Birds Of War

Chapter Fourteen: Interventions

"Are you alright?" Patrik asks me trepidatiously. I stare up at him from my breakfast, toast and dragon eggs. 

"Why wouldn't I be?" I inquire. 

"You look...unwell?" He butters a piece of toast avoiding my stare. 

"Unwell?" 

"Yes, you...I don't mean to offend Nil...have dark circles under your eyes." I frown, as he continues "Are you sleeping well?" 

I'm taken aback from from his question. I haven't been sleeping of course, with nightmares and memories haunting me. "Maybe, stress because of the war." 

Patrik sighs and nods his head solemnly. "I feel the same, I've lost quite some sleep over what I've seen. In the front lines." His face tells the same story with deep frown lines and light shadows underneath his emerald eyes. 

My face pales at Patrik's omission. Have I been the cause of his nightmares? 

But Scalae, has it's own misgivings too right? I remember the magical village, Tegrem, looted and pillaged. It was burned till nothing was left and there few survivors. The smell of scorched earth and the cries of orphans lingers. Was Patrik involved in that? 

"What...what have you seen?" I implore cautiously. 

"I don't want to disturb you" he shakes his head while taking a sip of his tea. 

"You won't" Patrik shakes his head again. 

"Trust me, you don't want to hear." I start to frown, "I try to forget." He shrugs. 

"Is that why you drink?" I question. 

He looks up at me with wide eyes, "What...what do you mean?" he sputters out. 

"Come off it Patrik, you think I haven't noticed?" Patrik stays silent. "Your bloodshot eyes, stumbling steps pass my door at night, the times you've passed out in my room? Tell me, how long has this been going on for?" 

Patrik hangs in head refusing to look at me. His dark hair shines bright when lighting strikes the sky. Rain start to splatters against the window and Patrik's frown deepens. 

"How long?" He repeats, finally looking up at me. 

"Yes, how long?" I meet his green eyes filled with ignominy. There's a long pause as I await an answer and tries to come up with one. Only thunder breaks through the silence. 

"Ever since I saw that kiss." 

I flinch at the implication as a thunder crack sounds through the room. Two years? Two years he's been drinking to forget? 

"It was pretty moderate, I would just drink heavily once a week to forget the memory of our tears. I felt betrayed, I was heartbroken and I just wanted to forget that. As the war dragged on, more crimes against humanity witnessed, my reasons just added up." My heart pangs as I think of Patrik, drunk and alone, in a tavern. 

Paatrik continues, trying to rush his secrets out as if he didn't, the wind would catch them. "Then, you came back along," I open my mouth in protest, "I know, not willingly and I'm sorry for that." I close my mouth. "At first I could just channel my anger onto you, since I viewed you as the villain. But, then you told me your side. The guilt has been eating alive Nil. I can't stand the fact that I hurt you so, when I swore that I never would." 

What would he think if he knew the whole truth? 

"I'm sorry that I drink, I'm so sorry for everything. I know I may never receive your forgiveness but I've made peace with that." 

"Your peace shouldn't be at the bottom of a bottle." Patrik shakes his head and sighs. 

"It's the only peace I know." 

"You should really stop, you're Prince for God sake!" I raise my voice. I can't help but feel frustrated at Patrik's refusing to give up his dangerous behaviors. 

"Oh and why do you care?" Patrik shoots back at me. "Hm? Explain that Nilsia. You claim to loathe me, to want my head on a platter, yet here you are begging to stop?" 

I can't respond, words seem stuck to my throat like honey. A suffocating sour honey. 

"Why do you care Nil?" Patrik softens his voice. 

"I don't!" I protested. 

"I don't believe that," He chides as he stands up, pacing the room. 

"Why would I care about the health of my warden!" I shout out at him, standing up from the table. I walk over the window, staring out at the thunderous sky. 

"Nilsia, if I had to the power to ensure your safety beyond these walls, you would have escaped a long time ago." He stops to stare at me. 

"I am safe in Umbra Patrik!" I raise my voice, "You have hurt me more than my Father ever did!" 

Patrik scoffs at my claim, standing by the fireplace illuminating his disbelief. His eyes burn with frustration. "Really? Tell me, have I ever beat you?" After his remark, his face softens as regret flashes through his eyes.

Anger washes through me, making me only see that bright red I'm all to familiar with. I pick up a vase that stands on the nightstand, a beautiful blue one. I through the vase at him, fury coursing through my veins. The china shatters above his head against the mantle as he ducks to avoid it. 

I clench my fists feeling my nails breaking the skin. My heartbeat is erratic as I breathe trying to steady myself. Patrik looks at me with with wide sorrow filled eyes. He turns around and with a swish of the hand, fixes the vase. 

"I'm sorry Nilsia, that wasn't fair of me to say." 

"Just get out." Patrik lowers his head in understanding as he walks out the door. 

-----

"Nilsiaaaaaaaaaa" an unknown voice whispers behind my ear. 

"You should come over to our sideeeeee" it hisses at me, now on the other side of me. In the deep green darkness, I can make out a vast sliver snake. It's scales shimmer in the light of a dimly light candle beside me. 

"Who who are you?" I spin around desperately trying to keep up with the snake. 

"You knowwww" the snake keeps encircling me. "Join the good side dear." 

"She's not very good thoughhhh" A different snake, this one a darker sliver slips by. "I know the sins you've committed." 

Terror washes through me, "I can explain!" I cry out. 

"We don't care for sinnerssssss" they hiss in unison. "Torturing and killing, how much blood is on your hands?" The snakes start to close in, constricting me. 

"Help me! Help me!" I wail desperately. 

Suddenly, the dark green lifts and the room turns a reddish hue. A lion, that looks like the one on the Umbran flag charges out. Riding on its back, sits Henry in his blue uniform. 

The lion charges towards me as Henry slashed the snakes in his path with a golden sword. The blood of the snakes splatters the floor as they fall. 

I cry out in relief, shaking vigorously as I look at the fallen snakes. Henry jumps off the lion and approaches me, sheathing his sword and holding an outstretched hand. 

"Come home my little witch."