A Bored Lich

Chapter 352 - Fall Down Seven Times. Get Up Eight Times.

"I couldn't erase the old scar tissue but I am done," Doevm announced.

Elero sat up. "Just like that?" she asked. Doevm nodded. 'I'm fine,' she thought, staring at her own two feet in a daze. She swallowed her saliva. "Are you sure that's everything? Other healers usually said I had to wait before trying my legs out. A minute or two at least."

"I'm not just another healer. It'll be different this time."

Elero's hands clenched: "You think I don't know that?"

Silent stares locked onto her scars. So what if the world watched? Her thundering heartbeat echoed in her head and her head alone. She could get up and hold herself high. She could show them all but first she pulled out a rag from her spatial ring.

'Wouldn't want to get blood on the ground,' she thought. 'I might slip.' She pressed down on her leg then jammed her finger on a hard surface: her shin. 'Is that what this is called, a shin? Maybe it is called a shinbone.' She flicked it and chuckled to herself. "This is so weird," she said. "Is it normal for them to shake?"

"For people sound of mind, yes," Doevm replied as he took the rag from her. "Why are you delaying? Are you scared of falling?"

"If I fall," Elero chuckled to herself for the second time. "If I fall…" Her smile froze and melted into a deep frown. She pushed her legs over the table's edge and stared at the accursed floor. 'I'm going to take one step. Nothing more and nothing less.'

What was it about a single step that caused her stomach to churn? Pain? A dagger drenched in her own blood lay on the ground. Was it fear of falling? Doevm stood a foot away from her. Whatever it was she swallowed it down and lept off the table.

Her legs met with gravity's once-familiar strain,  now a stranger. It hammered into her legs at odd angles. Atrophied muscles spasmed in a desperate, awkward effort to keep her upright. She flailed her arms to correct the imbalance, yet her back hit the table's edge. She ended where she had begun.

Lance stepped forward but Doevm caught him by the arm. "Let her struggle."

The nobles smirked as Elero slapped her legs and yelled, "Work damn it!" She gritted her teeth, pushed off the table, and took another step. "Come on," she muttered under her breath as she took one more step. Her balance shifted out from her and she tumbled into Doevm.

"Slowly," Doevm reminded her. "You're still trying to force yourself."

"You sound like General Alexander," Elero replied. "Just one more try and I think I can do it." She straightened herself and lifted her leg.

…

Thomas's foot tapped against the waiting room's floor. He glanced at the council room door as if Elero would walk through at any moment. Alas the door remained closed like the last time he looked and the time before that. "Do you think it'll work?" he asked.

"I hope so," Frey said as he flipped the page in his book. He mouthed the spelling of each word his finger slid under.

"How can you be so nonchalant about this?" Thomas asked. "What if Doevm's magic doesn't work?"

"I don't think there exist anything he can't do," Frey replied, not even bothering to look up from his page.

Thomas let out a dry laugh. "Of course. It's Doevm we're talking about. He'll fix Elero...What if it was your sister Gwen? Then would you be worried?"

Frey sighed and shut his book. "If that was the case, maybe I would be a little worried. Then again I don't want to see her, Arte, or Owen." He pointed to the door. "We both know Elero's walking out of there. Why are you stressing out about it?"

'Because Doevm has his limits.' A door creak cut their conversation short. Both of their heads turned towards the council room door. Out came Doevm. Trailing close behind him was Elero.

Her shuffling steps scuffed the floor and carried her hunched, silent self forwards, but at least she was walking. Neither her creaking wheelchair nor her mechanical braces could hold her back anymore. She was free! A pang shot through Thomas's heart.

'Why can't I be like that?' a disgusting thought rose in the back of his mind and extinguished any semblance of relief. He forced his lips to curl into a smile. He couldn't help but clench his teeth. Why wouldn't a person smile when their friend got better? It should be the first thing a normal human would do. The bandages around Thomas's mouth shifted with his changing expression. He looked down at his misfit mask. It was a perfect fit for a creature such as himself. As soon as he put it on, he could meet Elero's gaze.

"It worked!" Frey announced aloud, uncaring of the gazes he drew. He hurried over with a broad smile. "How did it go? Are you feeling ok?"

Elero took a shaky breath: "I can barely feel my legs." She gestured to her shaking limbs.

"Nothing?" Doevm asked. "No, that shouldn't be the case. I connected the nerves myself."

"Pain, I couldn't feel pain," Elero corrected herself. "It's almost like I've lost something. Besides that I-I damn it, I told myself I wouldn't cry." She wiped her watery eyes with her shirt sleeve and again for good measure. She held her face in her hands and gradually, there were less sobs in between her curses.

"Look at you, bawling your eyes out like a girl," Thomas said. 'I want to leave.'

Elero lifted her face out of her hands and frowned. "I'll kick you, and you won't like where."

"And now you can do that!" Thomas exclaimed. "Isn't that just the best? Aren't you so glad you could just cry in front of the kingdom's nobles." He turned to gesture at the rest but really it was to breathe. 'I feel sick.'

Elero looked around at all the tilted heads in the waiting room. "Shut your face and let me have this."

"I did that," Thomas said, gesturing to the bandages and mask. 'This isn't me that's hurting. It's not me.' He let out a dry chuckle. The others exchanged looks before laughing along with him. "In all seriousness, I'm glad you recovered. Congratulations. You deserve it."

"Thank you," Elero said. "But I'd prefer if we sat down." She started towards the waiting tables before the others could respond. She collapsed in one of the chairs and it groaned. She tapped her feet, letting herself enjoy the receding wave of emotions. "I'd rather fight the demon army than go through that again."

"Hopefully that won't happen anytime soon," Frey said. "Because that would be…" He flipped through a few pages of his dictionary. "...atrocious. Oh wait, that's an adjective."

"That's a big word," Thomas remarked. "Can you spell it?"

"A.T.R.O.C.I.O.U.S. Atrocious."

"Wrong," Thomas smirked. "You spell it: I.T. Guess you're more behind than you thought."

Frey's dictionary smacked the back of Thomas's head. "A.S.S.W.H.O.L.E. Asshole."

"Wrong." Thomas snatched the book away and repaid the blow in kind. Elero suppressed a smirk as Frey rubbed the back of his head. The giant turned to Doevm with a raised eyebrow, asking with a look if he should seek vengeance upon the noble's correction.

"You shouldn't have added that 'W'," Doevm explained. "I see those homophones are still catching you off guard. It's on page 93 in the middle of the page - asshole."

"I get it," Frey muttered. "Your amazing memorizing abilities are amazing."

"I think he just saw the earmark," Elero said, pointing to the crease in the dictionary's page.

Thomas and Frey shook their heads. "No books are just his thing," they said in unison. "That's why he is called Worm."

Elero pursed her lips. "You know, I'm starting to think I don't know a whole lot about you guys."

"Maybe that's because we've never had quiet moments," Doevm said. "Moments where all of us are just sitting, calm, nothing to do but wait as the future of the kingdom is decided in the next room." All heads turned towards the council room. Time continued its march as the group waited.