Chapter 40: Sore muscles

Warmth hit her first, and that alone was the sign she needed to know that she was alive. It wasn’t the cold bite of the forest, nor the suffocating heat that had scorched her lungs as she ran for her life.

This warmth was gentle, soothing, and steady. And next was the feel of something comfortable beneath that cradled her weight.

A low, unguarded sound slipped from Lucrezia’s throat before she could stop it. The softness beneath her registered slowly and with it came a fleeting, almost dangerous thought.

A bed.

For a breathless moment, nothing else existed. No fear, pursuit, or pain sharp enough to demand her attention, but the sensation of being held by something that did not want to harm her.

The thought coaxed the faintest hint of a smile to the edge of her consciousness, and for a moment, it just felt so comfortable that nothing registered in her mind apart from the fact that she was finally safe.

Safe?

She hissed at a dull, pervasive ache crisscrossing her entire body. It laced through her limbs and coiled tight around her chest, and her consciousness slowly crept back into her. At first, it was only a sensation. Her body felt wrong, not injured exactly, but used. The pain blinded her for a moment, so that her limbs became excruciatingly sore to neither sit up nor move an inch. And when she tried, she immediately regretted it. Agony flared, dragging a sharp breath from her lungs as every muscle protested. Her limbs were leaden, trembling with a soreness so profound it robbed her of the will to try again.

Lucrezia caught the crackle of fire somewhere close, as her senses slowly returned, causing her eyes to flutter open. The world did not blur this time. It stood too clear, and too solid for a dream.

The first thing that caught her sight was the low ceiling of darkened beams screaming of age, and the warmth pressing in around her. Lucrezia tried to recall how she got here, but failed miserably despite many attempts.

She swallowed and turned her head slightly. The movement sent a ripple of soreness through her neck and shoulders, but she endured it, scanning what little she could see from her position.

A small room, she noted. Stone walls worn smooth with age and shelves cluttered with jars and bundles of dried plants hung from wooden pegs. Their silhouettes swayed faintly in the heat rising from the hearth. A table stood near the fire, cluttered with folded cloth, a bowl of darkened water, and strips of linen stained with something she didn’t know.

Her stomach tightened. She was not alone. Someone had been here. The realization sent a sharp prickle of unease through her skin.

Lucrezia tried to push herself upright and immediately sucked in a breath as pain flared across her chest. Her vision sparked white for a heartbeat, and she fell back against the mattress with a hammering heart.

The sudden absence of cold biting her skin, of restraints burning into her wrists, and of something unseen wrapping her chest with a desire to inflict pain, made her wary of the fervor in the room.

The first inhale burned faintly, although not sharp enough to hurt but her chest felt awfully sore, though bearable as the air smelled strange—earthy, bitter, threaded with smoke and herbs.

Smoke? Her nose tickled at the unmistakable smell of smoke in the air. The scent sharpened her awareness, and unease slid coldly down her spine. Her eyes scrutinized the room again with the distinct and immediate certainty that something was amiss.

Where am I?

The question barely had time to settle before a memory surged to answer it. Starting from the attack, to the pursuit, and the creatures… it rushed into her mind like some sort of volcanic eruption that her head felt like exploding.

Any trace of dizziness disappeared into thin air when her eyes snapped fully open. Panic surged instantly, flooding her chest as the memory crashed in all at once, much clearer this time. From the forest, to the voice wearing a familiar face, and the creatures tearing through trees.

The way her body had burned and frozen and answered… It continued until she couldn’t breathe. She felt like air was knocked out of her lungs, making her gasp for what was supposed to stabilize the rate of her heartbeat, but each one only fed the tightness clawing at her chest.

T-They came… She brooded on the thought with a shaky breath. T-They found her… truly, this time.

Oh, gods…

Everything became so clear, and her face grew paler and paler each second the image overlapped with another. Her blood ran cold despite the warmth in the room, and the heat from the hearth nearby… And lastly, stopped at the image of those mysterious hazel eyes.

Lucrezia’s breath shuddered as the image rooted itself in her mind. They burned with impossible clarity of coldness sharpened by fury, and the rage threaded through them made her heart stutter. Lucrezia remembered the way he held her. His grip hadn’t been gentle. It had been firm and deliberate, locked around her to keep her upright when her body had already begun to fail.

Not in her wildest imagination did she imagine to be held like someone that… mattered. Not in her most raucous dreams did she for once think a creature like him would express even a tinge of humanity. There had been no hesitation in him, only the certainty that she was not going to collapse while he was there.

The coldness still lingered, but something there made her find comfort in his words, and solace in the arms of her very end. It should’ve terrified her, but Lucrezia was far more carried away with the fact that he actually came for her.

For a fleeting, treacherous moment, the ache in her chest loosened as though something unseen had wrapped around her heart and anchored it. Her pulse stuttered, then surged, responding not to fear, but to recognition.

Lucrezia didn’t realize how carried away she was, until a calm and factual voice broke her out of her reverie. “I see you’re already awake,”

And she froze.

A soft deliberate footstep followed right after, and her head snapped toward the direction of the sound on instinct. Her heart thudded hard against her ribs when her gaze found the source: a woman, wrapped in layered robes, standing near the hearth half-lit by the firelight. She was older, her hair bound back and threaded with gray, sleeves rolled to the elbow and faintly stained with crushed herbs and salve. Lucrezia didn’t need to be told to know she was a Healer.

Those eyes met hers with quiet certainty. They were sharp but not unkind, assessing her with a calm, practiced attention, before she moved, walking towards her.

“Do you feel pain? Anywhere?” She asked, and Lucrezia felt herself giving the barest nod. The movement sent a faint ripple of soreness through her neck, but she welcomed it. Pain meant she was here. Present, not dead.

Her whole body felt excruciatingly sore, but the fact that she felt comforted instead of hostility towards the stranger disturbed her.

Finally, the woman stepped closer, her footsteps soft against the stone floor. Up close, the scent of herbs grew stronger, grounding her senses. She reached out, then paused, waiting before saying, “May I?” she asked.

Lucrezia hesitated only a second before nodding again.

The woman’s fingers were cool as they pressed lightly at her wrist, measuring her pulse with practiced ease. “You’ve been drifting in and out,” she said. “Your body’s been fighting hard. It needs rest more than anything right now,”

Lucrezia tried to speak, but the words tangled behind her teeth. Where am I? How did I get here? Who… who brought me? Questions crowded her mind, failing to move past her lips, as her voice failed her again.

A part of her knew the answer to the latter, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he was alright. If he was… safe.

The healer seemed to understand anyway. She released Lucrezia’s wrist and straightened. “You’re safe,” she said, firm enough that it sounded like a promise rather than comfort. “No one here intends to harm you,”

The word ’safe’ seemed more like danger than reassurance, but she forced herself to accept its meaning. You’re safe now.

The fire crackled softly behind her, and for the first time since waking, the warmth in the room didn’t feel like a lie. “You must be thirsty. Give me a moment,” She excused herself, leaving the room briefly only to return a few seconds later with a wooden mug.

“Here,” and she slowly anchored her weight until she sat half-upright. Lucrezia stared at the cup warily, unsure whether or not to accept it. Sensing the uncertainty in her gaze, Eldris smiled warmly, “If not for anything, trust me for his sake,”

Lucrezia wanted to argue on that, but the fact was that she was only being cautious. She barely had any strength left, and this one time, trusted her body.

Eldris helped her tilt the cup as she could barely hold on for more than a second. Her teeth clattered against the rim but she drank and the liquid trickled past her throat, burning and saving all at once as a wave of dynamism crashed upon her soul.

It tasted like mint and herbs but she was unable to discover what it was made of, and drank it till the last drop. Lucrezia felt strangely anew but the lingering ache and dizziness remained. She exhaled, slow and careful, and let her head sink back into the pillow. “How…” She started, though her voice was barely audible. “How long have I been unconscious?” Thankfully, her throat felt less raw and scraped thin, and she watched the woman set down the empty mug, a bundle of herbs, and a small vial beside the bed.

“Almost a week now,” She answered, and Lucrezia’s breath ceased. A-Almost a week? Had she slept that long? “Your body needed it,” Eldris said, confronting her unspoken thought. “You were burned from the inside out, totally beyond what it could handle. That is to say, you reached your breaking point, and moments like that requires maximum amount of rest to recover,” She explained carefully.

Lucrezia swallowed, recalling the incident that transpired in the forest. She could still feel the pain lingering around her body, but tolerable this time. If there was one thing she was grateful for, it was the idea that she no longer existed in the hands of those creatures.

A cold chill spider-webbed her spine. For a while, an uncomfortable silence stretched the room. She shifted slightly, the movement drawing a sharp breath as the ache struck her. No one spoke, but she could feel the weight of unspoken questions in the air.

Lucrezia stared at the woman in contemplation, unsure whether or not to inquire about something. She was afraid that saying the wrong thing might drag her back to that forest. At last, she straightened her shoulders, grounding herself in the present. She was here. She was safe. And for now, that had to be enough.

Finally, “And where is he?” She asked softly, gaining the woman’s attention. “My… husband,” she added.

A flicker of surprise flashed across Eldris’s eyes before disappearing. No wonder, she thought, dwindling her shock before she responded. “He left,” She replied, and immediately added, “But I assure you, he’d be back soon,”

Lucrezia wanted more than that information, but she bit her lips and nodded instead. Though she was grateful he was gone, she doubted she would ever look at him the way she once had.

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