Ambition 6: Heat (long) (615 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 2 on 6 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by stardamage (View user info) at 2004-12-09 10:36:41 EST
Ambition 1: Awakening - http://www.ubersite.com/m/53093
Ambition 2: Meeting - http://www.ubersite.com/m/53208
Ambition 3: History - http://www.ubersite.com/m/53560
Ambition 4: Flight - http://www.ubersite.com/m/53643
Ambition 5: Sacrifice - http://www.ubersite.com/m/53729
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An hour later, Davoren sat up straight and stretched. Kai was still asleep and Davoren moved quietly so that he wouldn't wake Kai up. Silently he reached for the cloak that was over Kai's back and took it. Kai stirred a little but did not wake. Davoren looked back at him and took a deep breath, then exited the cave and began to run. Finding a slow, shallow part of the river, Davoren threw the cloak down into it and anchored it with a rock, then ran on. He sensed a group of animals further on and increased his speed, planning to simply surprise and overtake one or two of them. They were wolves, stalking a group of deer. Davoren decided to forego the irony of hunting the hunters and instead to attack the deer.
He passed the wolves, staying about twenty feet away, and continued to run, by now sprinting. The wolves were thrown off guard; some snarled, some made to run after him, but Davoren was by then making his way towards the deer, still moving silently. He was downwind from them so they couldn't smell him coming, and he made no sound as he leaped at one of them, bringing it down. Suddenly the wolves were in the fray too, and Davoren left the deer he had tackled for them to kill. He focused instead on one of the stronger ones which was running away from him, white tail flashing in the moonlight. He noted that the deer was running in the direction of the cave and so let it run; less distance for him to have to carry it. Finally he put on a burst of speed and drew up beside it, striking a quick blow to one of its legs. The deer crashed to the ground, rolling over and over before coming to a stop. It struggled to rise but Davoren killed it with one blow to the back of the neck, and picked it up to bring back.
He was about fifty feet from the cave when he felt a wave of sheer panic and terror from Kailestis. Breaking into an awkward run, Davoren raced up the rocks and found Kailestis in the grip of convulsions. His face was now white with spots of feverish red in his cheeks, eyes open wide and unseeing. Kai jerked and his teeth slammed together, taking off the tip of his tongue. Davoren ran over, throwing the deer down, and grabbed at Kai's head to keep him from hitting it on something, pulling the frantically convulsing upper body into his lap. With one hand he held Kai's head to his chest, and with the other he gripped Kai's uninjured hand to keep it from flailing and hitting him. The seizure continued for three horrible minutes. Blood poured from Kai's mouth and he spat it out weakly.
Heat radiated from him and flowed into Davoren, making him feel weak and dizzy, a taste of what Kai was feeling. Kai relaxed finally, slumping against Davoren and his exhaustion was apparent. "You think you can drink a little?" asked Davoren.
"I don't think I could go much longer without," muttered Kai, his head dropping back. Davoren eased Kai's head and shoulders onto the cool ground and brought the deer to him, slitting the throat for him. He then remembered the river, the cloak, and went to retrieve it. Bringing it back he draped it around Kai's shoulders. Kai screwed up his face with the shock of it and then relaxed, continuing to drink. "It's so cold," he said.
"Keep it on. It might help. If it doesn't, we'll have to try to raise your temperature to break the fever. That seizure you had was your body trying to cool down, so if we don't do something like this you'll have another one that would probably be worse."
"Have you had this before?"
"Yes."
"But you're still here."
"Barely. I barely survived." Davoren paused. "But you're stronger now than I was then, so you have a better chance for it."
"If I don't...if I don't live, my friend Falinsen lives in Hatskland. You should talk to him; he might know something."
Davoren promised, unable to meet Kai's stare.
The night passed slowly as Kai lay in a corner of the cave, cooled by the cloaks that Davoren kept soaking in the cold river. Still, his fever rose. Davoren debated in his mind what to do. If he raised Kai's temperature and failed to break the fever, Kai would die. But if he let the fever rise on its own, uncontrolled...
Finally he made the decision to force the fever to break. "Kai. I'm going to try to break your fever. I'm going to soak this cloak again and then I'm going to heat it. There will be a lot of steam, a lot of heat, and you'll probably be very uncomfortable. If you remember fevers breaking as a mortal - well, this isn't like that. Sunfever will fight to stay in you and you have to drive it out. The heat will help you do that but most of it will be your work. It will hurt. Do you want to try?"
"Just do what you have to."
"All right. I'll be right back." Davoren went out and soaked the cloak, holding it by the corners and carrying extra water in the pocket it made. He would need all the water he could get. Bringing it back, he poured the excess water on Kai and put the cloak itself on his chest. "Now, this is going to heat up. The cloak will get pretty hot, but don't move it. At the same time, I am going to help you to try to push the sun fever out of you. Okay?"
Kai nodded slowly, tiredly.
"Okay."
First Davoren focused on concentrating heat under the cloak. Kai shifted a little as the cloak gained more and more heat, threatening to burn him. "Don't move." Kai stopped and sat still, closing his eyes as the steam began to rise. The second cloak was pinned up, covering the entrance and keeping the steam in. Davoren kept a small part of himself focused on the heat, but the rest of him was devoted to what was coming next. As Kai breathed in the steam, his face tightened - the sickness in him was resisting any other heat but its own.
The water that was on Kai was beginning to rise as steam, mingling with the blood sweat that came from his pores. "Okay, Kai," said Davoren in a calm, slow voice. "I'm going to help you." Kai's mind opened and Davoren mixed with it, at the same time reaching out and taking Kai's wrists, feeling the pulsing of blood. "Just feel my heartbeat and focus on that. Just become totally quiet..." Davoren went further into Kai's mind and felt the discord that was the sun fever, a terrible white energy that pulsed through his veins, delighting in the destruction of the vampire as the heat rose.
"Do you feel it?" Davoren felt a confirmation from Kai and then said, "Okay. What we're going to do is that we are going to drive that whiteness up towards your skin, where the water is. It will resist you, but you have to keep pushing at it. I'll help you as much as I can."
Slowly, they both wrapped their energies around that white pulse, Davoren's a dark red and Kai's a dark gray that was almost black. Davoren intertwined his energy with the white, tangling with it. "You push and I'll pull," he said quietly.
Kai began to push and the white energy struggled. It was all Davoren could do to keep it from ripping free. The heat from the steam was almost unbearable and Davoren felt dizzy, but held on, jerking it towards the surface. Kai kept pushing at it, throwing everything he had at the white. Davoren felt Kai's energy slam against his and they both shuddered. Kai's pulse was strong and beating ever faster in Davoren's hands, thundering in his ears. Slowly the white energy was forced towards the surface of Kai's skin, burning bits and pieces of tissue where Davoren could not hold it. Kai was crying out in pain but still did not stop pushing. Davoren was amazed at his strength; when Davoren could not even keep the energy completely under control, Kai was slowly but surely forcing it out of himself.
But even still, as it reached the surface, the whiteness unleashed a wave of heat that scorched Kai, who screamed. Davoren could no longer hold it and it burst free, blazing triumphantly.
But Kailestis Astrum was not yet finished.
With one last effort he threw all of himself at the white horror, matching it strength for strength. With agonizing slowness, Kai strained against it, finally throwing it from himself. A flash of white light burst out of his body and was gone. Kai remained upright for only a moment more, then fell to one side, unconscious.
Davoren struggled to catch his breath, staring awestruck at Kai's motionless form. Then sense came back to him and he was at Kai's side, shaking him, pleading mentally and out loud for him to wake up. He prodded Kai's mind - nothing.
Then, after about five minutes of desperate searching, he felt it - a thin thread of consciousness, surrounded by darkness. He lent his strength to the small gray light, urging it to grow. It flickered, and Davoren was in despair. After all of Kai's effort...But then, he felt it pull at him, taking a tiny sip of energy. And then another.
It took the rest of that day and all of the night for the light to grow to its full strength. Kai stirred slowly, a tiny motion of his hand. Davoren fought back a hysterical fit of trembling, and kept feeding his own energy to his young ally.
Thirty minutes more and Kai had opened his eyes and sat up with Davoren's help. He said nothing, just stared silently at the light of the new dawn that was then leaking through at the edges of the cloak over the door.
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As always, comments and constructive criticism are really appreciated. Anything you think I should fix?
User Reviews
Submitted by Vomit (user info) at 2005-01-28 12:27:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
catching up...
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-01-18 20:09:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Cool.
My only complaint is that you'd think Davoren would have asked Kai what had happened with the vampires who were chasing him. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, but I thought Kai was fighting with them...how did he get away in the first place?
Submitted by bigbabylons (user info) at 2004-12-16 18:17:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
superb
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2004-12-15 12:58:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm no critic... sorry!
I just enjoy the ride!
Submitted by Jungle_Jimanee (user info) at 2004-12-15 10:29:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Really involving
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2004-12-09 11:33:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Wow, I think this is my favorite so far.
I am not one for suggestions, I need an editor, myself, so nothing jumped out at me.