The Return of the Lifebringer (Children of the Sun Book 3)
Chapter 16

Mel gasped as he opened his eyes. He’d expected Enor to kill him, but there was just silence now. He was in a dim room with only slivers of light coming through the windows. And then, hearing a weak groan behind him, he remembered.

His heart resuming its harsh beating, Mel swallowed thickly and kneeled down next to Kaleth, letting the shield he’d been holding fall to the ground. He looked so broken, just lying there and bleeding out. Mel blinked away tears and took a hold of the sword’s hilt. He knew he had to pull it out or it would sap all of Kaleth’s power, but it would hurt, and the last thing he wanted was to hurt him.

“I’m sorry, Kal,” he muttered, his voice shaky, before quickly pulling the sword out in one go. Kaleth didn’t even cry out—just groaned again and fell limp. Feeling his heart seize for a second, Mel scrambled to touch Kaleth’s neck. A tear of relief flowed down his cheek as he felt a pulse. A weak, thready one, but it was there nonetheless.

Throwing the sword away, Mel focused on Kaleth’s wound, putting his hand over it and using as much energy as he had left to heal it, focusing primarily on the inside damage. He knew he wouldn’t be able to heal everything—especially not as tired as he was right now—but he had to try.

Feeling like he was about to pass out, he finally finished what he could, his hand covered in his love’s blood. Just the sight of that made Mel want to break down and cry, but he couldn’t. He needed to take care of what he couldn’t heal the old fashioned way.

As quickly as he could, he undid the straps of Kaleth’s armor and pulled it off of him, relieved to see Kaleth was wearing a shirt underneath it. Knowing that it had probably cost more money than Mel had ever had, he guiltily tore a strip of it, bunching it up and pressing it to the still bleeding wound. The fact that Kaleth didn’t even wince at that was very worrying.

It was a bit difficult to tell through all the blood—and just the sight of it made Mel feel sick—but the wound was fairly narrow, so it didn’t take too long for the blood to lessen its flow. That still didn’t make the sight of the injury once he removed the cloth strip any better.

Swallowing down his despair, Mel tore off another piece of Kaleth’s shirt and tied it around the wound as a makeshift bandage. He was really glad he’d watched a lot of TV or he’d have no idea what he was doing. Well, he still had little idea, but this seemed to be the right way of doing this. He just hoped it would help.

Having finished that, Mel sat down next to Kaleth’s limp body. Crumpled down really. All of the strength panic had lent him had vanished now. He couldn’t even force himself to keep his tears at bay. He just let a few of them fall, putting his face in his hands. He let out a quiet sob as he looked over at Kaleth again, and weakly reached out with his hand to stroke Kaleth’s bloodied, sweaty hair back from his forehead.

With all the crusted blood and gray ash it barely looked blond anymore. And his ash covered face wasn’t really helping. Mel moved over, pushing Kaleth’s goggles off his face. At least under those he still looked like himself.

Mel gently ran his fingers through Kaleth’s messy hair as he finally looked around. Where were they?

The walls were made of rotting wood, the window glass was cracked and missing in places, and the room itself was quite small. Why had Kaleth teleported here?

Then Mel’s eyes went wide. He hadn’t even thought to question it, but…. Kaleth had teleported. Had he known how to do that the whole time? But that couldn’t be true, could it? He’d needed Mel to get around—even if back when he’d been pretending he was with Relioth Kaleth had pretended he couldn’t do it, there was no reason to keep up the farce now.

Then again, Kaleth was incredibly powerful now—much stronger than Relioth at least—who knew how any of this worked? Mel looked back over Kaleth, his throat closing up. He was so strong, yet Enor had beaten him so easily. Mel had been thrown far away at the time, so he’d missed a part of the fight, but thinking about it now, it seemed to him that Enor had been merely toying with Kaleth.

Mel wished he could have gotten there sooner, but he also knew it wouldn’t have made that much of a difference.

Mel sighed, wiping his eyes. He could still feel Kaleth in the back of his head, but it was so very faint. Mel closed his eyes, reaching out to Kaleth’s mind. None of the usual barriers were in place, so Mel dared venture further. Except, there wasn’t really anything there—only flashes of things and people Mel couldn’t recognize.

Fresh tears sprung to Mel’s eyes as he stroked his hand down Kaleth cheek. He sniffed and gritted his teeth. As long as Kaleth was alive Mel would do anything to keep him that way.

Mel struggled to get to his feet, trying to ignore the way his head was spinning. He’d really drained himself, and he couldn’t even heal Kaleth fully. He sighed, and leaning onto the walls, pricking himself on rusted nails and splinters as he did, he dragged himself towards the wooden door.

Carefully opening it, he winced at the creak it produced and looked outside. It was dusk now, and the tall pine trees around him cast long, imposing shadows. Mel looked back at Kaleth, his shoulders sagging. He didn’t want to leave him, not even for a second, but he needed to find out where they were.

Swallowing, Mel hung his head and turned around. He’d just leave for ten minutes. What could happen to Kaleth in ten minutes? Mel quickly shook his head as dozens of terrible possible situations assaulted his mind and stepped out into the forest, closing the door behind him. Mel looked back. The ‘room’ was in fact a small wooden shack. It was really just a big crooked box. It looked much better on the inside. From the outside, it seemed like it would fall apart at any moment, but Mel would have to take that chance.

Looking around the quiet woods, he picked a direction where the trees seemed to be thinning out a bit, hoping that would get him outside the forest, and into view of something that would help him identify their location.

It didn’t take him long. As soon as he reached the forest edge, he knew exactly where they were. The Garen mansion. Was that what Kaleth had been aiming for? Mel knew at the very least Kaleth had conflicted feelings towards the house, but he had spent his childhood here. Maybe he’d meant to teleport here, but overshot a little?

Mel was almost about to leave when he saw movement up ahead. His eyes going wide as he remembered he wasn’t wearing his hood, he quickly pulled it over his head, and crouched down behind a bush, watching.

He couldn’t see all that much through all the branches and bushes that were in his line of sight, but even then, he could tell there were Eternals in the house. He could mostly sense it, as he only saw two women outside, handling some crates. They didn’t seem to have noticed him, which was good, but Mel couldn’t relax. He wouldn’t.

Feeling paranoid, he looked behind himself. There was no one there, only silence, sometimes interrupted by the howling of the wind. It seemed to be quite strong outside the forest, but here the trees protected him.

The younger looking brunette brushed her hair from her face and said something to the other, glaring as she did so. Mel guessed she complained about the wind making her job no doubt more complicated. Mel wondered who these Eternals allied themselves with. It had to be Enor, didn’t it? Who else would know to come here if not for the Eternal currently wearing Ramien Garen’s face?

And then Mel’s heart skipped several beats. Oh no, oh no, he’d completely forgotten.

As quickly as he could, he turned around and started running towards the shack. Oh, he was so, so stupid. He’d forgotten that teleportation could be traced. How could he have forgotten? He himself had done it a few months ago—he should have known immediately.

Trying to control his panic as he ran back, Mel hid behind a tree when saw the roof of the shack, checking if there was anyone around with his mind. When all he could feel was Kaleth, he let out a breath, still not able to truly relax. But at least Kaleth was safe for now. And to keep him that way, Mel needed to get him away from here.

Bursting into the shack, Mel took off his hood and reached into it to retrieve the cloaking device. It would make him vulnerable, but it was still better than leaving Kaleth detectable. Not many people knew Mel—everyone knew Enor, and therefore Kaleth.

Sticking the pin in the hair behind Kaleth’s ear, Mel reached out to pick him up, one arm under his knees, and one supporting his back. Even with the armor, he wasn’t very heavy, so Mel carried him outside and laid him down on a patch of soft moss.

As much as he wanted to leave the armor, sword, and shield behind and just run, it was both evidence and stupid. Mel sighed as he strapped the armor back onto Kaleth’s injured body, and the remaining half of his sword into the holster on his back.

The shield Mel just put on his own back. It was very iconic, but Mel doubted that it would make him more suspicious than he already was, and it could be useful if they were attacked. With that done, he hefted Kaleth up again, holding him close for a moment before kissing the top of his head.

“I’ll keep you safe, don’t worry,” Mel whispered to him, knowing full well Kaleth couldn’t hear him, and began walking as fast as he could without risking more damage to Kaleth, away from any sign of civilization and potential Eternals. The woods would keep them safe until Kaleth woke up. They had to. And once Kaleth woke up again, he’d know what to do.

Wouldn’t he?

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