Back From The Dead

Sophia opened her eyes and stared at a unfamiliar ceiling. She turned her head and saw Kieran lying next to her in a bed.

“What the…” she mumbled.

“Oh! You’re finally awake!” Valaria said, excited. “How are you feeling?”

Sophia turned her head slightly and saw the princess sitting next to the bed. Bastian stood at her side.

“Like I just died and came back to life…” Sophia said with a tired smile.

“That’s probably what happened to you…” Bastian said.

“What happened?”

“After vomiting for a day straight we came to search for you guys, because you never came back that day. We found you and Kieran lying next to each other. You had his sword stuck in your chest, the blood puddle under you was already coagulated. You were pale as snow and had a very weak pulse, but you had one…” Valeria explained.

“And Kieran?”

“He was lying next to you alive and unharmed… but he would not wake up. We carried you two to a bed. Removed the sword from your chest and patched up your wound. Then we waited for you to wake up. That was two days ago.”

Sophia looked down at herself. She had no shirt on and her chest was completely covered by a bandage.

“Cool tattoo by the way.” Valeria said.

Sophia looked at the back of her hand. The Mark was gone.

“What tattoo?” she asked.

“I mean the one on your chest.”

“Huh?”

Sophia began unraveling her bandages. Valeria helped her. Bastian turned around as they removed the last layer. There was a neatly healed scar right over her heart area. It was pink and looked very fresh. Over it was mark. It was a different one than what had been on her hand. Two linked rings.

“That’s new…” Sophia mumbled.

“He has the same one,” Valeria mentioned and pointed at Kieran.

Sophia looked over. Kieran had no shirt on as well and his chest was bare. Sophia saw all the inscriptions on his body and on top of his heart area was indeed a symbol. A different one than it was before. The same as on Sophia’s chest. She reached over and gently jerked him on the shoulder. Kieran did not wake up.

“He won’t wake up from that… we tried waking him with all bunch of stuff… I even kicked him in balls and nothing…” Valeria told her.

“You what?” Sophia exclaimed, shocked.

“Only gently, don’t worry… everything is still intact down there.”

“I was strictly against it,” Bastian said without looking.

“We were out of ideas and had to try something creative…” Valeria defended herself.

Sophia leaned back over to Kieran.

“Wake up,” she ordered, but nothing happened.

“Would you mind telling us what happened here?” Bastian asked and threw her a shirt, without looking. “But first, please put something on.”

Sophia put on the shirt and began telling them what happened and everything about Kieran as well. They listened without interrupting even once.

“So, he really is the infamous Mage Murderer,” Valeria said once Sophia had finished. “That makes sense somehow…”

“He is not a Murderer,” Sophia said vehemently.

“I see… yes, right… sorry… So, the Grand Dame Inquisitor seemed to be behind all of this then?”

“It seems that way…”

“What shall we do now?”

“Well, first we let Sophia rest. We have to wait for Kieran to wake up anyways…”