The Bonding Chronicles Ch. 21

He remained conscious for a few minutes, holding on as long as he could while Sara cut him free. She cursed and swore, her anger filled words promising a world of destruction upon the vile plant that had attacked him. Andrew wished he could have seen her, his guardian proving her place at his side as she always had. Probably looking gorgeous bathed in the pale moonlight and cursing at the damnable plant that was trying to kill him.

That pleasant thought was soon cast aside as he felt himself being dragged by his arms until he came to rest on firm and solid ground. One of the vines that were still stuck into his body was pulling away from him slightly as Karen came running in, screaming, "Stop, don't touch it."

Andrew could feel her magic coursing through his body the moment she placed her hand on his head. Karen was far more powerful than she had ever been before, but he could tell she was struggling to repair the damage that had been done.

His skin tingled with the feeling of active magic as the vines began to unwind from his body, the thorns pulling out in a clean and painless path, but the burning within his body continued.

"What the fuck is happening to him?" Sara gasped as the vines came away, their absence revealing something that scared her to the core.

He could feel the breeze from the gate flowing over his open wounds, and the screaming pain told him that the damaged area was much larger than it should have been.

"I don't know," Karen whispered through stuttering sobs. "I'm doing what I can, but I can't repair it."

Her frustration was palpable as she spoke, and with every crestfallen word he could feel her gift pulling the searing pain back from his extremities until it was concentrated in the areas where the thorns had torn his flesh.

Andrew knew she was his only hope, and as his mind began to go blank he entered that large dark place within himself. He could see his reserves of power were a shadow of what they traditionally were, the efforts of the night having drained much of his magic from him. Still, he knew what he had to do, and he took a thread from that gentle swirling mass of violet energy, and connected it to the vibrant azure sprite that flitted about his mind.

Everything was growing darker as he reached out and caressed the side of Sara's ocelot's head. The translucent amber creature purring at his touch, before he concentrated and pulled a similar looking amber thread from her, and again connected it to Karen's bright blue sprite.

The last thing he heard before consciousness left him was Karen saying, "I'll try to keep him alive as long as I can, but if Tani'm can't stop this venom we'll lose him."

Her words were hollow and filled with anguish, Sara's tormented scream filling the void that surrounded him as everything shut off.