The Year of the Salamander - 33. Chapter 33

Gabriel got there at the same time as Blair did. He gritted his teeth when he saw how narrow the snaky road was, and reluctantly slowed down, letting Blair to get ahead. He followed the Fire Guardian’s car all the way to the top, almost missing the edge of the road a couple of times, but managing to jerk the car back into the twisting lane right before he tumbled off the cliff. When they got to the very top, Blair jumped outside and raced inside the watchtower. Gabriel got out without pulling the keys out of the ignition. He glanced around wildly, and then he saw him lying in a lifeless heap next to the brick wall.

“Desmond...” he muttered and ran towards him. “Desmond...” He grabbed his shoulders, and Desmond’s body slowly fell into his arms. “Desmond... Desmond...” Gabriel muttered, shaking the man slightly. “Son of a bitch, Des, wake up...!”

Not only wouldn’t he wake up, but he also wouldn’t move. To Rayhe’s greatest horror, he didn’t seem to be breathing either. Gabriel muttered his name nonstop, trying to find his pulse with shaking fingers, but there was nothing. Suddenly, someone grabbed his shoulder, and he whirled around, his arms instinctively wrapping tighter around Desmond. He blindly stared at some brown-haired guy whose expression was beyond anxious.

“Where is Blair?” the guy asked quickly.

“Tower...” Gabriel muttered numbly and turned towards Desmond again. “Des, wake up...!”

The brown-haired guy started towards the entrance to the tower when Blair emerged from there, his eyes wild.

“Blair!” the guy said loudly. “Is...”

“She is gone,” Blair said quickly without even slowing down. “Timing was right...” He ran towards his car, briefly glancing at Desmond. “Help him, Daniel,” he said before hopping into his car and taking off with an angry growl of the tires.

The brown-haired guy kneeled next to Gabriel, and when he saw Desmond’s face, his eyes widened, and then narrowed immediately.

“Yeah,” Gabriel said in a shaky voice. “You grew up with him... Help him...”

The guy blinked several times, and then he gestured for Gabriel to get out of the way. Rayhe reluctantly let go of Desmond and stood up. He took several steps back without taking his eyes off Daniel. He watched the man warily, unsure of what he was about to do.

Daniel placed one of his hands onto Desmond’s throat, and pressed his other hand firmly into the ground. Then he closed his eyes. Gabriel stood still, biting his fingernails, watching both of them helplessly. Both, Desmond and Daniel, were equally still right now. It seemed that Daniel’s breathing slowed down to nothing.

...Blair flew down the serpentine road, ignoring the fact that he almost flew off it several times when the wheels of his car would miss the edge by several inches. He would impatiently jerk the wheel, making the car fly back into the middle of the road. Finally, he made it all the way down, and brought the car to a screeching halt, after realizing that he could not drive any farther. He jumped out and ran through the tall grass and water that was beyond cold. He glanced up several times, looking for that window, making sure that he was going the right way.

Finally, he made his way to the right spot, and he stopped, frantically looking around.

“Sam!” he yelled as loudly as he could. “Goddammit, Sam!!”

Lazy splashing of the water was the only answer he received. He waddled through freezing water, looking around, listening intently. When he saw sharp rocks underneath the dark surface, his heartbeat slowed down to nothing, and then immediately started racing up to what felt like thousand beats per minute. He lunged towards those rocks, his hands searching underneath the water, his eyes wildly darting around.

Finally, he saw something father away from the rocks, and muttered something under his breath, furiously paddling through the water that was getting deeper and deeper. He made his way to the object he saw, and his swearing became more vicious. It was Sam, and he was floating in the water, face down. He also wasn’t moving. Blair flipped him onto his back and wrapped his arm around his waist, forcefully pulling him towards the shore.

It took him probably good fifteen minutes to make it to the dry land, and then he grabbed Sam’s shoulders and pulled him out of the water.

“Sam...” he called in a shaky voice. “Sam, come on...”

He called upon the Fire, just enough to be able to warm the younger man up, to chase all the cold away. Finally, when Blair was ready to start screaming obscenities into the sky, Sam let out a shaky breath, and then he started coughing. He peeled his eyes open and blinked slowly a couple of times, squinting against the sun.

“Blair...” he said finally, and Blair could breathe again.

“Oh, son of a bitch...” he said weakly and dropped his head onto Sam’s chest.

****

Finally, Desmond let out a shaky breath, and then he moaned without opening his eyes. Gabriel started to shake. Then he heard a sound of an engine and looked up. Blair brought the car to a dead stop and climbed out, his face paper-white.

“Where is Sam?” Rayhe asked him quietly.

“In the car,” Blair said without blinking. “Hell, when he dove out of that window...” He closed his eyes, and Gabriel blinked at that. He had no idea what Blair was talking about. “I mean, I know he can breathe under water, but all those rocks down there...”

Rayhe blinked again.

“Breathe under water?” he repeated dumbfoundedly, and Blair opened his eyes.

“Yeah,” he said. “You didn’t know?”

Gabriel slowly shook his head.

“I guess he hit his head onto something,” Blair continued. “Because he was knocked out cold when I found him... He is fine though,” he added after a few seconds and shifted his gaze to Daniel.

Desmond moaned again, his eyes still closed. This time, the moan was louder and longer. Gabriel looked at him thoughtfully.

“What exactly is he doing to him?” he asked quietly, and Blair was able to grin weakly.

“It’s not what it sounds like,” he said. “There is nothing sexual in the process... He is pumping pure Earth energy into him...”

“Healing him?” Gabriel asked without looking away from Desmond who was moaning pretty much nonstop now.

“Yes and no,” Blair said. “He is not fixing the damages; he is just giving him extra life-force... It’s like...” He thought for a second. “For example, if you get into a car wreck, and then your battery dies... Someone charges the battery without fixing the damage. It’s still broken, but at least you can drive it somewhat, you know? He will have to heal on his own but he is not going to die...” Blair looked at Daniel. “He did it to me once... It felt amazing... I felt like I was being reborn, it’s...” He shrugged. “I don’t know how to describe it.”

Gabriel walked closer without taking his eyes off Desmond. Daniel’s eyes were still closed, eyelids fluttering, concentration tightening his forehead. Desmond let out yet another moan and slowly opened his eyes.

“Des...” Rayhe said quietly and kneeled next to him.

“Hey...” Desmond muttered and squeezed Gabriel’s hand when Rayhe entwined their fingers together. Then he shifted his gaze towards Daniel, frowned slightly, as if thinking that he was hallucinating, and then blinked rapidly.

Daniel opened his eyes and looked down at him without a smile.

“Oh, hell...” Desmond said desperately.

“Don’t mention it,” Daniel muttered and got up, patting the dirt off his pants.

“Des...” Gabriel said, and Desmond just looked at him silently, a very familiar stubborn frown greasing his forehead.

Rayhe sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Just stay put,” he said, kissed the twisted with the frown eyebrow, and got up.

He walked up to Daniel who was talking to Blair.

“Thanks,” he said quietly, and Daniel simply nodded. “What was he like as a kid?” Gabriel asked after a few seconds.

“Stubborn, bratty pain in the ass,” Daniel grimaced. “He had an amazing ability to piss me off like no other... And it’s kind of difficult to piss me off,” he added with a small nod. “He was brilliant at that though...”

“Yeah,” Gabriel hemmed with a small smile. “He refined that skill over the years, believe me...”

“What does he do now?” Daniel asked with a hint of curiosity.

“He is an instructor at the military school,” Rayhe said, and Daniel’s eyes widened.

“He is a teacher?” he asked incredulously, and Gabriel nodded. “God,” Daniel muttered. “I don’t envy a fat kid in his class...”

“I don’t think he has any,” Gabriel said thoughtfully. “Otherwise, I'd hear stories from him...”

“What are you doing here?” Blair interrupted him rather impatiently, and Daniel looked at him.

“Felix asked me to check on you,” he said calmly. “He didn’t buy your ‘solving a puzzle’ story. So he asked me to go and make sure that everything was all right. He wanted to do it by himself, but he is tied up at the moment...” He looked up into the sky. “The Salamander twins showed up there last night, all pissed off and demanding... I guess Tess kicked their asses somewhat harsh in the South...”

“Was it a good reason?” Blair asked tiredly.

“Yup,” Daniel nodded melancholically. “So Felix was busy with them. He can handle them though,” he shrugged. “I better go, however... He is pulling a double load right now – the rounds and the twins...”

“Daniel, don’t tell him that it almost...” Blair winced.

“I won’t,” Daniel said in the same calm manner. “He might figure it out on his own though, he is not dumb... But I won’t tell him.”

“Thanks,” Blair gave him a quick smile. “I’ll be there tomorrow morning...”

“You can wait until the sixteenth,” Daniel sighed. “Just cover three of my days, no big.”

“Thanks,” Blair said again, and Daniel nodded.

He was about to leave when Sam climbed out of the car and limped after him.

“Wait...!” he called desperately. “Wait...” he said when Daniel looked at him with a silent question. “Can you help Specter...?” he almost whispered.

“Specter,” Daniel repeated with a small, confused frown.

“My dog,” Sam whispered again and nodded towards the heap of white fur lying farther away.

Daniel blinked at that, but said nothing. He made his way towards the dog and repeated the same ritual he performed on Desmond half an hour or so ago. While he was doing that, Rayhe went back to the very gloomy Desmond, and sat next to him.

“How you feeling?” he asked mildly, pulling the other man closer to himself.

Desmond mumbled something incoherent, but leaned into Gabriel’s touch.

“Des, both of you are not kids anymore,” Gabriel ran his fingers through that long black hair, and Desmond mumbled something again. “That shit happened long time ago,” Gabriel continued. “Let it go, okay?”

He looked at Daniel who was busy reviving the dog.

“He is not as bad as you think he is, you know...” he said thoughtfully. “And he is not as arrogant as you think he is... And he is not...”

“Shut up, Rayhe,” Desmond grumbled and dropped his head into Gabriel’s shoulder.

He watched the Earth Guardian through his eyelashes, his jaw locked tight. When Daniel finally got up and walked away from the dog, who was licking Sam’s face wildly by that point, he looked at him without blinking. Daniel returned the gaze, and Desmond gave him a stiff nod. Daniel nodded in return and walked away. Gabriel sighed, knowing that this nod was as close to ‘Thank you’ as it could possibly get in Desmond’s case. It was, in fact, more than he hoped for, so he didn’t say anything else, and wrapped his arms tighter around Desmond’s shoulders.