Ariel by Steven R. Boyett

around at the walls. "This room is odd. So many pictures of naked women."
    I said nothing.
    "What are they for?"
    "They're  .  .  . pornography. Pictures intended to  .  .  . to elicit an erotic response."
    "Oh," she said, as if that explained everything. I knew it didn't; she'd stopped inquiring because she could tell I was uncomfortable.
    She inclined her horn toward my stomach. "You're healing well."
    I nodded.
    "Talk to me, Pete. Please."
    "I don't have anything to say."
    "Your feelings are still hurt."
    I hesitated. Why bullshit? "Yes."
    "You feel I betrayed a trust between us, right? And look what I've caused you—a stab in the back. Is that it?"
    Tears welled in my eyes and I didn't respond.
    "Okay," she said. "I'll leave you alone." She turned and left. The room was silent and still with the feeling that she'd never really been there at all; she could have been a dream I had had while I was feverish.
    I thought about getting out of bed to see if I could move around a bit, or at least stand up on my own. I thought about it until I went to sleep.
     
    * * *
     
    Three days dragged by. Malachi Lee came in to feed me each day and we talked. I saw nothing of Ariel. When I asked about her, Malachi shrugged and said, "I don't know. The other day, the day you came out of it, she asked if she could borrow Faust for a week or two and they both left."
    "She say where she was going, or when she'd be back?"
    "No." He handed me another sandwich—Spam spread on biscuit. "You ought to get your head straight about her."
    I shifted uncomfortably on the bed. Ever since I'd come out of my coma I'd figured I was strong enough to walk around, but Malachi would have none of it. "What do you mean?"
    "You know what I mean. You're closing her out."
    I didn't say anything.
    "You have something most people would give up everything for, and you're taking it for granted." He stood. "You're a spoiled child."
    "What the fuck do you expect me to do? Come out of it and say, 'Hey, Ariel, you almost got me killed and cost me my soul, but no sweat'?"
    "She tried to explain it to you. She was immature, even if it was only a year ago. She didn't understand what it meant."
    "She was using me to test her abilities, dammit."
    He cracked his knuckles absently. "Little kids play with matches, but they're not trying to burn down the house." He sat down. His sword clinked against the folding chair beside the bed. "I saw her those four days you were out of it. You didn't. You were too busy being dead."
    I snorted.
    "Yes, dead." He leaned forward. "Perhaps you blame Ariel for your carelessness in getting a crossbow bolt through your back. But you better realize something—she brought you back." He sat back, folded his arms, and crossed his legs. "Russ and I watched her do it. It took her all that night. For a few hours she just looked at you, never taking her eyes from your face. There was no doubt you were dead, Pete— rigor mortis had begun to set in, and so had dependent lividity, when gravity makes the blood seep to the lowest points in the body because the heart's stopped pumping. Your pupils were dilated. Your bladder and sphincter muscles—"
    "Stop!"
    "Sorry. But you can't deny what I saw—I was there and you weren't."
    "You don't have to be so graphic about it."
    The hint of a smile returned. "We'd removed the bolt, and after a while Ariel touched the wound with her horn. It started to glow. It was dim, like a flashlight with near-dead batteries, to use an anachronism. She stayed that way a few minutes and your whole body twitched. Your lips moved as though you were talking, but nothing came out—you weren't breathing yet. Then you started going through convulsions. Ariel told you that was good and for you to help her." He cleared his throat. "You vomited. It was bad; there was a lot of blood in it. Ariel said you were getting closer. You kept mouthing words at her until she started singing to you. She told you to always remember that she loved