Prologue
“Raaaaallllph!”
Ralph was frozen by the terror in his wife’s voice. Selena Tarmon was never a woman given to hysterics, but the unnatural quality that clawed at the base of Ralph’s brain couldn’t deny its source. Ralph stood riveted to the spot staring up at the house. His skin broke into a sweat. His body turned to ice. Somewhere the rational part of his mind was saying he shouldn’t have been able to hear her from where he stood in the barn.
“Raaaallllph!”
The muscles of Ralph’s rib cage quivered. His breath caught. But he could not move until he heard running footfalls behind him. He turned to see Albert coming towards him.
“What’s wrong?” Albert asked. His words came between ragged breathes.
With one shake of his head, Ralph turned, and raced toward the house. A group of farmhands had gathered outside. Ralph passed them without a glance, and flung open the kitchen door.
“Selena!” Ralph didn’t break stride. He could hear Selena upstairs muttering prayers to the Goddess Trau. Later Ralph would wonder why he had thought she had been muttering. Selena’s voice was shrill and hysterical; her words ran together unintelligibly. He would often think in the years that followed that his mind had turned Selena’s screams into muttering so his own fear couldn’t overwhelm him.
Ralph took the stairs three at a time.
By the Nine, she’s in William’s room, he thought.
Ralph skidded to a halt just inside his son’s door. Selena was kneeling beside William’s bed shaking him. William’s small head wobbled and flopped; his soft brown hair flipped and danced with each erratic movement. William reminded Ralph of his sister Zema’s rag doll after he had pulled all the stuffing out when they were kids.
Selena sobbed and shook William.
William didn’t wake or respond.
Ralph crossed the room, and put his hand on her shoulder. “That isn’t helping, Selena. You might hurt him without realizing it. Stop.”
Ralph watched William. William’s chest rose and fell as if he only slept. Air whistled when Ralph released the breath he hadn’t known he was holding.
William was alive.
“It’s the illness they’ve been reporting on in the Lushthyme City Paper. He’s in a coma,” Albert said from behind them.
Selena sobbed harder, and renewed her efforts to wake William.
Ralph grabbed her arms. “Stop. Selena stop. We have to call the doctor.”
Selena collapsed against Ralph’s legs. “But he’s only five.” She wept into her hands.
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