Chapter thirty-two: Beloved

Zaru vomits out a spurt of blood that splats onto my face. His eyes remain wide open, staring at me.

“Shit!” Uncle Kakashin shouts in the background of my hearing.

My focus is on Zaru. The event is trying to process in my head, but nothing is coming out.

The protruding blade leaves Zaru’s body from where it came and Uncle rolls him over to lay him down.

I still can’t-comprehend this…

Zaru is now huddled in Uncle’s arms as the red fluid gushes out of him. I can hear him hack out the precious liquid. He’s coughing himself to death.

My body manages to sit itself up so that I can watch Zaru slip away from the living in my uncle’s arms.

Uncle licks up some blood from his gloved hand like he plans to do something with it. “Vila,” he sweetly calls to me in my state of shock. “Vila, I need your help; can you come over here for a moment?” He does his best to not sound so panicked. His obverse tells that he’s about to break into tears. “Vila?”

With a blank mind on what’s going on, I lean my body forward to come closer. It takes a lot of effort for me to speak in return, “Yeah…”

Uncles stretches an arm a little way to touch my elbow. “What’s your friend’s name?”

It’s becoming more difficult to think of the words to say. “Z-Zaru…”

His attention goes back to the dying man in his arms. “Hey, Zaru, can you hear me?” He places a hand on Zaru’s cheek to keep him focused. “You need to stay awake; okay? Can you stay awake a little longer?”

Despite the blood that forces its way from his wound and mouth, Zaru is able to nod his head in agreement. His wheezing and hyperventilating mix in with his choking as if his body is unsure of what to do with all of the blood that’s not supposed to expel from him.

Uncle tries to perform a healing spell on his chest whilst talking to him like a father comforting his child. A white glow emanates from Uncle’s hand as it rests on Zaru’s chest to regenerate some cells.

How am I supposed to feel about this? What am I supposed to be doing? Why do I feel so numb? Are tears coming from my eyes, or is that just the rain? I can’t tell anymore…

Uncle takes his hand to his mouth and bites the end of a finger piece to take off his glove. I watch vacantly as he viciously sinks his teeth into his own skin to draw blood from his body. He takes the wounded hand to Zaru’s lips and gives him a command, “You have to drink my blood.”

Zaru, now with a smaller hole in his chest, turns his face away from the opportunity to be saved. He’s huffing out what little life he has left.

Uncle curses my father under his breath and then directs his attention back to Zaru, “I’m going to turn you into a servant. That’s different from a holin.”

Giving up with fighting his demise, Zaru turns his head back to Uncle and does his best to prepare for the foreign blood to enter him.

Uncle lets the ichor creek down from his hand and pour into Zaru’s mouth.

Is he really going to live?

Uncle continues to keep talking to him to keep him awake, to make sure that he doesn’t pass out and die in his sleep. “Vila,” he calls to me again, “I need you to hold his hand now.”

I crawl up closer and do so. Zaru’s hand is still warm. It’s kinda big compared to mine.

Not long after, his head jerks back furiously and his green eyes roll back with a wide circular shape. Zaru convulses more blood from his mouth like he’s having a seizure.

“No!” Uncle brings Zaru’s head closer to him and creates a deeper gash into his hand. He tries to wrap one arm around Zaru’s head to keep his mouth open and put the blood into his mouth. Black goo oozes out of Uncle’s hand and pours into Zaru’s gape. “You have to drink it!”

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A good friend of mine is dying in front of me, and all I can do is hold his hand as he slowly slips away.

I’m so pathetic…

“Vila, call his name, he needs to remember who he is,” Uncle is doing so much with keeping him alive while remaining calm.

“Zaru,” my lips don’t hesitate to say his name, but now I know for sure that I’m crying. “Zaru-please don’t die.” I’m certain that my voice is cracking, but it still doesn’t feel real. None of this is real. With his hand still in mine, I curl up as much as a can with my knees bent on the ground. My hair flops to the side as my face is paralleled to the mud beneath us. I hear myself whimpering, but that doesn’t matter, not of he dies. “Please don’t die Zaru!” Why does my throat hurt so much!? Everything hurts! “Zaru, please! Please don’t die!” I don’t know what to do and he’s about to die!

I think Zaru’s spasms are staring to calm down. They’re less frequent now. What does that mean? His body is starting to go limp; is that good?

I finally manage to lift my face to see Zaru. “Uncle Kakashin?” My throat still hurts

He takes a glance at me and then places his attentive gaze back to Zaru. “He’ll be fine now, just let him rest.” He motions me to come closer to his side and carefully lays Zaru’s head onto my lap.

The rain finally ceases and slowly lets the sun seep through the clouds.

Uncle stands up to dust off some of the mud from his cloak.

“Vila?” Dad’s voice reaches my ears and I turn my head to see him. He comes closer and kneels down. “What happened?”

For some reason, my voice refuses to work again.

He cuts off my thought process. “Never mind, we have to go. We can take care of him afterwards.” He calls over to the rest of the group to find our position.

We all form as one posse again, but I’ve just now noticed that Muei and Oumi aren’t here either. Is Muei still at that hiding spot near the Soenara? Where did Oumi go?

“I’m gonna need help carrying him.” Dad is referring to the men mainly, but I suppose all of us can contribute as alternatives or something.

“That won’t be necessary.” Uncle puts our tram work on pause. “Please, allow me to leave you with this, for the extra problem I’ve caused all of you.” His hand extends towards Zaru and he rises into the air. A black gust twirls underneath Zaru and a cart appears. Uncle gently places him into the cart and ends with, “This should help with mobilizing him for now.”

I look up at him. “Thank you.” I say in a hoarse voice.

He stares back at me with a slight grin. “No need, I’m just glad he’s not dead.” Uncle then regains his composure. “There’s a trail that leads to Ythem City not too far in that direction,” Uncle states as he points to the said turnpike. “Just keep south and you should make it by the end of the day. I’ll send someone to take you there by carriage, his name should be Zenox.”

That reminds me, is Zenox alright? What about what happened with Roukuu? I hope Zenox was able to leave that spot before Roukuu broke free. Maybe Roukuu just left him alone and went back to the prison.

Before we can take too many steps further, Uncle grabs Kaif by the shoulder. “I need you to come back with me. You’ll be more help continuing as my servant than being labeled as a traitor.”

With our farewells done, we split into two groups again: Uncle and Kaif staying to be sent back to the main household of the Stuki clan, and the rest heading for Ythem City as originally planned.

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Not too long after that, we get to the proper road just as Uncle Kakashin predicted while the sun seems to be at its peak in the sky. A sign on the side of the road kindly points southward with the words, “Ythem City. 15 Miles.”

As we head in the correct direction, I notice that Caru is staying at the side where we came from. She’s starring at the ground.

I stop to stand where I am and try to get a response from her, “Caru?”

Still gazing nowhere other than directly below her, she speaks contritely, “Aren’t we gonna try and inform Emperor Shinto?”

Everyone stops to give attention to her and I come closer to understand her better. “What?”

She looks at me with fierce eyes. “These people just attacked us in various ways, and now we know there’s a disease running amuck! Don’t you think we should inform some sort of authority in this country!?”

I immediately grab her by the arm from hearing her last words. “Caru, I did tell the police something similar when this started over a month ago-and now I’m the only survivor of Kai Village!” I try to calm down a bit before saying more, “Please, let’s just stick with the original plan-and go to Catherr.” A kind smile forms on my lips. “Besides, Zaru will be pissed if he finds out that we tracked off schedule.”

She gives in and returns an unsure smile back to me.

Just then, the sound of hoofs clacking on the gravel comes up from the north side. A familiar face sits on the raised seat on top of the long gyunya*. “Hello!” Zenox waves to us with one hand and holds the reins to the pulling animal in the other. The carriage stops close to Caru and I as the others come back to us.

Mueimma barks a cheerful sound at the sight of us with her massive tail wagging while pulling the carriage.

Caru, Haru, and I rush over to hug her gigantic body and welcome her back into the party.

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The gyunya bounces up and down as it glides over the gravel. Everyone in the cabin area of the cart subtly dances along with this rhythmic pattern of hopping. Father has already informed me about what Caru was talking about with this disease dilemma and then explained to everyone the family feud that’s currently going on. That’s all that was done concerning conversations breaking out in the cabin area, though. Now we just listen to the sounds of hoofs repeatedly bash themselves against the dirt outside.

Zaru lays across the open area in the back with his head on my lap as I sit on both knees bended. His sisters probably want to be the ones beside him, but this is the least I can do after everything he’s done so far. I owe him so much already. I remember him promising that he would protect me from Vensen, and I believed him, but, I didn’t expect him to extend that promise so far… My fingers stroke through his long and dark brown hair. It’s thick like mine, all tangled and hard to manage. Why haven’t I taken the time to study the complexity of his face this entire trip? It’s been over a month now, I should know the details of his face better than this. Next, I glaze my hand over the sides of his obverse to feel the texture of his rough skin. I notice the fine lines that separate his eyes from his bold nose. I wish I could see those emerald eyes soon-if they’re the same when he wakes up as Uncle’s new servant.

“Woah there Princess.” Ari’s speech causes me to jolt in surprise. She sends me a legitimate smile from watching me. “Your intense starring at that handsome gentleman makes me think you’re gonna try to give him the kiss of life.”

There are no words to describe the embarrassment I feel right now! I try to make a quick comment back at her, but alas, it is all for naught, “Sh-shut up!” Wanting to dodge everyone’s amused gaze, I look back down to Zaru’s face on my lap as it limps to the side. I hope he’s not in pain anymore.

The carriage then suddenly stops and disrupts the moment.

Thank you Methel!

Dad is the first to open one of the windows on the side and pops his head out to see what’s going on. “Oh, looks like we’re finally here.”

We finally made it, to Ythem City, the main porting town of the entire country.

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Gyunya- An elongated carriage that would be the equivalent of a limousine. The cabinet length of a carriage is usually around ‘4.5 x ‘3, but a gyunya is extended to ‘6.5 x ‘3.5. This extra room is usually made for a passenger to have some leg room or lying down and makes an easier rest. This is why they are commonly used to transport an individual to the hospital as an emergency vehicle. It is, however, also used by the rich.