Avaren;
Her pulse is faint.
I keep two fingers pressed under her jaw and count. I feel her pulse beat very weakly, and between every beat, I forget how to breathe. Every beat feels like the next wouldn't come. And that scares me. Gravely.
"Calisí," I whisper, so only she would hear. "Calisí, stay with me."
I get nothing from her. Not a reaction nor a response. I was warned. Calisí nearly died before. She was weak and wounded. All I had to do was keep her safe. Away from stress as she recovered. But now, I allowed her to exert herself like this. It's not like she would have listened to me if I told her not to come here.
But I should have done a better job protecting her... Her head rolls weakly against my arm, and my breath catches.
The runes along her neck and hands, the ones that glow whenever she's angry, which is always, are dark now. Faint lines… A few of them have cracked straight through, thin as hairs, but I can still see their mana. Still feel them beating weakly.
