Dorian Wraith's Arc

Chapter 16 of 27

The winged man carried Dorian through the trees while the blond one ran beside them. Dorian did not fight. He did not know how. His head lolled against a bare shoulder streaked with pink hair and green leather at the hip. Wings the color of sunrise beat above him. The blond man kept looking over, jaw tight, saying nothing. After a long time the trees opened onto a small brown cabin with a blue door and sunflowers on either side. Soft yellow light curled around its walls like smoke that would not blow away. Inside, they laid Dorian on a cot by the hearth. The winged man peeled the wet clothes off him with quick, careful hands. The blond man brought wool—thick socks, a gray tunic, loose trousers—and dressed him while he shivered. Dorian watched their faces and found no names for them. When he was warm, the winged man knelt and pressed both palms to Dorian's chest. Pink light spread under his ribs and settled there like a knot pulled tight. "I've bound your magic," the winged man said. "Until we get your memories back, it stays locked. It's for your safety." Dorian nodded because nodding seemed to be what they wanted. The winged man drew the blond one to the far corner. Dorian heard every word anyway. "The fountain took him clean. Nothing burns it out on its own. But memory lives in more than one head. If three people who love him each walk into his mind and give him back a true thing between them, the water breaks." The blond man's shoulders dropped. "Three." "You. Me. And Callie. One at a time. If any of us fails, he stays like this." A pause. "I'll go first." The blond man looked at Dorian on the cot, then back. He nodded. "Go." The winged man came and sat on the floor by Dorian's head. He set two fingers on Dorian's brow. "This won't hurt," he said. "Close your eyes." Dorian closed them. The knot in his chest loosened just enough to let something in. He felt a warm weight press behind his eyes, then a slow pull, like being lowered into still water that did not steal anything this time. Behind him, in the waking room, the blond man sat down on the floor to wait his turn. He prayed that beak succeeded and that he and Callie would as well when it was their turn.