Dead Embers(61)

"I can walk, you know," I said dryly, trying to appear nonchalant while my friend carried me in her arms as if I were a baby.

"No, you cannot walk." Sigrun frowned at me, the motherly glare clearly telling me to shut up and stay put. "You are far too stubborn for your own good, Bryn."

I wanted to cross my arms and pout, but still I saw the funny side to it.

"Fine then, have it your way. Just whatever you do, don't you dare drop me." I tried to squelch my teasing smile but didn't do a very good job of it.

A walk down the hall and about six doors later we entered a small single room that passed easily for a standard hospital room, complete with tacky floral curtains and pasty-green bedding, TV remote and numerous machines at the head of an adjustable bed.

Sigrun sat me on the bed, and I flinched as the movement sent a spike of pain up my spine. The pain brought back the memory of the guard who'd kicked me repeatedly. I lifted my arm to touch the back of my head, and a shaft of agony sliced through my shoulder, the pain a million times worse than any kick in the head.

I gasped and moaned as pain filtered into the rest of my body. The drugs were wearing off. It must have been some kind of super drug that had paralyzed me, to take all this pain away too.

And as it faded away, the ripe agony began to return. Fear rippled through me, and I felt odd. Strange. Something wasn't right. The pain at my shoulders was agonizing, and I twisted my neck around, desperate to see what was causing the intense agony that just kept getting worse with each passing minute. Perhaps the goon who'd kicked me had broken my wings.

But what I saw was horrifically worse.

I couldn't breathe. A sob and a moan of horror stuck in my throat.

I blinked.

Then I gave in to the wave of unconsciousness that would take me away from the horror of it all. And as I sank into the depths of dark bliss, I keened in silence.

Behind closed lids, what I saw brought tears to my eyes.

Hacked off at my shoulders. Raw splints of bone. Bared muscle tissue.

My wings.

They'd taken my wings.

---THE END---