“Good for you! Keep working and pretty soon you’ll be up and around.”
Bastian’s eyes searched the room and found a mop of red hair. Adam. He let out a sigh of relief. Now he knew for sure he wasn’t tricked or being held captive. He was home. Without Tressa, but home.
His arms and legs still wouldn’t follow his mind’s commands. He needed to get up. Now. Had to get out there and find Tressa before the beast tricked her and took her from him. He couldn’t lose both Connor and Tressa. The gods wouldn’t allow that, would they?
Adam’s hand rested on Bastian’s arm. “Don’t strain. It will all come back. I promise. You worked your body too hard. Your muscles will soften up, but you need rest.” Adam held a cup to his lips. “Drink this and sleep. The worst is behind you.”
Bastian tried to fight against the warm, fruity liquid meandering down his throat leaving a bitter flavor in its wake, but his tongue still wouldn’t follow his commands. His thoughts wandered and he couldn’t remember why he cared…
***
Bastian’s eyes popped open. Darkness overwhelmed his vision except for a flicker of light in the distance. Pushing his palms onto the bed, he sat up. He felt tired, sore, but alive.
“Adam?” Bastian flexed his arms, his muscles responding with a pop. Good. Everything worked again.
A snore answered him.
Bastian slipped onto the floor, his bare feet mingling with the rushes. He stood for a moment, testing his strength. He jumped in place three times and circled his arms in the air. Nearly perfect. Only slightly slow. Adam was right. He would have it all back and soon.
He crept to his uncle. Sleeping in a chair, Adams’ head was cocked to the side. Mouth open, framed by a fresh bit of spittle.
“Adam,” Bastian yelled in his ear.
Adam jolted, his arms and legs flailing in every direction. Before he could slip out of the chair and onto the floor, Bastian grabbed his arm. “Son of a –”
“I’m awake,” Bastian said.
Adam let out a nervous laugh. “ I see that. Now if you’ll excuse me while I go to my house and change my trousers.”
Bastian’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He paused. “Well, not that much.”
“I’m fine, I’m fine.” He stood up and clapped Bastian on the shoulder. “I see you’re doing well too. I’m glad I was right.”
“Was there a doubt?” Bastian turned his neck side to side, loosening up.
Adam rubbed his hands together in front of the faint fire. “Until someone is up and walking around, there is always a doubt. I’m not a miracle worker. But you, my boy. You may as well have risen from the dead.”
The unspoken hung in the air between them like a dark veil. There were two missing. One Bastian knew was dead. The other he couldn’t say.
Adam rested an arm over his nephew’s shoulder. “Do you know what happened to them?”
Bastian took a deep breath and sat down on the bed. “Connor is gone. Tressa… I don’t know. Her father told me she’d entered the forest.”
Adam held up a hand. “Her father? What?”
Bastian relayed the story to him. Adam’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he realized his sister was still alive and on the other side of the fog.
“So I followed Tressa into the forest. I couldn’t find the spot she entered. No broken branches or trampled grass. Yet I have no reason to doubt her father. She’s out there somewhere, Adam. I have to find her.”
His uncle scratched his scruffy ginger beard. “And your wife? What of her? Farah brought you back, but her mother is still missing.”
Bastian lay back down on the table, crossing his arms behind his head. “She’s dead too. Eaten by the beast in the fog. Farah and I barely got away with our lives.”
“You seem more concerned about Tressa than Vinya.”
Bastian rolled his eyes. “I’m not happy Vinya is dead. But Tressa is, and always has been, the only one in my heart.”
Adam coughed. “And as the resident physic, it is against my oath to speak ill of the dead. Perhaps we shouldn’t speak of her again.”
“Agreed.”
“But in public…”
“I will mourn her. For the sake of our daughter only.”
“A wise decision.” Adam stood up and paced the small bedroom. “While I am concerned about Tressa’s safety as well, for the gods’ sake I loved her as if she was my own daughter, there are bigger problems here.”
Bastian rolled to his side, fighting the urge to run back into the fog in search of Tressa. “How many people know I’m back?”