breath and concentrated more.
It moved again, pushing itself outward to Eref's hands. Balor cried out and beat his fists into the ground. His whole body shook, but Eref held on tight.
"Keep going, Eref. You can't stop now," the Exile said.
But it was hard to keep going. Balor's moans grew increasingly more alarming, and Eref's muscles ached.
"It's killing him!" Eref said.
"Stay focused. The pain will end soon."
The implant pushed itself farther into Eref's hand. It was nearly out.
Balor screamed.
"You have it! Keep going," the Exile said. He had walked over to the pair of them now and watched closely.
From across the room, Eref saw Caer's face. She was frozen still and wore an expression of utter horror.
At last the metal simply fell out. He caught it in his hand and let go of Balor, who became instantly silent. Eref lay back on the bank of the river.
The Exile's eyes shone. "Amazing! You are stronger than I imagined."
Panting on the ground, Eref wiped sweat from his eyes. "How is Balor?"
But instead of words, Eref heard sobs in response.
"Balor?"
There lay his best friend, blood-soaked and muddy, facedown in the dirt. He wept into his own arms as if unable to look up.
"Can you speak?"
"You should have killed me," he sobbed. Something in his voice told Eref his friend had finally returned.
"I couldn't let you go on like that."
"I wish I were dead."
"Balor, you're safe now. You're with me. Everything will be fine."
He cried so violently Eref could almost feel Balor's heart breaking.
"I did things...thought about...it was a nightmare. I didn't even know you, Eref. I wanted to kill you. And out there in Dark World, I did so many things...."
"That's over now. It wasn't your fault." Eref reached out to wipe the mud off Balor's face. "You don't have to think about that anymore."
Balor looked up at Eref with swollen eyes and an expression of pure desperation. "I need you to...Eref, please. If you're my friend, you'll do it."
"Do what?"
"Kill me now."
Chapter Fourteen
Sleep
Balor couldn't go on. The things he'd done.... Nobody knew how evil he'd been.
"Kill me, Eref. I'm begging you."
"No, Balor." Eref's clear eyes were filled with tears.
They were both drenched in each other's blood from head to foot. Balor's entire body ached.
"I can't live with myself."
Eref's friend Caer took a few tiny steps toward them. "Sir, may I use your Opaque Cuminaline plants?"
"That's a good idea, Caer," the old man said. "I'll help you."
The old man limped over to his desk and pulled out some packets filled with green clay and plant cuttings. "Here," he said, handing half the stack to the Dark Person.
She walked to Eref and reached up to tend an open gash in his cheek.
"No," Eref said very gently. "Could you help the Exile with Balor first? He's badly hurt."
Caer faced Balor with narrowed eyes. Balor could tell she didn't trust him. Why should she? Ignoring her tears and her terror, he'd hit her and tied her up as bait. All so he could murder his own best friend.
Balor knew he didn't deserve to be tended to. At least the pain was a punishment. It felt like he was paying for everything he'd done. With each moment that went by, Balor wanted more and more to just sink into the ground and disappear forever.
But soon Caer joined the Exile, and the two of them slid sticky leaves across his cuts and bruises and pushed thick clay into his deepest wounds.
Within seconds, the pain faded away. The ointment helped him relax. It was like nothing he'd ever experienced. He'd been hurt before. As a child in Light World, he'd broken his arm jumping from a wall and had to spend a week in the Life with magic stones surrounding his body.
The break had taken days to heal, but when they had let him out, he'd felt stronger than ever.
This ointment seemed to work differently. Instead of days of healing, it took moments. And instead of increased energy, Balor felt exhausted.
His eyelids drooped, and he fell backward.
"Help me lay him down?" the old man asked. "I'm weaker by the minute myself."
Balor felt two cool hands lightly pressing on his back to keep him from toppling over. For the first time in a long while, he relaxed completely. The soft, lovely face of the Dark Person hovered above him, and he felt a pain in his heart when he noticed the bruise on her cheek. He had given her that.
"Caer," Eref's voice said from far away. Balor was drifting off. "He