annoyance
Galena felt just moments before with herself.

Focusing her attention on the ankle, she
thought of the bone re-growing, the tendons tightening back to
normal and the swelling all around the bone and muscle reducing.
She healed the broken blood vessels and the muscles connecting to
the bone. Satisfied his ankle was as good as new, she looked up and
found the same look of awe she had seen so many times on Tark and
Elenio or any other elf she had helped.

“Better?” she asked.

“It’s true then, isn’t it? You’re more
powerful than any other elf that has walked the land of
Tomiro.”

“It appears so,” she said sighing heavily.
“Well, I need to find Elenio.”

“Okay, Morgo’s tent is that way,” he said,
pointing in the direction she originally felt Elenio’s presence.
“Thanks again.”

“No problem.” Galena gave him a hug before
heading back in the direction of the tent Morak pointed out. She
missed how everyone used to treat her before they discovered she
could use magic. Then, everyone had known her as Melan and Tark’s
little sister and treated her as such. Now, it was almost as if the
only thing they could think of when they were around her was her
magical ability.
Someday, hopefully everything will go back to
the way it was,
she thought.
Either that or I won’t be
around anymore for elves to treat differently. One way or the
other, things would change, come what may.