Dying Kiss

Dying Kiss

 E. M. Areson

The pain was everything for a moment. I doubled over in pain and then it happened again, and again. I had been shot. The point of the second arrow was sticking out of my chest. I reached up and grasped the spot with my right hand. The man who shot that must have been marksmen, he’d hit me in the weakest spot of my leather armor. Yells from behind told me that my men had fended off the robbers responsible.

I stood. Crimson was staining my hand but looking down I noticed my black clothing was absorbing most of the blood. My blood. I almost collapsed but I locked my knees and turned around. My men were in just as bad of shape as I was, at least I thought they were. The ground moves under my feet like a boat on the open ocean and I couldn’t see anything clearly.

“Aris? Where are you? Aris?” The lady in the leather dress looked like Una, which would make sense but I couldn’t tell at first. My vision cleared a little and I saw Una calling, “Aris!”

She ran to me and tried to support me, saying things about getting a medical man. I almost fell on top of her, but she was safe. My whole life had been devoted to protecting her, and now as I was dying she was trying to protect me from something more powerful than rattlers, hags with curses or vengeful dragons. She wanted to keep me from Death itself.

“I- I’m dying…” My voice barely sounded like a whisper even in my own ears.

“No. No! You're my Guardian. Who’ll save me from myself if you don’t?”

Her Guardian. That’s all I’ve ever been. I’ve known her my whole life and sacrificed everything for the sake of keeping her safe. A Tree Daughter is too important to get killed when she has to go places and do… things? What things, my head hurts so much I can’t think. Then I can. Something clicks and I am able to stand on my own. Her voice comes back into focus and I know who I am and what I’m doing.

“Aris are you ok-” I kissed her, putting my hand around her neck, and going against what had been hammered into my head since childhood. Her body was tense and she hadn’t expected it. Yet, I could still feel her soft lips weren’t pulling away. Her hand was raised like she was going to slap me but she didn’t. Then something changed and for a second she relaxed and lowered her hand. For a second we were alone. The men, the horses, even the trees themselves vanished.

I could have stayed that way forever. But I couldn’t. Death was weighing. My dying kiss was over and I stepped back. At least my soul did. It was strange watching my body collapse in Una’s arms and onto the ground. She began to weep and the men ran over. The medical man too, but he could do nothing. I was dead. I turned, Death stood to my left and I looked at it. It was like the wispy wraith I had always pictured. Almost, like a mist rising from the ground. I wasn’t afraid of Death. I’d sent more people than I cared to admit to a meeting with it. I tried to walk towards Death like it was motioning but I couldn’t. Something was pulling me back.

I turned around and saw what only a dead man can see. I saw the true magic of a Tree Daughter. It was terrifying and yet beautiful. She seemed to glow with a essence of power, pulling it from the plants around her. Usually, she only gives her power to other creatures but now she was pulling from nature all she could and… And she was pouring it into me. No one else seemed to see it, to them I supposed it looked like she was just in shock.

I looked back over at Death. It seemed to almost smile as it waved a farewell and vanished into not a shadow like I expected, but a glimmer of light. I lay back down in my body and felt my soul settle into its proper place. I knew Death would come for me again. It comes for everyone. But for now, I will live. And with any luck, my dying kiss with Una won’t be our last.

Photo By: Alejandra Quiroz